RANDOM FACTS!

Hot water can sometimes freeze quicker than cold water Mpemba
Effect.
In deep wounds and ulcers, dead or dying tissue needs to be cut out
at regular intervals to prevent infection a process called
debridement.
The tiny Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish has a remarkable life cycle: after
reaching sexual maturity it can revert back to a juvenile state.
Argyria is a condition in which skin turns a blue-grey shade, provoked
by ingesting silver.
Honeys low moisture content and high acidity create an inhospitable
environment for the bacteria and other microbes that cause food to
spoil.
While most T dohrnii die in the conventional manner, in times of crisis
they can transform into a polyp state, a process called
transdifferentiation.
Straight hair has more knots than curly.
After adding up the light emitted by 200,000 galaxies, two
astrophysicists determined the average colour of universe: a rather
bland shade of beige that they nicknamed Cosmic Latte.
Gold compound sodium aurothiomalate can, however, reduce
inflammation in arthritis patients, although its mechanism of action
isnt fully understood.
Known as chimerism, this condition can arise when two eggs are
fertilized inside the mother.
A jar of honey found in the tomb of Ancient Egyptian pharaoh
Tutankhamun is believed to be well over 3,000 years old. And thanks
to honeys antimicrobial properties, its still edible!
The water boatman is the loudest creature relative to body size,
producing sounds of up to 99dB.
Within a candles flickering flame, hydrocarbon molecules are
converted into carbon dioxide. During this process, the carbon briefly
takes the form of diamond nanoparticles. A whopping 1.5 million of
these minuscule gems are created every second, but are burnt up
almost instantly.

 When cooled down to near absolute zero temperatures, certain

substances such as helium become superfluids with zero viscosity,
capable of climbing walls or seeping through microscopic cracks.
In about a quarter of people, sudden exposure to bright light can
bring on a sneezing fit known as the photic sneeze reflex.
In some species, a females egg cell can develop into an embryo
without being fertilised. This form of asexual reproduction is called
parthenogenesis (Greek for virgin birth) and occurs in many plants
and insects, as well as certain fish and reptiles, including Komodo
dragons and hammerhead sharks.
Although they originate from the same fertilised egg, identical twins
carry small differences in their genes.
Male mammals possess mammary glands and can produce milk,
although this is rare. Certain disorders involving the pituitary gland,
for example, cause it to produce prolactin, which stimulates milk
production. The Dayak fruit bat is the only species in which male
lactation is widespread. Its unclear whether they actually breast feed
or if milk production is a side-effect of a diet rich in phytoestrogens
plant molecules that mimic female hormones.
The diminutive pistol shrimp can snap one of its claws so hard that it
tears water apart, creating a high-pressure bubble of gas called a
cavitation bubble.
The faster you move, the heavier you get explained by Einsteins
Special Theory of Relativity.
We weigh less when the moon is overhead.
A mobile phone has more computing power than used on the Apollo
missions.
Syringammina fragilissimas one cell branches out into a network of
tubes extending over ten centimetres (3.9 inches).
Total internal reflection can be used as a cheap and sustainable light
source.
Mixed with water, the chlorine in bleach forms hypochlorous acid
(HOCl).
Pheromones are a means of chemical communication between
animals, allowing ants to form orderly lines in search of food, tigers to
mark their territory and newborn rabbits to find their mother for milk.
Insects have multiple sense organs located on their antennae, while
many animals have a specialist organ in the nose that is known as

the vomeronasal organ (VNO). The VNO is linked by nerves to the

hypothalamus the region of the brain connecting the nervous
system to the endocrine (hormone) system.
Quarks- fundamental building blocks of the universe.
1 million gigabyte = 1 petabyte
The laws of thermodynamics predict that the universe will get more
disorderly, and its energy thinly spread, as it gets older. It will slowly
cool in a process called heat death.
The Big Bang theory predicts the development of the cosmos back to
10-43 seconds after its creation.
Max Planck suggests that light is packaged in tiny but distinct packets
of energy called quanta. He is also recognized as the founder of
quantum theory.
General Theory of Relativity explaining gravity as a distortion of
space and time.
Louis de Broglie suggests matter may display wavelike properties
the beginning of the field of quantum mechanics.
Perihelion when a planet is at its closest point from the sun.
Aphelion when a planet is at its farthest point from the sun.
Temperature is, in essence, the random motion of particles within
matter, and heat is the flow of energy by which this motion is
transferred from one object to another.
Several important laws, largely developed in the 19th century, define
the behavior of thermodynamic systems, but the most important for
cosmologists is the second law, which states that the entropy of a
closed system (a measure of its disorganisation and the way heat
energy is evenly spread across it) inevitably increases. Since in
thermodynamic terms the universe is a closed system, this means
that its entropy too will inevitably increase; in other words, heat will
eventually become evenly spread out, dooming the cosmos to a long,
cold death unless other factors intervene beforehand.
Einsteins theory of relativity recast gravity as a distortion in the fabric
of four dimensional space-time.
Gravitational lensing - the way that beams of light, which have no
mass and therefore should be immune to the influence of gravity, are
deflected when they pass close to massive objects.

