Science facts that amaze you?

catallus

endacl wrote: »

Must have had a rapid evolution after The Flood.

But how could it evolve after it went extinct?!

Wossack

OldNotWIse wrote: »

I think cat penises have spikes on them too that come out during sex so that the female cant pull away. Terrible stuff

might be wolves (all canines? I dunno). The end of their pecker swells up after penetration, and the lady wolf clamps down, so the fella cant run off half way

good ole youtube..!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_XlM1hpBU

endacl

catallus wrote: »

But how could it evolve after it went extinct?!

Internet?

catallus

endacl wrote: »

Internet?

Hmm. Possible. But how would that explain all the sand? Did it just evolve around the live dinosaur or the dead skeleton?

endacl

catallus wrote: »

Hmm. Possible. But how would that explain all the sand? Did it just evolve around the live dinosaur or the dead skeleton?

Silicon. From the dinosaurs laptop.

catallus

endacl wrote: »

Silicon. From the dinosaurs laptop.

Well! That settles that

Nobel Prize, here we come!

Digital Solitude

catallus wrote: »

Hmm. Possible. But how would that explain all the sand? Did it just evolve around the live dinosaur or the dead skeleton?

The continents have moved in the last 65 million years? Africa used to be further south than it is now, so would have had a wetter climate.

We didn't even have an Ireland until about 30 Million years ago iirc

catallus

Yeah, ok, but then you'd have to accept the water moves too? So, same difference.

As far as Ireland is concerned, it has always been here, it's just that it might have been underwater at certain times. But it was still there.

The Th!ng

A Nuclear Powered Manhole Cover

Wacker The Attacker

A whales penis is called a dork

somuj

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

A whales penis is called a dork

A guy from Orson is called Mork

retalivity

somuj wrote: »

A guy from Orson is called Mork

Loads of them in south dublin as well

Digital Solitude

catallus wrote: »

Yeah, ok, but then you'd have to accept the water moves too? So, same difference.

As far as Ireland is concerned, it has always been here, it's just that it might have been underwater at certain times. But it was still there.

Water moves? Nice contribution

It was formed when two different landmasses joined together to form one island

Candie

Candie wrote: »

Asimov came up with this very scenario in The Puppet Masters! Is there nothing the man didn't predict?

Into The Blue wrote: »

Nothing.

Just realised it was Heinlein that wrote the Puppet Masters. Asimov didn't know everything after all!

steddyeddy

Asimov was also a great biochemist.

Grayson

steddyeddy wrote: »

Asimov was also a great biochemist.

Maggie Thatcher was a mediocre one

The Dagda

Digital Solitude wrote: »

We didn't even have an Ireland until about 30 Million years ago iirc

That raises an interesting question.

Does anyone know which landmass/country is the newest?

It'd be kinda cool if it was Ireland.

GerB40

The Dagda wrote: »

That raises an interesting question.

Does anyone know which landmass/country is the newest?

It'd be kinda cool if it was Ireland.

Hawaii is. It's still growing by the day actually.

The Dagda

GerB40 wrote: »

Hawaii is. It's still growing by the day actually.

But it's a state rather than a country, is there any chance for Ireland being the newest?

endacl

The Dagda wrote: »

But it's a state rather than a country, is there any chance for Ireland being the newest?

That'd probably be South Sudan. The country's brand new. The land is ancient though...

The Dagda

endacl wrote: »

That'd probably be South Sudan. The country's brand new. The land is ancient though...

I mean the physical landmass rather than the political/legal status.

Actually just thinking about it, I'd guess that Iceland is pretty new.

catallus

The galapagos off S. America, they are very new. They appear as volcanic rocks and get eroded away over a short period (4 million years) The westerly ones are newest. Attenborough was on about them this morning.

Ireland is pretty ancient as far as I know.

Digital Solitude

Iceland is still growing so its up there somewhere!

Billy86

The fact that Nikola Tesla invented everything ever.

Spook_ie

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Iceland is still growing so its up there somewhere!

Island of Surtsey was the last addition according t'web, formed from eruption 1963 to 1967

Capt'n Midnight

The first practical electric motor wasn't invented.

It was discovered by accident.

