defences
edyong | December 6, 2009It's Saturday night and I'm spending it with hundreds of children watching a man eat the world's hottest chilli. The man breathes wide-mouthed, his eyes water, and he stands bent over with his hands on his knees. The children love it. The charismatic woman who forced the chilli onto the man assures everyone that he is unlikely to die...
This was just one of the many amusing scenes at this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lecture, which also saw the lecture theatre being invaded by the world's deadliest poison, two hungry ponies, a hand grenade and a selection of incredible plants. For…
edyong | August 20, 2009
During chase scenes, movie protagonists often make their getaway by releasing some sort of decoy to cover their escape or distract their pursuer. But this tactic isn't reserved for action heroes - some deep-sea animals also evade their predators by releasing decoys - glowing ones.
Karen Osborn from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography has discovered seven new species of closely related marine worms (annelids) that use this trick. Each species pack up to four pairs of "bombs" near their heads - simple, fluid-filled globes that the worms can detach at will. When released, the "bombs" give…