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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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Cupid’s bow
Why is there a curve on our upper lip?
Pushyami K , Chennai, Tamil Nadu
View AnswerThe upper lip’s structure is often called the Cupid’s bow feature. It is attached to the gums. It has no fibres in the middle, and as such it would be impossible to pucker or pout or to suckle.
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Medically viable
Why is a red cross used as a medical symbol ? Why not any other colour or white, the symbol of peace?
Siddhi Kothari , Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
View AnswerA red cross on a white background is the symbol of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It was declared a symbol of protection at the 1864 Geneva Convention. This sign makes it possible to identify medical personnel.This was especially beneficial during wartime.
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All closed up
Why do some flowers start closing up and turning inwards during sunset?
Angel , Bahadurgarh, Haryana
View AnswerPlants that tuck themselves in at bedtime exhibit a natural behaviour known as nyctinasty. Nyctinasty is the circadian rhythmic nastic (the movement of plant parts caused by an external stimulus) movement of higher plants in response to the onset of darkness, or a plant “sleeping”. Scientists explain the mechanism behind the phenomenon — in cool air and darkness, the bottom-most petals of certain flowers grow at a faster rate than the upper-most petals, forcing the flowers shut. However, they are not sure why some plants, especially flowers, evolved this way.
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Winged wonders
How do butterfly wings get their colour?
Hafiz Rehman.S , Thirunelveli, Tamil Nadu
View AnswerButterflies get their colours from two different sources — ordinary (or pigmented) colour and structural colour. The ordinary colour comes from normal chemical pigments that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others. The structural colour of butterfly’s stems from the specific structure of the butterflies’ wings and explains why some of a butterfly’s colours seem to shift and appear so intense. This quality of changing colours as you, the observer, moves is known as iridescence. It happens when light passes through a transparent, multilayered surface and is reflected more than once. The multiple reflections compound one another and intensify colours.