| 2281/
Seeds from a wild flower, the Arctic Lupine, found in Alaska,
have grown in the lab after being frozen in the ground for
10,000 years.
2282/ When scientist
drilled through the ice of Antarctica’s Lake Vanda,
they discovered that the water at the bottom of the lake was
an amazingly warm 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice crystals actually
heat the water by focusing on the bottom of the lake.
2283/ The place with
the most number of rainy days per year is Mount Wai‘ale’ale
on Kauai, Hawaii – up to 350 days. The longest time
that a place remained without rain was Arica, Chile –
from October, 1903 to January, 1918 – 14 years!
2284/ Pluto lies at the
outer edge of the planetary system of our sun, and at the
inner edge of the Kuiper Belt, a belt of icy comets that are
the remnants of the formation of the solar system. Pluto is
thought to be the largest and best-studied example of the
solid material out of which the Kuiper Belt objects were formed,
and is probably fairly close in composition to the molecular
cloud out of which our solar system was formed. Understanding
Pluto's origin will provide key links in our understanding
of the formation and early evolution of our solar system.
2285/ Spiders are believed
to have existed for more than 300 million years.
2286/ Spider silk is
a protein that is formed as a liquid by silk glands and squeezed
out of spinnerets like toothpaste from a tube. The liquid
thread hardens as it leaves the spinneret and some types of
such thread become stronger than a steel thread of the same
diameter.
2287/ At the equator
the Earth is spinning on its axis at a speed of about 1,038
miles (1,670 kilometres) an hour. Earth's spin or rotation
is a relic of its origin as a hot, spinning mass when it was
first formed.
2288/ Although chalk
rock will make the familiar white marks on a blackboard, commercial
blackboard chalk is made of gypsum which is calcium sulphate.
2289/ Oxygen is the most
abundant element followed by silicon and then aluminium.
2290/ Earth intercepts
the greatest amount of solar radiation in January when its
orbit brings it closest to the Sun; and the least amount in
July when its orbit takes it farthest from the Sun. This difference
amounts to about 7 percent.
2291/ In 1950 Australian
scientists infected some rabbits with a virus that had, for
many years, been known to cause disease in rabbits and had
been tested in Brazil in the late 1940s. They released the
infected rabbits into the areas where the worst rabbit infestions
existed. The virus, myxoma, was transmitted from rabbit to
rabbit by mosquitos and rabbit fleas. Over the next three
years rabbits died of myxomatosis by the millions.
2292/ The "Black
Death" was caused by Yersinia pestis (also called Bacillus
pestis and Pasteurella pestis) which is a bacterium. Yersinia
pestis has almost certainly been causing plague epidemics
in human populations for more than 2000 years. It was an outbreak
of this plague in Europe in the 14th century that was called
"The Black Death".
2293/ About 90 percent
of wildfires are started by humans. The other 10 percent are
started by 'natural causes', predominantly lightning.
2294/ An acre was the
descriptive name given in about 1300 AD to the amount of land
that one man with his oxen and plough could plough in one
day. This amount tended to vary since some land is easier
to plough than others but now, in the U.S., one acre is 4,840
square yards; 640 acres is one square mile.
2295/ A cyclone moves
along at 12 to 21 miles per hour (mph), but its winds are
whirling around at several hundred miles an hour. The windiest
place in the world is near the South Pole, the windiest place
in the United States is Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
2296/ In medicine the
time that it takes after infection by a bacterium or virus
for the onset of an illness is called the incubation period.
The incubation period for a common cold can be as short as
2 hours but can be up to 72 hours. Influenza takes 2 to 3
days to develop, measles 8-13 days, and rabies 2-6 weeks.
2297/ While a statute
mile (on land) is 1,760 yards, a nautical (at sea) mile is
approximately 2,028 yards by UK standards, and approximately
2,025 yards by US standards.
2298/ The average body
temperature of a sparrow is 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit; Butter
melts at about 87 degrees Fahrenheit; Arctic seawater freezes
at 30 degrees Fahrenheit. (It is salty and so freezes at a
lower temperature than pure, freshwater.)
2299/ Some warm-blooded
animals hibernate during cold weather and their body temperature
falls to conserve energy. The normal temperature of a hibernating
dormouse falls from 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to 64 degrees;
The normal temperature of an opossum falls from 95 degrees
Fahrenheit to 50.9 degrees.
2300/ The atmosphere
is about 50 miles thick. It consists of several layers of
air identified by their density. Each layer varies in depth
(thickness). Closest to the surface of Earth is the most dense
layer, the troposphere. This layer is about 3 miles deep over
most of the Earths surface. It is warmest close to the surface
of Earth and gets cooler further out toward space.
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