Only about 100 cases are documented around the world. The true human tail upon birth is caused by a lack of cell destruction of the distal end of the embryonic tail.


According to some experts, the true human tail is not really a tail at all. It is thought to be linked to spina bifida or a hiccup in the natural human development process. While others thing that it is due to mutation of the genes that produce cellular destruction of the tail component

As it is well known that it is derived from the most distal remnant of the embryonic tail. It contains adipose and connective tissue, central bundles of striated muscle, blood vessels, and nerves and is covered by skin while it lacks Bone, cartilage, notochord, and spinal cord. The true tail aris ...

Nothing scientific here, but interesting nonetheless.

Many of us around the world will enjoy a firework display tonight (or have already); but what are the mechanisms behind the magnificent spectacle?



The story behind fireworks begins about 2000 years ago in China. Alchemists at the time were in search for an elixir which made them immortal. Obviously, they did not find this- what they did find however was a substance consisting of potassium nitrate, charcoal and suphur; or gunpowder,as we know it. The evolution of fireworks from gunpowder took another 1000 years until a monk named Li Tian realised that if you placed gunpowder into a bamboo tube and ignited it, an impressive explosion on sound and light ensued. Fireworks were born!

The gunpowder is responsible for the trajectory of the firework, ...

Infection control experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse hydrogen peroxide vapor into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria.


Of special note, researchers say, was that enhanced cleaning with the vapor reduced by 80 percent a patient's chances of becoming colonized by a particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). ...

Breast milk contains more than 700 species of bacteria!


Spanish researchers have traced the bacterial microbiota map in breast milk. The study has revealed a larger microbial diversity than originally thought (more than 700 species) and that it changes over the period of lactation, with the weight of the mother & by delivery method of the baby (c-section versus. vaginal).

To create this microbiome (the identification of the set of bacteria contained within breast milk) scientists used a technique based on massive DNA sequencing. Thanks to their study, additional pre- and postnatal variables influencing the micriobial richness of milk can now be determined. ...

This guy brings new meaning to the phrase “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”


The Venezuela Pebble Toad is a strange creature. It is typically found in mountainous regions, with many slopes and inclines. The toad is only about the size of a fingertip. As such, it is vulnerable to attacks from even a spider, like a tarantula.

The Pebble Toad has an ingenious defence mechanism. When faced with a danger, it tucks its limbs and head under its body and tenses its muscles. Forming a ball shape, it begins to roll down whatever slope it happens to be on. This allows it to evade whatever predator may be pursuing it. Since they are so tiny and their muscles are so rigid, they take no damage from the bouncing and rolling.

The Pebble Toad was featured in t ...

This question has puzzled scientists for a long time.

Scientists think that they have the answer to why the skin on human fingers and toes shrivels up like an old prune when we soak in the bath. Laboratory tests confirmed a theory that wrinkly fingers improve our grip on wet or submerged objects, working to channel away the water like the rain treads in car tyres.

People often assume that wrinkling is the result of water passing into the outer layer of the skin and making it swell up. But researchers have known since the 1930s that the effect does not occur when there is nerve damage in the fingers. This points to the change being an involuntary reaction by the body's autonomic nervous system — the system that also controls breathing, heart ...