Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Today's interesting facts continue with spiders, specifically Huntsman spiders.

These are also known as giant crab spiders, wood spiders, and in south Africa, rain spiders because they often go into homes when it rains.

The Huntsman spider is found throughout the world, in tropical or semi-tropical regions and can be found in houses in colder climates.

The largest can have a leg span of almost a foot across. While not deadly to humans, they can bite and can cause minor swelling and local pain.

These spiders feed on insects, especially cockroaches, so should be considered benificial. They do not use webs, but hunt their food.

They have been found in Baltic and Dominican amber.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with Spiders.

Tarantulas are very large spiders, and make popular pets. The largest ones, come with red hairs that cover their bodies. Not a lot of people know that you should handle these large creatures with care, as the hairs easily come off the spiders, and if they go into your or an animals eyes, can cause temporary blindness. If they go into the lungs, they can cause an allergic reaction and even foster an infection. These large spiders also have another trick up thier sleaves, it was recently discovered that their feet have web producing spinnerettes that help them climb, something that puzzeled some scientists given the weight of the spiders.

Newly born spiders fly to new environments, by climbing to the top of the highest feature they can find, then spin a fine thread of silk, which is picked up by the breeze. Eventually the thread will pull them up into the air, so they can settle as much as hundreds of miles from their birthplace.

I was specificaly asked how spiders get from one tree to another, to build their webs. I've seen this in action. Just as a baby spider spins its parachute, a larger spider intent on creating a large web will spin a fine thread into the air. Once it is picked up by the breeze, it poduces a thicker and sticker thread, followed by a thick but not sticky thread. When the thread catches on another object, the spider fastens the thread to what it is sitting on, as an anchor, then climbs the thread, and adds another guideline as it climbs to where the thread caught. Amazing to watch.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with Honey.

Humans have been using honey for thousands of years.

Not to long ago, some honey in clay post was discovered in an Egyptian tomb.

It was found to be edible, showing that Honey stays edible.

Honey has been used to treat wounds. The ancients discovered that a layer of honey on a wound would usually allow the wound to heal without turning septic and festering.

This is partially due to the antibiotics that is found in honey, preventing bacteria from multiplying and partially from the sealing of the wound from the atmosphere.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

My earlier post, was actually yesterdays. I fell asleep last night before I posted it.

Today's interesting fact has to do with Honey Bees.

Bees regulate the temperature of their hives by warming their bodies, through vibrating their flight muscles.

This can raise the temperature of the hive to over 47 °C (117 °F).

If a human's body temperature were to rise to this temperature, it would kill him (her).

Therefore, if you had a large enough ball of bees, you could kill someone, and not just from potential stings.

It would take the about 20,000,000 Honey Bees, or the contents of around 1000 medium sized hives, to do it though. The bees wouldn't be able to get close enough all at once, to a human to actually do it, there would be a awful lot of bees.

But it would only take around 50 jars of honey to supply the bees with the energy to do the feat, if it were possible.
Today's interesting fact has to do with water.

Specifically water bottled in plastic.

To understand the cost of bottled water, it has been estimated by various orgnaistions that to bring home the cost in oil, the bottles should be filled with a specific amount of oil.

How much, oil there should be depends on if the company estimating it is funded by producers of bottled water or not.

It can range anywhere from a fifth of a bottle to a quarter of a bottle of oil.

The cost doesn't just come from the manufacture of the bottle, but also to the filling of the water, the pumping of the water, the transportation of the water, and in many cases the filtration, of the water.

Some water is purified by removing everything except the water, and then adding specific chemicals to give the perfect taste.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with food production.

Just before the end of the 1800's, the presindent of the British Assoication stated that England, and the rest of the civilised world, was in danger of running out of food.

Britain back then needed to import wheat, as there wasn't enough land to meet demand, considering yields were around 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

The way around the problem was the application of nitrogen fertilisers, which could more than double yields.

Guano from various islands and lands was harvested to produce these fertlisers and it was recognised that the supply of Guano would soon run out.

Fortunately for the modern world, Fritz Haber worked out how to systhesise ammonia from the air and water, which lead to the Haber-Bosh process and nitrogen fertlisers.

