Trivia of the Week: Sour Grapes

One of Aesop’s fables tells the story of a fox who was walking along and saw some grapes. He was hungry, so he wanted to eat the grapes. However, they were up very high and no matter what he did he couldn’t reach them. “They’re probably sour...

Trivia of the Week: Practice Makes Perfect

“Practice makes perfect” is an old saying that encourages people to practice a lot in order to improve. It takes a lot of practice in order to become perfect! “Practice makes perfect” is by far the most common version, but a few other versions...

Trivia of the Week: Canine Teeth

“Canine” means “of a dog”, so canine teeth are dog teeth. Actually, humans have canine teeth—the pointed teeth to either side of the incisors (front teeth). They’re pointy, a little bit like a dog’s fangs. In Japanese, they are...

Trivia of the Week: Stick Bug

Stick bugs, stick insects, or walking sticks, are a kind of insect that is camouflaged as a small stick. Some insects in the same family also look like leaves. They look like sticks or leaves so that predators will not notice them. However, some kinds also use bright...

Trivia of the Week: Praying Mantis

The “praying mantis” gets its name from the way it holds its front legs as if it were praying. Sometimes female praying mantises decapitate and eat males during mating. However, this seems to be more common in the laboratory than in nature....