The claim for oldest animal often goes to the Arctica Islandica clam – one estimated to be 405 years old was found while British scientists were studying how the marine environment has changed in recent centuries. Unfortunately this Arctica Islandica clam was killed when scientists were counting annual growth rings after cutting through the shell. [...]
While insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, we don’t have a very accurate count on the number of species. There are over one million named species, but many scientists estimate the number of unnamed species to be as high as 30 million. Even considering only the million or so insects [...]
Snowflakes are the result of symmetrical crystallization of water molecules as they turn into ice crystals. Water molecules, when pass to crystalline solid state, such as in ice and snow, form weak bonds (called hydrogen bonds) in which two hydrogen atoms tend to attract neighboring water molecules. When the temperature drops below the freezing point, [...]
Masterfully. To spin a tale about the spider, member of the species arachnid, we must first examine the common thread that ties them together…the way they produce the silk they use to weave their webs, as well as other contraptions, to suit their particular needs. Spiders differ from insects in that they have eight legs, [...]
Echolocation is the ability to locate objects by bouncing sound waves off of them, and then measuring the time taken for an echo to return, and calculating the direction the echo came from. Bats use echolocation to find their way around in the dark, and to locate their food. They send out sound waves which [...]