Over half of the nitrogen fertilisers used today are produced by this process, and without it, the human population would never have reached the levels it has today.

This need to produce nitrogen fertilisers to support our ranks may cause problems in the near future. Some esitmates, suggest that over 30% of the oil consumed today goes to producing the fertlisers required to feed the planet.

If plans to add the special nodes that contain the special nitrogen fixing bacteria to all our food plants do not come about, will the end of oil, result in starvation to humans across the planet?

This needs to be thought about by someone, because not a lot of people realise we are basically eating oil based products, as well as using it in our cars, air planes, plastics and to produce electricity.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with pregnant women and an old wives tale.

Even today, pregnant women are told that if they have a curry, it will either induce the birthing process, or reduce the time it takes to give birth.

While there is some evidence that a hot curry can start the process, there has been no evidence the length of the process is reduced at all and the chemical compounds within the various spices also have another effect.

When a woman gives birth, her body produces various endorphins and chemicals that reduce the amount of pain she experiences during the birth.

Unfortunately the various compounds within the curry, stop the endorphins produced from stopping the pain.

So the result is, while a curry may help start birthing, it means the woman in question feels all the pain, instead of having the pain reduced, as she would normally.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with the Pike. This is a large carnivorous fish, called the Jackfish in some parts of North America and the Gar in others. It is found throughout the northern hemisphere.

Pike can grow to four feet in length, about 1.5 meters, and eat everything from fish, frogs, birds and other pike, ambushing their prey. Although it is considered a fresh water fish, it also can live in brackish waters, and has been seen eating herring on in salt waters.

In an attack it has been calculated that during its lunge for prey the Pike subjects itself to more than 10g of force, if only for a short distance.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Today’s interesting fact has to do with medications.

When someone is prescribed medications, some care is given to make sure that when multiple drugs are given, they don’t interfere with each other. For instance, if someone is taking Warfarin to thin their blood, they are told to not take Aspirin, or other drugs that also thin the blood.

Some years ago, when I was in the USAF Reserves, I worked as a Pharmacy Technician. Every time we handed out birth control, we had a script we followed, a little speach, warning the recipient that some medications, such as some antibiotics, some over the counter remedies, etc, would make their birth control ineffective, and as such they should take additional precautions if sex was planned. We also told them that if they were in doubt, they should discuss with the Pharmacist or their prescribing Physician. This seemingly little known fact has stuck with me, possibly because some of my colleagues were much younger than me, and they would ask me to talk to the women, as discussing birth control seemed to embarrass the younger men.

I’ve discussed this with Doctors, and all of them have told me that they mention this information when a prescription is first issued. I have in the past, looked at some birth control information sheets, and the information was also listed there. I don't know if it still is, but I'm sure a Google search will confirm that it happens with some medications.

Many women however, do get pregnant, because they don’t follow this advice, usually I suspect, because they forget the advice, something that I can understand, with the busy lives we all have these days. I known of many women who have gotten pregnant from this, but perhaps, after seeing it here, someone will not have an unwanted pregnancy?

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Today's interesting fact deals with lizards.

I've covered before how some lizards have sex determining genes, and others use the temperature of their surroundings while they are in the egg to determine their sex. With those who use genes to determine sex, Lizards and snakes have ZW chromosomes. Those with ZZ are male, those with ZW are female. It has been long thought that lizards with the set of WW chromosomes, were both infertile and non-viable (e.g. they die in the egg), just as mammals with YY sex chromosomes are non-viable and die in the egg.

Normally, when birds or lizards reproduce parenthetically, all the young are male, as the young are only produced from doubling the chromosomes of the mother. Females couldn't be born.

But recently, however a Boa Constrictor, an India Python, has been found to have produced viable female young, with WW sex chromosomes. It is interesting that the Boa produced no male offspring, only female ones.

This is being studied now, and they are hoping to determine if the mother's offspring can produce offspring from mating with males. If they do, they should also be female. Only the Boa's grandchildren should produce males after mating.

I look forward for the next few years to find out the outcome.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with mobile phones.

These minicomputers have changed our lives and have made connections to our friends, families and work ubiquitous.

