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Curious Questions from Curious Minds!
Welcome to Curiopedia, where imagination and discovery take shape! Discover something new today with these curious questions from children. Click on the ‘View Answer’ button to find out the answer! If you want your (child’s) curious question answered and featured here, submit it now.
Month Year
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Catch the light
How do spectacles make us see better?
Sahana Badhrinath , Bengaluru, Karnataka
View AnswerOur eyes let us see because light enters each eye, and it then creates a message that goes to the brain. The eyeballs take pictures, like two little cameras. To see properly, each eyeball needs to send the light that enters it to a specific spot inside the eyeball, called the retina. If the light falls in the wrong place, your vision will be blurry. And when this happens you need glasses. Spectacles have corrective lenses fixed on to them and they work by helping the eyeball direct the light onto the correct place, the retina. Only then can the eye see clearly.
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Flightless wonders
Why can’t penguins fly?
Nikita Khatri , Bahadurgarh, Haryana
View AnswerPenguins have wings that are more like flippers and they are well suited for aquatic life, so much so, when they swim it looks similar to a bird in the air. Penguins spend half their time in the water and the other half on land. When on land, their flippers and tails help them keep their balance and walk upright. But, if they want to move fast, they go tobogganing — sliding on their bellies.
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Pins and needles
Why do I feel pins and needles in my limbs if I stay in one position for a long time?
Keerthi , Thrissur, Kerala
View AnswerIf you feel pins and needles in your limbs it is a sign that a nerve is irritated and is actually telling you about it. It is like a traffic jam in your nervous system. As long as traffic is running smoothly, tiny electrical impulses move along the nerves that run from your spine to your arms and legs. These sensations then move up the spinal cord to the brain. But, a “roadblock” prevents this and hence the tingling feeling. This feeling is called paresthesia.
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Sticky situation
Why don’t spiders get caught in their own webs?
Ayisha Hiba , Edappal, Kerala
View AnswerSpiders move across their webs with only the hairs on their legs coming into contact with the sticky web strands. This minimises the chances of getting caught in their own trap. For this reason, spiders also groom themselves carefully and clean their legs of any extra dirt. Besides, not all webs are sticky throughout. Spiders can make webs that are sticky only in some places, and use the rest for themselves. Recently, some scientists have discovered that there may be some special chemical on the hair on a spider’s leg that prevents it from sticking to the web.