Etymologically “hamstring” comes from “ham” (the fat behind the knee) and “string” (a tendon).    It’s all highly medical, science jargon.  I can barely understand it.

Lamarckism or Lamarckian inheritance is the idea that an organism can pass on traits that have been acquired during its life to its offspring.   This idea generally isn’t too popular anymore in terms of genetic evolution.  I am really bored.

Taste buds are not only on your tongue, but also on the roof of your mouth and the top of your throat.

Sometimes I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth so my taste buds can taste each other.

In the 17th century, there was a game very similar to “jacks” called “dibstones.”  However, back then, the players used sheep’s knuckles instead of those little metal trinkets.

Apparently sheep had hands in the 17th century.

Unlike nocturnal creatures, which are active at night, or diurnal creatures, which are active during the day, crepuscular creatures are active at dawn and at dusk.  Ferrets, dogs, cats, rabbits, and old people are all crepuscular.

The jellyfish turritopsis nutricula has the ability to revert from a state of sexual maturity to the immature polyp stage.  It is the only known example of a creature capable of reaching sexual maturity then returning to being sexually immature.  Thus, this jellyfish has been deemed immortal.  However, it is impossible to estimate the age of a specimen because of this ability to cycle through life stages.

About every week, SmartestYear does a post that proves that I, too, can revert to sexual immaturity.

In May 2006, a female Komodo dragon named Flora (because the name of a Komodo dragon is very important…) laid 11 eggs while she was living in an English zoo without any contact with male Komodo dragons.  Congrats to all male Komodo dragons!  You have just been emasculated to the max!  Next time a male Komodo dragon comes up to me, I’m just going to be like, “You’re worthless, dude!” and he’ll be all embarrassed and sulk away. Wimps!

I’ve been reading a lot about sexual ethics, so forgive me if my past two posts have been in the same vein.  In early theories of how babies are made, semen was believed to carry a homunculus (Latin for “little human”).  This theory of preformationism was prevalent before we understood that both a man and woman are equally important in active procreation.  So, yeah, some philosophers and scientists actually believed semen contained a miniature, fully-formed human.  Once the homunculus was inside the woman, development was solely concerned with enlarging this miniature person.  How stupid is that!  Sounds so ridiculous.

But…if we would go back in time and tell them that semen really contained millions of tiny tadpole thingies… I think that would freak them out more.

“Tiny tadpole thingies” is the terminology they use in advanced college biology courses.  Trust me.

Brown adipose tissue (aka brown fat) is one of two types of mammalian fat (the other is white fat).  The primary function of brown fat is to generate body heat-  it’s especially important in hibernating animals and newborns that don’t shiver.  (I’m sure it’s even more helpful for hibernating newborn babies…)  Compared to white fat, brown fat has a higher density of mitochondria, which contain iron and make it brown.  Brown fat takes calories from white fat and burns it to generate heat, which could be a new weight loss strategy.  Babies have more brown fat than adults, however.  So, I suppose it would be a great weight loss strategy for fat babies.  Just put them in cold water and they will look great in no time.

NOTE: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BABY IN COLD WATER

Or you could put the babies on the “baby food diet” as was previously discussed

http://smartestyear.com/post/794887298/baby-food-diet-7-10-10

“The nose print of a dog is like the fingerprint of a person – no two are alike. Get a good relief and you can identify your dog by the mark it leaves behind!” 

I’m guessing your dog’s face will help you distinguish your dog too. Or maybe its general appearance or its collar…  Maybe this fact is supposed to help me track my dog…or help the police if my dog committed a crime or something.  But I would have to rely on the fact that he used his nose to shoot a gun.  Wow!  I can identify my dog by “the mark it leaves behind!”  I don’t know about you, but my dog doesn’t walk around with ink on its nose pressing it up against things.  Or shooting people.

Ming was the name given to a clam that was found off the coast of Iceland in 2007.  Judging by the annual growth rings on Ming’s shell, the clam was believed to be between 405 to 410 years old, making it the oldest living creature ever recorded.  This claim was made by researchers at Bangor University, where Ming died during the age assessment process.  Scientists hope that Ming will give insight into ways humans can fight the aging process.  Here’s the first thing humans can do:  Don’t get studied by Bangor University.

R.I.P. Ming.  You will be remembered for pretty much doing nothing for 400 years.