|
Subject |
Comments |
Views |
Author |
Date Written |
Ten Interesting Facts on Pregnancy
|
view preview
1. Each year in the United States, there are approximately six million pregnancies. This means that at any one time, about 4% of women in the United States are pregnant. 2. About 3% of all pregnant women will give birth to twins, which is an increase in rate of nearly 60% since the early 1980s. 3. Approximately 500,000 babies are born each year in the United States to teenage mothers.4. The largest baby ever born weighed more than 23 pounds but died just 11 hours after his birth in 1879. The largest surviving baby was born in October 2009 in Sumatra, Indonesia, and weighed an astounding 19.2 pounds at birth. 5. Approximately one in three babies in the United States is now delivered by cesarean section. The number of cesarean sections in the Un ...
|
|
|
1 |
960 |
bio_man |
5 years ago |
Can you spot the camouflaged frogmouth bird?
|
view preview
The frogmouths are a group of nocturnal birds found from across India and southern Asia to Australia. They are named for their large flattened hooked bills and huge frog-like gape, which they use to take insects. The one's shown above are tawny frogmouths, and they exhibits one of the best examples of cryptic plumage and mimicry, which perch low on tree branches during the day camouflaged as part of the tree. Their silvery-grey plumage patterned with white, black, and brown streaks and spots allows them to freeze into the form of a broken tree branch and become practically invisible in broad daylight. The tawny frogmouth often chooses a broken part of a tree branch and perches upon it with its head thrust upwards at an acute angle using it ...
|
|
|
1 |
1040 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
What color is a toucan's skull?
|
view preview
Well, obviously it's white, but take a look at its bill! The attractive 7.5-inch-long bill is possessed by both male and female toucans. Interestingly, they use them during a mating ritual, pitching fruit to one another, but has very limited use as an excavation tool. Toucans make their nests in tree hollows found in rain forest regions of Southern Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean region to which they are native. ...
|
|
|
2 |
1100 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
How loud is a rooster's crow?
|
view preview
Loud enough to deafen you if you stand too close. Researchers have found that roosters produces 1 to 2 second crows that can get as loud as 143 decibels. This is equivalent to standing 15 meters away from a jet taking off. But if that's the case, how do roosters and surrounding chickens tolerate this noise? Researchers have found that when a rooster’s beak is fully open, as it is when crowing, a quarter of the ear canal completely closes and soft tissue covers 50% of the eardrum. This means roosters aren’t capable of hearing their own crows at full strength. The intensity of a rooster’s crow diminishes greatly with distance, so it probably doesn’t cause significant hearing loss in nearby hens. Interestingly, unlike mammals, birds ca ...
|
|
|
1 |
1103 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
The moon isn't round
|
view preview
Although it may look perfectly round from Earth, the Moon isn’t a sphere. New research suggests that because of the way it was formed it’s more like a lemon, with a bulge in the middle.
|
|
|
0 |
1115 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Why do we hiccup?
|
view preview
A hiccup is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm that typically repeats several times a minute. The sudden rush of air into the lungs that's created by each spasm causes the glottis to close, creating the "hic" noise. A bout of hiccups generally resolves by itself, although many home remedies are in circulation to shorten the duration. The medical term for hiccuping is singultus. While many cases develop spontaneously, hiccups are known to develop often in specific situations, such as eating too quickly, taking a cold drink while eating a hot meal, eating very hot or spicy food, laughing vigorously or coughing, or drinking an excess of an alcoholic beverage. Hiccups may be caused by pressure to the phrenic nerve (located in the neck regi ...
|
|
|
3 |
1167 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
These bite-size fruits look like tiny watermelons
|
view preview
Melothria scabra is a species of cucurbitaceous vine grown for its edible fruit, known as cucamelon. Cucamelons are about the size of grapes and taste like cucumbers, they are notable for their sour aftertaste that comes from the skin. The M. scabra plant is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is called sandíita (little watermelon). It is believed to have been a domesticated crop before western contact began. If you happen to get your hands on these tiny melons, apparently they are terrific in stir-fries; they can be pickled just like French gherkins, eaten raw in salads or put up like Polish dill pickles. They also can be chopped and added to salsas for extra texture and flavor. ...
