ScienceIQ.com

Powerful Quasars

Quasars appear as distant, highly luminous objects that look like stars. Strong evidence now exists that a quasar is produced by gas falling into a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy. Quasars are peculiar objects that radiate as much energy per second as a thousand or more galaxies, from a region that has a diameter about one ...

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PowerfulQuasars
Astronomy

What is Dark Energy?

Because he originally thought the Universe was static, Einstein conjectured that even the emptiest possible space, devoid of matter and radiation, might still have a dark energy, which he called a ... Continue reading

WhatisDarkEnergy
Physics

Your Own Personal Rainbow?

Did you know that no two people ever see the very same rainbow? It's true. Rainbows are formed when light enters a water droplet, reflects once inside the droplet, and is reflected back to our eyes ... Continue reading

Rainbows
Astronomy

The Sun, The Mighty Engine Of Our Solar System

Our Sun has inspired mythology in almost all cultures, including ancient Egyptians, Aztecs, Native Americans, and Chinese. We now know that the Sun is a huge, bright sphere of mostly ionized gas, ... Continue reading

SunSolarSystem
Biology

The World's Largest Clone

What's the world's largest clone? It's not a sheep, but an aspen tree...and it's a natural clone, not a human-engineered one. Nicknamed 'Pando' (Latin for 'I spread'), this 'stand' of 47,000 aspens in ... Continue reading

WorldsLargestClone

Is Catnip a Drug for Cats?

IsCatnipaDrugforCatsMost people think of catnip as having drug-like effects on their cats. Some cats lick it, eat it or just sniff it and owners can see a definite behavior change. Catnip is actually a plant from the mint family. It contains the chemical trans-nepetalactone which causes the cats' odd behavior. It is not a drug; therefore completely safe for cats!

House cats aren't the only animals that go bonkers for catnip; tigers do too. In fact, all animals in the felidae family react to it. Humans and other animals are not affected by the trans-nepetalactone in the catnip. So why does this chemical make members of the cat family go crazy for it? Well, trans-nepetalactone smells just like a chemical found in a dominant female cat's urine. This smell deceives male cats, causing them to try to impress the female by acting crazy. They roll around, jump, stretch out their claws and anything else to get 'her' attention.

Not all cats are affected by catnip though. So, don't think that your cat is not truly a cat if it doesn't act bizarre around catnip. Older cats or kittens may not be affected by catnip. Also, cats may have a crazy reaction to the catnip then walk away and act normal for a while. As soon as their brain 'resets' and the cat goes back to the catnip, the same reaction occurs. The craziness associated with your cat in the presence of catnip can go on as long as the catnip keeps its smell. Although we can't smell it, our cats go wild for it!