you’ve seen the chalazae. If you want to know how fresh an egg is, check out the chalazae: the thicker the strand, the fresher the egg.
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T
These words are also FAT, and they all start with t.
Q
What do you think they mean?
FAT
Tittle
WORDS
a) dot over the letter i
b) mammary gland of whales
c) snicker
d) unit of fluid measurement
Tribology
a) oral record of tribal history
b) psychology of same culture bonding
c) science of interacting surfaces in relative motion d) study of the history of newspapers
Trophallaxis
a) angle of the earth’s axis
b) food regurgitation by one animal for another c) insect mating act
d) laxative
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T
Tittle
A
CORRECT ANSWER:
a) dot over the letter i
FAT
In English, the letter i is always dotted with a tittle, WORDS
but the dot over the i is not the only tittle. The marks made over a letter, such as accents, circumflexes, umlauts, or under a letter, such as the cedilla used under the letter ç, are also tittles.
Tribology
CORRECT ANSWER:
c) science of interacting surfaces in relative motion Tribology is the study of friction, wear, lubrication, and design of bearings. A bearing is the part of a machine that bears friction, especially between the rotating shaft and its housing.
Trophallaxis
CORRECT ANSWER:
b) food regurgitation by one animal for another It sounds gross, but for wolf pups it’s like fast food delivery. Wolves, and other members of the dog
family, gobble up a heaping helping of the kill, trot it home, and then regurgitate it for the pups to eat.
Some birds, social bees, and ants also practice trophallaxis to share food.
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WHAT IS . . .?
Dead Stingers
They don’t have hearts, brains, or real eyes, but that Q
hasn’t stopped them from becoming some of most
successful species on the planet. They’re also among the world’s oldest life forms, and evolved 260 million years before sharks, 400 million years before
dinosaurs, and about 650 million years before the first humans. They can regenerate lost body parts, and when food is scarce, they can shrink in size to con-serve energy. Pretty amazing, you must admit, but the most remarkable thing about them may be that they can sting you from beyond the grave. Ouch! What is this mysterious life form?
What can still sting you long after it’s dead?
a) cone snail
b) jellyfish
c) scorpion
d) stinging nettle
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Dead Stingers
What can still sting you long after it’s dead?
A
a) cone snail
b) jellyfish
c) scorpion
WHA
d) stinging nettle
TIS
...?
CORRECT ANSWER:
b) jellyfish
Of the 200 or so species of jellyfish, about 70 sting humans. Even though their stings can be painful, the vast majority won’t kill you. The Australian Box Jelly is a terrifying exception. Its venom is more poisonous than a King Cobra’s, and can kill a human in minutes! They can be very bad news if you happen to run into one, but there’s good news about jellyfish too.
They aren’t threatened by extinction, they’re low in calories and fat, and rich in nutrients. Jellyfish sushi, anyone? Dried, they’re a popular snack in some Asian countries, especially Japan. And one last tidbit: if you change one letter in “snack,” you get “smack,” which is what a group of sea jellies is called.
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Jiggly Food Product
It jiggles, wiggles, and sparkles, and if you believe the Q
advertising, everybody loves it. This colourful treat comes in a wide range of mostly fruity flavours, and is semi-transparent. It’s easy to digest, and literally WHA
melts in your mouth because your body temperature T
is higher than its melting point. We’re talking gelatin.
IS
.
Maybe you’re a fan of the jiggly treat. If not, you’ve
..?
probably eaten it at some time