Zénobe Gramme and Hippolyte Fontaine had developed a more efficient DC generator that produced smoother DC.

http://books.google.ie/books?id=8yCle7H0Q_QC&pg=PA267&lpg=PA267&dq=Z%C3%A9nobe+Gramme++exhibition+1873&source=bl&ots=PLlTwwH3r5&sig=_oHhN7XepRMEse0VGil_KH0ml4s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3YkUVNOWBvDb7AbD54DQDg&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Z%C3%A9nobe%20Gramme%20%20exhibition%201873&f=false

but legend has it that someone wired two dynamos together so that when steam power was applied to one the other started turning too , by the end of the exhibition they demonstrated power transmission over 1Km

Mountainsandh

catallus wrote: »

The galapagos off S. America, they are very new. They appear as volcanic rocks and get eroded away over a short period (4 million years) The westerly ones are newest. Attenborough was on about them this morning.

Ireland is pretty ancient as far as I know.

Ireland came in 2 pieces if I recall right. One drifted North until it slammed into the second, along a line East West. Both pieces were parts of other continents after Pangea, so it is ancient enough !
My memory is patchy, but this wiki alludes to it http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Ireland
I have a book with diagrams showing the drift, not sure if they can be found online.

Edit : there is a book by Mary Mulvihill online called Ingenious Ireland with an intro chapter on this which corrects me as regards Pangea, she seems to imply the 2 landmasses that make up Ireland (one from North America/Newfoundland, one which was situated where South Africa now is) collided, and subsequently Pangea formed. Bit confused.

Seanieke

Wombats do square poos!!

Mountainsandh

They don't look very cubic to me, i've seen sheep's poo more cubic than that !

Frank Lee Midere

somuj wrote: »

There is no such thing as color just different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Or as we like to call it : colour.

That's a bit like saying there is no such thing as sound just vibrations in the air.

Maximus Alexander

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

That's a bit like saying there is no such thing as sound just vibrations in the air.

I have had this said to me. :rolleyes:

Rucking_Fetard

Here's a pile from the lg Nobel Prize

The Ig Nobel Prizes are a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research.

lol at this one...hehe

Response Behaviors of Svalbard Reindeer towards Humans and Humans Disguised as Polar Bears on Edgeøya,


measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between a banana skin and the floor, when a person steps on a banana skin that's on the floor.

Rest of them.

Rucking_Fetard

Zero-calorie sweeteners may trigger blood sugar risk by screwing with gut bacteria

When artificial sweeteners are in the news, it’s rarely positive. In the last few years, sweeteners have been linked to everything from Type 2 diabetes to cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. Still, products like Splenda and Sweet‘N Low remain a cornerstone of many a weight-loss strategy, mostly because doctors don’t quite understand how sweeteners contribute to disease. That may soon change, however, as results from a study, published today in Nature, point to a possible mechanism behind these adverse health effects.

I'm amazed it took this long for a study to show this.

tacofries

That black is not a colour but indeed the absence of colour!

tacofries

That black is not a colour but indeed the absence of colour!

Rucking_Fetard

Scientists Have an Answer to how the Egyptian Pyramids Were Built

GerB40

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Scientists Have an Answer to how the Egyptian Pyramids Were Built

Incorrect. The pyramids were in fact Goa'uld motherships put on earth by the evil Goa'uld as a means of intergalactic transport..

Do you even science bro?

bitemeluis

Big cats in deserts and such have a mechanism which calculates how much energy they can expend on chasing prey - they cannot go over this calculation, even if they are just feet away from catching it they will give it up once the limit is reached

Rucking_Fetard

GerB40 wrote: »

Incorrect. The pyramids were in fact Goa'uld motherships put on earth by the evil Goa'uld as a means of intergalactic transport..

Do you even science bro?

GerB40

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Ah yeah, episode 200. It's excellent. You should look up some of the blooper videos, Teal'c seems like a right funny man...

Rucking_Fetard

Rethinking the origins of the universe

Big Bang never happened...maybe.

quad_red

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Rethinking the origins of the universe

Big Bang never happened...maybe.

"The paper, which was recently submitted to ArXiv, an online repository of physics papers that is not peer-reviewed"

If it's so convincing why wouldn't a scientist submit the paper to a peer reviewed journal?

paperclip2

The Pistol Shrimp can make a snapping sound with its pincer thats one of the loudest sounds in the sea. The snapping creates a small liquid free bubble that reaches speeds of up to 60 miles per hour and as the bubble collapses it reaches temperatures of over 4,000 centigrade.

This from a shrimp that only grown up to 5 cm in size.

