Lists and Stories

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  What’s the Difference Between a Turtle and a Tortoise? What is a tortoise anyway? Is it just a fancy way to say “turtle”? Well, actually, there’s a meaningful difference between tortoises and other turtles. All tortoises are in fact turtles—that is, they belong to the order Testudines or Chelonia, reptiles having bodies encased in a bony shell—but not...
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  What’s the Difference Between Alligators and Crocodiles? Don’t know a gator from a crocodile? You’re probably not alone. Although these large reptiles belong to different families, they share a number of similarities, including long snouts, powerful tails, short legs, and bony-plated backs. But there are some easy ways to tell them apart. The first is...
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  What’s the Difference Between an Herb and a Spice? The use of herbs and spices can be found as far back as prehistoric times, often as valuable forms of currency in trade. The seasonings have also been used for medicinal properties and as preservatives in food storage. Many spices have been found to contain antimicrobial properties that thwart the...
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  What’s the Difference Between Angiosperms and Gymnosperms? Angiosperms and gymnosperms are the two major groups of vascular seed plants. Angiosperms, which are flowering plants, are the largest and most diverse group within the kingdom Plantae. With around 300,000 species, they represent approximately 80 percent of all the known green plants now living....
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  What’s the Difference Between Asian and African Elephants? You may have been taught that there are only two species of elephants: the African elephant and the Asian elephant. In 2000, scientists recategorized the African elephant species into two distinct species, the larger being the African bush elephant (or African savanna elephant) and the smaller...
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  What’s the Difference Between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi? If you have a smartphone, laptop, tablet, or similar device, it is probably equipped with both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless capabilities. But what exactly are Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and how do they differ? Bluetooth, developed in the late 1990s, is a technology designed to enable short-range wireless...
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  What’s the Difference Between Bison and Buffalo? It’s easy to understand why people confuse bison and buffalo. Both are large, horned, oxlike animals of the Bovidae family. There are two kinds of bison, the American bison and the European bison, and two forms of buffalo, water buffalo and Cape buffalo. However, it’s not difficult to distinguish...
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  What’s the Difference Between Cane Sugar and Beet Sugar? White table sugar comes from either sugarcane or sugar beets and is usually sold without its plant source clearly identified. This is because—chemically speaking—the two products are identical. Refined table sugar is pure, crystallized sucrose, much in the same way that pure salt is simply sodium...
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  What’s the Difference Between Emoji and Emoticons? The Internet has greatly changed the way we communicate. Since body language and verbal tone do not translate in our text messages or e-mails, we’ve developed alternate ways to convey nuanced meaning. The most prominent change to our online style has been the addition of two new-age hieroglyphic...
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  What’s the Difference Between Global Warming and Climate Change? People often confuse the concepts of global warming and climate change, and it doesn’t help that media companies often substitute one for the other in TV, newspaper, and social media reporting. This is somewhat understandable since the two concepts overlap a great deal. In fact, there is a causal...
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  What’s the Difference Between Great Britain and the United Kingdom? The names Great Britain and United Kingdom are often used interchangeably. However, they are not actually synonymous. The reason for the two names, and the difference between them, has to do with the expansive history of the British Isles. The British Isles are a group of islands off the...
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  What’s the Difference Between Hispanic and Latino? Latin America, extending from the deserts of northern Mexico to the icy wilds of Tierra del Fuego in Chile and Argentina, encompasses many diverse countries and peoples. Though most of these countries are largely Catholic and Spanish-speaking, thanks to a shared history of colonization by Spain,...
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  What’s the Difference Between HIV and AIDS? In the 1980s, a condition called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, known more widely as AIDS, began to show itself within particular demographics in the United States. Initially referred to as GRID, or “gay-related immune deficiency,” for its prevalence among gay men, the condition meant a...
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  What’s the Difference Between Jam, Jelly, and Preserves? Before the invention of the at-home refrigerator in 1913, it was rare to find a strawberry in the winter or a gala apple in the spring—unless it had been preserved. Jams, jellies, and preserves were developed by industrious fruit eaters of days past as methods of keeping fruits fresh out of season....
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  What’s the Difference Between Libel and Slander? Libel and slander are forms of defamation, which is an untrue statement presented as fact and intended to damage a person’s character or reputation. Libel is a defamatory statement made in writing, while slander is a defamatory statement that is spoken. To be defamatory, a statement, whether...
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  What’s the Difference Between Llamas and Alpacas? Llamas and alpacas have been used by humans for transportation and fleece production for a few thousand years. Both species are primarily found in Peru and Bolivia and are part of the camel family, Camelidae. Alpacas and llamas are two of the four lamoid species—the other two species, vicuña and...
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  What’s the Difference Between Modern and Contemporary Art? Have you ever wondered about the difference between modern and contemporary art? Or wondered if there even is a difference between the two? Well, first of all, the two terms are not interchangeable. There is a difference, and it is based on rough date ranges established by art historians, art...
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  What’s the Difference Between Monkeys and Apes? Monkeys and apes are both primates, which means they’re both part of the human family tree. As distinguished relatives, we should probably be able to tell them apart. But when you look at a gibbon or a marmoset, how do you know which is a monkey and which is an ape? The quickest way to tell the...
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  What’s the Difference Between Morality and Ethics? Generally, the terms ethics and morality are used interchangeably, although a few different communities (academic, legal, or religious, for example) will occasionally make a distinction. In fact, Britannica’s article on ethics considers the terms to be the same as moral philosophy. While...
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  What’s the Difference Between Rabbits and Hares? If you’ve ever watched Looney Tunes, you may have noticed that the words bunny (which typically refers to young rabbits), rabbit (or wabbit, as spoken by Elmer Fudd), and hare (as shown in various clever episode titles) all referred to Bugs Bunny. While this was likely done to serve the stories,...