What is a syrinx? It is the organ that birds use to produce sounds and their birdsong. Birds make sound in a different way to us. We use our larynx and they use their syrinx. Both of these words have come from Greek and larynx means “upper windpipe” and syrinx means “pan pipe”. The larynx […]
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Do Brazil nuts come from Brazil? They do, but there are several other countries that produce them as well. Depending on the year, Bolivia is often a larger producer of Brazil nuts than Brazil is. Before we talk about why Brazil nuts are called Brazil nuts, we need to acknowledge the fact that they are
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Why are the majority of people right handed? No one knows for definite, but it could be because we process language with the left side of our brain. It is generally thought that 85 to 90% of people are right-handed. The majority of the rest are left-handed, with a very few individuals being ambidextrous. A
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How can a salamander regenerate? They can repurpose skin cells to become any other kind of cell, similar to a stem cell. There are many different types of salamander, about 760, but they all share several common traits. They are all amphibians, which means they are comfortable both in and out of the water. They
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Why do they add a smell to gas? Gas companies add an additive called mercaptan to natural gas so that people can smell it in the event of a gas leak. The natural gas we use to cook with or to heat our houses and our water doesn’t smell of anything. Natural gas contains many
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What shape is the Earth? The Earth is not a perfect sphere, it is an irregularly shaped ellipsoid. Another word for ellipsoid that is often used is oblate spheroid. An ellipsoid, or an oblate spheroid, is a sphere that is slightly wider along one of its axes than another. If you are blowing glass and
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How does a two-way mirror work? There is a screen on one side of the mirror that reflects most of the light but allows some of it to pass through. Two-way mirrors were invented in 1903. We often see them used in police movies, where the detectives are watching a criminal on the other side
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Are big leaves better than small leaves? It depends on where the plant is, the temperature, the amount of water, the altitude, the amount of UV light, and several other factors. Not all plant leaves are green, but all plants have leaves. Those leaves can be big, small, long, short, fat, thin, and many other
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When did diplomatic immunity start? Diplomatic immunity was recognized in law from 1709 in Britain, but some sort of immunity has existed since the beginning of civilization. Diplomatic immunity is recognized by almost every country in the world, at the moment. It was enshrined in international law at the Vienna Convention in 1961. This convention
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What is the fastest insect? The fastest flying insect is the dragonfly and the fastest running insect is the Australian tiger beetle. The Australian tiger beetle is the fastest insect on land. It can run at 2.5 m per second, which works out to 9 km/h. That doesn’t sound terribly fast and most of us
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