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- Today, on all the answers,
we'll look into the eye of a hurricane,
learn how owls use their stealth to hunt prey,
and take one small step for mankind
on the moon.
All this and more, coming up now on all the answers.
Tropical cyclone, typhoon, hurricane.
These are all words for the same wet
and windy storm system.
In the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific oceans,
hurricane season lasts from June through November,
when the waters and air are warmest.
Warm air rises, and surrounding air is sucked in
to take its place.
As that air warms and rises, more air is sucked in,
and the cycle repeats again and again.
Creating a compact low pressure system.
Eventually, the air starts to rotate
with the spin of the earth, creating a cyclone.
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Here's a trivia question for you.
True or false, all hurricanes rotate in the same direction.
The earth continually rotates in the same direction,
so it would seem like hurricanes would too, right?
Not quite.
All hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere
spin counterclockwise,
while the ones in the Southern Hemisphere spin clockwise,
making the answer false.
Hurricanes can range in size,
from a few dozen miles across to a span
of half the United States.
The latter refers to the largest hurricane on record,
typhoon tip, which struck Japan in 1979.
Regardless of size, the most destructive part
of any hurricane is the eye wall.
This tight group of thunderstorms is responsible
for the storm's trademark severe winds.
To achieve hurricane classification,
winds need to reach over 74 miles per hour,
but can whip to a frenzy as fast as 320 miles per hour.
In the center of the eye wall lies the eye of the storm.
As with humans, you can tell a lot about a hurricane
by looking in the eye.
An asymmetrical eye may suggest the storm
is struggling to strengthen,
while a smooth and round eye could point to a stable
and strong system.
Very small eyes are indicative
of extremely intense storms.
Though you can tell all this from the shape of the eye,
the eye itself generally contains the fairest weather.
It's possible to even spot blue skies
from the eye of a hurricane.
That's not to say it's perfectly safe.
Strong winds from the eye wall can still extend
into this usually peaceful center.
The one place you're guaranteed to spot a hurricane is Jupiter.
The giant storm is impossible to miss
as it's more than twice the size of Earth
and has been spinning on the planet
for at least the last 400 years.
Can you spot it in the picture?
If you pointed to the giant red spot, you're right.
Winds in this massive never-ending storm
can reach up to 270 miles per hour.
You could say wind, warm ocean temperatures
and thunderstorms are part of a hurricane's DNA.
While not literally true as DNA only exists
in the cells of living organisms, the metaphor works.
DNA makes up the building blocks of a larger hole.
It's the biological instructions
that make every organic being unique.
It distinguishes species and is passed down through reproduction.
DNA, which lies in the nucleus of every cell in your body,
makes you who you are.
It's what makes us different from chimps or fruit flies.
Interestingly enough, we share 98.7% of our DNA with chimps
and 60% with fruit flies.
It's true.
We humans share 99.9% of our DNA with other humans.
That's only 0.1% that differentiates us from each other.
We're truly more alike than most people realize.
During reproduction, half of an offspring's DNA
is transferred from the male and half from the female.
Children are literally a 50/50 blend of their parents.
If you were to stretch all the DNA molecules in a human from end to end,
they would reach the sun and travel back to Earth over 600 times.
DNA constantly replicates as we make new cells.
With all this replication, there are bound to be some errors.
Around 1,000 a day, to be precise.
1,000 errors sound like a lot, but many of these are easily repaired.
Though some elude repairs and become mutations.
Not all mutations are necessarily bad.
Some are harmless.
Some are helpful.
But others can cause diseases.
Scientists are currently experimenting with editing genomes
and curing harmful mutations that cause diseases.
It's possible that in the not-so-distant future,
we'll be able to eradicate diseases like cancer through gene editing.
When we come back, we'll learn just how flexible als necks really are.
But before we go, let's take one last look at DNA and its role in forensic science.
True or false?
Law enforcement groups use a method known as DNA fingerprinting to catch criminals.
The answer coming up when we return to all the answers.
Welcome back.
Before the break, we asked a trivia question.
Law enforcement groups use a method known as DNA fingerprinting to catch criminals.
If you said true, you're right, though it's all about the DNA
and doesn't have anything to do with actual fingerprints.
This technique, first introduced in the 1980s,
looks at differences in sequences within a sample of DNA.
The likelihood of two people having identical DNA fingerprints is less than one in a quintillion.
That's one with 18 zeros after it.
Making results pretty accurate.
Now, let's turn our attention to a creature that's often associated with wisdom.
We're talking about the wise old owl.
There are over 200 species of owls that live on every continent except Antarctica.
These flat-faced birds have quietly stalked the skies for around 58 million years.
You may be surprised to learn that owls cannot completely rotate their heads.
In reality, they have the remarkable ability to turn their heads 135 degrees in either direction,
making for a 270 degree range of motion.
Not quite full circle, but still pretty impressive.
Another impressive physical feature unique to owls is their eyes.
Owls have excellent eyesight.
Most species are nocturnal,
meaning they hunt under the cover of darkness.
Not only do they need to be able to see far away,
but they also need to see in the dark.
Here's another trivia question for you.
True or false, owls' eyes are forward-facing in round, like human eyeballs.
This is a bit of a trick question.
Unlike most birds of prey, owls do have forward-facing eyes,
meaning they're not on the sides of their head.
But unlike humans or other birds, their eyes aren't rounded spheres.
They have eye tubes instead of eyeballs, making the answer false.
Like a pair of binoculars, owls' eyes go straight back into their head.
This makes them fixed in place,
which explains why they need to have such a flexible neck to see around them.
If an owl wants to look at something to the left,
it has to turn its whole head.
This binocular vision also boosts their depth perception
and makes them far-sighted.
