I learned this today. The creation of the term “pope” to mean the head of the Roman Catholic church started in the 11th century. The word “pope” comes from the Greek word pappas, meaning father. The pope is the head of the Roman Catholic church and is known as the Bishop of Rome or the […]
#238 Who was the first pope? Read More »
I learned this today. Different species of extremophiles have evolved different ways to survive the extreme environments that they live in. The word extremophile comes from the Greek “extremus”, which means love and “philia”, which means love. They are organisms that not only survive in extreme environments they flourish in them. I learned about tardigrades
#237 How do extremophiles survive? Read More »
I learned this today. Tardigrades are incredibly strong and incredibly small micro-animals. Tardigrades are generally about 0.5mm long. Some of the big ones grow up to 1.5mm in size but they are usually much smaller. There are about 1,300 different species of them and they live all over the world. They are short and plump
#236 Why are tardigrades so tough? Read More »
I learned this today. Rationing in the UK during World War 2 started in September 1939 and ended on July 4th, 1954. Rationing is not an idea that started in the Second World War. People have always rationed when food is scarce. Often, during battles, towns were besieged. The idea would be to starve the
#235 When did rationing in the UK end after World War 2? Read More »
I learned this today. Skunks smell so bad because they spray an organic compound that has sulfur in it. Skunks are mostly native to north and south America, although there is also a species of skunk that lives in Indonesia. This is called the Sunda stink badger. There are generally ten different species of skunk.
#234 Why do skunks smell so bad? Read More »
I learned this today. Porcupines don’t actually shoot their quills. The quills just detach very easily and stick in the predator. Porcupines are members of the rodent family. Males can grow to be almost a meter long and weigh up to 16 kg. They are not very fast, but they don’t need to be because
#233 How does a porcupine shoot its quills? Read More »
I learned this today. Abraham Zapruder was a Russian born American clothing manufacturer who happened to be in the right place at the right time to film the John F Kennedy assassination. He was born in Kovel in 1905. It was a city that is now in Ukraine but was in the Russian Empire back
#232 Who was Zapruder? Read More »
I learned this today. Sloths move so slowly because they have an extremely low metabolic rate. There are six species of sloth that are divided into two different types of sloth: three-toed sloths and two-toed sloths. Both of these groups of sloths are from different families that are very distantly related. They have both evolved
#231 Why do sloths move so slowly? Read More »
I learned this today. 7 impressive buildings or monuments were chosen to be the seven wonders of the world because the Greeks believed the number seven represented perfection and plenty. The idea of Wonders of the World came into being in the 4th century BC. Before the Roman empire took over most of Europe, there
#230 Why were only seven wonders of the ancient world chosen? Read More »
I learned this today. The Sahara Desert has grown so big because the precession of the Earth’s axis as it rotates around the sun changes the location of the African monsoon. The Sahara Desert is 9.2 million square kilometers, which makes it bigger than every country except for Russia, Canada, China and the USA. The
#229 How did the Sahara Desert get so big? Read More »