To many, being without a connection to the world is abhorrent to think about. I've known people drive 30 miles to work, sit down at their desk, only to get up and drive home, just to pick up their phones from home.

One of the worst things that can happen to the modern individual, is for their battery to run out of power. This invariably leads to the unprepard to run around the office asking if anyone has a charger that can be used to charge their phone. I had a neighbour recently knock on the door to my flat, begging for a charger, as his wife had his in her handbag at her place of work, and wasn't due home for several hours.

A few years ago, the EU commission approached the companies that manufacture phones, to correct this situation, partially to stave off the potential electrical waste of thousands of tons of unused chargers, but also to make things simpler for mobile phone customers. I understand it was suggested that it was either the companies came up with a solution, or the EU could come up with a law to force it on the manufacturers. Most companies, if not all, have agreed that phones that are data-enabled, mostly 3G and 4G phones, will have this ability.

And it is this year, 2010, inter-chargeable mobile phones are supposed to be available to us, the consumer. I checked the other day, and while the 3G phones I looked at were charged by the mini-USB, most of non-3G phones I saw still had separate chargers.

This emphasis on 3G phones might cause us all problems in the near future. These data intensive phones use a lot of bandwidth. Many, in heavily populated areas, have commented on their phones cutting out, conversations dropped, data flow halted. This seems to be because while we have been buying these new 3G phones, the infrastructure is being overloaded. Indeed, for the 2012 Olympics, they are frantically increasing the infrastructure in and around the Olympic village and sports arenas, to handle the extra capacity that will be required.

Even so, there is likely to be issues, because as the analogue TV and Radio networks are still working, the bandwidth that the mobile phone companies want to take over, to increase their products connectivity isn't available. I read not long ago, that by 2013, many phones will not be able to maintain a signal, as the connections may end up being rotated between available cells.

The UK isn't the only country having this problem. In New York City, friends have reported they constantly lose connections, as have friends in Los Angles and other large cities.

So we may just need to learn, to do without constant instant communications, as more of these 3G phones are sold and used, unless the bandwidth issues are solved soon.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with the Chupacabras, or translated into English, the goat sucker.

La Chupacabras was first reported in Puerto Rico, as a cross between an monkey and a bat, a bald animal that sucked the blood out of it's prey, usually livestock especially goats, and was considered to be a vampire. It then migrated to mainland of Central America, changing from a bipidal creature, into a quadrapidal one. Its range now extends well beyond Texas and have been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile.

Over the years the remains of a number of these creatures have been found, often in such a decomposed state, it has been difficult to determine their identity. However, recent finds, have provided genetic material, as well as skin samples and it seems that the creatures are actually coyote or dogs with severe parasite infections, specifically that of mange.

I find it interesting that there are many diseases that seem to have been passed from domesticated animals to humans. Mange is one of the few diseases that has pass from humans, to two of our closest domesticated companions, dogs and cats. The mange parasite's closest relative is the itch mite, scabies, a parasite that infects humans. When a human is infected, the infection will often last months, however most humans develop an imuninity and cannot be infected again. Dogs have only developed the ability to build partial resistance to the mite so far, and the dog's relative, the coyte, doesn't seem to even have that, leading to massive and cripalling infections that leave the animals unable to hunt their normal prey, causing them to turn to livestock, which being penned together are easier for ill coytes to attack.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Today's interesting fact is a continuing note on Komodo Dragons.

There is speculation that the Komodo Dragons are the last remnants or descendants of a species that once lived in Australia and Indonesia, which were connected 900,000 of years ago. The large lizards in most of Indonesia and Australia disappeared around the same time that humans arrived. It isn't known of course, if these large lizards died out because of the climate change that was then occurring or if humans had something to do with their demise.

Komodo Dragons are one of the few lizards where the female of the species do not require a male to reproduce, or at least to produce male progeny. Komodo Dragons, like birds, and unlike crocodiles and many other lizards, have genes that determine the sex of their offspring. Instead of XY, Birds and Komodo Dragons have an ZW sex pair. Many lizards have their sex determined by the heat the eggs receive during development.