So they can see prey from far away,
but everything up close looks blurry.
They depend on small hair-like feathers on their beaks and feet
to feel out their food after they've caught a meal.
Speaking of hunting, owls rely on their hearing,
in addition to eyesight, to seek out their prey.
Many species of owls have asymmetrical ears
that allow them to pinpoint multi-dimensional sound.
They can hear a mouse under leaves, dirt, or even snow.
Amazing!
Owls are all about stealth.
Unlike hawks or eagles, their flights are nearly soundless.
This is a result of their feathers.
Their soft, velvety, down feathers muffle flapping noise,
while fringes on the edge of the feathers help break turbulence
and further reduce sound.
Their larger, wider wings also require less flapping in general.
This soundless flight allows them to sneak up on their prey,
primarily small mammals like rodents.
Owls have a voracious appetite and are often welcomed by farmers
for their rodent control tendencies.
A barn owl family can eat 3,000 rodents
in a four-month breeding cycle.
A single owl can eat 50 pounds of gophers in a year.
So you have to imagine they're welcomed at golf courses as well.
When we come back, take a trip to the moon
and learn about the speed of sound and the first person to surpass it.
But before we go, a lunar trivia question to ponder.
True or false, there is no such thing as the far side of the moon.
The moon rotates on an axis, like Earth,
and we eventually see all sides of it.
The answer coming up when we return to all the answers.
We're back. Before the break we asked, true or false,
there is no such thing as the far side of the moon.
The moon rotates on an axis, like Earth,
and we eventually see all sides of it.
Pink Floyd sings about the dark side of the moon.
You've probably heard mention of far side of the moon in movies,
but does it really exist? The truth is, surprisingly,
pop culture gets this one right.
On Earth we only ever see about 60% of the moon's surface.
That's because the moon rotates on its axis.
At the same rate as it revolves around Earth.
Making this trivia question false.
There is a side of the moon that we Earthlings never see.
In fact, it was only glimpsed in 1959
when a Soviet spacecraft flew by and snapped a picture.
What we know simply as the moon is actually one of 200 moons
that orbit around planets and asteroids in our solar system.
Our moon is the fifth largest in the solar system.
Though less than a third the size of Earth,
it exhibits a strong force on our planet.
It helps stabilize the Earth's rotation, creates the tides,
and moderates the climate. All in all,
the presence of the moon and its force
makes Earth a more inhabitable place to live.
A long time ago, volcanic activity was common on the moon.
But the moon's volcanoes haven't been active for millions of years.
Valleys, mountains, and craters,
formed as a result of comet and asteroid impacts,
make up the lunar landscape.
The extremely thin atmosphere does little to ward off impacts
from drifting space rocks.
Unlike Earth, the moon is constantly bombarded.
The moon is the only other celestial body on which humans have set foot.
24 people have made the journey to the moon.
And only 12 got to walk on its surface,
making the moonwalkers an exclusive club.
The first moon landing in 1969 by the Apollo 11 crew truly did mark
one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
The crew collected almost 50 pounds of rock and dust samples,
which scientists still study today.
The last human to set foot on the moon did so just three short years later in 1972.
However, NASA is currently gearing up to establish a permanent presence on the lunar surface.
It's the next step on the way to human exploration of Mars.
Like our neighbor Red Planet,
the moon was discovered to house high concentrations of ice water buried under its poles in 2008,
cast in permanent shadow.
The lunar poles hover around negative 243 degrees Fahrenheit.
So pretty good for preserving water and ice form.
Moon air is not breathable and temperatures fluctuate wildly from burning to freezing.
But the discovery of water does make the satellite a little more hospitable to humans.
We've all heard talk of moonlight in books, poems, movies, and songs.
But the fact is, there's really no such thing as moonlight.
The moon is a rocky body that does not give off any gaseous glow.
The light we perceive to come from the moon is actually sunlight reflected off the moon's surface.
As the moon orbits around Earth on a path that takes 27.3 days,
different parts are in sunlight or darkness.
A full moon is when the visible side of the moon experiences day.
The sun shines on it full blast.
A new moon is when the far side is illuminated by the sun.
But our side is cast in shadow, so effectively our moon's night.
And then there are the various crescent, quarter,
and half moons in between.
Like so many things in the sky, it's not the moon that changes, just our view of it.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon.
But do you know the first man to break the sound barrier?
Was it? A. Buzz Aldrin. B. Chuck Yeager. Or C. Charles Lindbergh.
Buzz Aldrin holds the honor of being the second person from the Apollo 11 mission
to leave his footprints on the moon.
And Charles Lindbergh became the first person to make a solo transatlantic flight
from New York to Paris.
That leaves B. Chuck Yeager as the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound.
For a long time, researchers thought it was impossible for humans to travel faster than the
speed of sound, hence the term "sound barrier."
It seemed as if the speed of sound was a wall humans couldn't cross.
Aircrafts not designed for supersonic flight would lose control or fall apart
in the face of strong shockwaves that closed in around the speed of sound.
However, the Air Force was undaunted by this obstacle.
They built a rocket-fueled plane labeled the X-1.
Its streamlined design was meant to withstand shockwaves and break the supposed sound barrier.
The Air Force enlisted the highly decorated World War II pilot Chuck Yeager, to test out
their new top-secret plane.
On October 14, 1947, at just 24 years of age, Chuck Yeager became the first human to break
the sound barrier, piloting the X-1 to a speed of 700 miles per hour.
Yeager's feet paved the way for future space travel.
Proving that the sound barrier was just an obstacle to be hurtled, and hurtle Yeager did.
Well, that wraps up our episode for today. Until next time,
keep asking questions, and we'll bring you all the answers.
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