Question Thread - Now with added NSSW.

I'm not sure about dogs but my parents cat got to 22, and I knew a 26 year old cat. Dogs I've only known get to 17 or so...but someone will probably know their average ages and the oldest that they've ever got to.

Because water's not guaranteed to be sterile, and if there is any bacteria in it, it can but probably won't start to reproduce. The companies who manufacture bottled water can't 100% say that this won't happen, so the Best Before Date is there to cover companies from liability should you get sick after drinking their water.

Though I have heard elsewhere that it's because after a certain amount of time, the plastic in the bottle starts to release chemicals into the water, contaminating it, but that seems less likely!

Quote: The_Hermione_gRanger

Pritt's a brand http://www.prittworld.com/products/adhesives/pritt-stick.html

i still don't know where the name came from, though. i s'pose it doesn't matter much... in the scheme of things.

Quote: Mancomb_Seepgood

My physics teacher never fully explained why water evaporates even though it's not at boiling temperature.  Can someone enlighten me?

No, because i got an E at A Level physics.   but this may help.

Quote: The_Geraldine_Granger

Quote: The_Hermione_gRanger

Pritt's a brand http://www.prittworld.com/products/adhesives/pritt-stick.html

i still don't know where the name came from, though. i s'pose it doesn't matter much... in the scheme of things.

Ah, can't find that answer, sorry. I guess it could be the name of the inventor, a weird onomatopoeia or just a made-up word.

Actually, the grapes aren't really seedless, they have a genetic abnormality that causes the seeds to arrest development. So the flower is pollinated and the ovum fertilized, like normal, but the seeds stop growing after a few weeks, get absorbed by the fruit and exist as those tiny black specs you inside the grapes. In the 80's, it was discovered that these little seeds could be grown in either a petri dish or a test tube and cross bred with other seedless strains resulting in offspring that is 50-100% seedless.

Before they were just using a traditional method of cross breeding a seeded female plant, with a seedless male, but this only yielded offspring that was 15% seedless.  

One downside of the genetic abnormality shown in the seedless grape is the fruit tends to be quite small so commercial growers usually treat the plants with a growth hormone called gibberillin, which is normally secreted by developing seeds.

And there you have it.

America is the name of the continent the USA is in (specifically North America) the country's name is indeed officially The United States Of America, or USA for short.

I think i've read about a cat living for 22 years and a dog for 31, but i can't be sure about that.

Is 'Ockham's Razor' relevant in this age of advanced applied science?