Owemgee

 A new type of bacteria has been discovered that uses poisonous arsenic to build its DNA.

All life on Earth was thought to have been composed of six elements: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur…until now. This newly-discovered microorganism, called GFAJ-1, was found in Mono Lake, California. The building blocks used to create its genetic material contain arsenic, which is poisonous to all but a few organisms on Earth!
(source)

 

 

 

The Saudi Arabian weekend is on Thursday and Friday.

 

 

Friday is a special day dedicated to prayer for Muslims, so Friday has to be a day off. However, this is a contentious issue for Saudi businesses, because having both Thursday and Friday off, means that there are 4 days in a row where Saudi Arabian businesses can’t stay in touch with Western businesses.

Most Saudi companies do not have 2 day weekends, and the ones that do would prefer to change it to a Friday-Saturday weekend, so as to not lose more business. Many other Muslim countries do this.

Read the full story here.

 

 

 

The Nike clothing brand is named after the Greek goddess of victory.

The winged goddess Nike sat at the side of Zeus. Her presence symbolized victory, and she was said to have presided over some of history’s earliest battles. The company’s distinctive SWOOSH logo represents the goddess’s wing!

From Nike's website.

 

 

 

A two-year-old girl scored a 156 on the IQ test

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At 2 years and 4 months old, British toddler Elise Tan-Roberts was been accepted as the youngest-ever member of the high IQ fraternity known as Mensa! The club can typically only test children who are older than 10, but an exception was made in Elise’s case because his IQ score was already proven to be in the top 2% of the country.

Tan-Roberts has an IQ of 156, which is just 4 points lower than Albert Einstein’s! She already knows 35 world capitals, including Paris, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. She can even count in Spanish!
(source)

 

 

 

Unlike most cats, tigers love water.

On a hot day, these big cats love taking a dip in a nearby lake or river to cool off! The only stipulation is that they do not like water in their eyes. They will go to any lengths to avoid this, even entering the water backwards! Because they have webbed feet, tigers are also quite the skilled swimmers. They have been known to travel for distances up to 20 miles in one session!
(source)

 

 

 

Many cats are lactose intolerant.

Despite the prevailing notion that cats love milk, most are not able to digest it well. Serving a cat milk can lead to an upset stomach, indigestion, cramps and kitty gas. If your cat insists on having milk, try giving it a small bowl of cream once in a while (a few times a week at most). Strangely enough, milk with less fat tends to have more lactose, so avoid giving your cat skim milk.

Cats also can’t eat onions, garlic, or related vegetables because it gives anemia. Green tomatoes also can give your kitty intestinal problems. And, like dogs, your cat shouldn’t eat chocolate either.

This article has more tips on what your cat can and can't eat.

 

 

 

Worker ants live for only 45-60 days, but queen ants have been known to live as long as 29 years!

If it wasn't obvious already, the worker ants do all the WORK in the ant colony. This means foraging for food, looking after the colony's young, and defending their home for unwanted intruders. One nest in South America has had up to 700,000 members, so as you can plainly see, worker ants are basically expendable.

The queen ant, on the other hand, has a unique job and therefore lives a significantly longer life than her workers. A queen of the species Lasius niger in Europe lived for 29 years in captivity! Queen ants lay all the eggs that grow into the colony's worker ants. A leafcutter ant queen in South America lived for 14 years and bred over 150 million worker ants in her lifetime!
(Sources: 1 2)