Nature be badass. :cool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae

Capt'n Midnight

paperclip2 wrote: »

The Pistol Shrimp can make a snapping sound with its pincer thats one of the loudest sounds in the sea

The Mantis Shrimp is neither a shrimp nor a mantis

but it is awesome - enjoy
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp





This video may not represent typical behaviour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uTdTRXNdEY

Calibos

Rucking_Fetard wrote: »

Zero-calorie sweeteners may trigger blood sugar risk by screwing with gut bacteria



I'm amazed it took this long for a study to show this.

Just so we're clear, I don't think this gives any credence to the Anti aspartame
Nut jobs who think aspartame gave their kid autism or themselves MS etc. the substance itself still sounds like its non toxic. It's the unforeseen and paradoxical effect it seems to have of raising blood sugar via its effect on gut bacteria according to this study which may render the substance the wrong tool for the job.

In hindsight it's made sense to me given my own anecdotal experience. Gave up. 2L a day coke habit for Coke Zero nearly 2 years ago now. Lost 1 stone but then rapidly put on 2. I had put this down to replacing the pure sugar calories of the coke with more food calories albeit healthier types. The flaw in this theory was that my energy levels fell through the floor the last 18 months. This chronic lack of energy replaced my GAD as health concern número uno for me.

It seems that the effect on bloodsugar by the sweeteners via the gut bacteria sends all the calories to the fat cells causing the weight gain but leaves a lot less free floating calories in the bloodstream for the day to day running of all the other types of cells leading to chronic tiredness/fatigue. I'd imagine the near permanent loose stools since I went to coke zero also points to a gut biome out of whack.

steddyeddy

N2

---

> 2NH3 or the conversion of nitrogen gas to the solid form ammonia is essential to all life. We need nitrogen to make amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins.

We can't do this and rely on micro organisms to do it for us. Like all biological reactions they use enzymes (biological catalysts) which catalyse the reaction. The enzyme involved is called nitrogenase. One of the most important molecules on the planet.

Enzymes can perform chemistry far far in advance of some of the chemistry we can manage in industrial settings. For example the Harber process is used to convert nitrogen gas to solid ammonia in industry. The bond between two nitrogens is one of the strongest in nature and requires the reaction to be performed at several hundred atmospheres and hundreds of degrees. The enzyme nitrogenase catalyses the same reaction at one atmosphere and ambient temperatures.

Enzymes fascinate me. They use a combination of quantum mechanics, simple chemistry and enzyme dynamics to sustain life. They replicate DNA, they break down glucose, they can reform glucose, break down fats or synthesis complex molecules. Another enzyme called carbonic anhydrase converts CO2 in the blood (co2 in the blood isn't good it can become carbonic acid and lower the PH) into bicarbonate. It does this at a rate of one million molecules per second.

househero

In Thailand more people use Facebook, than 'the internet'

Hahahahahahaha #idiots

FACT

Smidge

The fact that there are still creatures that are yet unseen given all of our tech.
The 52 hertz whale is an example.
Very little is known about it but it has the loudest call of all whales and apparently it s the only one of its kind and is known as "The loneliest whale" as its call has never been answered.

Thespoofer

mackeire wrote: »

Honey Bees share out jobs based on their age. For instance, worker bees that are 1-2 days old spend their time cleaning cells, starting with the one they were born in, as well as keeping the brood warm; from 3-5 days old, they feed older larvae; from 6-11 days old, they feed the youngest larvae; from 12-17 days old, they produce wax, build combs, carry food, and perform undertaker duties; from 18-21 days old, they get guard duty, protecting the hive entrance; from 22 days on until their death at around 40-45 days, they get to fly from the hive collecting pollen, nectar, water, pollinating plants, and things of this nature.

Yeah, but do they have a snooze ?

Capt'n Midnight

steddyeddy wrote: »

N2

---

> 2NH3 or the conversion of nitrogen gas to the solid form ammonia is essential to all life. We need nitrogen to make amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins.

We can't do this and rely on micro organisms to do it for us.

.. For example the Harber process is used to convert nitrogen gas to solid ammonia in industry. ... The enzyme nitrogenase catalyses the same reaction at one atmosphere and ambient temperatures.

We no longer rely on micro organisms. The Harber process consumes about 1% of global energy. But it fixes as much nitrogen as nature.

The temperature is more about reaction time than anything else. If time wasn't an issue you could use lower temperatures. If you had the engineering you could use use higher pressures, but compressing gas takes energy.

This is at high temperature but low pressure.
Electrolytic Ammonia Synthesis Directly from Various
Hydrogen Sources under Atmospheric Pressure Early days yet, current and voltage efficiency are very low compared to the what's predicted. So lots of work needed to be done on this.