Today I Learned

[Astronuc]

I don't think we have marmite in the US.

We do. I have Marmite and Vegemite in my pantry. Marmite is OK, but I have a preference for Vegemite.

I spread it thick like peanut butter. I also have it on toast with cheese or hummus, or in a Vegemite sandwich.

 

[berkeman]

I've heard about injured POWs who used maggots to debride their wounds of necrotic tissue, then urinated on them to kill them when they finished clearing the dead tissue and to start the healing.

**** **** | ** *** | * * | *** *** | * *** | **** *** | * * | **** *** | **** **** | **** ** | *** ****

 

[symbolipoint]

An advertisement for a lab job appeared a few times on Craigslist some years ago to work with maggots raised for wound debridement therapy.

 

[DrGreg]

Today I learned that, in a biology lecture, leech is used in surgery, thus its name.

According to the Wikipedia article Hirudo medicinalis § Current, leeches can still be used to treat venous congestion after microsurgery, varicose veins, muscle cramps, thrombophlebitis, and osteoarthritis. Leech saliva contains anticoagulants and vasodilators (so improves blood flow), and also anaesthetic so the bites don't hurt much.

 

[Hornbein]

According to the Wikipedia article Hirudo medicinalis § Current, leeches can still be used to treat venous congestion after microsurgery, varicose veins, muscle cramps, thrombophlebitis, and osteoarthritis. Leech saliva contains anticoagulants and vasodilators (so improves blood flow), and also anaesthetic so the bites don't hurt much.

I can attest that the bites don't hurt at all. More than once I've looked at my feet to discover fat leeches there. It's impressive how fast they can suck.

 

[DeBangis21]

Still a current method or treatment today? Me, not sure, but I may not be well-informed. Today wound debridement therapy using maggots does exist; special care taken in rearing the young maggots.

edit: (excuse me for editing this. I forgot about the word, "maggot" so used the misspelled larva instead.)

No idea actually

 

[KingGambit]

Today I learned that,
Galileo ever measured the speed of light, and again, by his pulse.
Oh
My
God!

And someone ever measured the speed of light by determining the time delay between one of Jupiter's moon eclipse.

Can't believe that. Four of Jupiter's moons are called "Galilean moon". How could a genius like Galileo missed that method?

But, I can understand that. Galileo was before Newton, and by that time, he didn't know the distance between Sun and Earth and Jupiter.

 

[Vanadium 50]

That Galileo! What an ignorant stumblebum!

Measuring the speed of light with the Romer method requires, a) about five years between observations, b) a a heliocentric model (and five years after his discovery of Jupiter's moons Galileo was in enough hot water about heliocentrism) and c) timekeeping good to the few minute level, The latter didn't exist until Romer's time.

 

[PeterDonis]

That Galileo! What an ignorant stumblebum!

Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!

 

[malawi_glenn]

Today I learned what these are called on a carpet

 

[pinball1970]

TIL: This from NASA on Black holes, size comparisons with some nice dreamy spaced out music.

 

[KingGambit]

Today I learned that,
I cannot [like] nor [comment] on YouTube video played in Physics Form windows.

 

[Grelbr42]

TIL how a PET scan works. Thanks to @Dale for directing my attention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron_emission_tomography

 

[mfb]

12+1 = 11+2, but today I learned that they are also anagrams in English:

TWELVE + ONE = ELEVEN + TWO

 

[fresh_42]

12+1 = 11+2, but today I learned that they are also anagrams in English:

TWELVE + ONE = ELEVEN + TWO

View attachment 325901

And "12"+"1"=11^2.

 

[Borg]

This works also.

TWELVE PLUS ONE = ELEVEN PLUS TWO

 

[KingGambit]

Today I learned, that...

https://www.onezoom.org/life.html/@...3Fimg%3Dbest_any&anim=flight#x1942,y8,w5.4031
Hyaenas are closer to cats than dogs.

 

[BillTre]

Wow. Who knew?
wikpedia link on Hyaenas.

picture of a particularly weird looking striped hyena:

 

[fresh_42]

Wow. Who knew?

Me. But I was also surprised the first time I read it.

