When the appendix gets surgically removed, it's typically because it's in the process of dying and trying to take the patient out with it. So its usefulness has already ended at that point.

There are cases of appendicitis that are treatable with antibiotics, but in general it tends to come on too quickly and severely for that.

I assume that a big factor here is that the nitrogen in the air isn't "freely available" in the same sense that it is in nitrates in the soil. It's stuck to other nitrogen atoms, and N2 has a huge bond energy compared to the nitrogen-hydrogen bond in stuff like ammonium ions.(To digress, the fact that nitrogen atoms so desperately wants to bond with other nitrogen atoms is what makes nitrates so reactive in things like explosives. The formation of N2 releasing a lot of energy is the flip side of breaking N2 requiring a lot of energy.)

As to the reason why plants need nitrogen (the element as opposed to the gas) in the first place: it's a major component of chlorophyll. I mean, probably other reasons, but definitely that one.

Well, over 3 million people die each year from waterborne pathogens. I can assure you that germs are the much bigger problem to have here.

Just to add: the thing you want to google to learn more about this is "black body radiation" or "thermal radiation."

You seem to be thinking of "the genetic mutation" as something separate from the cancerous cells. It's not.

That is, the genetic mutation that causes cancer isn't something that's expressed in your whole body that makes cancerous cells, it's something that happens in one cell that then divides uncontrollably (if the immune system doesn't eliminate is as foreign soon enough).

The ride appears to shake its car around using hydraulic arms. So it's speeding up and slowing down all the time, changing the speed and direction (remember that velocity and therefore acceleration includes both) of the car's motion.

I realize "Sue" and "zoo" with slightly different tongue placement (the "s" is just a bit more fronted), which might or might not be distinguishable to a listener. I'd be more convinced if I tested it on someone who had to guess which one I meant without me telling them which I intended, and absent any surrounding context.

Selective breeding doesn't seem like a great strategy here in the first place, as viruses probably have a vastly shorter generation time (and hence a faster adaptation rate) than chickens.

I know this isn't what you meant by the question, but since the vast majority of the universe (not counting dark matter, whatever that is) is made of stars that are mostly hydrogen and helium, basically everything on Earth is very rare compared to the universe in general. So, that's pretty cool.

Largely, by introducing agents that inhibit the growth of ice crystals. Smaller ice crystals mean less cell damage.

In broad strokes, this is similar to some of the measures often used to keep your ice cream smooth and creamy instead of just being frozen cream cubes.

>Generally the only carcinogens in food come from the way we cook and or preserve the foods.

Not so. For example, fiddleheads naturally contain the carcinogen ptaquiloside.

Swedish biologist Lars Wilsson found in the 1960s that beavers raised in isolation will show dam-building behavior in response to the sound of running water. This proved to be the case even in the absence of actual water, with sound played over a loudspeaker on a dry floor.

There are many depth cues other than binocular parallax, so people with one eye can still judge depth, just not as well.

Examples of monocular depth cues include:

Relative size, or absolute size of familiar objects: the farther away something is, the smaller it appears, and this can be used to either compare similar objects that appear different sizes, or to judge the distance of an object whose size is familiar.

Texture gradient: basically, this is relative size applied to the fine detail of texture. Imagine a gravel road, for example; its apparent texture becomes finer the farther away you go.

Motion parallax: things moving at familiar speeds have slower apparent motion the farther away they are. Or, when you are moving, things farther away from you have slower apparent motion.

Overlap: closer objects obscure farther ones.

Elevation to the horizon: things farther away tend to be nearer the horizon.

Accommodation: Your eye changes shape via muscular action in order to focus on objects, and the shape depends on the distance to the object.