Scientist Stories

Story One: Simple Life

When Madame Curie and Pierre Curie got married in 1895, there were only two handfuls in the new house. There is exactly one chair for each of them. Pierre Curie felt that there were too few chairs and suggested adding a few more to avoid having no place to sit when guests came. However, Madame Curie said: "It is good to have chairs, but guests will not leave after they sit down. In order to have more If you have time to do research, forget it."

Since 1913, Madame Curie's annual salary has increased to 40,000 francs, but she is still "stingy". Every time she comes back from abroad, she always brings back some menus from the banquet, because these menus are made of very thick and fine paper, and it is very convenient to write on the back. No wonder some people said that Madame Curie was "like a poor woman in a hurry" until her death.

Once, an American reporter was looking for Madame Curie. He walked to the door of a fisherman's house in the village and asked a woman sitting barefoot on the stone slab at the door where Madame Curie lived. When the woman raised her head, the reporter was shocked: it turned out to be Marie Curie.

Story 2: Indifferent to fame and fortune

Madame Curie is famous all over the world, but she neither seeks fame nor fortune. She won 10 bonuses, 16 medals, and 107 honorary titles in her lifetime, but she didn't care at all. One day, a friend of hers came to her home and suddenly saw her little daughter playing with the gold medal that the Royal Society had just awarded her. He was surprised and said, "Mrs. Curie, she got a medal from the Royal Society." , is a very high honor, how can you give it to your children to play with?" Madame Curie smiled and said: "I want my children to know from an early age that honors are like toys, they can only be played with, and they must not be taken too seriously. Otherwise, nothing will be accomplished."

Story Three: "Teaching Daughters in a Proper Way"

Madame Curie had two daughters. "Seizing the age advantage of intellectual development" is Marie Curie's important "know-how" for developing children's intelligence. As early as when her daughter was less than one year old, Madame Curie guided her children to engage in intellectual gymnastics training for young children, guide them to have extensive contact with strangers, go to the zoo to watch animals, let them learn to swim, and appreciate the beauty of nature. When the children are a little older, she teaches them a kind of artistic intellectual gymnastics, sings children's songs, and tells them fairy tales. When they get older, let the children undergo intellectual training, teach them to read, play the piano, do handicrafts, etc., and also teach them to ride bicycles and ride horses. After Madame Curie and her husband won the Nobel Prize, two pairs of descendants trained by Madame Curie also won the Nobel Prize: the eldest daughter Irene, a nuclear physicist, and she and her husband Joliot discovered that Artificial radioactive substances and jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

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Interesting Science and Technology Facts

Once, Newton was concentrating on something in the laboratory During the experiment, I even forgot the time to eat. His assistant took a few eggs, sent them to the laboratory, and said to Newton: "There are a few eggs here. You can cook them yourself." Newton said: "Okay, thank you, please put the eggs in There." After saying that, he immersed himself in the experiment again.

After a long time, Newton felt hungry and remembered that he had not eaten lunch. So, he picked up a small pot, put the eggs in the pot, put it on the stove, and started experimenting again.

After half an hour, Newton finished the experiment. Only then did he remember the eggs in the pot. He opened the lid and saw that there were no eggs inside, only a pocket watch.

Newton was shocked. When he looked up, the egg was still on the table, but the pocket watch on the table was missing. It turned out that Newton was so focused on his experiments that he boiled his pocket watch like an egg.

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1. Who knows how the sea freezes? Everyone thinks that sea water is salty and will not freeze. In fact, after the temperature decreases, the solubility of water will also decrease, that is, the salt will precipitate. In this way, the water freezes.

2. Who knows if Altair exists now? What we see now is the "light" it emitted long ago. As for whether it exists now, only the people in the Altair Galaxy know that the light of Altair we currently observe from the earth is still the light emitted by a stable star. Moreover, the lifespan of ordinary stars is more than 6 billion years, so Altair should still exist

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Popular science knowledge

1. Why do stars twinkle?

We see stars twinkling, not because of changes in the luminosity of the stars themselves, but because of the obstruction of the atmosphere.

The atmosphere is between us and the stars. When starlight passes through the atmosphere, it will be affected by the density and thickness of the atmosphere. The atmosphere is not absolutely transparent; its transparency varies depending on density. So when we look at the stars through it on the ground, we will see that the stars seem to be twinkling.

2. Why do people yawn?

When we feel tired, our bodies have produced a lot of carbon dioxide. When there is too much carbon dioxide, oxygen must be added to balance what the body needs. Because these residual carbon dioxide will affect the functional activities of our body, the body will issue a protective response and yawn.

Yawning is a deep breathing action, which allows us to take in more oxygen and expel carbon dioxide than usual, and also eliminates fatigue.

3. Why can snakes walk without legs?

Snakes have many scales on their bodies, which are the outermost layer of armor on their bodies. The scales are not only used to protect the body, but also serve as their "feet".

When a snake crawls forward, its body will form an S shape. Each scale on the outside of the S-shape will tilt up to help the snake grasp uneven roads as it moves forward. These scales cooperate with the snake's muscles and can push the body forward, so the snake can move without legs!

4. Why do sunflowers always bloom toward the sun?

The stem below the sunflower disk contains a substance called "auxin." This substance has the function of accelerating reproduction, but it is optically repulsive. Whenever it encounters light, it will run to the backlight side.

So when the sun rises, the sunflower stems immediately hide to the backlight side, and it seems that the entire plant is bent in the direction of the sun.

5. Why does people’s hair turn gray as they age?

There is a substance called "melanin" in our hair. The more melanin, the darker the color of the hair. If there is less melanin, the hair will turn yellow or white. When humans reach old age, various functions of the body will gradually decline, and the formation of pigment will become less and less, so the hair will gradually turn white!

