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Vaknin, Sam, 1961-

"The First Book of Factoids"



Why do the Salmon die after spawning?

Probably because of stress. Their cortisol level surges as they
struggle upstream. This potent hormone facilitates the provision of
energy but also eliminates the appetite, destroys the immune system
and adversely affects the digestive tract. The Salmon die of
exhaustion, starvation, and infection - not because they are
"programmed" to die.

http://species.fws.gov/bio_salm.html

http://www.psc.org/Pubs/Frp98-webb.pdf

Senses

Scientifically speaking, onions, apples and potatoes share the same
taste molecules but emit different smell molecules. Their differing
"tastes" are, therefore, actually, the way we experience
their smells.

In humans, the senses of taste and smell are connected. That is why we
fail to taste well when we have a cold. But in snails the functions
are separate. One pair of antennas is to smell with and another pair
to taste with.
We can detect four tastes (sweet, salty, bitter and sour) - and,
maybe, a fifth one (MSG or monosodium glutamate).

But we can distinguish more than 10,000 separate smell molecules by
their shape.


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