&
It’s 6,371km (3,959 miles) to the centre
of the Earth and the deepest hole ever
drilled (the Kola Superdeep Borehole)
was only 12km (7.5 miles) deep. We
could try sending a robot probe, but it
would not get very far. The pressure in
the Earth’s core is more than 3,000
times the pressure at the bottom of our
deepest ocean. The temperature is
more than 5,000°C. Your poor little
tunnelling machine would be crushed to
a pea and then cooked to a bubble of
gas long before it could get anywhere
near Earth’s core. PBCould we send a robotic probe to
Earth’s core?The active ingredient in catnip is nepetalactone. This is
a volatile oil, which binds to the sensory receptors in a
cat’s nose that are normally used to detect sexual
pheromones. This creates a ‘high’ that lasts for about
10 minutes and is perfectly non-addictive and harmless
to the cat. But about a quarter of cats lack the gene that
allows them to enjoy catnip, and kittens under eight
weeks seem to be actively repelled by it. LVCould you survive on vitamin
pills and water alone?
Definitely not. Vitamins are micronutrients.
Your body needs them in small quantities to
ensure optimum health, but they don’t
comprise the bulk of the food you need to
survive. For that you need the correct
mixture of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
A multivitamin tablet does normally contain
a small amount of starch, and some protein
in the form of brewer’s yeast. But to getenough calories to survive, you would need
to eat a couple of thousand tablets per day.
And if you tried doing that, the huge dose of
vitamin A would cause liver failure, long
before you noticed malnutrition from the
missing fatty acids. If you stuck to the
recommended dose of one or two tablets
per day, you would simply starve to death in
about six weeks. LVThe fraction of the world’s
population who can’t see
the Milky Way.1/3
The number of
clownfish taken from
the wild each year.The proportion of American
alligator attacks that are fatal.< 6
per cent
1
million
IN NUMBERSDo all cats
like catnip?