"The skin supports its own ecosystems of microorganisms, including yeasts and bacteria, which cannot be removed by any amount of cleaning. Estimates place the number of individual bacteria on the surface of one square inch of human skin at 50 million .... Oily surfaces, such as the face, may contain over 500 million bacteria per square inch."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin#Hygiene

A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.

An average Holstein cow in the United States produces about 22,000 pounds (10,000 kg) of milk per annum. This is roughly equivalent to 2650 U.S. gallons. [! can that be true? over 7 gal./day? !]

The Holstein breed has one of the biggest gene pools world-wide and thus genetic progress has been faster than in other dairy breeds. For this reason it is the breed of choice for most dairy farmers worldwide. Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation, a Holstein bull born in the United States in 1965, fathered over 70,000 offspring through artificial insemination. His descendants were selected for their conformity to the breed's standards and their ability to produce large quantities of milk. - wikipedia.com

"A repulsive form of gravity" is a completely novel idea to me. Can anyone explain this?

It's extremely ugly.

Metric: pH

Range: 0-14 (no units)

Measures: Degree of acidity or alkalinity. It is a logarithmic scale expressing the concentration of Hydrogen ions in solution.


pH = -log10 [H+]

A solution is “acidic” if pH is less than 7 (Hydrogen ion concentration is greater than 10−7 M), “neutral” if pH equals 7 (Hydrogen ion concentration equals 10−7 M), and “alkaline” if pH greater than 7 (Hydrogen ion concentration is less than 10−7 M). As was pointed out here, pH measures intensity and not capacity. This is similar to temperature, which is actually a measure of how hot something is and not the amount of heat carried by a given material.-
http://www.scq.ubc.ca/ph-a-science-creative-quarterly-pin-up-no-2/

For two right-handed parents the chance of having a left-hand child is about 9%; for two left-handed parents there is a 26% chance for a left-handed child.

Some famous left-handed people:

Ludwig van Beethoven
Leonardo da Vinci
Albert Einstein
Benjamin Franklin
Bill Gates
Helen Keller
Paul MCartney
Babe Ruth
Bart Simpson
Oprah Winfrey

- The Washington Post

Why are some of us left-handed? There are two theories I've read about.

1. High levels of testosterone before birth could slow development of the left side of the brain, leaving the right side more developed - and the right side controls the left half of the body, so that by the time the left brain catchs up with the right, left-handedness is already a habit.

2. Genetics: some say research suggests that our lefties lack a certian gene that makes most of us right-handed.

Today is WORLD MOSQUITO DAY !


There are from 2,700 - 3,200 species (including 174 in the USA)

It is the female of the family which wants to drink our blood.

Antartica is the only place on Earth free of mosquitos.