ScienceIQ.com

What Makes a Frisbee Fly?

If you have ever been to the park or the beach, you've probably seen one of these plastic discs flying through the air. We're not talking about a UFO, we're talking about the Frisbee, more commonly known as the flying disc. What makes a Frisbee fly? Just like a bird's wing or the wing of an airplane, shape plays a large part in influencing the ...

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Frisbee
Physics

The Weakest Force

Did you know that gravity is the weakest force in the universe? Well, it's true! There are four fundamental forces (that we know of) in our universe: Strong Nuclear, Electromagnetic, Weak Nuclear ... Continue reading

WeakForce
Chemistry

Knocking the NOx Out of Coal

Nitrogen is the most common part of the air we breathe. In fact, about 80% of the air is nitrogen. Normally, nitrogen atoms float around joined to each other like chemical couples. But when air is ... Continue reading

KnockingtheNOxOutofCoal
Geology

Seamounts - Underwater Mountains

Seamounts are undersea mountains that rise from the ocean floor, often with heights of 3,000 m or more. Compared to the surrounding ocean waters, seamounts have high biological productivity, and ... Continue reading

SeamountsUnderwaterMountains
Astronomy

Pluto: Beyond Neptune Or Not?

Did I catch you? Pluto (newly classified as a dwarf-planet) comes after planet Neptune. Right? Depends. Pluto takes 248 years to orbit the Sun. Most of that time Pluto's orbit puts it outside the ... Continue reading

Pluto

When Did A Cat Become A Kitty?

WhenDidACatBecomeAKittyIt has long been thought that cats were first domesticated in Egypt, about 4000 years ago. Indeed, they were very highly thought of in ancient Egyptian society. It was illegal to kill or harm them, and illegal to export them to other countries. When they died, they were often mummified in the same way as deceased human bodies. In fact, archaeologists working in Egypt have found more cat mummies than human mummies!

Unlike dogs, which are thought to have been domesticated by hunters, cats were domesticated by farmers. Stored grain attracted mice and rats to human settlements, and the ready supply of rodents attracted cats. People were glad to have the cats killing off the mice and rats, and gradually a friendly relationship developed. But in ancient Egypt cats were always free to come and go as they pleased!

New evidence recently published in Science suggests that cats were actually domesticated much earlier, over 9000 years ago, in Cyprus, not Egypt. Cyprus is an island at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, near Turkey. Archaeologists working in Cyprus found a cat skeleton buried near that of a human. The skeleton is complete, showing that the cat was buried shortly after death. It appears to have been buried together with the human remains, perhaps because the dead person’s family regarded the cat as an important individual. Possibly the cat was killed so it could accompany its owner in the afterlife.