|
|
|
0 |
1172 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
One of the world's largest insects
|
view preview
If you're not an insect lover, this is your final chance to turn your head!The giant Malaysian katydid ( Macrolyristes corporalis) is one of the largest insects in the world, with their bodies growing to 15 cm (6 inches) long with a 25 cm (10 inch) long wingspan. Though the last thing you want to hear is that this giant insect is carnivorous, they pose absolutely no threat to humans (aside from haunting your dreams, of course). Relatively speaking, the males of this species have the largest testes of any known animal at 14% of their body weight. If humans had the same ratio, a 91 kg (200 lb) man would have testes that weighed nearly 13 kg (28 pounds)! ...
|
|
|
0 |
1175 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
This proves that mothers are awesome
|
view preview
It's official: a deep-sea octopus has broken the world record for time spent defending her eggs. After 4.5 years, they've finally hatched, so someone pass Octomum eight glasses of wine - she's earned them!
|
|
|
0 |
1208 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Top 5 Interesting Math Facts You Never Knew
|
view preview
1) Roman Numeral IVAlthough the Roman numeral for the number 4 has always been taught to have been "IV," according to historians, the ancient Romans probably used "IIII" most of the time. This is partially backed up by the fact that early grandfather clocks displayed IIII for the number 4 instead of IV. Early clockmakers apparently thought that the IIII balanced out the VIII (used for the number 8) on the clock face and that it just looked better. 2) Base 60The Babylonians wrote numbers in a system that used 60 as the base value rather than the number 10. They did not have a symbol for "zero." 3) Fraction BarThe Romans did not use numerals to indicate fractions but instead used words to indicate parts of a whole. It wasn't until later in h ...
|
|
|
0 |
1231 |
bio_man |
5 years ago |
How to cut in front of a line (persuasion tactic)
|
view preview
A Harvard researcher, Ellen Langer (1978), studied the effects of asking someone for a favor while giving them a reason for why it was needed. Langer had an accomplice approach a line of people waiting for a copy machine in a library. The accomplice made the request to jump to the front of the line in one of three ways. One request simply stated that the accomplice had only five pages to copy, so would it be okay if they went to the front of the line. Another request also stated that they had only five pages to copy, but it also included the accomplice saying that they needed to jump to the front of the line because they were in a rush. In response to the first request, only 60 percent of those waiting in line allowed the accomplice to jump ...
|
|
|
0 |
1238 |
bio_man |
11 months ago |
Are human-chimpanzee hybrids possible?
|
view preview
The idea that a chimpanzee and human can interbreed, forming a hypothetical hybrid species known as a humanzee, is not uncommon. Since chimpanzees and humans are closely related species (sharing 95% of their DNA sequence, and 98% of coding DNA sequences), it has lead to contested speculation that a hybrid is possible, though no specimen has ever been confirmed. While there is a commonality in gene sequence between us and chimpanzees, humans still have one fewer pair of chromosomes (46 chromosomes) than other apes (48 chromosomes). This makes conception between the two species naturally impossible. However, a different numbers of chromosomes is not an absolute barrier to hybridization. Similar mismatches are relatively common in existing spec ...
|
|
|
3 |
1242 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
This is why geckos can walk on walks
|
view preview
Geckos have 500,000 keratinous hairs on their feet, which split at the ends to create a large surface area. The hairs allow geckos to scale smooth vertical surfaces.
|
|
|
0 |
1247 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
See-through flower
|
view preview
Diphylleia grayi, also known as the skeleton flower, has white petals that turn transparent with rain. When dry, they revert to white. This plant is native to the eastern United States and eastern Asia.
|
|
|
1 |
1296 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Imperial and metric system facts lost in history
|
view preview
There are two measurement systems used in the world today: the imperial system (also known as the English system) and the metric system. The imperial system was developed in England hundreds of years ago and was brought to the the United States by the colonists. The metric system is the accepted measurement system used in most countries of the world. It is a system based on multiples of 10. The metric system was developed in France around 1790 and has been revised several times. Its official name today is the International System of Units or SI Units for short. Both systems have come a long way since their conception. Here are some noteworthy facts about both, which may have been "lost" in history, but are still worth mentioning today. Base u ...
|
|
|
0 |
1311 |
bio_man |
5 years ago |
|