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May 23, 2008

Strange But True!

Q. How does a cockroach manage to survive without its head?

A. The bodiless head too lives on, waving its antennae about for several hours, says Charles Choi in “Scientific American” magazine. To understand how a roach and many other insects can survive decapitation, it's instructive to understand why we humans can't. First off, the blood loss and drop in blood pressure would stop the flow of oxygen and vital nutrients, and we'd bleed to death. Plus, brainless, we couldn't breathe; mouthless, we couldn't eat.


 
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