How do fireworks work?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteOn the Dec 31 every year, people around the world will gather to celebrate New Year’s Eve and enjoy the dazzling, shimmering and glittering fireworks display in the sky. Fireworks teach us some interesting physics and chemistry, so let’s explore how they work. An exploding firework is essentially a number of chemical reactions happening simultaneously or in rapid sequence. When you add some heat, you provide enough activation […]
How is a sponge able to hold so much water?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteNatural sponges are simple marine animals that don’t have any organs. Instead, they rely on their huge surface area to absorb oxygen and nutrients and to get rid of waste products. The flexible skeleton of these sponges (or the plastic equivalent in a synthetic sponge) holds water because the complex labyrinth of dead ends and narrow channels slow the water as it tries to drain away. Squeezing […]
Animals that never develop CANCER
Reading Time: < 1 minuteSOME animals don’t get cancer easily, or never at all. Something in their genetic makeup is hardwired to fight cancer. Understanding why, could help scientists treat and prevent it. Research shows that the elephant genome turned out to contain a lot of copies of a cancer-fighting gene. Known as p53, it is a tumour suppressor. Most mammals have it, including humans, […]
Which mammal can fly
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMany people think that flying squirrels, flying possums and colugos can fly. Unfortunately, they cannot fly but rather they can only glide for limited distances. However, bats are the only mammal that is capable to fly. These creatures belong to the order Chiroptera and the word Chiroptera comes from the Greek words cheir which means […]
What is poison dart frog?
Reading Time: < 1 minutePoison dart frogs are the members of the Dendrobatidae family. They wear some of the most brilliant and beautiful colours on Earth. Depending on individual habitats, their colouring can be yellow, gold, copper, red, green, blue, or black, which extends from the tropical forests of Costa Rica to Brazil. Most poison dart frogs are the […]
When do ants sleep?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAs we all know, sleep is essential as it restores and rejuvenates. Without it, our minds are not as sharp, and our reflexes become dull. The same is also true for ants and they definitely rest. Even ants need to sleep, perchance to dream, and interestingly, the amount of ZZZ’s that an ant needs to […]
How loud are whales?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteWhales use their sounds for different kinds of communication. Blue whales mostly produce very loud, highly structured, repetitive low-frequency rumbling sounds that can travel for many miles underwater. These sounds may be used for communicating with other blue whales, especially in order to attract and find mates. Blue whales make a sound up to about […]
Why do durians stink?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDurians belong to the genus Durio zibethinus , also locally known as “King of Fruits”. Many people from Southeast Asia like Malaysians love to eat durian. Even with the husk intact, the notorious fruit has such a potent stench from meters away. Some people love the smell as well as the taste of the fruit. […]
Brain-eating amoeba
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIt sounds like something out of a horror movie. Indeed, the brain-eating amoeba will get into the nose and starts to make its way up from the base of the brain all the way back to the brain stem area. So you can imagine this little amoeba starting to crawl, devouring some of the tissue as it goes […]
Your brain on imagination: It’s a lot like reality, study shows
Reading Time: 2 minutesIMAGINE a barking dog, a furry spider or another perceived threat and your brain and body respond much like they would if you experienced the real thing. Imagine it repeatedly in a safe environment and soon your phobia–and your brain’s response to it–subsides. That’s the takeaway of a new brain imaging study led by University […]