Wednesday, March 07, 2007

who taught you?

i found this out on the web today: "when gardeners apply salt to slugs, they set in train a process called exosmosis, whereby water moves from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration through a semipermeable membrane - in other words, the slug's cell walls."

so i guess a slug's skin is not waterproof, and salt draws all their moisture out, and they die from dehydration. the debate still rages as to whether they feel anything as they writhe and shrivel up and slime everywhere (apparently it's got something to do with needing a cerebral cortex to experience pain.)

anyway, it was my big brother (whom i want to be like when i grow up) who taught me how to salt slugs when we were kids in nairobi. good times! thanks chuck.