False! The parts of your hair and nails that you see and cut are actually dead cells. They're made of a strong protein called keratin. Only the roots under your skin are alive and make them grow.
That's right! An octopus has one central brain in its head. Plus, it has a smaller "brain" in each of its eight arms. These extra brains help the octopus control its arms very smartly and independently!
That's true! Leif Erikson, a Viking leader, sailed to North America around the year 1000, about 500 years before Christopher Columbus arrived. They settled in a place they called Vinland.
False! Ants don't breathe with lungs like humans do. Instead, they have tiny holes along their bodies called spiracles, through which air goes directly into their system.
Snowflakes are made of transparent ice crystals. They look white to us because when sunlight hits the many surfaces of the crystal, the light is reflected and scattered in all the colors of the rainbow in every direction. When all the colors mix and reach our eyes, we see it as white.
The world's mountain ranges, like the Himalayas, were formed when Earth's big plates pushed together. These plates are still moving very slowly, which means some mountains continue to get taller, millimeter by millimeter every year!
Long before toilet paper became common in the Western world, it was already being used in China. Documents from the 6th century show it was used there, and by the 14th century, it was produced in large quantities for the emperor's court.
That's true! Botanically, a berry is a fruit that develops from a single flower and has many seeds inside a soft fruit wall. A banana fits that description perfectly! The tiny black dots you can see inside a banana are undeveloped seeds. So, even though we don't usually think of it as a berry, a banana is actually a big, delicious berry!
False! Plants take up water and important nutrients from the soil. But most of their 'food' – the stuff that makes them grow big, like stems and leaves – comes from carbon dioxide in the air, with help from sunlight. This process is called photosynthesis!
That's not true! Cars usually use gasoline, diesel, or electricity. Space rockets need much more powerful fuel, like liquid hydrogen and oxygen, to leave Earth and travel into space. They're built for completely different jobs!
That's true! Saturn is a huge planet, but it's mostly made of light gases like hydrogen and helium. It's actually less dense than water. This means if you had a bathtub big enough, Saturn would float!
In Hans Christian Andersen's original tale of The Little Mermaid, she doesn't get the prince. Instead, she dies and turns into sea foam. The Disney movie has a happier ending!
That's true! Butterflies have special taste sensors, called chemoreceptors, on their feet. They use them to 'taste' plants and find the best spot to lay their eggs or drink nectar. Imagine being able to taste your food just by standing on it!
That's not true! Even though the Great Wall of China is super long, it's far too narrow to be seen with just your eyes from space. Astronauts have said it's like trying to see a strand of hair from really far away. You can only see it from space with special tools or if you're very close to Earth.
That's right! Some plants are carnivorous and get nutrients by catching and breaking down insects and other tiny creatures. Famous examples include the Venus flytrap and pitcher plants. They often live in soil that doesn't have many nutrients, so they get extra nourishment this way.
False! On Mars, the sky is usually reddish-brown or butterscotch-yellow. This is because Mars has lots of red dust in its thin atmosphere. Light scatters differently there than in Earth's atmosphere, which is what makes our sky blue.
It's true! Plants can 'talk' to each other in different ways. They can send out special chemical signals into the air to warn nearby plants about dangers, like incoming insects. They can also share nutrients by connecting their roots underground, kind of like a big network!
That's true! In the deepest parts of the ocean, the pressure from all the water above is incredibly immense. It can be hundreds of times higher than the pressure on land, strong enough to flatten a normal car like a pancake! That's why specially built submarines must be super strong.
No, that's not true! Chameleons actually change color mostly to talk to each other, show how they're feeling, or to control their body temperature. Blending into their surroundings might be a bonus, but it's not the main reason they change colors.