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  • Ever been in that awkward situation when you're in a room with people you barely know, and

  • no one knows what to say?

  • The silence seems endless

  • Well, why don't you tell everyone why snow crunches?

  • Or why escalators have brushes along the edges?

  • Or some other, no less exciting facts!

  • Like these!

  • 1.

  • Sloths are the slowest animals in the world - and I'm not only talking about how they

  • move.

  • It takes these sleepy mammals up to a month to digest a single leaf!

  • Most of them also go to the bathroom just once a week.

  • For comparison, depending on the kind of food, people need just 12 to 48 hours to eat a meal,

  • digest it, and get rid of the waste.

  • 2.

  • The burning sensation you have in your mouth after eating chili peppers is caused by a

  • particular chemical compound in them.

  • It tricks your sensory nerves into believing they're being burned.

  • 3.

  • Some small birds and insects see the world in slo-mo because they process information

  • too quickly.

  • For some big animals, on the other hand, time is literally flying by because they need more

  • time to perceive information.

  • 4.

  • If you think your cat loves to catch some Z's, what will you say about koalas?

  • These marsupials sleep from 18 to 22 hours a day!

  • They spend a lot of energy digesting their high-fiber food, and napping is a great way

  • to top this energy up.

  • 5.

  • Have you ever got chills while listening to music?

  • It was your brain releasing dopamine - a chemical compound that causes pleasure.

  • 6.

  • You know those tall white hats chefs wear?

  • They're called toques, and the number of pleats on such a hat (which is traditionally 100)

  • signifies a chef's experience - for example, the number of recipes they can use to cook

  • eggs!

  • 7.

  • If you're allergic to cats, consider this: cats can also be allergic to you!

  • The only reason this allergy doesn't show so often or isn't that prominent is that you

  • don't shed as much irritating hair and skin as they do.

  • 8.

  • Elevators ding when they're at your floor to inform you about their arrival.

  • If you listen carefully, though, you might notice that some elevators produce a different

  • number of dings.

  • Usually, one ding means the elevator is going up, and two dings - that it's traveling down.

  • 9.

  • Continental plates keep drifting at the same speed your fingernails grow.

  • An underground activity that makes them move also causes volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

  • In total, tectonic plates end up traveling up to 2 inches a year.

  • 10.

  • You've probably noticed that the colder it is outside, the louder the snow crunches under

  • your feet.

  • It happens because when the snow compresses, teeny ice grains rub against each other.

  • The lower the temperature, the greater the friction between the ice grains, and the louder

  • the crunching sound is.

  • Hey snow, can you hold it down over there?

  • Thanks.

  • 11.

  • Adult cats only meow to communicate with us humans.

  • Kittens can meow at their moms, but grown cats don't interact with each other this way.

  • Scientists have even found that these animals are great manipulators when it comes to cat-human

  • dialogue!

  • Cats can change the pitch of their meows so that they sound more like crying babies.

  • They've long figured out that this way, they get more food and attention.

  • 12.

  • A reindeer's eyes change color from gold in the summer to baby blue in the winter.

  • Such a color shift improves the animals' vision because it influences the way the light gets

  • reflected through the retina.

  • 13.

  • Escalator brushes weren't designed to clean our shoes.

  • They were invented for much more important safety reasons.

  • You see, escalators tend to break when people stand too close to their edges.

  • Between the side of an escalator and the wall, there’s a gap.

  • It's almost unnoticeable, but if something, like a piece of clothing, gets inside, it

  • may get stuck in the maze of motors and gears.

  • Then the escalator could not only break down but also damage the foreign object.

  • Escalator brushes prevent such accidents by scaring you away from nearing the gap.

  • As soon as you feel the bristles on your leg, you instinctively move away.

  • 14.

  • Just one bolt of lightning will provide enough energy for a two-slice toaster to work for

  • 84,000 minutes.

  • It's enough time to cook almost 100,000 slices of toast.

  • 15.

  • Getting goosebumps when you're frightened goes back to the times when you could only

  • fend off a predator if you looked scarier than your opponent.

  • When you get goosebumps, all the tiny hairs on your body stand up, supposedly making you

  • bigger and more intimidating.

  • Hey that works for me

  • 16.

