Test your science knowledge with our fact or fiction quiz.
A short person is less likely to fall over than a tall one
It's True - The lower an objects' centre of gravity compared to its height,
the less likely it is to fall over. And that includes people.
Male mosquitoes are the ones that bite you
It's False
- It's actually the female mosquitoes that drink blood
to provide them with the protein they need to lay eggs.
But when the winter comes, and they stop breeding, some
species switch to eating sugar and fats and hibernate
until the weather warms up again.
It is more energy efficient to use recycled paper than wood when making
new paper
It's True - It takes 70% less energy to produce a ton of paper
from recycled paper, than from trees.
A bee flaps its wings about 500 million times in its
lifetime
It's True - During their short lifespans the
average bee clocks up at least 500 million beats of its
wings.
At the last count, Saturn has 24 orbiting moons
It's False - It actually
has 33 known moons, and thanks to new data beamed back by the Cassini
mission which was sent to explore the Saturnian system, there may be 34.
UK Cassini project scientist Professor Carl Murray recently discovered
a small moon-like object measuring about 4 kilometres across out beyond
Saturn's F ring.
Tea bags were invented in the 1850's
It's False -
Tea Bags date from 1908 and, according to legend, were
the brain child of a certain Thomas Sullivan, from New
York. Teapots, on the other hand, were invented in China
during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
Hyperthermia is when the body gets too hot
It's True
· Hyperthermia is excessive body heat which can
be triggered by infections and hot climates, and certain
drugs. The opposite effect - hypothermia - sets in when
your body temperature falls too low, and it can kill you
because the chemical reactions that power your cells slow
down to such an extent that there is not enough energy
being produced to keep you alive.
The biggest ever known bird egg is equal to 12,000 of the smallest
known ones?
It's True – The Elephant Bird used to live in Madagascar
but is now extinct. Their eggs are still occasionally found, and weight
18pounds, equal to 12,000 humming bird eggs.
Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour
It's True - The average couch potato burns off about 60 calories an hour, a
brisk walk 300, and a brick wall 150 !
Ants make up twenty per cent of the total weight of
all the animals on the planet
It's False - Ants are
thought to make up 10% of the mass of all the animals
on Earth - that's still pretty impressive though!