June 24, 1947. A turning point occurred. The phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects gained its eternal fame. All the films, books, series and other elements of the popular culture inspired by UFOs have their origin in that very moment. The pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying over Mount Rainier in Washington State that day, looking for … Read more
Endotherms, like mammals and birds, mainly use two methods to minimize heat loss by convection in cold environments: .Increasing heat production Reducing heat loss by increasing the efficiency of the insulation, but how? By empowering the BOUNDARY LAYER. The boundary layer is a layer of fluid (water or air) adjacent to the surface of an … Read more
Although his life was extinguished prematurely in a tragic car accident in 1997, we can assure that Eugene Merle Shoemaker had a full life. He was able to do everything he ever dreamed of. An early intellect allowed him to enter college at age 16, and not just any college, but the prestigious California Institute … Read more
The legs of newborn horses are 90% of the size they will reach as adults. In addition, a few hours after they’re born they can run… Just like humans, right? The average gallop speed is 44 km/h although the speed record is 88 km/h. Horses drink between 25 and 55 l of water a day, … Read more
Let’s be clear from the beginning: racism is an invention of human stupidity. If we think about it, there is nothing more absurd and simplistic than attributing someone an intellectual or innate inferiority because of their morphology or ethnicity. Racism is a belief based on a single principle: that within the human species, population subsets … Read more
He was a little-known British illusionist, unlike his father and grandfather. That’s probably why Jasper enlisted in World War II, to exploit his skills as an illusionist with which he didn’t succeed in England. He would not use weapons against the Germans, but cunning and illusionism. His most famous interventions occurred while he was stationed … Read more
Although we may find this behavior barbaric, we must try to avoid its humanization. It consists of the killing of the young offspring by a mature adult of the same species. It is a frequent behavior in the animal kingdom and it can be maternal or paternal, occur within or outside the family and take … Read more
Slenderman is a character born on the Internet, a “creepypasta” (a neologism derived from the computer command “copy-paste”). We could say that he is the personification of some of our most atavistic fears, such as the fear of being watched by someone or something we cannot see, one of the pillars of our survival instinct. … Read more
The Brazilian island Queimada Grande is better known as the Island of Poisonous Snakes because it is plagued by dangerous snakes. It has a dimension of 43 ha and is located about 32 km from Sao Paulo. It is the exclusive habitat of one of the most poisonous snakes in the world: Bothrops insularis, classified … Read more
Albert Einstein, the genius par excellence, said many remarkable things throughout his busy life. But one of his best-known and most misunderstood quotes is the following one, which he left written in a letter to his colleague the mathematician Max Born: “Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is … Read more
Pacifica Brandano, Isabella Gualanda, Constanza d’Avalos, Isabela de Aragón or Leonardo da Vinci himself have been some of the alternatives used to find out the true identity of the woman with the mysterious “sfumatta” smile between layers of paint. The “woman of the eternal mystery” we could call her, since the authentic model whose effigy … Read more
The most widespread belief is that they do this to purge themselves, because of a malaise stomach, but the truth is that the evidence is not conclusive. In fact, not all dogs vomit after eating grass. However, there are many other hypotheses: It is a behaviour inherited from their ancestors the wolves: the vegetal matter … Read more
Although today we remember it as an honorable and impressive episode, the truth is that stress and anguish predominated in the Apollo 11 mission. The odds of returning from the Moon safely were really low. Maybe that’s why president Richard Nixon preferred to watch his back by having a memo written entitled In Event of … Read more
The skin is the largest organ of all vertebrates. Its main functions are: Protective (in terrestrial vertebrates it protects from drying out as well). Sensitive or sensory: perception of pressure, temperature, vibration… Excretory: elimination of waste substances. In some vertebrates it also participates in thermoregulation and water balance through sweating and vasodilatation-vasoconstriction. For example, when it … Read more
It has certainly disrupted our way of life. No one expected it. Its arrival has been too abrupt and we are still assimilating it. We often boast about them for being too small and too simple. Maybe, but that does not mean they should be taken lightly. They are capable of causing economic recessions and … Read more
This occurs in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), whose females are more aggressive and dominant than males. They possess a false penis and scrotum (pseudo penis and pseudo scrotum). However, the truth is that they have an enlarged clitoris shaped like a penis actually, which is erectile and used to urinate. And the vaginal lips … Read more
Some superstitions hurt… a lot. One of them was the origin of the children’s horror story that was used in Spain to control the behaviour of the children and which, most likely, has caused too many nightmares in several people. Under the succinct threat of “I’ll call the bogeyman!”, children had no choice but to … Read more
Pudu mephistophiles or Northern pudú It is the smallest deer (family Cervidae) in the world. It does not exceed 35 cm in height and 70 cm in length, and weighs between 3.3-6 kg. It lives in the high and cold steppes of the Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andes. Its trunk is brown, the neck is … Read more
It is one of the most controversial substances nowadays. It has been filling the pages of the major media around the world for some time now. While it is true that it has many uses and is very profitable, marketing often hides its darkest secrets. It is when they have been revealed that society has … Read more
A tragic last minute news slipped into the inner pages of the newspaper El Liberal on the early morning of November 25, 1891: Last night’s catastrophe. Spain is in mourning. Fire at the Museum of Paintings, said the headline. The Prado Museum was burning violently. People crowded in front of that infernal spectacle. Wailing, crying, … Read more