What are gallstones? They are hardened deposits of bile that can form in the gallbladder and cause problems. We need to start by looking at what the gallbladder is and what it does. The gallbladder is quite small and it is located just under the liver, at the bottom of the stomach. It is about […]
#1078 What are gallstones? Read More »
What happens if you drink too much water? Your brain can swell up and you can have seizures and possibly even die. Overhydration is the opposite of dehydration, and just like dehydration can be fatal, overhydration can be as well. However, it is much harder to be overhydrated than it is to be dehydrated. To
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Why don’t army ants make nests? Army ants can clear an area of insects and food in a few days, so they have to keep on the mood to find more food. Most species of ants build complex nests that have interlocking tunnels and chambers for different purposes. They have places to keep their larvae,
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How quickly does your blood regenerate after you donate it? The blood volume will be back in 48 hours, but it will take four to eight weeks for the red blood cells to regrow. When people donate blood, they usually give about 450 ml, which is about a pint. Depending on your size, that is
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Why don’t bats get sick? Because their immune response doesn’t cause much inflammation, because they have proteins that stop the viruses leaving their cells, and because the viruses have evolved to live with them. Bats do get sick and some viruses are lethal to them. They also carry a lot of viruses that can jump
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Why do some things smell good and some things smell bad? The reason things smell good or bad is a combination of learned experiences and evolution. We smell in the same way that we taste. Everything around us is made of molecules and some of these molecules are released. If they happen to be released
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Why do we get diarrhea? We get diarrhea because the body is trying to rid itself of some kind of infection, usually bacterial, viral, or parasitic. Diarrhea is a sign that the body is sick and is trying to fix itself. Diarrhea can also be caused by other illnesses or e, but infections are the
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Why are coconut crabs so big? Coconut crabs are big because they need enough power to be able to crack coconuts. Coconut crabs live on islands in the Indian and Pacific Ocean. They are enormous. They weigh about 4 kg and they have a leg span that can be over 1 m. They are not
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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It depends on how you think about it, but the egg came first evolutionarily. Chickens were domesticated about 10,000 years ago and eggs evolved about 350 million years ago. This is one of those questions where the point is not the answer, but the thought process along
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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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