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Sharpen Your General Knowledge
Shamim Ansary:
What Are “Wisdom†Teeth and Why Do We Remove Them?
They’re called wisdom teeth because they’re the latest to arrivewhen a person’s (presumably) older and wiser.
The funny thing about our molars is that none of them form beneath any of the baby teeth. They develop only after our jaws grow big enough to make space for them. The problem arises when your jaw doesn’t quite grow big enough for all the molars that want to come in.
Wisdom teeth are fascinating things if you forget the pain and complications they cause, that is. The complications the fact that so many people no longer have room for their wisdom teethallow you to see evolution in action.
Early humans needed these extra molars to help them chew the tough fibers in meat and vegetation. Being closer to the jaw gave the teeth better leverage. People’s jaws were larger and protruding, in order to make room for all of the teeth necessary for masticating a good meal way back in 10,000 B.C.
But ever since humans discovered how to tame that blazing red fire, we have no longer needed those teeth to survive. We’ve learned how to cook tough foods well enough so that they can be eaten without much effort.
The size and shape of our faces and jaws have changed to deal with these lifestyle advancements. Unfortunately for many, our teeth haven’t completely taken the hint.
We still try to grow these extra molars in the back, despite the fact that we no longer need them and often don’t have space for them.
Shamim Ansary:
Who Invented Pyjamas, How Did It Get Its Name, and What Does the Word Pyjamas Mean?
In the sixteenth century, the first nightgowns appeared as loose-fitting, full-length unisex garments for warmth in bed.
In the eighteenth century the negligee became a lounging garment for women while, the nightshirt with loose-fitting pants called pyjamas replaced the long gown for men.
Pyjamas were modeled after harem pants and were imported from Iran, using the Persian words “pae†for leg garment and “jama†for clothing.
Shamim Ansary:
How Are Your Teeth Like Four Different Tools?
If you know the functions of tools such as scissors, forks, nutcrackers, and grinders, you will understand how marvelously specialized your teeth are.
Although your 20 primary, or baby, teeth first appeared when you were about six months old, your permanent teeth (32) started to grow out when you were about six or seven years old. The rest will appear when you are between 17 and 21.
Your permanent teeth are divided into four different types, of different sizes and shapes. But each type has a special use, like the special use each tool has in the home or workshop. These four types are incisors; canines, or cuspids; bicuspids, or premolars; and molars.
The incisors are your eight front teeth. Four are in your upper jaw and four in your lower jaw. Incisors work like a knife or scissors. As you close your jaws, they bite off large pieces of food.
The canines, or cuspids, are the four strong, pointed teeth, one each to the right and left of the incisors. You use your canines much like you use a fork, to tear larger pieces of food into smaller pieces.
The eight bicuspids, or premolars, are next to the canines, two behind each canine. Bicuspids work like a nutcracker, crushing food into smaller and smaller pieces.
The twelve molars are at the rear of your mouth, three next to each set of bicuspids. Because molars have strong, flat surfaces, they work like a grinder, mashing food into thin, pulpy masses.
Although most people grow only two sets of teeth in a lifetime, there have been actual cases of people growing a third set late in life!
Shamim Ansary:
What’s the Most Important Strait In the World?
The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, connecting the Persian Gulf with an arm of the Arabian Sea. This strait isn’t the longest or widest strait on earth, but it is probably the most important.
The oil-producing nations of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and other countries on the Persian Gulf must export most of their oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
It’s been estimated that as much as 60 percent of all the world’s oil exports pass through this strait.
On the average, an oil tanker sails through the Strait of Hormuz every 21 minutes!
Shamim Ansary:
Do People Sweat When They Swim and Why Does the Body Perspire When the Temperature Is In the 90s?
The body may sweat during swimming, with the moisture dissipating unnoticed in the water.
You do not necessarily sweat when you swim, but if you swim long enough and hard enough so that the exercise raises the internal body temperature, then you will sweat.
This can be proven by measuring body weights before and after exercise.
As to the question of discomfort when temperatures are in the nineties, the body’s metabolism is continually producing heat, some of which is ordinarily lost to cooler surrounding air.
But when the ambient temperature equals the body’s core temperature, it is well above the skin temperature, so the body is gaining heat from the environment, instead of radiating it, as would normally happen.
So at high temperatures, the heat builds up and we feel hot.
Then the only way to dissipate the heat is by evaporating water from the surface of the skin as perspiration.
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