Where did ketchup come from originally? The Chinese invented ke-tsiap, a sauce made from pickled fish and spices (no tomatoes though) in the 1690s. By the early 1700s, ke-tsiap had spread to Malaysia where British explorers first tasted it. They liked it so much that they took it back home to England. By 1740, ke-tsiap, renamed ketchup, had become an important part of the English diet and it was even becoming popular in the American colonies. However, tomato ketchup (which we eat today) was not invented until the 1790s, when some American colonists mixed tomatoes into the sauce. Why do some plants catch insects? All plants need a salt called nitrate to grow properly and generally they get this from the ground. But sometimes, if plants grow in swampy places, they do not get as much nitrate as they need so they trap and 'eat' insects to get nutrients. Insect-eating plants catch their 'food' in different ways. The Sundew has leaves covered in hairs, and on each hair is a drop of sticky liquid that sparkles in the sun. Insects are attracted to the sparkling drops and land on the leaf, then they are stuck fast by the sticky liquid. The hairs around the insect then push the hapless bug against the leaf where it is digested by a juice that the leaf secretes. The Venus Fly Trap has leaves that look like hinges with long hairs on the side. When an insect touches the hairs, the two sides quickly snap shut, the hairs lock together and the insect is trapped - to be eaten. What is a soap opera? It is a dramatic serial programme broadcast on radio or television. It was called 'soap opera' in the United States because most of the programmes' sponsors for many years were soap manufacturers. The soap opera is characterised by a permanent cast of actors, a continuing story, emphasis on dialogue instead of action, a slower- than-life pace and a consistently sentimental treatment. It began in the early 1930s with 15-minute day-time radio episodes. It was inherited by television in the early 1950s and expanded to 30 minutes. The early classic American soap opera was typically a continuing play about a middle-class family living in a small town. By the 1970s the style and content of soap operas had undergone a revolution. There was open discussion of such matters as abortion, drug abuse, wife abuse and sexual diseases. The traditional emphasis on romantic and marital problems remained, but sex, violence and criminal activity came to be treated more directly. Graphic: SPBRAIGLO