Why are clownfishes not stung by sea anemones?
THE partnership between clownfish and sea anemones is one of the most iconic in the animal world. Unlike in Pixar’s film Finding Nemo, clownfish seldom stray far from their anemone. The clownfish live within the sea anemone’s poisonous tentacles. Those tentacles keep would-be predators at bay, including morays, scorpionfishes and snappers. In return, the clownfish supply the anemone with scraps of food it doesn’t eat, as well as its droppings, which nourish the poisonous polyp. It also preens its hosts, removing parasites. Only the anemonefish (and certain damselfish) can get away with this arrangement — and it’s not simple. Before taking up residence in a sea anemone, the anemonefish must first acclimate its body to the anemone’s tentacles by gradually brushing them against different parts of its body. A layer of mucus over the fish’s scales further protect it from potential stings. Some researchers believe the clownfish’s mucus coating may be based on sugars rather than proteins, which foils the sea anemone from realising the fish are a potential food source. Whatever the explanation, the small colorful fish have evolved an ingenious way to keep clear of predators. Should one come near, it can simply duck into the protective, stinging tentacles of its host — and wait out danger.
Why can’t owls roll their eyes?
THE OWL is known as nocturnal birds. Owls are birds of prey and they have a sharp beak as well as sharp claws in order to catch and eat their prey. Owls can be very small like the five-inch elf owl, or pretty big like the two foot tall great grey owl. Whether large or small, they all look stocky with large heads and soft feathers. Owls have striking eyes. Large and forward facing, they may account for one to five percent of the owl’s body weight, depending on species. The “forward facing” aspect of the eyes gives an owl its wise appearance; as well as a wide range of binocular vision to see an object with both eyes at the same time. Owls can see objects in 3 dimensions (height, width, and depth), and can judge distances in a similar way to humans. The field of view for an owl is about 110 degrees, with about 70 degrees being binocular vision. Even though they have sharp vision, they can’t roll their eyes. This is because, owls do not have eyeballs. The eyes are long and shaped more like a tube. The Owl’s eyes cannot turn in their sockets because of this shape.
Who invented iron?
HAVE you ever imagine, without the invention of iron, our clothes will be always wrinkled. Our soldiers or cadets will wear wrinkled uniforms. An iron is an important electric device that helps make our clothes look neat. Ironing works by loosening the ties between the long chains of molecules that exist in polymer fiber materials. With the heat and the weight of the ironing plate, the fibers are stretched and the fabric maintains its new shape when cool. Before the introduction of electricity, irons were heated by combustion, either in a fire or with some internal arrangement. An “electric flatiron” was invented by US inventor Henry W. Seeley and patented on June 6, 1882. It weighed almost 15 pounds and took a long time to heat. The early electric irons had no easy way to control their temperature, and the first thermostatically controlled electric iron appeared in the 1920s. Later, steam was used to iron clothing. The patent for an electric steam iron and dampener was issued to Max Skolnik of Chicago in 1934. In 1938 Skolnik granted the SteamO-Matic Corporation of New York to manufacture steam-electric irons. This was the first steam iron to achieve any degree of popularity and led the way to more widespread use of the electric steam iron during the 1940s and 1950s.
How mummification was done in ancient egypt
IT WAS very important to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that the human body was preserved. A method of artificial preservation, called mummification was developed by the ancient Egyptians. Mummification was a complicated and lengthy process which lasted up to 70 days. The ancient Egyptians believed in the life of the afterworld. Once an important man from the Pharaoh family died, the body needs to be prepared for the burial ceremony. Before reaching the final stage of burial, the body must first be embalmed by the priest by washing the body with good-smelling palm wine and rinse it with Nile water. Next is the removal process of the brain and internal organs. A special hook was inserted through the nose to extract the brain out. A small silt was made on the left side of the abdomen to remove the liver, the lungs, the stomach and the intestines.
Removal of the brain and the internal organs are very important because they are normally the first part of the body to undergo decomposition. Then all the internal organs, the brain and the body will be covered separately with natron, a remarkable ancient disinfectant and desiccating agent. This process is considered as an effective process in mummification because it helped to slow down the process of decay. After forty days been covered with natron salt, the body will be washed again with Nile water. The moment after the body has completely dried out, hundreds of yards of linen were used to wrap the body along with the soaking process into resins and oils. This will give a black appearance to the skin which resembles the pitch. The term, mummification comes from the Arabic word mummiya which means bitumen, a pitch substance that was first used in preservation in Late Period.
Why do our muscles hurt after exercise?
EXERCISE makes you stronger, happier, and healthier. Making the time to exercise and setting goals are hard enough, but add to that the muscle soreness that comes with adapting to that regimen. So why does it make you ache all over even it hurts to hold your arm up to brush your teeth. Muscle aches typically start a day or two after you start a new exercise routine, or change an old one. It is known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), it can occur when you start a new exercise programme, change your exercise routine, or increase the duration or intensity of your regular workout. When muscles are required to work harder than they’re used to, or in a different way, it is believed to cause microscopic damage to the muscle fibres, resulting in muscle soreness or stiffness. DOMS is often mistakenly believed to be caused by lactic acid build up. However, lactic acid is not involved in this process. DOMS typically lasts between three and five days. The pain can range from mild to severe.
How do QR codes work?
NOWADAYS you can find QR (quickresponse) codes on everything. These odd-looking, black-and-white, pixelated designs were originally used by the automotive industry, but today they are most often found in magazines, newspapers, and ads. QR codes offer an efficient way to create links to websites, but they can also store text, phone numbers, email addresses, or calendar events, or send SMS messages. But have you noticed something about all those codes you’ve been seeing? They barely ever have an explanation of how to use them! Well, it’s actually pretty easy…but you have to have the right tools. To use QR codes conveniently you must have a smartphone equipped with a camera and a QR code reader/scanner pplication feature. Simply open the app, point the camera at the code, it will beep and display the info the code contains, or launch your Web browser to take you to a designated URL. So how does it work? The block of smaller black and white squares is read by a smart phone’s image sensor, then interpreted by the system processor. The encoded data can be interpreted as one of four primarymodes—numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, and Kanji. Other forms of data can also be displayed with the appropriate extensions.As QR code technology evolved, it began to contain more and more information. The initial version was 21 x 21 pixels and held just four characters worth of data. The most recent version is 177 pixels square, and it holds 21 pixels and held just 4 characters worth of data. The most recent version is 177 pixels square, and it holds 1852 characters— enough for a few pages of information
