Science News
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Tree use their leaves make food. The leaves contain chlorophyll, a green pigment which together with light from the Sun, carbon dioxide and water results in glucose. Leaves nor... |
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How you feel can powerfully affect the strength of your immune system and how susceptible you are to infection. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found tha... |
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Shingles is caused by the same virus which causes chicken pox, the Herpes Zoster virus. Once you have had chicken pox, HZV lives in your nerve cells forever and can sometimes r... |
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We light bonfires and set of fireworks on November the 5th to commemorate the fact that in 1605 Guido Fawkes, now known as Guy, failed to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But ... |
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Don’t you just hate it when you get an annoying song stuck in your head and you can’t stop humming it all day? Researchers in America think this happens because the... |
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A Swiss underwear company has come up with a bra containing lavender and jasmine perfumed capsules, which makes cigarettes have an extremely unpleasant taste. ... |
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A new vaccine to treat cocaine addiction is about to be put to the test in America by its UK designers Xenova Pharmaceuticals. Called TA-CD the vaccine works by encouraging an ... |
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The results of the first large-scale trial to investigate the benefits of cannabis extracts in multiple sclerosis are out this week. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a crippling d... |
| Fact or Fiction
Raindrops are tear-shaped
 
It's False Scientists with high-speed
cameras have discovered that rain drops are not tear shaped but rather
look like hamburger buns.
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The word "laser" stands for "Light active streams
emitted by radioactivity"
 
It's False It stands for "Light
Amplification by Stimulated Emission by radiation." although another
suitable alternative might be "looking at source endangers retina"
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Sloths mate and give birth whilst hanging upside down in trees
 
It's True – they eat, sleep, mate and give birth inverted,
and take up to a month to digest a meal. They only come down from their
trees about twice a week, usually to go to the toilet. When they do venture
down they cannot walk and move by dragging themselves along.
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The emu is the world’s furthest walking bird, migrating
up to 320 miles?
 
It's True – Being flightless, emus have to
walk during migrations in Australia to follow rain clouds in search of
water. Apparently they can hear the low frequency sounds of raindrops
hitting the ground.
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Drinking lime juice can prevent the disease Ricketts
 
It's False
Ricketts is a deficiency of vitamin D but the vitamin C in citrus juice
prevents scurvy. English sailors were referred to as "limeys"
because sailors added lime juice to their diet to combat this disease.
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Glucose is a kind of protein
 
It's False – Glucose
is a kind of sugar. It’s what plants make in their leaves and what
your cells use to give you energy.
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The chemical used to kills germs in a swimming pool is called
chlorine
 
It's True – it’s the same stuff that
you find in bleach.
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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.
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Women produce sperm and men produce eggs
 
It's False
– wrong way around – women produce eggs when they ovulate,
which can be fertilised by sperm from a male.
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The population of the UK is about 100 million
 
It's False
– it’s closer to 60 million.
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