Quirky Science Facts!

[Racoon]

Boson:
Any elementary particle w/ a whole-number spin (e.g., +1, -1, +2 etc..) such as a Photon or Meson.
These particles fulfill conditions computed by means of Bose-Einstein statistics and do not satisfy the "Exclusion Principle"

the only food that doesn't spoil is Honey. It has glucose oxidase, a substance that produces hydrogen peroxide, which kills bacteria.

[InfiniteNow]

Honey does, however, crystalize if any foreign substances... even a speck of something, gets introduced. It's still edible, but not as good.

Honey is one of the best things for a diabetic experiencing low blood sugar. It's pretty much already been digested by the bees, so gets into the body's system much more quickly, and it is a lasting source of energy, not just a spike like that delivered by a candy bar.

Honey is nectar of the gods... I mean, uhmm... of the bees.

Originally Posted by chendoh

In 1944 an atom bomb was accidentally detonated in Stanley Hall. UC Berkeley, Ca.

After exhaustive research, I will have to withdraw this 'fact'. The closest I can come to verification, is…..

In1943, UC officially takes over operation of the government laboratory at Los Alamos, N.M., that is continuing the work of Berkeley faculty and others in the development of the atomic bomb. Berkeley physics professor J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led earlier LeConte Hall discussions about the bomb, is the director.

So technically, I could say it did happen in a UC Berkley Lab, but not in downtown Berkley

I withdraw

Originally Posted by Turtle

Water is the only compound that expands when it freezes.

Expaanding on that thought:
Water is the only chemical compound that occurs naturally on Earth's surface in all three physical states: solid, liquid, and gas.

[Drip Curl Magic]

Originally Posted by chendoh

the only food that doesn't spoil is Honey. It has glucose oxidase, a substance that produces hydrogen peroxide, which kills bacteria.

this is true, but eventually the entire thing will crystalize.... but there is a way to un-crysatalize it. I'm pretty sure that all you have to do is heat it up on the stove to turn it back into fresh-looking honey.

[Qfwfq]

The best way to de-crystallize honey, to avoid altering it, is by immerging it in water kept warm but at less than about 40 Celsius.

[Boerseun]

Ferns have two distinct reproductive cycles: Sexual, and asexual (duh).

The mature fern will produce asexual spores which develop into completely different plants, called a thallus. They only grow to a few cm's in height, and their only job is to create sex cells. Once that's done, the sperm cells will swim towards the egg cells, through the layer of moisture that might cover the ground. The egg cell will then fall off and grow into the next asexual generation of spore-producing ferns!

The reason for this is that ferns are very ancient, and still closely related to their sea-living ancestors, where the sex cells had a medium (water) in which to paddle to the egg cells. Ferns have colonised the land well ahead of insects, the modern medium for transmitting sex cells between plants that have also given rise to the development of flowers!

[Jay-qu]

There is a type of worm that can when a particular light shines on it will switch from A-sexual to sexual reproduction

[Racoon]

Accretion Disk - is a whirling accumulation of infalling matter around a super-massive object such as a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole.
Occurs only in binary systems, so that matter is drawn in from an orbiting companion, usually a normal star.