Science behind Christmas

And the science bombing continues, starting early this time so I can actually write two posts. I planned to do it for Thanksgiving but couldn’t. So here we go.

Reindeers

Reindeers may not be able to fly, but they can float in water. Their hair traps air like a puffy jacket, which helps them float in water.

Elves

Elves have pointy ears and a large pinna (the tissue on the outer ear). This helps them to sense anything wrong with Santa’s sleigh, like a loose screw by localising the sound to a great extent. This also gives them the ability of echolocation, like bats, which helps them to see obstacles in the dark.

The Christmas tree

Christmas trees belong to a group of gymnosperm plants called conifers. They belong to the division coniferophyta. Gymnosperm is derived from a Greek word meaning naked seeds because their seeds are not enclosed by…