Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

McRaige t1_jd7214w wrote

We do not get enough average annual rain in most parts of Oregon to be a temperate rainforest by about 10 inches. And even without that, the wooded, foresty areas that everyone thinks of when thinking of oregon are on the northwestern coastal areas. The rest of the state is varying states of grasslands and dessert, and while less poplated, is the larger portion of the state by far.

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Dawnawaken92 t1_jd7169g wrote

This was a really good series. The first series revolves around the stone that have to be recovered to reforge the Deltora Belt. Which banished the shadowlord back to the shadowland in the north. Each gem in the belt had magical abilities. And the evil guardian protecting it they had to defeat also was magic and Jack up in some. They were very like dark and fantastical book. The second series revolves around their quest to find the dragons of Deltora. And then the 3rd series has them actually going into the shadow lands to defeat the shadowlord or something. But the books have a very morbid dark magical the gathering kinda feel to it. Like one of the monster is this raptor shaped creature. It has like knives for fingers. And long straight sharp teeth fit into a rounded head only slits for what looks like nose holes. No visible eyes yet it can see. It talks in riddles and limericks and if you answer it wrong it bights off your fingers. Fantastic children's books. I fuckin loved them. Sadly I lost my book in a house fire.

Oh there are also plants that are just tunnel down into the ground, filled with teeth that want to swallow you. They are scarlet red and gorgeous. Very deceptive.

I had all the books as a kid. Sadly I had a house fire tho.

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Crepuscular_Animal t1_jd70g45 wrote

So hair mainly consists of a protein called keratin. Keratin is made out of loooong molecules. These molecules are polymers, which means they are strings of similar, repeating elements - amino acids. One of these amino acids is cystein. Cystein in one strand is able to bind to cystein in another strand. This binding makes keratin stronger. So hair is keratin, and keratin contains a lot of cystein, and that's why it is so strong, and cystein contains sulfur. Sulfur smells bad when burned.

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OorPancake t1_jd6xku8 wrote

That's true, but according to the Iceland Monitor they've had a problem since 2015.

I was surprised myself that they weren't seen as a problem before. (Maybe a different not so bitey species?)

-edit- That's what it is, the native species are non biting midges.

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