 Edwin Hubbles key observations proved that the universe as a whole

is expanding, pointing to a much denser, hotter origin in the distant
past: the Big Bang.
Quantum Theory the idea that on the smallest scales, all
phenomena display simultaneously wave-like and particle-like
characteristics, and that matter and energy are interchangeable.
Pulsars are believed to form when supernovas compress the core of
a massive star.
Alexander Graham Bell believed the photophone a device that
transmits speech via light was his best invention.
Planetesimals building blocks of planets.
Eta Corvi system is a prime example of a planetary system still in
formation.
Commissioned by William the Conqueror two years after his victory at
the Battle of Hastings, Warwick Castle is one of the most impressive,
well-visited and best-preserved medieval castles in England.
Salt is one of the earliest resources mining was used for, with the
industry dating back thousands of years. It is the common name for
the mineral halite.
A typical battering ram consisted of a rectangular wheeled frame from
which a large tree trunk was slung via ropes or chains. The
suspended trunk would then be rocked backwards and forwards
within the frame until it swung with great force. By placing an obstacle
such as a wooden gate in the rams path, it could transfer a vast
amount of energy into the target, often shattering the defense.
One of the most useful siege weapons ever to be created, the
catapult-style trebuchet allowed an army to bombard a citys walls
and interior buildings with huge stones, flaming balls of earth and
even dead animals (the latter spreading disease and panic
throughout the inhabitants). On the downside, trebuchets required a
large team to operate effectively.
A large missile-throwing weapon, the ballista was an excellent choice
when you wanted to disrupt infantry columns.
A simple yet devastatingly effective siege weapon if used correctly,
the tower was literally a mobile wooden turret on wheels that enabled
troops to scale enemy walls in relative safety.
The Colossus computer was a machine used by the British
intelligence service during World War II to analyse and decrypt

teleprinter orders and messages enciphered with a Lorenz SZ40/42

encryption machine by the Nazi Germany High Command.
Charles Babbage describes his design for the first mechanical
computer the Analytical Engine.
German engineer Konrad Zuse builds the Z1, which is the first
programmable computer.
The original Colossus, the worlds first programmable electronic
digital computer, is built by Thomas Tommy Flowers.
The first machine to be sold to the public as a personal computer is
the Altair 8800.
Bletchley Park was the British governments main decryption
headquarters throughout World War II.
The sun spins very differently from a solid object like the Earth an
effect that scientists call differential rotation.
If the liquid molecules have a strong electrical attraction for the
containers molecules, they pull up the sides, causing a concave
surface (a meniscus). If the liquid pulls inwards to itself more strongly
than the sides, it creates a convex meniscus.
Zoologist Frdric Cuvier was the first Westerner to discover the red
panda, Ailurus fulgens (fulgens meaning shiny, fire-coloured cat), in
1825, a full 48 years before the discovery of the black-and-white giant
panda.
Several plants could claim the planets most invasive plant title, but
the worlds worst water weed is undoubtedly the water hyacinth.
Tapputi, whose title was palace overseer, is considered the first
chemist because she was the first to use specialised equipment eg
a distiller to extract and purify essential oils from plants and flowers.
The bloodhound has the best sense of smell of any dog. Its nose has
40 times more scent receptors than a human nose they have been
referred to as a nose with a dog attached. In general, mammals
have the best noses.
Rheumatoid arthritis, which is the kind that more commonly affects
the hands and fingers, is a disease where your own immune system
incorrectly begins attacking the cartilage of your joints.
Osteoarthritis is partly caused by mechanical stress of the joints but it
normally requires a specific injury or a lifetime of hard work or obesity
to do enough damage to trigger arthritis.

