Have you ever wondered why honey never expires? Ancient Egyptian tombs were excavated and archaeologists found pots of honey that were thousands of years old, and still edible. Raw honey can keep for an indefinite amount of time, as long as the container is sealed. So, yes, honey mostly doesn’t spoil. However, honey can contain spores of Clostridium botulinum. This…
Month: December 2017
Where does chocolate come from?
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, the dried and fermented seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a small, 4–8 m tall (15–26 ft tall) evergreen tree native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. Theobroma is Greek for “food of the gods.” Cacao is native to Central and South America, but it is grown commercially…
Where do Pearls come from?
You may think oysters taste kind of gross, but did you know that some of them hide rare gemstones? A natural pearl begins its life inside an oyster’s shell when an intruder, such as a grain of sand or a bit of floating food, slips in between one of the two shells of the oyster,…
Why do we have Christmas Trees?
Every year people all across the globe celebrate the Christmas season with all sorts of lights and decorations, but no holiday decoration is more iconic than the Christmas tree! But have you ever wondered, why do we decorate trees to celebrate Christmas? Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert were known to be very big…
Who is Santa Claus?
Santa Claus is also known as St. Nickolas, Father Christmas, Grandfather Frost and Kris Kringle. He is an old jolly man with white hair, a beard and a moustache. He is dressed in a red suit outlined in white. Father Christmas and his elves make all the toys for Christmas in his home in the North Pole. Santa…
Glowing Ocean Animals!
You may have seen the sparkle of fireflies on a summer’s night. The fireflies produce light through a chemical reaction in their glowing abdomens, a process known as bioluminescence. But did you know that seascapes can also glow and glitter thanks to the light producing abilities of many marine organisms? Some fish dangle a lighted lure…
Why Do We Shiver?
Have you ever been so cold that your body shakes really fast? That’s called shivering, When you feel cold, tiny sensors in your skin send messages to your brain telling you to need to warm up. Your brain sends messages to nerves all through your body telling your muscles to contract and expand in speedy bursts, which is…
Why do we shake hands?
Have you wondered… Why do we shake hands? How did the tradition emerge? And why do we shake hands with the right hand? Shaking hands is something that we have done forever as if it were an instinct when greeting someone. It’s one of those things that we unconsciously do every day, but it seems…
Why do we have birthday cakes and candles?
Have you wondered… Why do we have cakes and candles for birthdays? Why are the birthday cakes round in shape? Why we blow the candles? For the Ancient Greeks, putting candles on a cake was a special way to pay tribute to the Greek moon goddess, Artemis. They baked round cakes to symbolize the moon. … People may have believed that the…
Why are jeans mostly blue?
Have you wondered… Why are jeans mostly blue in colour? Why do we have faded jeans? Why do our jeans have rivets? Traditionally, jeans were dyed to a blue colour using natural indigo dye. Most denim is now dyed using synthetic indigo. Approximately 20 thousand tons of indigo are produced annually for this purpose, though only a few grams of the…