Why is carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas? Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas because it absorbs more heat than other gases. When we think of greenhouse gases and climate change, we think of carbon dioxide, but it is not the only greenhouse gas. All of these gases are obviously produced naturally, but human […]
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What is pneumonia? Pneumonia is an infection that causes the air sacs in the lungs to become inflamed and sometimes full of liquid. The word pneumonia was coined in 1603 and it comes from the Greek “pneumon”, which means lung. Pneumonia is caused when viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms infect the lungs. It is a
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Why didn’t French decimal time last? It was too hard to alter the way people already told the time to introduce a system of decimal time and too expensive to remake all the clocks. France began to use decimal time on 5th October 1793, just after the French Revolution. The point of the revolution wasn’t
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What are tails for? Animals have tails for several different reasons. They use them for balance, to grip things, for motion, as weapons, to lose heat, to communicate, and to keep flies off. The majority of mammals, birds, and reptiles have tails, but not all do. Some insects have tails as well. Out of the
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When was the wheel invented? The wheel was invented in roughly 4200 BC, over 6,700 years ago. I have toyed with whether “invented” might be the wrong word to use here. “Discovered” might be better because there are many round things that naturally exist in the world. However, I think we can safely go with
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Why is Mexico City sinking? Mexico City is sinking because they are pumping more water out of the underground aquifer than can be replaced. Mexico City is the capital of Mexico, and it has a population of almost 22 million people, which is over 17% of the population of Mexico. Since the beginning of the
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How do painkillers work? By reducing the chemical responsible for pain, by reducing the amount of the chemical responsible for pain in the brain, or by blocking the pain signals to the brain. Painkillers are called analgesics, which comes from the Greek word analgesia, meaning “without pain”. It was first used in reference to painkillers
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Why are flamingos pink? Flamingos are pink because of all the carotenoids that they eat. Flamingos are famous for sleeping on one leg while standing up, for eating upside down, and for being a brilliant shade of pink. However, when they are born, they are a slightly off-white color. They take on their pink color
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What causes an ice cream headache? It is caused when something cold touches the roof of the mouth and makes the blood vessels constrict. It turns out that no one knows for definite what causes an ice cream headache. Many of us have experienced one and it is also called brain freeze. Its official name
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Why do snails have teeth? They use their teeth to scrape away pieces of food. Snails are not the only gastropods that have teeth. Slugs basically evolved from snails and they have teeth as well. Both slugs and snails have thousands of microscopic teeth. Depending on the size of the snail, they can have over
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