A side effect of these chemical reactions is a lot of heat. The fact that the chemical reactions in a fire generate a lot of new heat is what sustains the fire. Many fuels burn in one step. Gasoline is a good example. Heat vaporizes gasoline and it all burns as a volatile gas. There is no char. Humans have also learned how to meter out the fuel and control a fire.
Researchers just mapped their genome for the first time to find out. By Paca Thomas. Bowhead whales can live more than 200 years, and they rarely succumb to cancer or disease. Searching for clues about their longevity, researchers just mapped their entire genome. Watch more in the video above.
iStock/QueGar3. Though not technically immortal, the bowhead whale is the oldest living mammal. According to Popular Science, several species of whales have been known to live for more than 70 years, though in the 1990s scientists discovered scars on the massive animals that had been made by weapons from the 1800s. The oldest known bowhead lived to be 211 years old.