Why Do Cats Like Catnip? Read online

  Another source of questions for class discussion emanated from the hundreds of science fair projects I sponsored. For example, I learned from a girl who is now practicing medicine which animal made the strongest glue in the world. A student whose father had a multivaried fruit tree provided me with the question, “Can a tree grow more than one kind of fruit?”

  It was gratifying to see this question-and-answer approach so well received by my classes, and from there it was only a logical progression to consider gathering the material into a book, I’ve attempted to maintain a style that is both light and accurate, adding a touch of humor wherever I could. In many instances I was required to capture the essence of difficult concepts while at the same time keeping the technical language to a minimum. However, a few topics remained which required the use of some technical terms in order to retain their accurate scientific meaning.

  How important is science to our lives? Pick any object around you and consider how some phase of science entered into its development and manufacture. Though it may seem to us that the world is in constant flux, and, to paraphrase Thomas Wolfe, we can’t go home again, in reality the laws of nature— be they physics, chemistry, botany, biology or whatever—remain unchanged, and it is the work of scientists to uncover their secrets. Our enlarged understanding has enabled us to create such twentieth-century phenomena as space exploration, lasers, and exotic chemicals and antibiotics. But nevertheless, the laws of nature are immutable, and it is this constancy that enables us to make scientific progress. For instance, we can rely on the fact that from primordial time to the present, two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen unite to form one molecule of water. The chameleon has been changing its color and fish have been surviving in the freezing Arctic for millions of years, while earthworms, roaches and many insects have likewise survived the millennia. But it is we who are only now recognizing the plan of their existence and learning to understand it.

  To find answers to these questions I consulted books in the fields of general science, biology, physics, astronomy, earth science, marine biology, medical and scientific Journals and reports, and many other sources. Uppermost in my mind was a desire to reach anyone, young or old, with a sense of inquiry. 1 hope 1 have achieved my aim.

  To the many friends in the various fields of science who have reviewed the contents and helped edit, I am very grateful. I owe special thanks to Bert Bond, a teacher of physics, biology, and marine science, whose encouragement and advice is most gratefully acknowledged. And thanks also goes to my wife Goldie for her continued patience and help throughout this entire project.

  ARE THERE ANY ANIMALS THAT CANNOT REPRODUCE?

  If it were possible for you to get confidential with a talking mule, he would probably tell you that he has no pride in his ancestors, and no hope for posterity. He is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, which is the usual arrangement in order to obtain in the offspring the best qualities of each parent. The horse is larger, a lot more handsome, and learns more easily. On the other hand, the donkey is more disease-resistant, sure-footed, and can perform work under conditions that would make a sensible horse rebel. However, and unfortunately, all male mules are born sterile, and with a few exceptions, the females are also sterile. But there is one dubious consolation for the mule. He does not have to worry about the mule population explosion.

  HOW DOES A CAMEL GO WITHOUT WATER FOR DAYS?

  The secret lies in the hump on his back. Contrary to common belief, it does not contain a crooked spine. It’s a solid mass of energy-producing fat, weighing about 80 pounds or more. This is a food reserve station or storage house for the energy to be expended on long trips over hot desert sand. When the camel is starved, the hump almost disappears. The fat in the hump is used up while energy is created, but in this process of change, for every pound of fat about a pint of water is produced. Thus, by excreting very little, and by being one of the few animals capable of recycling its liquid body waste, it is able to go for days without water, Thus you see that an Arab used-camel buyer, about to make a long journey, would probably check the size of the camel’s hump to insure good mileage capability, whereas you and I would check our cars for gas, water and oil.

  HOW DOES A CHAMELEON CHANGE ITS COLOR?

  If you were an insect that stumbled within the long-tongued reach of the chameleon, I would warn you not to fall for its quick color-change act. If you believed that the chameleon had left the arena, you would become an insect of the past tense. What the chameleon does to achieve a quick color change is to manipulate the pigment cells of its body called melanocytes. They can remain spherical to give him a light color, or he can expand and branch them out to give him a darker color. Octopus, cuttlefish, flounder and squid can do the same.

  HOW DO OWLS SENSE THEIR PREY?

  The ruff of feathers around the eyes of some owls is a sensitive sound receptor. This ruff covers the large ear openings of about 525 different owl species in the world. They all have a look-alike appearance with a large broad head and the display of feathers around the eyes.

  Some of these predatory birds are day hunters, but most are night hunters that catch mice, rats, shrews and snakes. It should not amaze you that owls can swoop down upon their prey in the darkness of night and catch any night prowler rustling in the leaves and branches as long as their sound receptors are in good working order.

  HOW DO FISH SURVIVE THE SUBFREEZING COLD OF ANTARCTIC SEAS?

  If you think you have trouble starting your car in subzero weather, what should the fish of the Antarctic seas do with temperatures 5.4 F. degrees below freezing? These hungry fish need other fish to survive. But how can they catch them if they become stiff with cold? Mother Nature found the solution in glycoprotein, a substance discovered in these fish by scientists not long ago. This pure white substance has been isolated in polar fish, and has been compared to our radiator antifreeze. Any other fish without this substance placed in the polar sea freezes to death.

