Is cocaine natural? The main ingredient in cocaine comes from a natural plant, but it needs to be processed. Cocaine is a stimulant taken from the leaves of the coca plant. The Coca plant grows in South America, on the lower slopes of the Andes. Because it is such a valuable crop, cultivation has spread […]
#945 Is cocaine natural? Read More »
How does anthrax kill? Anthrax is an infection caused by a bacterium called Bacillus anthracis. Because it is a bacterial infection, it can be treated with antibiotics if it is discovered soon enough. We may have heard about anthrax from the news, but it is a naturally occurring bacteria that has been around for a
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What is a metal? A metal is any material that readily loses its outer shell electrons, can be polished to be highly reflective of light, is opaque, conducts heat, conducts electricity, is ductile, and malleable. The bond between the atoms in the molecules cause all of these properties and are what makes a material a
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Henrietta Lacks developed cervical cancer and the cells taken from a tumor biopsy have formed the HeLa cell line, named after her. Ms. Lacks didn’t know that her cells had been taken and she died in October 1951, before the significance of her cells was known. She was only 31 years old. She did not
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Why does dry ice fog sink? The gas from dry ice is more dense than air and therefore it sinks. Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It is called dry ice because when it melts it turns into a gas rather than a liquid. Regular ice would be wet ice because when it melts it
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During his career, Maurice Hilleman developed over 40 vaccinations. It is thought that his vaccinations save over 8 million lives every year. However, he was not interested in making a name for himself, only that his vaccines helped people. For this reason, despite having received his vaccines, very few people have ever heard of him.
#859 Maurice Hilleman – microbiologist specializing in vaccinology. Read More »
What is a gluon? It is a massless subatomic particle that carries the force that binds quarks together, known as the strong force. There are four forces that affect everything in the universe. These are gravity, the electromagnetic force, the weak force, and the strong force. They are known as the four fundamental forces. Gravity
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What color is the sea? It is technically blue, but that depends on the depth and what particles are in the water. The sky is blue because the blue light wavelengths are scattered by molecules in the air. This is not why the ocean is blue. Generally the sea is blue because water absorbs red
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How do noise cancelling headphones work? They play the sound from around you, but reversed, which cancels out the noise. Sound is a pressure wave that is created by an energy source that makes the molecules of the medium it is travelling through vibrate. Sound can travel through any medium and it travels through some
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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 »