  • Roosters can be exceptionally loud, and the question is, "How do they not go deaf if this

  • thundering noise is coming right out of their beaks?"

  • Simple - they have a natural mechanism that works as built-in earplugs!

  • Once a rooster opens its beak and gets ready to crow, its auditory canals close off, and

  • no sound can come in.

  • That’s not quite fair is it?

  • 17.

  • When glaciers are melting, they're loud.

  • The sound they produce is similar to the one made by fizzling soft drinks.

  • Melting icebergs or glaciers set free millions of tiny air bubbles thatve been trapped

  • in the ice under huge pressure for centuries.

  • The opened-soft-drink noise is so loud that you can determine the distance toward an iceberg

  • without seeing it.

  • 18.

  • The very first helicopters had wooden rotor blades.

  • At that time, fiberglass hadn’t been invented yet, and wood was the best available material:

  • strong, lightweight, and fatigue-resistant.

  • 19.

  • In 2018, scientists collected 300 frozen prehistoric worms in the Arctic.

  • When all the worms were defrosted, two of them woke up.

  • They started to move and even had a meal.

  • One of the unbelievable creatures was about 32,000 years old, and the other was almost

  • 42,000 years old.

  • Both were fairly confused.

  • 20.

  • Dogs can distinguish way more smells than humans.

  • But when it comes to tasting something, people win hands down.

  • While you can use more than 9,000 taste buds, your pooch has only 1,700.

  • By the way, dogs can identify the same 4 tastes as people - sweet, bitter, sour, and salty.

  • But unlike most humans, they aren't fans of salty things.

  • Other than that, dogs don’t appear to be terribly picky eaters.

  • 21.

  • Astronauts in space have to work out no less than 2 hours a day to keep their bodies strong.

  • And like us down here on Earth, they also sweat while exercising.

  • But because of the weightlessness in space, astronauts' sweat doesn't roll down their

  • skin.

  • It forms salty blobs that float around and cling to the body.

  • And aren’t you glad I shared that with you?

  • 22.

  • Tree rings can not only tell you how old a tree is but also let you know how the weather

  • changed during the tree's lifetime.

  • Tree rings are thinner during drought years and wider when there was a lot of rain.

  • 23.

  • Cat owners are all-too familiar with the situation when you call for your pet, and it doesn’t

  • respond.

  • No, you aren't being paranoid, your cat DOES choose to ignore you!

  • It can recognize its name perfectly well but often doesn't feel obligated to respond to

  • your call.

  • Well!

  • 24.

  • At any given moment, around 2,000 thunderstorms are happening in different places on Earth.

  • And if we add up one full year, this number will be more than 16 million!

  • 25.

  • There are all kinds of weird fears and phobias out there, and dextrophobia is one of them.

  • People with this fear get scared by objects on their right side.

  • Dextrophobia can also be an overwhelming fear of right-handedness.

  • Okay.

  • 26.

  • You can't hum while holding your nose.

  • Go ahead, try it!

  • You're probably making some bizarre sounds, but it's definitely not humming.

  • The trick is that when you hum, you make a sort-of prolonged M-sound.

  • But it's created when air moves through your nasal passages.

  • When you close your nose, the air can't escape, and no humming sound is produced.

  • At least not for long!

  • So there are your ice-breakers!

  • Try them out and let me know how it goes in the comments.

  • If you learned something new today, then give the video a like and share it with a friend!

  • And here are some other videos I think you'll enjoy.

  • Just click to the left or right, and stay on the Bright Side of life!

Ever been in that awkward situation when you're in a room with people you barely know, and

Subtitles and vocabulary

B2 BRIGHTSIDE escalator sound salty tree meow

The Unexpected Reason Why Escalators Have Brushes

  • 3 0
    林宜悉 posted on 2020/03/15
Video vocabulary

Keywords

perceive

US /pɚˈsiv/

UK /pə'si:v/

  • verb
  • To notice or become aware of something
  • To interpret or regard (someone or something) in a particular way.
  • To become aware of or understand something.
  • To think of someone or something in a certain way
  • other
  • To become aware of or understand something.
  • To become aware of something through the senses, especially sight.
  • To interpret or regard someone or something in a particular way.
situation

