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Tree Of Death

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  A manchineel tree painted red as a warning sign. (Severine BAUR/Getty Images) This 'Tree of Death' Is So Toxic, You Can't Even Stand Under It When It Rains SIGNE DEAN 10 NOVEMBER 2021 In 1999, radiologist Nicola Strickland went on a holiday to the Caribbean island of Tobago, a tropical paradise complete with idyllic, deserted beaches. On her first morning there, she went foraging for shells and corals in the white sand, but the holiday quickly took a turn for the worse.  Scattered amongst the coconuts and mangoes on the beach, Strickland and her friend  found some sweet-smelling green fruit that looked much like small crabapples. Both foolishly decided to take a bite. Within moments the pleasantly sweet flavor was overwhelmed by a peppery, burning feeling and an  excruciating  tightness in the throat that gradually got so bad, the women could barely swallow. The fruit in question belonged to the manchineel tree ( Hippomane mancinella ), sometimes referred to a...
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Flies Throw Up On Your Food

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A fly regurgitating digestive juices. (Carlos Ruiz/CC BY-ND) Do Flies Really Throw Up on Your Food When They Land On It? Let's Dive In RAVINDRA PALAVALLI-NETTIMI & JAMIE THEOBALD, THE CONVERSATION 9 NOVEMBER 2021 Imagine you're at a picnic and just about to bite into your sandwich. Suddenly you spot a fly headed your way, homing in on your food with help from its  compound eyes  and antennae. It manages to escape your swatting, lands on the sandwich and then seems to throw up on it! It can look kind of gross, but the fly might be just airing out its own digested food, or  spitting on yours . Most of the  over 110,000  known fly species  have no teeth , so they cannot chew solid food. Their mouthparts are like a spongy straw. Once they land on your food, they need to release digestive juices to liquefy it into a predigested, slurpable soup they can swallow. In short, some flies are on a  liquid diet . To fit more food in their stomachs, some fl...
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