Science News
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Researchers have discovered the real old man or old woman of the sea – the humble sea urchin – which can live over 200 years ! Studying specimens of red sea urchins... |
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I expect to most people listening to the show tonight, the croak of one frog probably sounds much the same as another. But apparently at least one species of frog has developed a regio... |
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Why do some people hoard tons of junk while others can keep their lives clutter-free? Why are some people avid collectors of anything from stamps to beermats? American scientists think... |
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Water fluoridation got the go-ahead this week after members of the house of commons voted in favour of a motion enabling health authorities to force water companies top add fluoride to... |
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We are becoming a more allergic nation- that’s the news from the British Medical Journal which published a study this week looking at hospital admissions for allergy-related illn... |
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When something burns, like a candle for instance, the substance acting as the fuel (e.g. the wax) becomes very hot and vapourises. Because the vapour is hot, and expands, it ha... |
| Fact or Fiction
Someone who suffers from Dendrophobia is afraid of broomsticks
 
![]() It's False - dendrophobics are frightened of trees !
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Rhinoceros horns are made of highly compacted hairs
![]() It's True
Rhino horns are made of the same stuff as hooves and hair, with hair like
strands compacted so closely together they form a very tough almost bone-like
material.
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The American Island of Hawaii is made up of a volcano
![]() It's True Hawaii is actually a string of islands each of which is a
volvano.
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Your nails grow about 10 mm a year
![]() It's True Your nails
grow at about 10mm a year (although this varies between people) which
is about the same rate at which the spreading of the earth’s crust
from the middle of the Atlantic is pushing America and England apart.
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The Loggerhead turtle is the furthest migrating animal on earth,
swimming up to 10 thousand miles each year between breeding grounds and
feeding grounds in the Indian Ocean
![]() It's False It is in fact the
artic tern that migrates the longest distance and so enjoys the most daylight
hours of any other animal. It breeds north of the Arctic circle and migrates
southwards the entire length of the globe to the Antarctic pack ice, 11
thousand miles away.
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The letters DVD stand for Digital Video Disc
![]() It's False
You might assume that the V stands for Video but it does in fact stand
for Versatile, and it gets that name from the versatility of DVDs with
all the other features you can get on them like trailers, sound tracks,
extra footage, weblinks and interviews.
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The fastest cat in the world is a jaguar
![]() It's False
The fastest cat in the world is a cheetah which lives on the plains of
Africa and can run up to 70 miles an hour but only for very short bursts
(about 20 seconds) before their bodies start to overheat.
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Duck billed platypuses are the only mammal in the world that
lays eggs
![]() It's False - Another antipodean inhabitant, the echidna
or spiny anteater also lays eggs, and belongs to the same group of mammals
as platypuses, known as monotremes.
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