Female Komodo Dragons have the ZW combination whereas Males are ZZ. This is the opposite of Humans. When Female Komodo Dragons don't have males to fertilise their eggs, they effectively self fertilise, by somehow doubling the the chromosomes in the egg. Eggs that have a WW combination, the eggs are infertile and do not develop. If they have ZZ they are male. All young from parthenogenesis in Komodo Dragons have been male, which makes sense, as the female's eggs would either have W or Z, the second sex chromosome would normally be supplied in the male's sperm, as a W.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with the Komodo dragon.

This very large lizard, lives on four main islands of Indonesia, Komodo, Rinca, Flores and Gili Motang.

It lives mostly on carrion, but also hunts and ambushes prey.

It is a very strong swimmer and has been found swimming more than six miles from land, and it has been suggested it may also catch and eat fish.

It was long thought that in ambushing large animals, a combination of bacteria in their saliva caused toxic shock in the attacked animals, which then incapacitated the animals, and allowed the Komodo dragons to finish their kills.

Recently, keepers of Bearded Dragon lizards, noticed that mice caught by their lizards died faster than expected. Someone did some study and noticed that these lizards had venom in their saliva and further study discovered they had venom glands. This prompted an expanded study, because up to that moment, the only venomous lizards were thought to be the Gila Monsters in the Americas. The study showed that Komodo Dragons, as well as many other lizards, also have venom glands, and this is what incapacitates the Dragons prey, not bacterial toxic shock.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with cinnamon and type 2 Diabetes.

I was asked the other day by a work collegue, why I always put cinnamon into my Tea and Coffee.

The answer was quite simple, I don't want to add sugar to my drinks, and as our ancestors knew before sugar was widely available, cinnamon makes what ever it is added to taste sweeter. And for me, it sweetens my drinks just the right amount.

Also, I went on to explain, a daily dose of cinnamon, from a quarter teaspoon to a teaspoon, has been shown to help delay (and some studies have suggested may prevent) the onset of type 2 Diabetes.

In addition, it seems to reduce fasting blood glucose, as well as triglycerides and LDL (or bad) cholesterol.

From other studies it has been shown that tt doesn't seem to matter if the spice has been added to food or drink, or taken orally in a capsule or tablet.

So, I was asked, why don't doctors tell us about this?

I had to think about this question for a while before my memory dredged up the information.

Cinnamon comes from the bark of treas and bushes. The amount of active ingredients found in the bark is extremely variable, and depends both on the genetics of the tree, where on the tree the bark was harvested as well as how much sunshine the bark received. Which is one reason doctors may not prescribe it, quality control is important in medications.

Taking cinnamon in large amounts is not a good idea, as large doses of one of cinnamon's active ingreadiants, coumarin, can cause liver damage. Coumarin can also thin the blood, so people with bleeding disorders or on anti-clotting medication, should reduce their intake.

Which active ingredient, or combination of chemicals, is causing the affects noted in the above studies hasn't been competely identified.

It's been suggested in most studies that pregnant women should avoid excessive amounts, and while you can buy a concentrated oil of cinnamon, it is not intended for consumption and using it orally can depress the central nervous system.

So limiting yourself to no more than a teaspoon's worth a day is probably a good idea, at least until they determine what is causing the effect and how to standardise doses.

Myself, I'm going to continue having a bit in my tea and coffee, cause it tastes good.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with modern photography.

When I went to school, Louis Danguerre was said to have been the father of modern photograpy.

However, a Joseph Niepce, a number of years before had developed created a process that, using bitumen and lavender oil on metal plates, created an image that could be used to produce prints. Unfortunately it took between 8 and 42 hours to produce an image.

Niepce died of a stroke in 1933 and left his notes to Danguerre who then worked out how to use silver, iodine vaper and mercury fumes to create a latent image.

Of course, pin hole camers have been around for a long time, the Greeks and Chinese had both invented them in the 4th and 5th centruies BC. Camera obscuras were used in the 6th century CE, in eastern Europe, and early Muslim scolars studied cameras as well.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Today's intersting fact has to do with movies.

There are those who are suggesting that back in 1928, Charlie Chaplin may have documented the first proof that time travel exists.

