Big Think

Why are there so many cats in Turkey? Street cats had a longstanding place in the ecosystem of Turkish port cities, where rodents have always been plentiful. In the 8th century, tireless hunters saved Istanbul from the plague by exterminating the hordes of rats that swarmed the port docks and streets. To this day, cats still control the population of mice and rats in the cities.

Why is the inscription on the ambulance backwards? If these words were written as ordinary, they would become unreadable in mirrors, so they are initially applied mirrored. When driving, with an ambulance behind you, the inscription on the hood will no longer be reversed for you, but mirrored in your rearview mirror.

How old is the oldest tree? The oldest tree on Earth (a lodgepole pine in the White Mountains in California) had been growing for 1,000 years by the time the last mammoth died, although no one knows when it even died, but it sounds lovely. It grows in the White Mountains, California. Its age is 5067 years.

Which star is the largest one found? Betelgeuse is a red supergiant. One of the largest stars known to astronomers: according to various estimates, if placed in the place of the sun, it would reach as far as Mars and possibly Jupiter. Betelgeuse is less dense than the sun. This giant is exceptionally "loose," only 13 to 17 times heavier than the Sun, so its brightness drops quite smoothly toward the edges, making it hard to accurately estimate its size. Why is it the largest? Betelgeuse is constantly shrinking: over the past couple of decades, the star's diameter has shrunk by almost 20 percent.

The python swallows the animal whole - surely the gastric juice can dissolve the skeleton? Calcium phosphate and other salts form the mineral basis of the bones. They are insoluble in water, but dissolve in hydrochloric acid, which is present in a fairly high concentration in gastric juice. However, in the bones the salts are bound to proteins and are not so easily attacked by acid. Yet, digestion in large snakes can last for weeks. Bones under the influence of acid are deprived of calcium, and the remaining protein "armature" is destroyed by digestive enzymes.

Why do our eyes widen in surprise? Astonishment normally occurs when we see or learn something unexpected. That's a stressful situation. When we face stress, our instincts kick in, and one of them is to explore our surroundings. That's why we open our eyes wide, to see better.

How far does a laser pointer shine? It all depends on the conditions. Thus, in the daytime already after 10 meters its trace on the wall will not be visible. At night, the laser light can disappear on a wall at 80 to 100 meters. However, if you shine it in the direction of a man, at night he could notice the light even from 10 km away. And in space conditions, if no interference is present, the laser will be visible even through hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

Is it true that a piece of paper can only be folded seven times? Yeah, if we're talking about an A4 sheet of office paper. An A4 sheet of paper has an area of 600 cm² and a thickness of 0.01 cm. Each time it is folded, the thickness doubles and the area is halved, even a little more. With seven folds, the area and thickness will change about 128 times. At the seventh stage, you will have to make a considerable effort to bend in half a stack almost a centimeter thick and measuring 2 × 4 cm. In this case a 2x2x2 cm cube is formed and its further folding simply makes no sense.

Why is a light with a higher color temperature cooler than that with a lower one, and vice versa? Perhaps someone has noticed that the higher the color temperature in Kelvin, the cooler the light. So, a light bulb with a color temperature of 1800 K would have a light similar to candlelight. And at 5,000 K, it is white, similar to daylight. That's due to the fact that the color temperature of the light is created correspondingly to the heating of the substance. So, if you heat metal to 1300 K (1027 ° C), it will emit a bright red glow. And the higher the temperature, the "whiter" the glow will be.

Why is business class located in the front of the plane if it's safer in the back? The probability of surviving in the front of the plane is only a few percent higher than in the tail. Considering that plane crashes are extremely rare, that's akin to a statistical margin of error. Nevertheless, engine noise is barely audible at the front of the plane, and the view from the porthole is not blocked by the wings.