ScienceIQ.com

What is Dark Energy?

Because he originally thought the Universe was static, Einstein conjectured that even the emptiest possible space, devoid of matter and radiation, might still have a dark energy, which he called a 'Cosmological Constant.' When Edwin Hubble discovered the expansion of the Universe, Einstein rejected his own idea, calling it his greatest blunder. As ...

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WhatisDarkEnergy
Geology

Robin's Egg Blue

Turquoise, the robin's egg blue gemstone worn by Pharaohs and Aztec Kings, is probably one of the oldest gemstones known. Yet, only its prized blue color, a color so distinctive that its name is used ... Continue reading

RobinsEggBlue
Medicine

Your Friend, the Fat Cell

A healthy, adult human body contains about 35 billion fat cells. Each contains about 0.5 micrograms of fat. Stored fat is essential to good health. Fat is the body's principal energy reserve. It is ... Continue reading

FatCell
Chemistry

SO2: What is it? Where does it come from?

Sulfur dioxide, or SO2, belongs to the family of sulfur oxide gases (SOx). These gases dissolve easily in water. Sulfur is prevalent in all raw materials, including crude oil, coal, and ore that ... Continue reading

SO2
Geology

Is The Sea Really On The Level?

When we measure the height of mountains, we measure from a constant number called sea level. For instance Mount Whitney in California is 14,494 feet (4,418 m) above sea level. We start at 0 feet and ... Continue reading

SeaLevel

Splitting Hairs

SplittingHairsPluck a single strand of hair from your head and you've lost what scientists call the hair shaft. The shaft is made of three layers, each inside the other. The outer casing is the cuticle. Under an electron microscope, the cuticle reveals itself as a series of overlapping layers, something like shingles on a roof. Inside the cuticle lies the cortex, a column of cells containing keratin, the same protein that hardens tooth enamel and fingernails. The central core of the hair is the medulla. Also called the pith, it is made of small, hardened cells snared in a web of fine filaments.

What you left behind when you pulled that hair was the follicle, a tiny pouch below the scalp's surface that manufactures hair. You were born with all the hair follicles you'll ever have. You lose quite a few as you grow older, and some will change what they do, but you will never get any new ones. Furthermore, the follicles get farther apart as you grow. On the average, a newborn baby has about 1,135 hair follicles per square centimeter of scalp area. By the time the baby is an adult, the number is nearly half at 615. An adult male has about 5 million hair follicles on his entire body.

The average scalp contains between 80,000 and 120,000 hair follicles. You probably have the higher number if you're a blond, the lower number if you are a redhead. Brunettes usually fall in the middle at about 100,000. The number of hairs may be deceptive however. Red hair is usually thicker and coarser than blond hair so it appears fuller. Hair is thickest between the ages of 15 and 30. Measured in diameter, the finest hairs vary from 0.017 to 0.050 mm, the coarsest from 0.064 to 0.181 mm.