 The Staffordshire Hoard, discovered on 5 July 2009, is the UKs most

valuable treasure find.
The terminator is the dividing line between day and night sides of any
planet or other illuminated object.
A garter snake is not only the most common serpent, but also part of
the largest family of snakes (Colubridae).
Traditionally a blue moon happens when there are two full moons in
a calendar month.
Platinum is made by exploding stars.
Intraplate earthquakes happen along shallow cracks within the
floating rock slabs, called plates, which make up Earths crust.
When an employee discovers the company they work for is up to no
good they may blow the whistle and reveal all to the press.
A mole is a spy who burrows his or her way into an enemy countrys
spy network or government to get secrets.
Spies who work for one countrys secret service while really working
for an enemy in secret are known as double agents.
Sleeper agents enter a foreign country and try to blend in as ordinary
people.
Some people believe the words, Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order
of the Ages) link the dollar with the Illuminati a secret cult believed
by some to control world events.
The date on the base of the pyramid is 1776 in Roman numerals
thats the year the US became an independent nation. (1 dollar bill)
There are 13 steps on the pyramid, to represent the 13 original
American colonies. (1 dollar bill)
There are 293 coin combinations to change a dollar bill.
The spooky, all-seeing eye on top of the pyramid has inspired all
kinds of conspiracy theories, because it looks like a symbol used by
the Freemasons Secret Society. (1 dollar bill)
Clutched in the eagles beak is a ribbon that reads, E Pluribus
Unum (From many, one). (1 dollar bill)
The Latin phrase Annuit Coeptis above the pyramid translates as,
God has favored our undertaking. (1 dollar bill)
Vexillologists flag experts.
In the year 1949, the Communist Party seized control of China.

The Southern Cross is the brightest constellation visible from

Australia.
Maple is Canadas national tree.
Crusaders Christian warriors.
According to legend, the Danish flag (the Dannebrog) fell from the
sky during a battle with the Estonian army in 1219, helping the Danes
to victory.
Amaterasu Sun goddess in Japan.
Using a program called Echelon, the NSA (National Security Agency)
monitors electronic communications. The goal is probably to listen for
terrorists and terrorist networks, but no one really knows.
Stem cells are self-renewing cells with the potential to become any
other type of cell in the body.
Bacteria are the simplest living cells and the most widespread life
form on Earth.
Sperm whale
The sperm whale has evolved the largest brain ever to exist on our
planet, weighing as much as nine kilograms or 20 pounds.
The smallest primate brain is owned by the pygmy mouse lemur of
Madagascar and weighs in at just 0.004 pounds (2g).
Colossal squid - Little is known about these mysterious creatures, but
they have eyes the size of footballs the largest known in the animal
kingdom.
Enrique Pena Nieto Mexican President.
Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera famed Mexican drug lord. He
commanded the Sinaloa Cartel.
Cortisol stress hormone.
Duff Beer Homer Simpsons drink of choice.
Beavers deposit an oily liquid called castoreum on the boundaries of
their territory. This creates a scent fence to keep non-family
members away.
Kuiper Belt - An environment composed of a ring of ice and rock more
than a billion kilometres wide, beginning just behind Pluto. This debris
zone receives only one to two thousandths of the amount of light that
reaches the Earth.
Military frogmen are the elite, considered the toughest special forces
in any army.