  Whether this substance is made in response to a subfreezing condition as a natural body product is still unknown. What is definitely known is that nature only guarantees its proper function until the fish is swallowed by another.

  WHAT IS THE OLDEST KNOWN SURGICAL OPERATION?

  if you were an Aztec Indian, an Inca of Peru, or an African tribesman, you’d think twice before seeing your tribal doctor about a headache. He would grab you and start a trepanning operation to open your skull to let the demons out. When he was through with you, you’d really have a headache. Trepanning got its name from the instrument used, but surgeons no longer use it. Openings have been found in skulls of humans who lived thousands of years ago. It is therefore the oldest operation we know about. Certain tribes of North Africa and Melanesia still practice it when they think that one of their tribesmen is insane and they wish to release the demons.

  However, with no background in science, no sanitary conditions nor antiseptic tools, very few of these primitives survived. You might say they needed this operation like a hole in the head.

  WHAT ANIMAL MAKES THE STRONGEST GLUE?

  Barnacles, which are related to lobsters, shrimp and crabs, make the strongest known glue. Out of about 800 species, most are classified as fouling organisms, because they attach themselves for life with their self-made cement to pilings, rocks, hulls and ships, which remain their permanent home. Paleontologists have traced their history back 400 million years and some fossils were found which had attached themselves 150 million years ago. Today, scientists are trying to analyze and duplicate the powerful cement they make.

  Only a few countries use barnacles for food. Chile, Greece, Spain and Italy harvest and eat the goose barnacle. However, there is one barnacle found on the west coast of the United States, known as Balanus nubilus which reaches a weight of three pounds and a height of five inches, arid tastes much like lobster and crab.

  HOW FAST DOES PAIN TRAVEL?

  Our nervous system has over 10 billion nerve cells in a network that covers every square inch of our skin and organs. Like insulated electric wires the cells in the central nervous system have a similar protection to prevent the leakage of an impulse from its proper pathway. If you should slam your finger with a hammer, the sensation of pain will reach the brain before you can blink an eyelash. The speed of an impulse, including that of pain, varies considerably in humans. But it has been found to be able to travel as fast as 350 feet per second, almost one-eighth the speed of a bullet. Considering the millions of cells involved in this internal action to get the impulse to the brain, this is breathtaking. Millions of dendrites have to contact millions of axons to accomplish this. The answer from the brain will tell you to pull your finger away from the offending hammer, but the advice usually comes too late.

  CAN ANIMALS TALK?

  Among the animals there are mating songs and talk, food-finding signals, distress and danger shrieks, hissing and howls and expressions and calls of hunger. Animal behaviorists reported cats with a vocabulary of 17 “words” all of which are varieties of the familiar “meow.” Two young male chimpanzees were taught a 36-word vocabulary to enable them to convey thought to each other in a sign-language way.

  The sheep baas when hungry and the hen clucks for her chicks to come and join her in a find of food. The rooster lets everyone know he’s the master of his surroundings. Tree animals let you know when you’re invading their privacy. The leader of a pack of gray wolves searching for prey has three different signals to give them. There is a rallying call, a call that indicates a fresh scent, and a signal to close in. A crow discovering an owl gives out a strident series of sharp caws to alert and assemble her friends to join in mobbing the enemy. There are many instances to show that the animal kingdom knows there is strength in numbers.
br />   When a herring gull discovers a rich source of food, it gives a special food-finding call that attracts other gulls. But when small quantities of food are found, the gull usually consumes them with no advertisement.

  HOW DOES A FLY WALK UPSIDE DOWN?

  Invisible to our eyes, but not to the compound eyes of the fly, the ceiling is a veritable expanse of Grand Canyon or Sahara Desert, full of valleys, ridges, hills and dales. To overcome these obstacles, nature has endowed the fly with all the proper equipment to grasp and hold this surface with each of its six legs. Each leg has a pair of tiny claws that resemble those of a lobster, and underneath the claws, a pair of small weblike fuzzy pads called pulvilli. These are functional suction pads which the fly presses to the surface to squeeze out the air and create enough suction to hold itself up. Thus, with its claws and suction pads the little pest can walk majestically upside down.

  DO SOME PEOPLE HAVE MORE BONES THAN OTHERS?

  Yes, many people do. At birth we have about 300 bones, and by the time we are adults there are only about 206. During the process of our growth and development, a great deal of bone fusion takes place. Five bones fuse to make the sacrum, and four bones fuse to make the coccyx. This partially accounts for the reduction in number.

  However, not infrequently the process of fusion overlooks some bones, and therefore some persons may have an extra bone or two. We know, for instance, that five percent of the people have an extra rib in their rib cage. This happens more frequently in men than in women.

  WHY DO VOICES OF MEN AND WOMEN DIFFER?

