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    Orcas, also known as Orcinus Orca, are carnivorous mammals that can weigh up to 6 tons, are 23 to 32 feet long, and can live from 50 to 80 years old. An orca is the largest dolphin and is the world’s most powerful predator with teeth that measure up to 4 inches. Orcas can swim up to 40 miles a day and dive 100 to 500 feet several times a day.       They travel in pods, family groups that consist of up to 40 orcas. Each pod has its own distinctive noises that its members can recognize even from a long distance. Orcas are known to be smart and social, an example of this is when pods hunt using cooperative techniques that liken them to wolf packs. An orca uses echolocation to hunt and communicate and eat fish, penguins, and marina animals. While orcas are generalized eaters, once they’ve learned what their family eats, it’s unlikely that they’ll change their diets after. Orcas can be found from the polar regions all the way to the equator, but most often frequent cold, coastal waters.

Around 10 billion kilos of coffee are consumed by the world each year; the country that drinks the most each year is Finland with 12 kg per person. Legend says that in the 9th century, some Ethiopian farmers noticed how their goats acted after eating the Coffea plant and they told a local monk who then decided to give it a try and found out that the drink kept him up at night, resulting in coffee. Two types of coffee beans are the Arabica, the most grown coffee bean and referred to as shade coffee, and Robusta, slightly more bitter than Arabica and considered sun-grown coffee. Coffee beans aren’t beans at all! They're the pits of berries and got their name due to their resemblance to legumes. Sources: batchcoffee.co.uk , coffeeaffection.com

Stop signs weren’t always the red octagon-shaped signs that we know today. The first stop signs were installed in Detroit, Michigan in 1915, a year after the first electric stoplight was installed, and were square, 2ft by 2ft, with black lettering on a white background. It was in 1935 that the Joint Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices published the MUTCD which designated octagons as the official stop sign shape. An octagon was chosen because it was easily recognizable from the back and at night which resulted in less confusion at intersections. Finally, in 1954, stop signs were given their bright red coloring, a change made to keep consistent with stoplights which were red since the first one was installed. Sources: bartush.com

While the origins of chocolate cake are not clear, it is believed that the first chocolate cake was created in the early 1800s. The first printed recipe for a chocolate cake appeared in the American publication, Boston Cooking School Cook Book. Early chocolate cakes were very different from modern cakes. They were lighter in color, due to the significantly smaller amounts of sugar and cocoa and were much fluffier by the larger amount of flour used then. Chocolate cake became popular after confectioners discovered how to make chocolate bars by combining melted chocolate with powdered cocoa. Companies later began selling packaged mixes of cocoa and sugar, known as chocolate cake mix. Now there are many different types of chocolate cake and are enjoyed by people all over the world. Sources: cake.com , clements.umich.edu

Scorpion Fish, scientific name Scorpaenidae, have sharp spines covered in poisonous mucous that, if stung, can cause severe pain, swelling, and spread venom into other parts of the body quickly. These fish are omnivores, meaning that they eat both plant and animal matter, and typically eat coral reefs, snails, and other small fish. They can grow from 8 to 20 inches, weigh up to 3.5 pounds, and live for 15 years. They are saltwater fish and can mainly be found at the surface level, but they can also be found 800 meters deep, living in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Indonesia. Predators of Scorpaenidae include sharks, large snappers, and rays. While the Scorpaenidae is one of the largest marine families with about 100 to 200 subspecies and types, the fish in this family mostly live in solidarity and only come together for reproduction. Sources: thefishadvisor.org , a-z-animals.com

A nebula is a giant cloud of dust and gas that exists in the space between stars, also known as interstellar space. Some nebulae (more than one nebula) are made by the dust and gas thrown out by the explosion of a dying star, like a supernova. Like the Eagle Nebula, some nebulae are regions where new stars are forming. As gravity slowly pulls clumps of gas and dust together, stars begin to form. As the clumps get larger, their gravity gets stronger until the clump gets so big that it collapses from its gravity. This collapse causes the material at the center to heat up, and this newly made hot core is the beginning of a star. Even though they may not look like it, nebulae are always in motion, the clouds mixing and churning, creating magnetic fields. The closest nebula to earth is the Helix Nebula which is 700 light-years away. Some more well-known nebulae are the Orion Nebula, the Horsehead Nebula, and the Crab Nebula.  Sources: spaceplace.nasa.gov , space-facts.com

Post-it Notes were created by 3M scientists, Dr. Spencer Silver and Art Fry. Silver discovered the adhesive for the notes when he was researching adhesive in a laboratory and during the process, found an adhesive that stuck lightly to surfaces but didn’t bond tightly to them. What he discovered was microspheres that retain their stickiness but could be removed, allowing attached surfaces to peel apart easily. Fry discovered the need for the notes when he would put scraps of paper to mark pages but saw how easily they would fall out. Fry and Silver partnered to create the new product and wrote messages on the notes to communicate around their office, which made them realize just how much potential the sticky notes had. Fry decided to prove the product’s need by supplying the employees of 3M corporate headquarters with the notes. The employees loved them, and 3M decided to launch the notes in four cities under the name Press ‘n Peel. The notes became an overnight success. “It was always