 Bananas contain the amino acid tryptophan, which stimulates

production of the bodys happiness hormone, serotonin, in the brain.
Sleep apnoea - This is when the upper airway becomes obstructed
and leads to potentially dangerous breathing problems. Most of those
affected are unaware of their nightly battle for survival.
Another form of symmetry is found in the ribs on the shell of a
mussel: they form a row of a perfectly proportional pattern from one
point outwards in physics this is known as translational symmetry.
Historians now know that the @ sign was a unit of weight among
tradesmen on the Mediterranean in the 16th century an @ was
equivalent to about ten kilograms.
Ray Tomlinson created the worlds first email address.
At 10.25pm on 14th April 1865, the actor John Wilkes Booth shoots
the US president, Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head with a .44calibre derringer at Fords Theatre in Washington DC. Officer John
Frederick Parker, who is meant to be guarding the presidents private
box, is not at his post at this time.
It is Ahmose I, the founder of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, who claimed
that pharaohs are gods on Earth and should only have children with
other deities. He married his half-sister Ahmose-Nefertari, and his
son also married one of his sisters.
The powerful Egyptians fall into the clutches of scheming officials and
General Horemheb takes over.
He was the most famous
Muslim hero: Kurdish commander Salah ad-Din (meaning integrity of
belief) served as an officer to the Sultan until he became Sultan
himself. (in Egypt)
-93.2C was the temperature in the Antarctic in 2010 the lowest
temperature to ever have been measured on Earth.
12.7C was the body temperature of a two year- old boy in 2014 the
lowest that someone has survived. The highest recorded body
temperature is 46.5C.
5.5X1012C is the highest temperature ever achieved by humans. It
occurred during a collision of lead ions in a research centre.
1.42X1033C is the figure known as the Planck temperature: the
highest possible temperature that can be calculated and designated
by conventional physics. And its what physicists are talking about
when they say really hot!

 Claude Shannon is usually called the father of Information

Technology.
The first high-level programming language was Fortran.
The first computer to perform a trillion operations per second was
called the Gravity Pipeline.
Vinton Cerf is hailed as the Father of the Internet.
Mathematician Blaise Pascal attempted automated computing as
early as 1642.
In 1971, Intel launched the world's first single-chip microprocessor,
the Intel 4004. The Pioneer 10 spacecraft used the 4004
microprocessor.
In 1958, Chester Carlson invented the Xerox machine.
Linus Torvalds is the creator of Linux.
In 1993, Intel released the Pentium processor. It was a 60 MHz
processor, incorporating 3.2 million transistors. It sold for $878
apiece.
ARPANET, the first 'Internet', was launched in 1969.
The world's first minicomputer, Digital Equipment's PDP-8, was
introduced in 1965, and cost a phenomenal $18,000.
Cray Research Incorporated introduced the first supercomputer in
1976-the Cray 1. It could perform 240 million calculations per second.
The first cellular phone communication network was launched in
Japan, in 1979.
Pacman, one of the most popular arcade games of all times, was
released in 1980.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web.
The first mechanical calculator capable of multiplication was invented
by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who also co-invented the calculus, in
1673.
Yahoo! derived its name from the word Yahoo coined by Jonathan
Swift in Gulliver's Travels. A Yahoo is a person who is repulsive in
appearance and action and is barely human!
Researchers consider that the first search engine was Archie.
Mosaic, the first Web browser with a GUI.
Did you know that the original URL of Yahoo! was
http://akebono.stanford.edu/ ?
The Internet was initially called the 'Galactic network'.

 3500 BC to 2900 BC: The Phoenicians develop an alphabet. The

Sumerians develop cuneiform writing-pictographs of accounts written
on clay tablets. The Egyptians develop hieroglyphic writing.
The first encyclopedia is written in Syria.
Johannes Gutenberg invents a printing press with metal movable
type. His first printed book? The Holy Bible.
Camera Obscura invented-primitive image making makes its entry.
First daily newspaper is published in Leipzig, Germany. It was called
the Einkommende Zeitung.
Melvyl Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal System for ordering
library books.
Intel is short for Integrated Electronics.
Intel co-founder Gordon Moore said in 1965, "The amount of
information storable in one square inch of silicon will double every 18
months." This came to be known as Moore's Law.
In 1963, Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse as a pointing device
for computers. It was patented as the X-Y indicator in 1968.
Apple introduced the Macintosh, the first PC with a graphical user
interface.
Intel's code name for its effort to make the one GHz microprocessor
was Project Foster.
Intel's project on the first processor to use the new 64-bit architecture
was under the code name Merced.
The first microprocessor to make it into a home computer was the
Intel 8080, a complete 8-bit computer on one chip, introduced in
1974.
'Stinger' was the codename Microsoft used for its smart phone
platform that was unveiled in 2001.
The Commodore 64 was the best-selling PC of its time. It had a large
memory capacity for the time-64 KB; low-cost floppy disks; and color
graphics.
The popular CD recording software Nero Burning ROM is named
after the Roman Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus, who is said to have been playing music while Rome was
burning.
Did you know that Windows XP was code-named Whistler?
French keyboards are 'AZERTY' instead of 'QWERTY'.

