Octopuses are Alien-like Creatures

Here are a few of my short-form stories about the universe and life, you may find them interesting and educational.

British spelling

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Octopuses.

Surprisingly, an octopus has three hearts, two of which pump blood to the gills, and the larger third heart pumps blood to the rest of its body.

Another surprising fact about these strange creatures is that they have nine brains. In addition to the main brain, each of its eight arms has a small brain, which acts independently to explore more efficiently, but the main brain can override the eight smaller brains if needed.

If an octopus loses an arm, it won't have to live out its life with only seven arms; surprisingly, it can grow a fully functioning new arm in roughly 130 days.

That process is called morphallaxis.

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A dog year is equivalent to seven human years.

How accurate is that statement?

A dog is almost an adult at one year old, but to be classified as an adult, a human must be roughly 16 years old. 

Some experts say a 36-year-old person has the same maturity as a 5-year-old dog. That may be the only time the seven-to-one rule is accurate. 

The 7-to-1 rule can differ greatly with the size and breed of a dog. 

The average lifespan for a dog is between 10 and 13 years; in human years, that would be 70 to 91 years. 

The oldest dog ever recorded was an Australian cattle dog named Bluey. It lived for over 29 years, which, using the rule, equates to a person being over 200 years old.

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The lifting force of helium.

Helium (symbol He) is the second-lightest element after hydrogen.

Looking at my grandchild holding his helium balloon made me wonder: how many standard helium party balloons would I need to lift me off the ground?

A little research was needed, and this is what I found out.

Helium has a lifting force of about one gram per litre; an average-sized party balloon holds approximately 14 litres of helium.

I weigh 80 kilograms or 176 pounds; therefore, I would need 80,000 litres of helium to lift me off the ground, which works out to 5,714 standard helium balloons.

Helium is non-flammable, so it is safe to use in party balloons.

But helium should never be inhaled. The funny voice can be amusing but it can lead to hypoxia (the lack of oxygen).

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Why does the Earth not fall into the Sun?

The Earth is roughly 150 million kilometres from the Sun and stays at that distance, but why?

You would think that the gravitational force of the sun would pull the Earth closer, but no. Hypothetically, if the Earth moved closer to the Sun, its orbital speed would increase.

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and therefore has the fastest orbital speed of all the planets.

The Earth is racing around the Sun at 107,000 kilometres per hour and is always falling towards the Sun, but the sideways momentum keeps it at a safe distance.

The Earth is orbiting in the vacuum of space, so there is nothing to slow it down.

Imagine if the Earth came to a complete stop in its orbit; it would immediately start on its death dive towards the Sun.

That fatal journey would take roughly 2 months.

But don't worry, it can't happen.

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God or evolution? What are your thoughts?

Will we ever get a true answer to that profound question?

Our amazing world is teeming with millions of species of plants and animals, but why? 

I am certainly not an expert on the Bible, but when it was written, it was said that God created the universe and the earth in 6 days, and they are roughly 6,000 years old. 

Could a day mentioned in the Bible be longer than the 24-hour period that we are so accustomed to? 

Scientists tell us that the universe burst into existence 13.8 billion years ago and that the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old. 

It is estimated that primitive life forms were living on our planet more than 3.5 billion years ago.

Is evolution the reason, or is God the reason for all the complex life we see today?

The end

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You may find my easy-to-understand stories about the universe and life interesting and educational.

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