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In the world of the building materials, bamboo could compete successfully against steel, concrete, wood and glass. Because of its exceptional mechanical qualities, low price and design, bamboo could turn into one of the preferred building materials of the future. Even if it looks like a tree, the bamboo is just a woo... |
29 March 2008
09:02 GMT |
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Well not really, because it's still cold outside. But just wait until summer, you'll see then; there will be flies and fly-spies all over the place, you won't be able to make the difference! Just kidding! Well, it seems that science fiction has given some 'mad' scientists new ideas, not that ... |
10 March 2008
12:22 GMT |
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You see, the whiskers of a cat or rat are not adornments, but highly sensitive organs. It appears that much more sensitive than we could think: like a tuned harp, the whiskers of a rat detect various frequencies depending on their structure. In the dark underground sewers and galleries, rats cannot use the sight. Pre... |
28 February 2008
04:00 GMT |
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We abhor them and only their sight can make us sick. But they represent one of the oldest human companions, that's why the DNA of the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) has proved to be useful in explaining how ancient people and diseases spread together with the ancient black rats. Today, this rat is spread all around t... |
4 February 2008
03:48 GMT |
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These odd rodents are ugly as hell. The mole rats are hairless, wrinkled, cold blooded (the only case known in mammals) and... totally insensitive to the pain induced by acids or chili peppers, according to a new research. Mole rats live in colonies in poor-oxygenated burrows about 2 m (6 ft) underground, in Eastern ... |
29 January 2008
03:08 GMT |
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Don't be fooled by the humble size of a mouse or rat because their extinct relatives were bigger than cows. And now, the largest rodent ever has been discovered: a one tonne Josephoartigasia monesi, as big as a big bison bull, which lived 2 million years ago.The impressive skull of 53 cm (1.8 ft) in length was e... |
16 January 2008
04:13 GMT |
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Most cats are chicken enough not to face regular rats. But this rat would fight from equal to equal with a cat. An expedition made by an American-Indonesian team in a remote jungle in western New Guinea, in the area Papua province of Indonesia, has found a giant rat and a tiny possum that seem to be new undescribed ... |
18 December 2007
05:01 GMT |
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Playing cat and mouse can have a different outcome from what we see in some cartoons. Tom and Jerry can be even very good friends when solving some very special tasks. In the past years, a special Colombian police unit has been training rats and cats put in the same cages as part of a project to teach the rodents to... |
26 July 2007
04:16 GMT |
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What could rats think when they laugh at us? That we, as humans, are ugly? Various researches revealed that monkeys and dogs enjoy a good laugh. Now, it seems that rats do that too, pointing to the fact that people have been laughing for many millions of years, not ever since we turned into humans. "Indeed, neural ci... |
12 June 2007
05:46 GMT |
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You surely know Italians and French find a delicacy in the frog legs. You too may enjoy them. In some countries, dishes on frog legs are called "slough chicken". And southern Europe is not the only place where people consume frogs. In Latin America the frogs of the genus Leptodactylus are extremely appreciated and ca... |
6 June 2007
15:46 GMT |
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We have an innate fear for snakes or spiders as have rats for cats. So much that cat urine triggers fear response in rats that have never encountered a feline even by generations. But after being infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii, however, rats turned attracted to cat urine, raising the chance to be ... |
3 April 2007
04:23 GMT |
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