 David Bradley wrote the code for the [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete] key
sequence.
Astronaut David Wolf was the first American to exercise his right to
vote from space. He e-mailed his vote for the Houston Mayoral
elections in November 1997, while aboard the Russian space station
Mir.
The message "What hath God wrought?" was the first official
message sent in Morse Code on May 24,1844, from the old Supreme
Court chamber in Washington to Baltimore.
On December 3,1992, an engineer named Neil Papworth sent the
first SMS-"MERRY CHRISTMAS"-to his colleagues at Vodafone in
Britain.
Half a byte is called a nibble.
1975 saw the emergence of the first word processing software, the
Electric Pencil. WordStar was released in 1978.
The Loebner Award, for a machine passing the Turing Test.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group.
The first object-oriented language was Simula.
Dronabinol, which is a synthetic version of an active compound in
marijuana.
Leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite and may improve
respiratory function.
Myelination formation of the fatty sheath, the myelin sheath.
Blazars galaxies with central supermassive black holes emitting
gamma rays in strong jets that happen to be pointed toward Earth like
flashlight beams.
In astrophysics and physical cosmology, Olbers' paradox, named
after the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers (17581840)
and also called the "dark night sky paradox", is the argument that the
darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite
and eternal static universe.
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the thermal radiation left
over from the time of recombination in Big Bang cosmology.
The diffuse extragalactic background light (EBL) is all the
accumulated radiation in the universe due to star formation
processes, plus a contribution from active galactic nuclei (AGNs).

 The most interesting characteristic of Wolbachia is that it appears to

block the dengue virus from replicating in the tissues of mosquitoes.
A parsec is equivalent to the distance between the star and the Earth
if the parallax angle is of one second arc.
The angle described by the movement of a star in a six-month period
of the Earth's rotation is called its parallax.
An accretion disk is a gaseous accumulation of matter that the black
hole draws from nearby stars.
More than 200 years ago, philosopher Immanuel Kant postulated that
nebulae were island-universes of distant stars.
Quasars - The most powerful objects in the universe, quasars are so
distant from Earth that they appear to us as diffuse stars. They are
the bright cores of remote galaxies.
Olympus Mons is the largest volcano of the solar system. It is about
two-and-a-half times as high as Mount Everest.
CALORIS CRATER - The largest impact crater in the solar system, it
has a diameter of 810 miles (1,300 km).
The Van Allen belts trap the particles from the solar wind, causing
phenomena like the auroras.
NUTATION - 18.6 YEARS is a sort of nod made by the Earth, causing
the displacement of the geographic poles by nine arc seconds.
PRECESSION - 25,800 YEARS A slow turning of the direction of the
Earths axis (similar to that of a top), caused by the Earths
nonspherical shape and the gravitational forces of the Sun and the
Moon.
PIEZOELECTRICITY - The generation of electric currents that can
occur when mechanical tension redistributes the negative and
positive charges in a crystal.
PYROELECTRICITY - The generation of electric currents that can
occur when a crystal is subjected to changes in temperature and,
consequently, changes in volume.
Our worlds very first supercontinent, Vaalbara, begins to emerge
from a series of combining cratons.
From the Greek for going downhill, a katabatic wind is also known as
a drainage wind. It carries dense air down from high elevations, such
as mountain tops, down a slope thanks to gravity.
Jet streams are currents of fast-moving air found high in the
atmosphere of some planets.

 Above ground, vascular plants protect themselves and retain their

water supply with a waxy, waterproof covering called cuticle.
Plants grow at meristems, areas with cells that are capable of division
that is, making new cells.
The growth hormone auxin drives stems to grow up towards the sky
and roots to grow down towards water.
The glossy leaves, roots and stem of the plant (poison ivy) contain an
oily, organic toxin called urushiol, to which nine out of ten people are
allergic.
Severe mydriasis excessive dilution of the pupil is a common side
effect of consuming Angels Trumpets.
Tachycardia - rapid heart-rate exceeding normal range.
Rafflesia arnoldii, with its massive one-metre (3.3-foot)-diameter
bloom, is the largest individual flower yet found on the planet
usually in the tropical rainforests of Indonesia.
All oak trees begin their life cycle as an acorn.
A dead oak is known as a snag.
The Jurupa Oak is the oldest living oak colony in the world at 13,000
years old. It has lived this long by constantly cloning itself.
Monotremes are a primitive group of mammals that comprise the
platypus and echidnas; they lay eggs, but even then the egg
develops for a long time inside the mother and is nourished by her.
Molecular phylogenetics is the scientific discipline that compares the
mitochondrial DNA barcode of different animals, and groups the most
similar ones together.
A shoal is a social group of fish swimming closely together but
foraging for food individually.
A school of fish swim in a more synchronized fashion, moving at the
same speed and turning simultaneously. These groups often consist
of a single species.
Porcupine caribou hold the record for their incredibly long migration of
up to 4,800km (2,983mi) per year across the frozen tundra in North
America.
Magnetite is embedded in plastic to store info in magnetic storage
devices, like floppy disks and hard drives.
Sharks use sense organs called ampullae of Lorenzini to detect
electrical fields in the ocean, for hunting and navigation.

