10 Horrible Facts About Science

(1)

Many tribes around the world have practised trepanning since the Stone Age. It involves drilling a hole in the skull, often with a stone,to ease headaches by letting out evil spirits. People frequently survived, as many skulls have been found with several such holes,some partially healed.

 (2)

Malaria is a deadly disease spread by mosquitoes. It is
caused by a tiny parasite that lives inside a person’s
blood cells. Malaria kills 1–3 million people a year.

 

(3)

Railway workers in France in the 1800s
claimed to have freed a Pterodactyl
trapped in rock.They said it flapped,
squawked and died. Reports of
frogs and other animals trapped
in solid rock are quite common,
but not scientifically proven.

(4)

A toxin in the nectar of laurels and
rhododendrons makes honey made from
these plants poisonous. In 66 BCE, Roman
troops were lured by their enemies into a
grove where bees made honey from these
flowers. The soldiers ate it and were
slaughtered while sick.

 (5)

Cells taken from the inside of baby teeth when they fall out have been grown and have reproduced in the laboratory. Put into the jaws of mice, they grow into soft teeth, with no hard enamel on the outside.

 (6)

Scientists investigating tumour
growth added a gene from a
firefly to make a glow-in-the-
dark tumour.The tumour is
visible through the skin of a
test animal, so scientists can
see if it grows or shrinks.

 (7)

There are over 20,000 road crashes involving kangaroos
in Australia every year, so a robo-roo robotic test
crash dummy like a kangaroo is used to test how
badly cars will be damaged.

(8)

A person would need to weigh around
650 kilograms (1,433 pounds) to have
nough fat to stop a bullet. Although their
body would be bullet-proof, they could
still be killed by a shot to the head. 

(9)

Victorian children were often given
their own salt cellar, which they
were told was a sign of being
grown up. In fact, the salt was
mixed with bromide, which
made them calmer and
better behaved.

 (10)

Not all dead bodies rot. In the right
conditions, some of the fat can turn to a
soap-like substance so that if the body is
dug up, even years later, it can look
much the same as when it was buried.

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