encyclopedia

Lips are unique and very different from the rest of the body. They have three layers ofskin – epidermis, stratum corneum and dermis. However, the stratum corneum on lips is far thinner than it is anywhere else on the body. Lips also do not have hair follicles like the rest of the body which makes […]

Legend has it that a peacock’s dancing is indicative of the onset of the rainy or monsoon season in India. On the contrary, peacocks dance to their primal urge of mating. It is their way of attracting a mate. Coincidentally, the mating season and the rainy season coincide, and this gives the appearance that peacocks

Mirrors are mostly made from aluminium or silver along with a coat of glass. Traditional mirrors are basically a thin layer of silver-coloured metal behind the piece of glass. Some mirrors even have a coat of mercury–mercury silvering. So, we can say that sometimes the silver colour is mostly the back that can be seen

Dreams are hallucinations or images that we see during certain stages of sleep. They could be pleasant, nightmarish or just random and disjoined thoughts. Dreams are the most vivid during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, which you might not have any recollection when you wake up. There are multiple theories regarding our dreams. However, the

Lightning travels down the side of the tree-trunk and then encounters the person standing next to the trunk. This person is made up of slightly salty water which is a better conductor. Instead of just the tree-trunk, lightning strike finds that a combination of the two is much better. So, a subsidiary strike connects to

The touch-me-not plant’s leaves close on touching due to a touch stimulus known as ‘thigmonasty’. This is a mechano-sensory response in the plant. Generally, the water and cell contents apply pressure to the cell wall allowing the plant and leaf to have a rigid structure, in the process. However, when disturbed, certain chemicals are released

It is usually the female mosquito that bites. It bites into a tiny blood vessel, injecting its saliva into its prey’s bloodstream and then sucking its blood. The contact between the mosquito and the prey’s skin must be six seconds long to bring a reaction. Chemicals, enzymes and proteins present in the mosquito’s saliva prevent

The outermost part of our skin, known as epidermis, is bundled with several nerve endings. These nerve endings are responsible for analyzing the touch and thereafter informing us whether it was pleasurable or not. The parts of our body which have the least bones are the most sensitive parts like the stomach or our feet

When bees sting, they release a chemical called ‘melittin’, into their victims. It is venom that immediately triggers pain receptors, causing a burning sensation. The bee’s stinger is like a jagged sword, which sometimes gets stuck in its victim’s skin and gets dislodged from the bee’s body. As long as it stays stuck in the

There are many theories regarding why we grunt when we lift heavy objects. The most popular is that when we grunt, we activate the autonomic nervous system. It is responsible for controlling the body’s flight or fight response. It also releases the adrenaline rush in these scenarios. This helps the muscle contractions be more complete

The sun-rays play a big role in tanning our skin. They have two types of ultraviolet radiation that reach our skin – UVA and UVB. The UVB rays burn the upper layer of the skin, epidermis, and lead to sunburns. The UVA radiation, on the other hand, reaches under the lower layers of epidermis and

Venom is harmful only when it gets beyond the gut and gets circulated in the body. It is actually a mixture of proteins and if we were to eat the snake and the poison sack, it would just get broken down by the stomach’s enzymes. Snake-venom is actually stored in the snake’s glands and does

A space shuttle is made up of four parts – the orbiter, the external fuel tank, and the two white boosters. Only the orbiter has wings and can fly like a plane. But its engines are not powerful enough on their own to get it up to orbital velocity. Without wings, launching horizontally doesn’t work

Paper is mostly manufactured with an even distribution of cellulose fibres with small pores. When we write in ink, it moves down into the pores of the paper, where it will remain to dry. To erase off ink-marks, it is difficult for the rubber to separate the intermolecular forces. Therefore, it has to be physically

Menthol, an organic chemical which is found in mint oils and peppermint, is able to activate a protein in our nerve cells known as TRPM8. It is the Transient Receptor Potential cation channel subfamily M member 8. This protein is activated in cold temperatures. It allows in the sodium and calcium ions and sends a