• The word Lepidoptera comes from the Greek word lepis meaning “scale,” and pteron, meaning “wing.”
Butterflies versus Moths
• Wings
• Butterflies tend to fold their wings vertically up over their backs.
• Moths usually hold their wings in a tent shape to hide their abdomen.
• Butterflies usually have more colorful patterns on their wings.
• Moths typically have drab-colored, smaller wings.
• Anatomy
• Moths have a wing-coupling device called a “frenulum,” which joins the forewing to the hind wing, so the wings can work in unison during flight.
• Butterflies don’t have frenulums.
• Behavior
• Butterflies are primarily diurnal, meaning they fly in the daytime. But some butterflies are crepuscular, meaning they fly at dawn and dusk.
• Moths are generally nocturnal, meaning they fly at night. There are some moths that are diurnal, like the buck moth.
• Cocoon/Chrysalis
• Note: Both cocoons and chrysalides are protective coverings for the pupa, which is the intermediate stage between the larva and adult.
• Moths make a cocoon, which is wrapped in a silk covering.
• Butterflies make a chrysalis, which is hard, smooth, and has no silk covering.
• Carbon is an element that occurs in organic compounds, like living things, and in many inorganic compounds, like limestone, coal, and petroleum.
• Carbon is the fourth most common element in the universe (after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen).
• Carbon is the 15th most common element in Earth’s crust.
• Just behind oxygen, carbon is the second most common element in the human body.
• The word “carbon” comes from the Latin word carbo, meaning “coal”.
• Carbon atoms can attach themselves to one another to form long chains and rings. No other atoms of other elements can attach themselves to one another like carbon atoms. Carbon’s “favorite” atom to attach to is hydrogen, but there are many others that it attaches to, including oxygen, nitrogen, fluorine, chlorine, iodine, and sulfur, to name a few.
• There are more than ten million known carbon compounds, each with their own distinct chemical and physical properties and characteristics.
• Plastics are made from carbon polymers, which are long-chain molecules.
• Carbon atoms can form chains that are literally thousands of atoms long. It can also form rings, rings with chains, some with branches, and even cross links!
• Carbon compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons are associated with ozone depletion, as well as with the greenhouse effect.
• All organisms absorb carbon from their environment until they die. Carbon dating—also referred to as radiocarbon dating—utilizes a special method of measuring the naturally occurring isotope Carbon-14—which is produced by cosmic rays in the stratosphere and upper troposphere—to glean a reasonable estimate of its age. [See Radiocarbon Dating.]
• The diamond—one of the hardest substances on Earth—and graphite—one of the softest substances on Earth—are both 100% pure carbon.
Chocolate
• Raw and processed chocolate come from the beans of the Theobroma cacao tree. We call them cocoa “beans,” but they aren’t beans at all—they’re seeds from the tree. So technically speaking, chocolate is a fruit!
• Theobroma cacao is Latin for “food of the gods.”
• The average cocoa pod—which weighs about one pound (0.45 kg)—contains anywhere between 20 to 60 seeds.
• There’s documented use of cocoa as far back as around 1100 BC. However, we know that cocoa has been cultivated for at least three millennia in places such as Mexico, and Central and South America.
• Scientific research has shown that dark chocolate—which consists of a 60% cocoa minimum—is beneficial for the heart. Moderate dark chocolate consumption has also been shown to increase insulin.
• The antioxidants found in dark chocolate—called “flavonoids”—have been shown to increase “good” HDL cholesterol, lower “bad” LDL, and lower blood pressure.
• White chocolate is antioxidant/flavonoid-empty, as it contains no cocoa solids.
• Milk chocolate is also antioxidant/flavonoid empty because the cocoa solids content of commercially produced types ranges from 20–34%, depending upon the brand—not the required minimum of 60%.
Cholesterol
• A type of fat, cholesterol comes from just two sources: your body and food.
• Your liver and other cells in your body make about 75% of the body’s total blood cholesterol; the other 25% comes from the foods you eat.
• Food sources of cholesterol are only found in animal products, like butter, eggs, beef, pork, lamb, duck liver, and whole-milk dairy products.
• The word “cholesterol” comes from the Greek word chole—meaning “bile, gall”—and the Greek word stereos—meaning “solid, stiff.”
• Gallstones develop when bile contains too much cholesterol and not enough bile salts.
• For optimal health, the body needs a small amount of cholesterol to perform key functions, including producing hormones, vitamin D, and bile—an acid that helps your body digest fat.
• HDL is the “good” kind of cholesterol and stands for high-density lipoprotein. HDL is referred to as the good cholesterol because it helps remove artery-clogging cholesterol from the bloodstream.
• LDL, the “bad” kind of cholesterol, stands for low-density lipoprotein. If your bloodstream has too much of the cholesterol that’s packaged in your LDL, the surplus is dumped into your arteries, which is why LDL is referred to as the bar cholesterol. Over time, this may result in atherosclerosis—hardening of the arteries—which is the most common cause of heart disease.
• An HDL of 60 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter of blood) and higher provides some protection against heart disease. An LDL of less than 100 mg/dL is considered optimal.
• According to the latest research, having a total cholesterol level of less than 200 mg/dL is considered desirable, as statistically, this puts you at lower risk for coronary heart disease.
• Having a total cholesterol level of 240 mg/dL is considered high. A person with this level has more than twice the risk of coronary heart disease as someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.
Colloidal Silver
(A Bad Case of the Blues)
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