Snooping Around

La Calavera Catrina We all know All Hallows’ Eve is a celebration that has all to do with death and honoring deceased relatives and, in this particular night, everyone has the opportunity to dress up as monsters, ghosts and skeletons asking for sweets. This is sure a funny way to exorcise the fact that we should never underestimate or forget the Grim Reaper is always chasing us. But what if I tell you there’s another celebration that is similar to Halloween but, at the same time, has nothing to do with it. In fact, El Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday, now also spread all over the world, that can be called “The Hymn to Life”. You celebrate death learning about the importance of life. El Día de los Muertos, celebrated on November 2 nd , is an opportunity for Mexican children to learn that life is brief and there’s a life circle everyone must face sooner or later. The important meaning of this day is “Don’t fear Death, appreciate every moment you have and live life to the...

Awww! That cup of coffee. When you grab it, pouring that dark liquid into your mouth in early morning, you are sure it will help you against sleep. It's commonly known this is caused by caffeine, a chemical widely used for its awakening properties. Caffeine has been used as a drug for thousands of years, both in medicine and in daily life.  There are several plants, cultivated or harvested, that contain this substance, but today caffeine is added to many foods, more than you think. Despite the increase in caffeine use in recent times, many people have little knowledge of the overall effects it has on their bodies. So, let's start with this new "Discovery Central". The word Caffeine derives of course from the world coffee because coffee plants were one the first discovered ones which had a huge amount of it. Caffeine’s chemical name is 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, based on its formula,  C 8 H 10 N 4 O 2 , and in its pure form caffeine is a very bitter white powde...

Here we are again, talking about curious things about stuff we all use every day. We've discussed about Coffee , Chocolate and Fruits  (click on links if you've missed these articles) … but now let’s find out some new facts about the compound in common with these three delicious products. I’m surely talking about Sugar… in case you haven’t noticed the title yet  J 1. Sugar is the only taste humans are born craving. In fact it is strongly addictive, releasing an opiate-like substance that activates the brain’s reward system. 2. Sugar was one of the first pharmaceutical ingredients used, as still is today, to mask the bitter taste of medicines. 3. Sugar hides in many everyday "non-sugar" foods.  While many people strive to avoid the "normal" sugary culprits (candy, cookies, cake, etc.), they often are duped when they discover some of their favorite foods also contain lots of sugar. Examples include tomato sauce, French fries, hot-dogs, hamburgers, p...

The human body is one of the most amazing machines ever created . And   among the organs inside this wonderful creation, the brain is without a doubt the most amazing . It's useless  to mention the enormous capacity that you all know, so let's d iscover some interesting facts about this not very well-known organ. 1. Your brain keeps developing until your late 40s . 2. New brain connections are created every time you form a memory . 3. When awake, the human brain produces enough electricity to power a small lightbulb . 4. In this case, size doesn't matter. In fact the weight and size of a brain has nothing to do with intellectual ability. Albert Einstein’s brain actually weighed less than the average weight of a human brain! 5. Your brain uses 20% of the total oxygen and blood in your body. 6. Did you know that when our eyes receive images, they are actually upside-down? Our brain automatically corrects them, so that we see them t...

Here there are 10 random curiosities about one of the most delicious thing in the world: chocolate! 1.  A ztecs used cocoa bean as currency. A rabbit was worth 10  beans, while a slave 100. 2. T he correlation between chocolate and pimples is only a legend . This link has never been scientifically proven. 3.   A chocolate flake provides an adult of enough energy for a 46 meters walk. To make a round-the-world walk it takes 870.000 4. T he Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa. It produces 1.51 millions of cocoa beans per year, a third of the global demand. 5.   The world's largest chocolate bar weighed 5827 Kg, pretty much like a big elephant. It was produced in Derbyshire (UK) in 2011. 6.   Switzerland consumes chocolate more than any other country. On average a Swiss eats 13 Kg of chocolate per year. 7.   The most sold chocolate bar is Snicker: every year the revenues amounted to 2 billion dollars. Snicker's i...