 

[pinball1970]

Today I learned, that...

https://www.onezoom.org/life.html/@=827259?img=bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.onezoom.org%2Flife.html%2F%40FELIFORMIA%3D827259%3Fimg%3Dbest_any&anim=flight#x1942,y8,w5.4031
Hyaenas are closer to cats than dogs.

I always thought that about foxes, they look doggish but move like a cat. I will check

 

[fresh_42]

Wolves, all kinds of seals, foxes, jackals, coyotes, ... all dogs.

 

[pinball1970]

Wolves, all kinds of seals, foxes, jackals, coyotes, ... all dogs.

For a newspaper the Guardian can be pretty good sometimes.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...of-evolution-are-we-barking-up-the-wrong-tree

 

[fresh_42]

For a newspaper ...

... the Guardian can be pretty good sometimes.

For a little, very little moment I thought you would say Sun or Mirror.

 

[KingGambit]

I always thought that about foxes, they look doggish but move like a cat. I will check

Don't bother. I've checked searched the wiki page.

They belong to Canidae family. It's dog allright.
Fox, I knew before. But Hyaena I just knew yesterday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox

 

[pinball1970]

TIL 40% Of mammals are Rodents and 20% are bats. Beavers, squirrels and chipmunks are Rodents but not badgers, minks, otters and wolverines. I had to check Wolverine, it looks like a badger nothing like a wolf.

 

[DeBangis21]

TIL, yesterday 09th May, in our PHY102: E&M lecture, that it is better to use the left ear for phone calls due to increase in EM waves around when on calls, and because the left ear have some protective...fluid(?)

 

[jedishrfu]

TIL, yesterday 09th May, in our PHY102: E&M lecture, that it is better to use the left ear for phone calls due to increase in EM waves around when on calls, and because the left ear have some protective...fluid(?)

Are you sure you heard that right? There is no research to back up either claim. Both ears are constructed the same but of course one could have some hearing loss making the other ear the preferred one for phone calls.

As an example, there Maniere's Disease that can affect hearing in one ear and sometimes both as it progresses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ménière's_disease

The fluid of the inner ear is the same in both ears.

Electromagnetic waves of mobile phones, are non-ionizing radiation and are generally considered safe at the levels at which we are exposed to them. Numerous scientific studies have been conducted and the consensus is that there is no conclusive evidence to link mobile phone radiation to harmful health effects.

 

[Tom.G]

TIL, yesterday 09th May, in our PHY102: E&M lecture, that it is better to use the left ear for phone calls due to increase in EM waves around when on calls, and because the left ear have some protective...fluid(?)

Me thinks your E&M lecturer is a creative storyteller.

 

[DeBangis21]

Are you sure you heard that right? There is no research to back up either claim. Both ears are constructed the same but of course one could have some hearing loss making the other ear the preferred one for phone calls.

As an example, there Maniere's Disease that can affect hearing in one ear and sometimes both as it progresses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ménière's_disease

The fluid of the inner ear is the same in both ears.

Electromagnetic waves of mobile phones, are non-ionizing radiation and are generally considered safe at the levels at which we are exposed to them. Numerous scientific studies have been conducted and the consensus is that there is no conclusive evidence to link mobile phone radiation to harmful health effects.

Thank you for the information.

 

[Borg]

I've seen a few articles on using AI in combination with a hospital MRI machine to figure out what a person was looking at or generally thinking. TIL that reading a person's mind with AI may not always require an MRI and that the algorithms are getting sophisticated enough to understand more complicated thoughts such as sentences.

https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/a...es-brain-activity-into-diaglogue-173774917826

About 3 minutes in, the discussion turns to other ways to read a person's thoughts using more portable methods. I'm not familiar with the device that she mentions to know how 'portable' it is (I suspect that it's still big). However, she does state that it is using GPT 1 and goes on to discuss future, smaller devices like ear buds that could have this scanning tech installed into them. Given the advancements we're seeing in AI, the possibility of reading others thoughts may be closer than anyone realizes and the corporations building those devices may have direct access to our inner thoughts. Pretty scary if it becomes reality.