US /ˌsɪtʃuˈeʃən/

UK /ˌsɪtʃuˈeɪʃn/

  • noun
  • Place, position or area that something is in
  • An unexpected problem or difficulty
improve

US /ɪmˈpruv/

UK /ɪm'pru:v/

  • verb
  • To make, or become, something better
  • other
  • To become better than before; to advance in excellence.
  • To become better
  • other
  • To make something better; to enhance in value or quality.
  • To make something better; to raise to a more desirable quality or condition.
dopamine

US /'doʊpəmi:n/

UK /'dəʊpəmi:n/

  • noun
  • Drug used to treat shock and hypotension
  • other
  • A drug used as a stimulant in the treatment of shock by increasing blood pressure and cardiac output.
  • A neurotransmitter that plays several important roles in the brain and body.
  • A chemical in the brain that affects emotions, movement and sensations of pleasure.
fear

US /fɪr/

UK /fɪə(r)/

  • noun
  • Unpleasant feeling caused by being aware of danger
  • verb
  • To be afraid of or nervous about something
  • other
  • A concern or worry.
  • other
  • An unpleasant emotion caused by the perception of danger, pain, or threat.
  • A feeling of reverence and respect for someone or something.
  • other
  • To be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening.
compound

US /kɑmˈpaUnd/

UK /'kɒmpaʊnd/

  • adjective
  • Made up of two or more parts or elements.
  • (Of a term) created by combining two or more words
  • noun
  • Series of buildings that are walled or fenced off
  • Chemical made up of several others
  • A substance consisting of two or more elements combined chemically in fixed proportions.
  • Closed walled area, as in a prison
  • An enclosed area containing a group of buildings.
  • Something formed by combining elements/parts
  • A word composed of two or more elements.
  • A mixture or combination of elements or parts.
  • A substance consisting of two or more elements combined chemically in fixed proportions.
  • Term created by using two or more words together
  • verb
  • To make (a problem or difficulty) worse.
  • To pay interest on a loan including the interest
  • To make something from various parts or components
  • To make a mistake or problem worse
  • To make up or put together from separate elements; mix.
  • other
  • To make (a problem or difficulty) worse.
  • To calculate or pay interest on previously accumulated interest.
  • To make up or compose.
  • To settle (a debt or other matter) by agreement.
reflect

US /rɪˈflɛkt/

UK /rɪ'flekt/

  • verb
  • To indicate or be a sign of something
  • To bounce back light, heat, sound from a surface
  • To show an image in glass, water, a mirror etc.
  • To think of something seriously and carefully
  • other
  • To show or express something; to be a sign or indication of something.
  • To show or be a sign of a particular situation or feeling.
  • To throw back light, heat, sound, or an image from a surface.
  • other
  • To think deeply or carefully about something.
  • To think deeply or carefully about something.
intimidate

US /ɪnˈtɪmɪˌdet/

UK /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/

  • verb
  • To make someone feel afraid
  • other
  • To frighten someone, especially in order to make them do what you want.
exercise

US /ˈɛksɚˌsaɪz/

UK /'eksəsaɪz/

  • other
  • Physical activity that you do to make your body strong and healthy.
  • A military maneuver or simulated combat operation for training purposes.
  • A task or activity designed to test or improve one's knowledge or skill.
  • A task or activity designed to practice a skill or test knowledge.
  • A set of organized activities for training or practice.
  • other
  • Physical activity that you do to make your body strong and healthy.
  • The use or application of a skill, right, or quality.
  • The use or application of a faculty, right, or process.
  • The use or application of a skill, right, or quality.
  • other
  • To perform physical activities to stay healthy or improve fitness.
  • other
  • To train or drill in order to improve fitness or skill.
  • To use or apply a skill, right, or quality.
  • To exert influence or pressure.
  • To use a skill, right, or quality.
  • To use or apply a skill, right, or quality.
  • noun
  • Physical activity to increase health and strength
  • A task or activity designed to develop or improve a particular skill or ability.
  • Set of questions in a text book
  • verb
  • To work out to become stronger and healthier
  • To retain your ability or practice your skills
tiny

US /ˈtaɪni/

UK /'taɪnɪ/

  • adjective
  • Very, very small

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