Why do birds need to see ultraviolet light? It helps them with foraging, navigation, and signaling to each other. We can only see combinations of three colors: red, green, and blue. We have cones that detect these colors in our eyes. Most birds can also see ultraviolet light. They have four types of cones in […]
#817 Why do birds need to see ultraviolet light? Read More »
Why did prehistoric insects grow so big? Because there was a lot more oxygen in the atmosphere and there were no birds. The largest insect in the world today is the Phryganistria chinensis, which is a stick insect. It is 64 cm long. The insect with the largest wingspan is the White witch moth, which
#811 Why did prehistoric insects grow so big? Read More »
Do antibiotics kill all of the bacteria in the body? Yes, they do. Antibiotics kill bacteria in the body. They do not work on viruses. We use bacteria when we have an infection and they can be very effective. An infection is caused when we have a wound and bacteria get inside. This is very
#808 Do antibiotics kill all of the bacteria in the body? Read More »
Do cows only eat grass? Wild cows and cows that graze on pasture eat a lot of grass, but they also eat other plants as well. Cows that are kept in dairy farms are often fed a lot of grain and soy. There are not many wild cows in the world. In most developed countries,
#802 Do cows only eat grass? Read More »
Why are some people lactose intolerant? Because their body doesn’t make enough of an enzyme called lactase. Milk is a liquid produced in the mammary glands of most mammals. It is made of 87% water with the remainder made up mostly of fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. The proteins act as an emulsifier because
#798 Why are some people lactose intolerant? Read More »
How do weight loss drugs work? They either reduce the appetite, reduce the absorption of nutrients, or increase the amount of fat that the body burns. Obesity is becoming a worldwide problem these days. It used to be only affluent countries that suffered from it, but now there are not many countries that are unaffected.
#794 How do weight loss drugs work? Read More »
How do our organs stay where they are when we stand up? Pieces of tissue called fascia hold our organs in place, along with a membrane called the serous membrane. I need to define this question a little more succinctly because organ has a surprisingly broad definition. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “organ” as “a
#788 How do our organs stay where they are when we stand up? Read More »
How can opera singers sing so loud? By training their diaphragm, their lungs, using their mouths to amplify the sound as much as possible, and adjusting the frequency of the sound they are making. Opera singers are louder than the average person, but they also have a way of making their voices easier to hear,
#785 How can opera singers sing so loud? Read More »
How did a pterodactyl fly? By jumping 2.5 meters into the air and then flapping. These days, we use pterodactyl to refer to any of the flying dinosaurs that looked similar, but pterodactyl is only one species. The family is called pterosaur. In Greek, “pteron” means winged and “sauros” means lizard. Pterodactyl comes from “pteron”
#784 How did a pterodactyl fly? Read More »
Why do poppies make opium? Not all poppies do make opium, but the ones that do, make it to ward off pests. There are 775 different species of poppy, known as the Papaveraceae family. Most of them produce the milky latex that becomes opium in the opium poppy, but only the papaver somniferum is able
#774 Why do poppies make opium? Read More »
