50 Weird Science Tidbits – 3
Feb 13 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Part 3: Items 21-30
Getting us past the halfway point in this series of things odd and quite possibly unknown, I’m going to go with some odd and interesting plant and animal facts, including an in-development “designer” breed of cat that just might steal my heart away from Maine Coons…
21. Did Tom Sawyer know these were under the raft?
These 7-foot, 220-pound Mississippi paddlefish are among the world’s biggest freshwater animals. Kin to sturgeon, they’re popular sources of meat and roe for caviar.
22. Designer Way to Help Endangered Tigers
Meet the Toyger! Breeding programs began in the 1980s to develop a breed of house cat that strongly resembles the mightiest of big cats. In 1993 Toygers were first registered with the International Cat Association [TICA], and now boasts grand champions. Must. Have. One…
23. Gorillas Do It People-Style
This pair of wild western lowland gorillas (nicknamed George and Leah) have the distinction of providing the proof that “people-style” is an alternative to “doggie-style” among our nearest animal relatives. Other than bonobos, whose notorious sexual procilivities may have served as inspiration for the Kama Sutra.
24. How Long Can a Germ Live?
The current championship crown belongs to an 8 million year old bacterium that was taken from the oldest known ice on planet Earth, and is now happily reproducing again in a laboratory petrie dish.
25. Where’d You Get Those Peepers?
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. The emu has even less intellectual gear. According to Tim Nielsen, bird supervisor of the Royal Adelaide Zoo, emus are a serious contender for world’s dumbest bird.
26. Those Notorious Killer Coconuts
It’s a fact. More humans are killed every year by falling coconuts than by shark attacks. When is Hollywood going to produce THAT blockbuster horror film?
27. Attack of the Zombie Roaches
Here’s another cool plot idea for Hollywood’s gaggle of horror movie producers – the tropical jewel wasp injects a venom into cockroaches that disables their insect version of free will, turning them into roach-zombies!
28. Mining for Golden Mushrooms
An Italian father and son – aided by their truffle-sniffing dog – unearthed a 3.3 pound truffle in Tuscany in 2007. Truffles are actually MORE valuable than gold, going for thousands of dollars an ounce. The Italian recordholder was expected to go for more than $200,000.
29. A Spice So Hot It Will Make a Ghost of You
The name of this chile pepper translates to “Ghost Chile” and it’s the world’s hottest chile thus discovered on the planet. The hottest jalapeno peppers rate 10,000 SHUs (Scoville Heat Units), and those bright orange habaneros can hit 100,000 SHU. The second hottest Red Savina is only half as hot as the ghosts – which weigh in at more than a million SHUs! Children, don’t try to eat these at home…
30. Accident as the Mother of Invention
The kitchen appliance staple known as the Microwave Oven was invented after a researcher happened to walk by a high-powered radar tube one day and a chocolate bar in his pocket melted.
The Entire Series:
1-10 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
11-20 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
21-30 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
31-40 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
41-50 of 50 Weird Science Tidbits & Oddities
10 Responses for "50 Weird Science Tidbits – 3"
50 Weird Science Tidbits - 2 by Science News Review
February 17th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
1[...] Part 3: 21-30 Part 4: 31-40 Part 5: 41-50 [...]
travis
February 19th, 2008 at 6:59 am
2Check your facts. First of all, the microwave being invented as a result of a melted chocolate bar is COMPLETELY FALSE. If the microwaves were intense enough to melt a chocolate bar in the person’s pocket, they would also cook his/her internal organs. This is a persistent myth, but clearly false, and this can be readily verified all over the ‘net. For a site with the word “science” in the domain, you should know better. Also, the fact about lightening being however many times hotter than the sun is very misleading as well. The core of the sun is a minimum of 25 MILLION degrees Fahrenheit. It is disappointing to come here expecting interesting facts, only to find more propagation of myths.
Benno
February 19th, 2008 at 8:49 am
3That isn’t an Ostridge, its an Emu
Aileen
February 19th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
4Hi, Travis. From the Smithsonian:
“In 1945 engineer Percy Spencer was researching radar at the Raytheon company. He stopped for a minute in front of a magnetron, an electronic vacuum tube that generates high-frequency radio waves. Suddenly feeling a strange sensation, he noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket was melting.”
This information showed up in 7 sites on the first page of a search for “invention of microwave.” Percy told it himself, but I suppose he might have been lying. You’d have to take issue with the science history community, not with me.
And I thank you for the distinction on lightning as well, will edit to clarify that it’s the surface temperature.
Aileen
February 26th, 2008 at 5:18 am
5Hi, Benno. You said, “That isn’t an Ostridge, its an Emu.” Sorry, it came up in a search for ostriches. From a ranch in Texas, I think. I thought it was a chick. Do emus have bigger brains than ostriches?
Aileen
March 12th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
6CORRECTION to #28 about the championship truffle…
Manfred J. Hattan at Fark informs that the truffle in question eventually beat valuation estimates and went for $330,000. Of course, gold has been going up too… §;o)
Dak
March 12th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
7The “people being killed by coconuts” thing is apocryphal.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020719.html
wow
March 13th, 2008 at 3:52 am
8That’s an emu.
Aileen
March 13th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
9Correction to the correction – the championship truffle in question seems to have begun rotting in a high end restaurant’s safe after it was displayed for awhile, has since been buried near where it was found.
Kennytic Energy
March 20th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
10I’m so glad that food can be more valuable than jewelry, had no idea there was a measurement of hot…awesome.
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