In the movie 'The Circus' an older woman is seen walking, holding something to her left ear as she talks.

Her gestures and behaviour looks almost exactly the same as now seen almost anyware on the planet while people talk on their phones.

She even seems to stop, in the middle of a sentence, as if she is listening to someone else.

While some suggest she had mental problems, her behaviour was not documented until after the invention of the modern mobile phone.

Does this mean that time travel really exists?

Friday, November 05, 2010

Continuing on insomnia today, it has been suggested by some psychologists that some owe their success to the condition. Because they can't sleep, they spend their time doing work that they wouldn't have had a chance to do.

Vincent Van Gogh might not have painted so much, Napoleon Bonaparte may not have created his empire, W C Fields and Groucho Marks might not have been as successful, Alexandre Dumas and Mark Twain might not have written as much as they did, Thomas Edison, Marilyn Monroe and Benjamin Franklin may not have invented as much in their lifetimes.

Speaking of Marilyn, I've read that she had a number of patents registered in her name, and that her monetary worth came more from her inventions than the movies she appeared in.

So insomnia, although a curse, can sometimes also be a blessing in disguise.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

I had thought of a fact this morning that I didn't think that Nick knew, but he changed the subject on me before I could tell him the fact.

Still, I thought I'd include it here anyway.

Cordite was invented in the late 1800's and was used almost exclusively by the British in their small arms and many British bombs during WW1, at least until they had sufficent shortages that they had to switch the the American smokless powder for many of their munitions.

Cordite was not used for small arms in the US during WW1, but was often used with large munitions.

Cordite was used as a detonation device for the nucular weapon, Little Boy, the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima.

But the subject has been changed to insomnia, a subject dear to my heart, as I do occasionally suffer from its effects.

Insomnia can be a sign or symptom of various medical and psychiatric disorders.

Insomnia can also be a condition, that causes other disorders.

Changes in the area where you sleep, the time you go to sleep, depression and stress can all cause the condition.

Insomnia is on the increase, with more and more sufferers turning to their doctors or various nostrums for help.

A recent study, has shown that blue light causes a section of the brain to help you wake up, whereas red light does the opposite and helps you fall asleep. This study has suggested that the recent switch to compact floresent lights in which is deficent in red light and with more blue light in the output, could be part of the reason for the increase, as the light would be waking our minds in the evenings, when we are preparing to go to sleep.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Todays interesting fact continues with WW1 and Homeopathy.

There are a many people who believe that Homeopathy doesn't work, and possibly just as many who believe it does.

However, during WW1, the American Homeopathy, the journal of American Homeopaths sent three military hospitals to France.

The hospitals were fully equipped and included medical, surgical, nursing and radiolological teams, as well as apparently, a pharmacy filled with the standard non-homeopath medication of the day.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Todays's interesting fact again has to do with World War 1.

During WW1 aproximately 9.5 million millitary men died. During the same time approximately 9.5 million military horses and mules also died.

Calvery was used in the begining of WW1, and were used with good efect until both the introduction of large machine guns, when thousands of horses died in what ended up as futal charges, and the introduction of trench warfare, where horses were no longer effective. Calvery charges did not die out completely and continued until the end of the war, where they were effective where large calaber weapons were not available.

Horses and mules were used as in support roles throughout the war, taking supplies and munitions to the front and wounded back. Thousands of these support animals died from gas attacks and other munitions.

Monday, November 01, 2010

Today's interesting fact has to do with World War 1. Nick likes World War 1 and has requested this subject today.

I remember reading some years ago, that while may people think that the causes of WW1 was the assanation Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which because of treaties signed over the years, required the begining of a war. Indeed, when I was in school, that was exactly what I was taught.

But the article insisted that the real reasons were economic. Oil, had become an important commodity. Oil companies, and nations, had worked out that the need for oil would be paramount for years to come. The article suggested that it was only after Germany had been cut off from the oil fields in the countries they had invaded, that they had effectively lost the war, with the same occuring again in WW2, when Germany was cut off from it's oil supplies.

I don't know how accurate this is, but it is an interesting fact that others believe this to be the facts for the war.