This is going to be totally random, I warn you. (But it is random week after all, isn't it?)
-Frogs can breathe through their skin. It is called tegumentary respiration. That way, when it gets cold in winter, they can stay at the bottom of ponds and "breathe" using the oxygen in the water, it is actually the only way they can survive through the winter. Yay for frogs!
-They are not the only one using tegumentary respiration, btw. On the shooting of a James Bond movie, Goldfinger, they painted the entire body of a guy with paint, and he died. Tegumentary respiration is one of the ways we "exhale" CO2, (less than 1% of our total, but still), and actually, I think all animals need it.
-The plants can develop a lot of ways to spread their seeds. But, wait! Some can actually throw their seeds in the air! Ecballium elaterium throws its seeds in the air by exploding. (You should check youtube).
-There are no vegetables (sorry Millie ^^). What we call "vegetables" are actually either fruits (tomatoes, cucumber, zucchinis, beans...), leaves, or the reserve organs of plants, that they create to go through the winter (carrots, onions...).
-Some things are "spicy"/hot because they contain a molecule called capsaicin, that reacts with the nerves activated by the fire or heat. And by "bonding" with a receptor, they send continuous messages of "Hot, hot, hot, hot" to your brain, which is not smart enough to make the difference between "actual hot" and "chemically induced hot".
-There is one fish (whose name I cannot remember) that climbs on trees.
-The only macroscopical animal that can digest cellulose, main component of plants, is the snail. (You can not digest the cellulose in your salad, for example). Some others use the aid of microorganisms. The cows do, for example.
That's all I can come up with right now, I hope you learned things.
I always thought the 'covering your body in paint makes you asphyxiate' thing was an urban legend. Could it actually kill you? I DEMAND THE TRUTH!
ReplyDeleteIt could, if your skin can not breathe.
DeleteAs I know, nobody actually died on the goldfinger's set. In fact, One of the bond girls in that movie died by 'skin suffocation'.
DeleteIf you cover your body in paint, you're going to die of hyperthermia first,I think, and It's going to be a very long and painful dead. But well, I'm not the med student here XD. Sarah... Ellie... comments?
I have no personal experience on the topic ^^, just repeating what my biology teacher told me during my last oral test (cause I forgot to speak about tegumentary respiration on a subject called: "Vertebrate Respiration", and was then told that, on the Goldfinger set, bla bla bla).
DeleteWe need a test subject, any volunteer? XD
DeleteIt never occurred to me how vegetables are a "social construct". It makes sense though cause they're essentially types of plants and fruits.
ReplyDeleteI am enlightened.
Something for us - the No Vegetables Club!
DeleteYou'll be kicking yourself for that, 20 years from now:
Delete"Son, eat your vegetables"
"Nuh-uh! Vegetables are a social construct, there's no such thing! You taught me that."
"Damnit."
I'll just.... "forget" to teach my child that small detail.
Delete