 Karst is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks

including limestone, dolomite and gypsum. It is characterized by
sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage systems.
A stalactite is an icicle-shaped formation that hangs from the ceiling
of a cave, and is produced by precipitation of minerals from water
dripping through the cave ceiling. Most stalactites have pointed tips.
A stalagmite is an upward-growing mound of mineral deposits that
have precipitated from water dripping onto the floor of a cave. Most
stalagmites have rounded or flattened tips.
There are two main types of melanin. Eumelanin is dark brown or
black, and pheomelanin is reddish yellow colour.
Phytoplankton reflect green light, which can give their ocean habitat a
greener hue.
Bananas contain yellow pigments called carotenoids that become
visible when the fruit is ripe.
When red meat is cooked, the iron atoms within its red myoglobin
proteins become oxidised, forming a new brown compound called
hemichrome.
Additive mixing is used for mixing colours of light and involves
combing red, blue and green to create all of the other shades.
Subtractive mixing is the method used to create different colours of
paint or ink and has red, blue and yellow as its primary colours.
Tyrian purple dye came from the ink secreted by the Bolinus
brandaris sea snail.
The blood of most crustaceans and molluscs contains haemocyanin,
which contains copper instead of iron.
Some segmented worms, leeches and marine worms have blood that
contains the protein chlorocruorin. This turns their blood light green
when oxygenated and a darker green when deoxygenated.
A protein called haemorythrin (violet) is found in the blood of some
marine invertebrates.
Polar bears have black skin to absorb heat from the Sun and keep
them warm. Their white fur is transparent.
Tinnitus is a sound you can hear that isnt caused by an outside
source and often manifests as a buzzing, ringing, whistling or
humming noise.
Messages are passed from one nerve cell to the next by chemical
messengers called neurotransmitters.

 Acetylcholine excites the nerve cells that it touches, triggering more

electrical activity.
Dopamine is a chemical that also excites nerve cells. It plays a vital
role in the control of movement and posture, and low levels of
dopamine underlie the muscle rigidity that exists in Parkinsons
disease. Dopamine is also used in the brains reward circuitry and is
one of the chemicals responsible for the good feelings that are
normally associated with more addictive behavior types.
Noradrenaline is similar in structure to the hormone adrenaline and is
involved in the fight or flight response. In the brain, it keeps us alert
and focused.
Serotonin is sometimes known as the happy hormone and transmits
signals involved in body temperature, sleep, mood and pain.
These chemical messengers travel across the small gap - called the
synaptic cleft - and stick to receptors on nearby nerve cells.
Nerve cells communicate by releasing neurotransmitters at
specialized junctions called synapses.
The word robot derives from the Czech word robota (meaning forced
labor), coined by Karel Capek in 1920.
The first watch to do something other than tell the time was the Mimo
Loga.
The compound responsible for superglues characteristic sticky
strength is called cyanoacrylate, which is an example of an acrylic
resin.
A circle of waving tentacles surrounds the anemones central mouth
and these tentacles contain nematocysts microscopic stinging
structures that use neurotoxins to immobilize prey ready for eating.
The anemone uses hydrostatic pressure to keep its shape.
Natron consists mainly of sodium carbonate, a salt that dissolves in
the water to make it strongly alkaline.
To defend against bird predators, ladybird bodies are full of a
chemical called precoccinelline.
The Student Dust Counter instrument is named after Venetia Burney,
who came up with Plutos name in 1930.
Cats react to an active ingredient in catnip called nepetalactone.