Science or Science Fiction?
You Decide

By Maria Caban, staff writer

Impress your science teacher. Bug your family. Yuck it up with friends.

As the "Green Scene's" resident scientist, in a rare moment away from periodic tables and smelly chemicals, I devised this quiz to test your knowledge of some well-known creatures.

Ready. Set. Go.

Decide if these statements about some well-known animals are true or the product of someone who has seen too many creature features.

1. Some sea stars (a.k.a. starfish) insert their stomachs into their food instead of the other way around. (Talk about spilling your guts!)
2. Dairy ants got their name because they "milk" another insect for a sweet liquid it produces. (Wouldn't an ant with a milk mustache look soooo cute?)
3. Insect vomit makes a great spread for toast. (Mmmm…de-lish!)
4. Some frogs can pull their eyes into their throats to help them swallow a meal. (Guess their eyes aren't too big for their stomachs!)
5. All insects are bugs (Duh!)
6. A "turkin" is what you get when you cross a chicken and a turkey.
7. Bee bites are very painful. (Double duh!)
8. You can't tell the age of a fish by counting the rings on its scales.
9. Flies have to jump up and backward to fly away.
10. Only quacks would use flesh-eating fly maggots to clean up a wound.

The Moment of Truth

How did you do? Check the answers below and find out if you're next in line for my resident scientist position.

1. True. Sea stars regurgitate their stomach into the shells of mussels and clams where they release digestive enzymes that turn the soft tissue into a soupy mix.
2. True. Dairy ants make aphids produce honeydew by stroking them with their antennae.
3. True. Honey bees regurgitate flower nectar into their honeycomb and fan away most of the water in it to make honey.
4. True. Hey, you use what you have to get the job done.
5. False. Strictly speaking, a bug is an insect that has piercing mouthparts (think "hypodermic needle") that let it suck fluids from a plant or animal. Examples would be mosquitoes and aphids.
6. True. And it's a mighty ugly bird.
7. False. You have to look at the other end of a female bee to find its weapon: a stinger at the base of its abdomen.
8. False. There's nothing fishy about this answer. Two types of fish scales make rings as they grow that look similar to the growth rings in trees.
9. True. Odd, but true.
10. 10. False. Fly maggots just love to eat dead and dying flesh, so they are used by doctors when traditional wound-cleaning methods don't do the trick.

If you got all 10 statements correct you're a genius—and I'm out of a job!