English borrows many words from the Romans and the ancient Greeks but these were only added to the English language in the middle ages. The oldest words are for the most basic ideas. The word ‘water’ for example is essentially the same as the ancient Hittite word ‘watar’ or ‘wadar’ and probably dates back to …
A seven-day week first became ‘official’ by decree of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 321 BCE, but it had already been in use since ancient times, by the Sumerians and Babylonias. One theory is that the week was based on the seven visible celestial bodies from Earth: the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Venus, …
Present day – Permanent body art is now socially acceptable in most parts of the world; in the United States, roughly a quarter of people aged between 18 and 50 have tattoos, and this number is on the rise. 1891 – Samuel O’Reilly patented the rotary tattoo machine. It was the first tattooing device to …
Several theories explain the origins of kissing; although the fact that not all human cultures kiss suggests that it is a learned, rather than an innate behaviour. One idea is that kissing stems from our early ancestors’ practice of feeding babies directly from the mother’s mouth. Another theory sees kissing as a means of evaluating …
With just enough room for them to stand together side by side, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay looked out at a view no one else had ever seen before. It was 11:30am on 29 May 1953 and they had just become the first people to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest. Their journey …
Caves provide bats with a shelter where they can sleep or hibernate with minimal disturbance. Hanging from high ceilings and walls, bats are beyond the reach of most predators but also able to immediately launch into flight if needed. Large caves provide space for whole colonies to roost side-by-side, conserving energy. Caves’ stable temperature and …
Unfortunately about half of the birds that collide with windows die, either from injuries caused by the collision itself or by another animal when the bird is stunned and unable to fly away. Ornithologists believe that the birds, which are usually small songbirds, are probably seeing the reflection of trees and open sky in the …
A recent study found that the ratio of brain size to body size in dogs has been increasing for thousands of years. This may be because dogs are social animals, and the brain capacity required for social interactions means that these species are nearly always more intelligent than solitary ones, like cats. However, cats have …
What appears to be a smooth surface, like a ceiling, for example, is actually covered in tiny cracks and bumps too tiny to be seen by the naked eye. These can provide insects like flies with a sort of toehold, or rather, a hairhold. A fly’s legs end in clawed segments called tarsi, which have …
Both venomous and poisonous organisms can be harmful, sometimes deadly, but the difference between them lies in the delivery of their toxins. A venomous organism injects its venom into other organisms using either a stinger or fangs, which are attached to a gland that produces the venom. The venom is injected often to immobilise prey …
What’s The Difference Between Venomous And Poisonous? Read More »
Only domesticated pigs have curly tails – wild pigs actually have straight tails. There are a number of theories on why this might be the case, the most unexciting being that there is no real reason. The degree of curliness varies in that some domesticated pigs have a slight kink, while others have more of …
Bad news for picnic fans, bumblebees and wasps can survive multiple stings -it’s only the worker honeybees that die after administering a sting. The reason for this is due to the design of the stinger itself – shaped like a harpoon, the honeybee’s stinger lodges itself into the target and is so effective that the …
Clouds on Earth move as fast as the wind is blowing them. The stronger the wind, the faster a cloud moves. On our planet, clouds can be found at different altitudes and move in different directions and speeds. Wind speeds in the atmosphere vary with altitude, so the major factor in a cloud’s movement is …
Many have questioned whether fish do even sleep, because they don’t have eyelids and therefore can’t close their eyes or experience rapid eye movement (REM). However, scientists have now studied behavioural patterns that suggest fish do sleep, but look more like they are daydreaming. Fish don’t lie down, but tend to settle towards the bottom …
A rough estimate of the entire weight of the atmosphere, as experienced at the Earth’s surface, would be a whopping 5 million billion tons. The ‘sky’ is made up of all the molecules in the atmosphere, which press down on you from above and in all directions to create what is known as air pressure. …