There are a couple creatures that can survive being frozen alive. One of them, the tardigrades, I will discuss next time. But another one is the North American Wood Frog.
These little buggers are fascinating. When they feel a deep freeze approaching their body kicks into preservation mode by producing cryoprotectants. It replaces all its glycogen with glucose and pumps urea through its body. This limits the amount of water in its body that can actually freeze and form crystals which is what causes damage in cells.
The frog can be frozen to a solid state with no heartbeat, no breathing, and no brain activity. It can be left out to thaw, and then the heart will kick in on its own and start pumping again.
Watch It Thaw
My head is filled with random facts of God knows what. People always seemed amazed by the pointless knowledge so I started putting them down on my facebook on Fridays. Then I decided why not have somewhere to post them for others to share and see on days besides Fridays.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
A Trunk By Any Other Name....
So I was watching a show about elephants and they mentioned that the trunk of an elephant has over 40,000 distinct muscles. I thought that is fascinating and figured I would post about that.
Then I started to read up on elephant trunks and realized they are even more fascinating than that.
The elephant is 4 times more sensitive to smell than a bloodhound. And a bloodhound has 230,000,000 scent receptors in its nose (a human only has 6,000,000). So you do the math there. It's been said that an elephant can smell water from several miles away.
An elephant can also lift up to 770 pounds with its trunk as well as snorkel while staying submerged under water.
Then I started to read up on elephant trunks and realized they are even more fascinating than that.
The elephant is 4 times more sensitive to smell than a bloodhound. And a bloodhound has 230,000,000 scent receptors in its nose (a human only has 6,000,000). So you do the math there. It's been said that an elephant can smell water from several miles away.
An elephant can also lift up to 770 pounds with its trunk as well as snorkel while staying submerged under water.
Friday, June 20, 2014
TOYYYYSSSSSS!!!!!
So today is gonna be short and sweet.
The longest continuous selling toy is BUBBLESSSSS
The longest continuous selling toy is BUBBLESSSSS
Friday, June 13, 2014
Does This Taste Rotten To You?
That is one question I have never quite understood? Why would I want to taste something that is spoiled? Same thing with "Does my breath smell bad"?
Anyways. That is one thing someone can never ask you when it comes to honey. That's because honey is the one food that will never spoil. Sure there are some foods like dried rice, salt, and molasses that can last for a very long time. But not in its basic raw form. Archeologists have found pots of honey that are thousands of years old.
And the reason for that is that first off it is a sugar which contains very little water because it is hygroscopic. Due to the fact that all the little bee wing flapping dries out the nectar as the honey is being made. There for bacteria has a hard time thriving in there because there is no moisture.
Honey is also acidic. Even though it is so sweet it surprisingly has a pH value of about 3.5 which will destroy most living things trying to grow in it.
Also when bees regurgitate the nectar from their stomachs it's been processed by an enzyme called glucose oxidase which breaks the nectar down into the gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. And as we all know hydrogen peroxide is not an easy place for bacteria to live.
So if you keep that jar sealed it will remain unspoiled FOR EVERRR.
Anyways. That is one thing someone can never ask you when it comes to honey. That's because honey is the one food that will never spoil. Sure there are some foods like dried rice, salt, and molasses that can last for a very long time. But not in its basic raw form. Archeologists have found pots of honey that are thousands of years old.
And the reason for that is that first off it is a sugar which contains very little water because it is hygroscopic. Due to the fact that all the little bee wing flapping dries out the nectar as the honey is being made. There for bacteria has a hard time thriving in there because there is no moisture.
Honey is also acidic. Even though it is so sweet it surprisingly has a pH value of about 3.5 which will destroy most living things trying to grow in it.
Also when bees regurgitate the nectar from their stomachs it's been processed by an enzyme called glucose oxidase which breaks the nectar down into the gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. And as we all know hydrogen peroxide is not an easy place for bacteria to live.