  In the human voice box, known as the larynx and located in the throat, there are strings called vocal cords. These strings give sound to the voice when vibrated by wind from the lungs. The deeper voices of men are due to the longer and thicker cords in the voice box. That’s what makes the difference between voices of men and women. Vocal cords keep growing until about age 18 in boys, when they become full grown. A boy’s voice takes a sudden change when he reaches maturity because the greatest amount of growth takes place at that time. It is then that he feels the sudden breaking of the voice. Men over 65 may also have a voice change, taking on a high pitch and quaver.

  OF WHAT USE IS GARBAGE TO MANKIND?

  For quite a time some European countries have used garbage for fuel. But since coal and oil were formerly cheap in the United States, we never thought of using garbage. Now, with an energy crisis, science is trying to find a cheap way of turning garbage into energy.

  Methane is an odorless burning gas and is the main ingredient of natural gas. Since it is formed in decaying organic matter such as garbage, we are making a serious study of its potential as a source of energy. Estimates say that each person contributes about a ton of garbage a year, which in terms of energy is equal to half a ton of coal. We shall try to put this to use. Today, sixteen plants are in operation, twelve are under construction, and many more are in different stages of planning.

  Nashville is planning to use garbage to heat its government buildings, and St. Louis has plans for a city-wide garbage system to use all the waste of its two-and-one-half million people. In Milwaukee, a pilot plant to make methane gas from solid waste is being studied. Chicago is already using steam from garbage incinerators to heat and cool government buildings. In Los Angeles, an experimental setup is producing enough electricity to supply 350 homes from the city’s garbage.

  HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN NONFLYING BIRDS?

  It is elementary that birds are supposed to fly, but there are many birds that do not fly. They are the ostrich, penguin, kiwi, emu and the cassowary. All these descended from flying birds that lived thousands of years ago. Among the nonflyers that were hunted out and are now extinct are the dodo and the auk.

  The flightless cormorant, a large, voracious sea bird, with webbed toes and a pouch to hold its catch, became flightless because of the ease with which it caught fish. Thus, through evolution the wings became shorter and shorter. Now it uses its wings solely as a means of balance.

  WHAT MAKES BIRD SONGS DIFFER?

  The sound of birds is produced by a voice box containing a flap of tissue called the syrinx. That is located at the lower end of the trachea Just as it forks into the two bronchi. Air passing this flap forcibly makes it vibrate. The shape and size of the flap help determine the quality of the song. Muscular control of the tension of this membrane allows the bird to control the pitch, which may vary from a simple call to a melodic song.

  The hoarse caw of the crow is made by vibrating a short stubby flap, while the thrushes and warblers have a longer, more slender syrinx. Some birds are excellent mimics of sound, like the mocking bird who can faithfully mimic the songs of other birds. The parrots and mynas can mimic human speech, and the my-nas, especially, can enunciate words with surprising delicacy of inflection.

  One myna was so perfect in the mimicry of its owner’s language that the owner had to get rid of him out of shame.

  HOW DO WE REMEMBER?

  How people can recall and remember is still a mystery to scientists, and we are only left with the results of a few experiments and the theory expressed by men in the field. We all know that our brain can not only store information gained in childhood, but can recall a large part of it in great detail.

  One neurosurgeon in Montreal, Dr. Wilder Penfield, performed brain surgery where parts of the brain were naturally exposed. While the patient was fully conscious he stimulated different parts of the brain with two electrodes, and discovered that by touching a certain spot he could get the patient to recall in great detail certain things that occurred in the past. He concluded that there is hidden away in the brain a record of the stream of consciousness.

  Some scientists think that certain chemical compounds such as ribonucleic acid (RNA) may contribute to the cells’ retention of events. But how this stream of events is stored away subject to recall at a very distant future date is still the greatest medical mystery.

  WHAT DO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FROGS CONCEAL?

  The colorful frog legion of Costa Rican fauna seems almost limitless. These midget marvels average about two inches in size and identified species already number more than one hundred. Both sexes are glamorized in the most spectacular colors and patterns and are rarely identical. Brilliant orange, yellow, red, green and black predominate in the most varied and gorgeous designs.

  A differing garb results when the pigment cells, called chromatophores, expand and contract with changes in heat, humidity and light. These color cells, buried under the skin, remain unaltered during molting, and a frog with a new coat retains its elegance.

  But just as the beautiful rose has its thorns, these beauties of nature have their toxins. Through their skin, underneath which are located hundreds of minute poison glands, they secrete a most toxic poison that acts on the nerves of mammals and birds and causes paralysis and quick death. Pre-Columbians and later aboriginals knew how to apply these poisons to a blowgun dart to bring down a monkey, a deer or a bird.

  Today these poisons are valuable tools in modern neurophysiological research. Since the toxins affect nerve and muscle in certain ways, they can be used to analyze the various steps in the process by which nerve impulses are transmitted. Also, since they affect the heart, scientists hope to find a control for rapid, irregular heartbeat called fibrillation, or for increasing the strength of the pulse in failing hearts.