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Why do we get brain freeze?
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Brain freeze is the name used to describe the sensation you get when you consume something really cold, really fast. The scientific name for this temporary cold-stimulus headache is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. When something extremely cold touches the upper-palate (roof of the mouth), blood vessels in this region dilate to increase blood flow to counter the cold. The homeostatic triggers in your body perceive the cold as a threat to the brain, thinking the brain is in danger from the cold. As the warm blood rushes to your brain, this build-up of blood pressure causes the pain you feel. While brain freezes are not dangerous, they are slightly uncomfortable, so the best way to make it quickly go away is to rub or press your tongue against ...
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Biology Forums Blog |
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7599 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Super strange spider found off Antarctica
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Collected from the Ross Sea shelf in southern Antarctica, this 9.8-inch-long (25-centimeter-long) giant sea spider was one of 30,000 animals found during a 35-day census in early 2008. The marine arachnids, which prey on hydroids and bryzoans - branching, coral-like animals - are larger and more common in Antarctic waters than anywhere else on Earth. Cold temperatures, few predators, and high levels of oxygen in seawater could explain their gargantuan size.
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Biology Forums Blog |
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4816 |
duddy |
7 years ago |
Shivering bees
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Unlike most bees, which hibernate during colder months, honey bees remain active all winter long despite the freezing temperatures. A honey bee colony’s ability to survive the winter depends on their food stores of honey. Once the colony begins to run out of honey, the worker bees force the useless drones from the hive, to maintain the food store. As temperatures drop, the honey bee workers form a cluster around the queen and brood, keeping them warm. Bees on the inside of the cluster can feed on the stored honey. If surrounding temperatures rise, the bees on the outside of the group separate a bit, to allow more air flow. As temperatures fall, the cluster tightens, and the outer bees pull together. As it gets colder, the worker bees actively ...
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Biology Forums Blog |
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8375 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Like a snowflake, you're one of a kind
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That's a pickup line sure to get one's attention if he/she knew that all snowflakes are, in fact, one of a kind! All snowflakes start off looking basically the same, but they are individually shaped by their environments as they form and fall. First, water vapor condenses and freezes on a dust mote. The snowflake starts as a six-sided prism - six sides because of the way water molecules arrange themselves into ice crystals. As it grows, its edges expand and create branches of ice that shoot out from its corners. Differences in temperature and wind conditions turn the branches into one-of-a-kind works of art: Some are long and thin, some are short and fat, and some are covered in dozens of tiny sub-branches. Source: http://www.sciencemag.org ...
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Biology Forums Blog |
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15188 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
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Biology Forums Blog |
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9192 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
This beautiful white coat serves as a perfect camouflage
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The arctic fox is an incredibly hardy animal that can survive frigid Arctic temperatures as low as –58°F (-50°C) in the treeless lands where it makes its home. It has furry soles, short ears, and a short muzzle - all-important adaptations to the chilly clime. Arctic foxes live in burrows, and in a blizzard they may tunnel into the snow to create shelter. Arctic foxes have beautiful white (sometimes blue-gray) coats that act as very effective winter camouflage. The natural hues allow the animal to blend into the tundra's ubiquitous snow and ice. When the seasons change, the fox's coat turns as well, adopting a brown or gray appearance that provides cover among the summer tundra's rocks and plants. Source: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/ ...
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Biology Forums Blog |
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23518 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Super large snow flakes spotted all over New York City
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These snowflakes were spotted all over New York City. Meteorologist Chris Dolce explained that all of these sightings are due to the specific way they've fallen: If snowflakes stay separated from each other like you see in these photos, and if you look closely enough, you can sometimes see the structure of snowflakes with your naked eye.
There are many different types of crystal patterns and these star-shaped snowflakes are just one example. The dendrite, a star-shape with varying patterns, is the most common shape of a snowflake. ...
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Biology Forums Blog |
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10690 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
One very hot scale
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Here's absolute zero (-273.15°C) to absolute hot (1,420,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000°C) and everything in between.
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Biology Forums Blog |
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17513 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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Biology Forums Blog |
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10937 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Quite possibly the world's most resistant bacteria
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Deinococcus radiodurans is an extremophilic bacterium, one of the most radiation-resistant organisms known. It can survive cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid, and is therefore known as a polyextremophile and has been listed as the world's toughest bacterium in The Guinness Book Of World Records.
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Biology Forums Blog |
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5099 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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Biology Forums Blog |
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4680 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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