|
January
20, 2003:
Fascinating Facts of Nature
Interview
with Bill McLain, author of Do
Fish Drink Water?
Mike
Carruthers:
Do you know why grapefruit is called grapefruit?
Bill
McLain:
Well, grapefruit, unlike oranges or lemons, grows in clusters,
like grapes, and that's how it got the name grapefruit.
Bill McLain,
author of the book Do
Fish Drink Water? Do they?
Well,
it depends if they're a saltwater or a freshwater fish. If they're
a saltwater fish, the water draws fluid out of them and they
have to drink water to replenish it. If they're a freshwater
fish, the opposite occurs. They get their fluid by osmosis;
the water seeps in by tiny holes through their skin.
Is it true
that Thomas Crapper invented the toilet?
No, it
was actually one of his employees. But he had his name on all
the toilet tanks, so during the first World War, the soldiers
would go into the restroom and they'd see "T. Crapper"
on the toilet tank and they started calling them crappers.
Do dolphins
ever sleep?
If a
dolphin were to ever sleep soundly, he'd be exposed to great
dangers, so his brain, like ours, is in two hemispheres, but
it works differently. The left hemisphere sleeps for eight hours
and they right hemisphere stays awake, and then the reverse
is true for the next eight hours, and then for the final eight
hours the total brain is awake. So when half the brain is sleeping,
the dolphin is somewhat lethargic, but still alert enough to
get out of danger.
For transcripts
and our newsletter, visit our website, somethingyoushouldknow.net.
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's "Something You Should Know."
|