So if you keep that jar sealed it will remain unspoiled FOR EVERRR.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Cleavage is the coolest word ever. And here is why.
If you know me then you know that I have many problems with the English language and how many inconsistencies and exceptions it has to its grammatical and spelling rules.
But then on the other hand it does make for great fodder for comedy so we will let it slide another few hundred years I guess.
One word that has always stuck out in my mind since high school has been the word "CLEAVE". It is one of the only few words in the English language that are a homonym, and a homograph, and an antonym at the same time. That is, it's a word that is spelled exactly the same, it's pronounced exactly the same, yet it has two meanings that are different. And not just different but they also happen to mean the exact opposite. It's a word called a CONTRONYM.
Cleave can either mean to adhere or stick together as well as it can mean to split or separate. And that is why the word (and the image itself) of "cleavage" is the best thing ever.
Some other examples are Dust, Fine, Model, Skinned, and Strike. (but they aren't as cool to look at)
But then on the other hand it does make for great fodder for comedy so we will let it slide another few hundred years I guess.
One word that has always stuck out in my mind since high school has been the word "CLEAVE". It is one of the only few words in the English language that are a homonym, and a homograph, and an antonym at the same time. That is, it's a word that is spelled exactly the same, it's pronounced exactly the same, yet it has two meanings that are different. And not just different but they also happen to mean the exact opposite. It's a word called a CONTRONYM.
Cleave can either mean to adhere or stick together as well as it can mean to split or separate. And that is why the word (and the image itself) of "cleavage" is the best thing ever.
Some other examples are Dust, Fine, Model, Skinned, and Strike. (but they aren't as cool to look at)
Friday, April 25, 2014
A River Runs Through It. (literally aaaaaall of it)
There's a little spot in Wyoming in the Teton Wilderness that might be more fascinating than you think.
At this particular spot the entire United States of America is split in two. And I mean literally split into two parts. It's not a wall, it's not a road, but a creek. This particular creek splits in two and one end runs 1,353 miles, connecting to the Pacific Cree, Snake, and Columbia River, to the Pacific and the other runs into the Atlantic 3,488 miles later via the Atlantic Creek, Yellowstone, Missouri, And Mississippi River.
Might just have to travel there one day and drop two little toy sailboats going each direction.
At this particular spot the entire United States of America is split in two. And I mean literally split into two parts. It's not a wall, it's not a road, but a creek. This particular creek splits in two and one end runs 1,353 miles, connecting to the Pacific Cree, Snake, and Columbia River, to the Pacific and the other runs into the Atlantic 3,488 miles later via the Atlantic Creek, Yellowstone, Missouri, And Mississippi River.
Might just have to travel there one day and drop two little toy sailboats going each direction.
Friday, April 18, 2014
You're Being Violated 100 Trillion Times Per Second
That's right. This very second you have been penetrated by the deep reaches of space.
Non-charged particles called neutrinos are being fired through the emptiness of space from the sun, supernovas, and remnants of the big bang. These particles are traveling nearly the speed of light and basically unstoppable. They are so small that they travel right through anything in its path. Including your body.
Every single second 65,000,000 of those little buggers travel through every inch of your body tallying up to about 100,000,000,000,000 every single second passing right through you like some late night Taco Bell.
That's a trillion trillion of them passing through you in your life time. If you were to tally up every single one of those and collect them through your life it would weigh about 0.15 grams.
Non-charged particles called neutrinos are being fired through the emptiness of space from the sun, supernovas, and remnants of the big bang. These particles are traveling nearly the speed of light and basically unstoppable. They are so small that they travel right through anything in its path. Including your body.
Every single second 65,000,000 of those little buggers travel through every inch of your body tallying up to about 100,000,000,000,000 every single second passing right through you like some late night Taco Bell.
That's a trillion trillion of them passing through you in your life time. If you were to tally up every single one of those and collect them through your life it would weigh about 0.15 grams.
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