The fourth of July is celebrated as the Independence Day in the US. Coincidentally, three US Presidents died on the fourth of July. They were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who died on the same day in 1826, and James Monroe, who died in 1831.
Progeria is derived from the Greek words pro meaning before and geria meaning old age. It is technically called the Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome. It is a disease that causes a person to age faster than the norm. People with progeria do not survive beyond their teens. One in eight million people has this disease.
Case moth caterpillars (Psychidae) make a case around them, which is made of silk and pieces of plants or soil. Female case moths complete their entire life cycle in their case. When female case moths grow old, they lay eggs in the case. They then crawl out of the case and die. Their progeny are…
In 1862, Charles Darwin discovered an orchid from Madagascar with a one-foot-long spur that held the pollen and the nectar at its depths. He predicted that there must be an insect that had a foot long tongue (proboscis) to pollinate the plant. Nobody had seen such a moth and the idea was laughed at. In 1903,…
Flies can jump backwards during takeoffs. Researchers found out using a high-speed video camera that the fruitfly anticipates the direction of the threat and shuffles its legs to a takeoff position in a matter of a few milliseconds, a manoeuvre that helps them fly away from the threat.
Our skin is made of many layers of cells. The outer layer is flaky and the inner layers have structure giving and nourishing elements. The outer skin gets dry or damaged with time and so it gets shed. An average person sheds about 30,000 cells every minute and about 18 kilograms of skin in his…
