Most people are exposed to PCBs by eating contaminated fish, meat, and dairy products. Catfish, buffalo fish, and carp usually have the highest PCB levels. Plants take up only small amounts of PCBs from the soil, so amounts in grazing animals and dairy products are generally lower than in fish.Read More →
A researcher exploring the area in the 1930s wrote of reports of an isolated orangutan population. But it wasn’t until biological anthropologist Erik Meijaard, the founder of conservation group Borneo Futures in Jakarta, discovered the paper in the mid-1990s that scientists went looking for the Batang Toru group. Where areRead More →
Leading the charge, the U.K. has discovered 24 elements, closely followed by the U.S. with 21, Sweden with 20, and Germany with 19. A number of old favorites — including gold, mercury, and copper — are listed as “ancient discovery” and don’t have a country of origin. Where are elementsRead More →
The first well-documented case of DVT was reported during the Middle Ages: in 1271, Raoul developed a unilateral edema in the ankle, which then extended to the leg. The number of reported DVT cases steadily increased thereafter, particularly in pregnant and postpartum women. Where does thrombosis start? Blood clots mostRead More →
On May 10, 1497, explorer Amerigo Vespucci embarked on his first voyage. On his third and most successful voyage, he discovered present–day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Believing he had discovered a new continent, he called South America the New World. In 1507, America was named afterRead More →
Homeostasis of blood glucose is maintained by hormone secretion from the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Glucose stimulates insulin secretion from beta-cells but suppresses the release of glucagon, a hormone that raises blood glucose, from alpha-cells. What are the 3 major cells in the pancreas? The normal human pancreas contains aboutRead More →
BOTULISM is an often-fatal disease of the nervous system of humans and other mammals that was first recorded in Europe in 1735 and that was suspected of being associated with a German sausage. It was named after the Latin word for sausage, ”botulus. Who manufactures botulinum toxin? Botox® (Allergan, Inc.,Read More →
Early studies in electricity Experiments with electricity and magnetism were first conducted in ancient times. However, the founder of the modern science of electricity was William Gilbert, a 17th century English physician. Gilbert was the first to introduce the term electricity. When did electricity get invented? Thomas Edison Throughout theRead More →
The spatial hypothesis was supported by the seminal discovery in 1971 of cells in the hippocampus that fired bursts of action potentials when a rat traversed specific locations in space, or “place fields.” That suggested that the hippocampus was a sort of device used by the brain for mapping layoutsRead More →
*Columbus didn’t “discover” America — he never set foot in North America. During four separate trips that started with the one in 1492, Columbus landed on various Caribbean islands that are now the Bahamas as well as the island later called Hispaniola. He also explored the Central and South AmericanRead More →