Totally Random Science Facts

[AV1611VET]

Steel & glass balls bounce higher than rubber balls.

 

[AV1611VET]

 

[Targ]

There are more molecules in one glass of water, than there are glasses of water in the ocean.

You can make phosphorus with putrid urine, water, a little charcoal and a little cinnamon.

Have you guys both been reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"? I was reading it last night and I read about both of these within a few pages of each other.

Another good one about Avogadro's number (6.022 x 10^23) is that this number is equivalent to the number of popcorn kernels needed to bury the entire USA to a depth of 9 miles.

 

[kharisym]

The cerebral cortex of the mammalian brain is thought to provide the capacity for symbolic thought- the ability to understand stimuli and concepts in terms of symbolic archetypes ( ie- 'red' is a symbol for a range of light wavelengths ). This symbolic thought is crucial to consciousness, language, and creative problem solving. In wolves it's related to their ability to do basic math.

Birds have a greatly under-developed cerebral cortex, far less than in humans, but some birds such as the African Grey Parrot 'Alex' have shown the ability to process symbolic thought on par with a 5 year old human child. Rather, parrots seem to have developed a specialized region in the medio-rostral neostratium that research seems to hint at providing equivalent function. Tellingly, the brain to body size ratio of parrots is equivalent to that of higher primates, a statistic that often is related to animal intelligence.

 

[LifeToTheFullest!]

Have you guys both been reading Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"? I was reading it last night and I read about both of these within a few pages of each other.

Another good one about Avogadro's number (6.022 x 10^23) is that this number is equivalent to the number of popcorn kernels needed to bury the entire USA to a depth of 9 miles.

Great book!

I actually remembered this quote from a more recent book however.

 

[Targ]

Kent Hovind calls himself 'Dr' because of this. If anyone can read page by page to beyond page 30, I'll be impressed. That's all I managed before giving up in despair and running out into the street screaming.

 

[LifeToTheFullest!]

See, even Catholic creationists can make the cover of time.

 

[Blayz]

“Starving out” is a common problem with turkeys; they will literally starve to death right in front of a full feeder.

Take that genius parrots.

 

[kharisym]

“Starving out” is a common problem with turkeys; they will literally starve to death right in front of a full feeder.

Take that genius parrots.

Clearly they have less developed medio-rostral neostraitums.

Turkeys are bird brained, parrots not so much.

 

[AV1611VET]

“Starving out” is a common problem with turkeys; they will literally starve to death right in front of a full feeder.

Take that genius parrots.

Who's the genius?

Turkeys don't want to stuff themselves, or they'll never make it to the end of November.

 

[AV1611VET]

Clearly they have less developed medio-rostral neostraitums.

I've heard rumors of one animal, called a Rangifer, that emits electromagnetic radiation in the 700nm range.

 

[jacks]

There is no such thing as Gravity. The planets follow Dark Matter ruts around the solar system. On earth Dark Matter weighs us down much like a thick blanket and keeps us tethered to the earth. You could use a Dark Matter "Plow" to change the orbit of small asteroids, it is basically a very strong magnet, that would alter the rut much as tracks in the snow. There is hope this will eventually be used to bring minerals and water trapped with the astroids within mining distance of earth.

Please note this is a very new theory, so you might not have heard of it yet...

 

[Targ]

Got any references for that?

 

[Pwnzerfaust]

There is no such thing as Gravity. The planets follow Dark Matter ruts around the solar system. On earth Dark Matter weighs us down much like a thick blanket and keeps us tethered to the earth. You could use a Dark Matter "Plow" to change the orbit of small asteroids, it is basically a very strong magnet, that would alter the rut much as tracks in the snow. There is hope this will eventually be used to bring minerals and water trapped with the astroids within mining distance of earth.

Please note this is a very new theory, so you might not have heard of it yet...

Is it new because you just made it up?

 

[AV1611VET]

Is it new because you just made it up?

I believe it's called intelligent pushing; but please don't let us stop you from wondering if it was just made up.

 

[jacks]

I believe it's called intelligent pushing; but please don't let us stop you from wondering if it was just made up.

"Just made it up" sounds so unscientific, I prefer to think of it as: I just thought of it first. Though "Intelligent pushing" has a nice ring to it too!

 

[Blayz]

There is no such thing as Gravity. The planets follow Dark Matter ruts around the solar system. On earth Dark Matter weighs us down much like a thick blanket

Does the thickness of the blanket account for this so-called alleged "global warming" ?

 

[Wiccan_Child]

"Just made it up" sounds so unscientific, I prefer to think of it as: I just thought of it first. Though "Intelligent pushing" has a nice ring to it too!

The Sun is powered by gravity. If gravity doesn't power the Sun, what does? Dark matter 'ruts' wouldn't, as you describe them, create the necessary pressures.

And there's the question of black holes, n-ary stars, the fact that objects behave as if they're attracted to each other proportional to mass and distance - and not following arbitrary grooves in space

 

[Chesterton]

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Saturn is light enough to float on water. Float! Water!