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| HOME | THE SCOOP DIRECTORY & CALENDAR | PARENT GUIDES | METROMOMS EVENTS | BEST OF THE METROPLEX™ |
 METROPLEX BABY & KIDS' CHILDREN'S WONDERS It started with a question from a 3-year old. What is the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? Stumped, we set out to find the answer to this and other "wonders." Submit a question |
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How does medicine work Children's Medical Center answers Grayson's question in their Kid Chat video series.  How does medicine work Children's Medical Center answers Ethan's question in their Kid Chat video series.  Why do you hiccup? Children's Medical Center answers Emily's question in their Kid Chat video series.  If you stretch out your lungs, would they cover a full tennis court? Children's Medical Center answers Robert's question in their Kid Chat video series.  How are boogers formed? Children's Medical Center answers Isaac's question in their Kid Chat video series.  Do penguins have knees? Yes. Penguins appear to have very short legs and no knees because only the lower leg is externally visible. Their knees and upper legs are covered by feathers, hiding them from view (and keeping them warm). Why do ships have round windows? Corners are stress points that degrade over time, allowing cracks. Forces, such as those of waves striking the hull of a ship, tend to put pressure on corners. Round windows have no corners, so they are less likely to crack. What's the difference between a Turtle and a Tortoise? Turtles and Tortoise belong to the same family called Testudines. However, the Tortoise is a member who is well adapted to living on land, only approaching water to drink or bathe. They have a larger domed shell and thicker/more stocky legs than the Turtle. Turtles generally have smaller legs and spend a lot of time swimming in water as well as being able to venture onto land. Their shell is much flatter than that of the Tortoise, making it more streamlined for swimming. What makes it snow? Snow forms in clouds when the air temperature up there gets below freezing. Water molecules come out of the air and stick together in special patterns of little ice crystals. Then the ice crystals keep getting bigger or tangle up in little clumps to form snowflakes. Why don't ants drown in the rain? If an ant is immersed in water, even for hours, when you pull it out it may look dead but the ant will actually revive itself within a few hours. They survive by closing their spiracles (the openings in their body wall that lead to their respiratory surfaces or ‘lungs’) and reducing their oxygen consumption to as little as 5 to 20 per cent of their normal rate. In other words, the water does not penetrate their breathing tubes. Who knew?! Why is the sky blue and the sunset red? It has nothing to do with the ocean, and everything to do with the atmosphere! There is a physical phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering that causes light to scatter when it passes through particles that have a diameter one-tenth that of the wavelength (color) of the light. Sunlight is made up of all different colors of light, but because of the elements in the atmosphere, the color blue is scattered much more efficiently than the other colors. When you look at the sky on a clear day, you can see the sun as a bright disc. The blueness you see everywhere else is all of the atoms in the atmosphere scattering blue light toward you. Because red light, yellow light, green light and the other colors aren't scattered nearly as well, you see the sky as blue. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colors because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight. Who coined the phrase "to coin a phrase"? It is very difficult to say exactly who is responsible for this little piece of literary history. There are two common credits owed. The first goes to an English writer named George Puttenham who wrote something like it in his 1589 book, "The Arte of English Poesie." He wrote, "Young schollers not halfe well studied...seeme to coigne fine wordes out of the Latin." In French a "coigne" is a die used to stamp out money. So he was basically ridiculing dim-wits making up words. The second belief in that the phrase is a result of historical promotional materials. Political, social, religious or reformist groups would stamp their message or slogan on a coin, not of legal tender, and distribute it to the masses. In many of these cases the phrases would represent such a landmark in history, such as The Women’s Suffrage movement, that they would literally be coined or minted. Today such collectibles are highly sought after by antiques dealers and collectors. Why is water wet? It's not! We believe that water is wet because our sensations say it is so - it is made up of a substance that feels moist when touched. We feel wetness. We get out of a pool or shower and we are dripping. Wetness is a description of our experience of water; what happens to us when we come into contact with water in such a way that it impinges on our state of being. We, or our possessions, 'get wet'. Any fluid could be said to be wet if wetness is a result of the sensation caused by the movement of a fluid over the skin. Have you ever noticed that you can't feel wetness if you hold your hand perfectly still while it is submerged, or that a drop of water on the skin doesn't feel wet? What is the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? There are a few general ways to tell the two apart: (1) Shape of the jaw— Alligators tend to have wide, U-shaped, rounded snouts, while crocodiles tend to have longer, more pointed, V-shaped snouts. (2) Teeth— The fourth tooth on the lower jaw sticks up over the upper lip on crocodiles, so you can see it when their mouths are closed. In alligators, this fourth tooth is covered up. (3) Habitat— Crocodiles also have special glands in their tongues that can get rid of excess salt, so they tend to live in saltwater habitats. Alligators have these glands, too, but they don't work as well as the crocodiles', so alligators prefer to live in freshwater habitats. Your safety net: All the species of alligators and crocodiles together are known as “crocodilians” or “crocs” so if you're not sure, go with "it's a croc." | ||
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