6. Why do fireflies glow?

Fireflies can glow because they have luminescent devices at the end of their abdomens. The luminescent devices are filled with many phosphorus-containing luminescent substances and luminescent enzymes, allowing fireflies to emit flashes of light.

The purpose of fireflies' light is not only for lighting, but also for courtship, warning, and trapping. This is also a tool for them to communicate. Different types of fireflies have different lighting methods, lighting frequencies and colors, and they use this to convey different messages.

7. Why does your stomach growl when you are hungry?

When you are hungry, your stomach will growl. This is because the food you have eaten is almost finished digesting. Although the stomach is empty, gastric juice in the stomach will continue to be secreted. At this time, the contraction of the stomach will gradually expand, and the liquid and gas inside will stir up, causing a gurgling sound.

Don’t be embarrassed by your stomach growling next time! Because this is a normal physiological action.

8. Why can’t ostriches fly?

A type of ostrich bird with a large body, but they cannot fly into the sky! This is not because their wings don't work, but because their feathers are too soft and their wings are too small, not suitable for flying at all. In addition, the muscles of the ostrich are underdeveloped and the sternum is flat, which is not helpful for flying.

Oostriches live in Africa. Since they have lived in desert areas for a long time, their bodies have gradually evolved into what they are now in order to adapt to the environment.

9. Why does food in cans not go bad easily?

Luncheon meat, black bean dace, beans in tomato sauce... are all delicious canned foods, and they can be stored for a long time without spoiling easily. This is because the can is sealed and bacteria cannot enter.

When people make canned food, they take all the air out of the can and then seal it. In the absence of air, even if there are a few bacteria on the food inside, they cannot survive or reproduce!

10. Why do babies cry non-stop when they are born?

Babies cry loudly when they are born. This is not because they are unhappy, but because they are taking their first breath of air!

When babies leave their mother's body and are born, the first breath of air they inhale will rush to the throat, which will violently impact the vocal cords, causing the vocal cords to vibrate and then make a cry-like sound.

11. Why does the lizard’s tail still bounce after being broken off?

In order to protect themselves, many lizards also use protective colors to hide their appearance. When some lizards are attacked, their tails will break off due to violent muscle contraction. Since some of the nerves in the broken tail are still alive, it will continue to bounce, thus distracting the enemy so that they can escape. Don't think that their lives will end like this. In fact, it only takes a few months for their tails to grow back and continue their lives.

12. Why do squirrels have such big tails?

Don’t look at the squirrel’s tail! While the squirrel is jumping up and down the tree, its tail is doing a great job. It allows the squirrel to balance when jumping in the tree and avoid falling and being injured. In addition, this big tail can also play a protective role in winter, tightly surrounding the squirrel's body, which is both convenient and practical.

13. Why can’t human thumbs have one or three joints?

The average person has five fingers, and the lengths of the fingers vary. However, has anyone noticed that in addition to the thumb, other fingers also have three joints, but the thumb only has two joints? It turns out that its number of joints exactly matches the other four fingers. If it has three joints, the thumb will be weak and cannot lift heavier objects; if it has only one joint, it will not be able to cooperate with the other four fingers to grasp things freely!

14. Why don’t I feel itchy when I scratch myself?

When others scratch ourselves, we feel itchy and laugh constantly; however, when we scratch ourselves, we not only don’t laugh, but also don’t feel itchy. Because we are mentally prepared, the brain will send a message that "there is no danger", and the nerves will relax accordingly, so we will not laugh or feel itchy!

15. Why is the sea water mostly blue or green?

Looking at the sea, I often find that the water is blue or green. However, when you pick up the sea water, you can only see that it is as transparent and colorless as the water in the past. It turns out that seawater itself is not much different from the water we come into contact with daily, and it is also transparent. The green color we see is actually a phenomenon caused by the ability of seawater to absorb light. Only green light can be absorbed by seawater and thus reflected; when the seawater is deeper, green light is also absorbed, making the seawater look blue.

16. Why do you get goosebumps?

There are hairs on the surface of our skin, and there is an arrector pili muscle under each pore. When stimulated by nerves (for example: anger, fear, cold, etc.), the body's temperature will drop. The arrector pili muscles will contract and cause the hair to stand on end, forming goosebumps. In addition to its thermal insulation function, this physiological system can also make animals appear larger than they actually are, thus scaring off enemies.

17. Is the seahorse born from the belly of the father?

Almost all animals reproduce by females, but seahorses are different in that they are born by males. On the belly of the male seahorse there is a brood sac like a kangaroo's "pouch", and the female seahorse will lay her eggs into the male's brood sac. After that, the male seahorse takes on the responsibility of giving birth. After about three weeks, the baby seahorse pops out of the father's body.

18. Why do leaves change color?

The reason why leaves change color is related to the chemical substance they contain - chlorophyll. When autumn comes, the days are shorter than in summer and the temperature is lower. The leaves stop producing chlorophyll, and the remaining nutrients are transported to the trunk and roots for storage. The leaves lack green chlorophyll, and at the same time, other chemical pigments appear, so we see more leaves in yellow, brown and other colors.

19. Why are there fallen leaves?

As autumn approaches, more water evaporates from the leaves than in summer, but the tree roots absorb less water than in summer. In order to reduce the loss of water in the tree, the cells in the stem begin to form a separation layer. After the nutrients completely leave the leaves, the separation layer will isolate the leaves from the trunk, and the leaves will fall.

20. Why do whales spray water?

A whale is a type of mammal, but its nose has no nose shell and its nostrils are on the top of its head. Living in the water, it breathes with its lungs and can store a lot of air at once, without having to go to the surface to breathe frequently. But when it breathes to the surface of the water, it breathes through its nose, and the loud sound caused by the seawater spurting out of the body when breathing is caused by pressure.