Vanilla Flavoring is Made From Beaver Butt Goo
Beavers secrete a goo from their butts called castoreum. Castoreum has a vanilla scent and is sometimes used as an artificial flavoring in foods.
Natural and Physical Sciences
A broad category referring to the study of the physical universe including nature and biology.
Mountain Lions, Pumas, Cougars, and Panthers are All the Same Kind of Cat
What is the difference between a Mountain lion, puma, cougar, and panther? There isn’t any. By any name, this “cat of many names” is the same type of cat.
Elephants Are Afraid of Mice
Elephants are essentially afraid of mice, but not for the reasons you might think. Like other mammals elephants, are hardwired to be startled by things that move fast, including mice.
Bonsai Trees Are Actually Trees
Even though some other plant types are used for Bonsai, Bonsai trees are actually trees that have been grown and shaped to look like miniature trees. Any tree species can be used to grow a Bonsai tree.
A Small Object Like a Penny Dropped From High Enough Can Kill Someone
Due to the way terminal velocity caps the maximum speed that something can fall, a small and light object like a penny will never gain enough speed to kill someone regardless of how high it is dropped from.
Scorpion Venom is the Most Expensive Liquid in the World
Scorpion Venom is the most expensive liquid in the world costing up to $39 million a gallon. Like other expensive liquids such as penicillin, insulin, patchouli, human blood, cobra venom, and horseshoe crab blood, scorpion venom has medicinal uses.
We See Everything Upside-Down
The lens of each eye casts an upside-down image onto the retina. Then your brain takes these two upside-down images at slightly different perspectives (one per eye) and creates a single right-side-up image.
Twinkies Never Go Bad
Twinkies don’t last forever, but they can go a long time without spoiling (up to 30 years, by one estimate). The “sell-by” shelf life of a Twinkie is 45 days. After that, they go hard and brittle.
Starfish Can Regrow Missing Limbs
Some species of starfish can regrow missing limbs, and a few species can actually regrow a whole new “disk” (the center party of their body) from a limb!
Luffa Sponges Come From the Ocean
Luffa (loofah) sponges don’t come from the ocean. A luffa sponge is the ripened fruit of a plant in the gourd / cucumber family.