Today's interesting fact has to do with yawning.
Yawning is contagious in humans and other primates.
If any primate sees another yawn, the odds are it will also yawn.
But with humans, the contagiousness of yawning greater.
Not only can we humans yawn when we see other humans, dogs, cats, or primates yawn, we also can start yawning if we read about it, write about it or even just think about yawning.
As no other animals has successfully learnt to read, humans are unique.
Showing posts with label Humans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humans. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Today’s interesting fact has to do with the Dogs and their sense of smell.
A dog's primary method of viewing the world is its sense of smell.
Dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors whereas a human only has 6 million.
A dog’s olfactory cortex uses about 12.5% of a dog’s brain, whereas that of a human is less than one percent.
Dogs can tell if a how long a scent has been on the ground and can easily work out which way a scent trail goes.
In effect scents give dogs a sense of time.
When I was young, I read Tarzan novels.
Tarzan, because he was raised by an unidentified species of great ape (can't be gorillas because they had a language) he was supposed to be able to use and process scents as well as a dog could.
But to do that, he would have had to have a massive restructuring of his brain and nose.
A dog's primary method of viewing the world is its sense of smell.
Dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors whereas a human only has 6 million.
A dog’s olfactory cortex uses about 12.5% of a dog’s brain, whereas that of a human is less than one percent.
Dogs can tell if a how long a scent has been on the ground and can easily work out which way a scent trail goes.
In effect scents give dogs a sense of time.
When I was young, I read Tarzan novels.
Tarzan, because he was raised by an unidentified species of great ape (can't be gorillas because they had a language) he was supposed to be able to use and process scents as well as a dog could.
But to do that, he would have had to have a massive restructuring of his brain and nose.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Today’s interesting fact has to do with humans and the time we spend indoors.
From a number of studies done recently, the average individual in the developed world spends only 90% of their time out of doors.
I found this hard to believe at first, but after thinking more about it, I spend a little over 2 hours walking to and from work during the week, and on weekends, I may go out several times, but much of my time is spent inside shops instead of outside.
If you include the time people spend inside cars, which most people do more than they think, this average becomes obviously true.
From a number of studies done recently, the average individual in the developed world spends only 90% of their time out of doors.
I found this hard to believe at first, but after thinking more about it, I spend a little over 2 hours walking to and from work during the week, and on weekends, I may go out several times, but much of my time is spent inside shops instead of outside.
If you include the time people spend inside cars, which most people do more than they think, this average becomes obviously true.
Today’s interesting fact has to do with muscles and chimpanzees.
The average chimp's muscles are twice as strong as a human's muscles.
The reduction in strength is thought to have allowed us humans to increase our dexterity, and therefore produce the flints, wood work and eventually societies we now have in the modern world.
So the loss of strength is not necessarily a bad thing, if you want to write or use a keyboard as a ten finger typist.
The average chimp's muscles are twice as strong as a human's muscles.
The reduction in strength is thought to have allowed us humans to increase our dexterity, and therefore produce the flints, wood work and eventually societies we now have in the modern world.
So the loss of strength is not necessarily a bad thing, if you want to write or use a keyboard as a ten finger typist.
Friday, July 08, 2011
Today’s interesting fact has to do with Krill.
Krill are small shrimp like invertebrates that are found in all the oceans of the world and they feed many large animals, such as whales and basking sharks as well as many smaller species.
It is estimated that if you took all the Antarctic krill and placed them on one side of a balancing scale and put all the humans on the planet on the other side of the scale, the Krill would weigh more.
Krill are small shrimp like invertebrates that are found in all the oceans of the world and they feed many large animals, such as whales and basking sharks as well as many smaller species.
It is estimated that if you took all the Antarctic krill and placed them on one side of a balancing scale and put all the humans on the planet on the other side of the scale, the Krill would weigh more.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Today’s interesting fact has to do with Medicine and Zoonoses.
We often think of the possibility of humans catching diseases from animals, pets, domesticated or wild.
Go anywhere these days and you will hear Mothers telling their children to not touch an animal because they could catch something.
A disease that transfers to humans from animals is a zoonose.
Flu, Rabies, SARS, Salmonella, toxoplasmosis and HIV are a few of the diseases that have regularly made the transition from animal to human.
Bovine tuberculosis is another disease that can sometimes infect people through their milk.
Herds that have been identified as having TB have been culled to prevent this from occurring.
It is often thought that TB crossed from Cattle to Humans when they were fist domesticated.
However, gene sequencing has shown that the TB that infects cattle originally came from the humans; their TB is a descendant of ours.
Researchers thought that that armadillos would be good subjects to test leprosy treatments on, because of their low body temperature.
When researchers realised that wild armadillos carried leprosy, it was suggested that it had always existed in the new world, and had not been imported from the old world by European settlers as originally thought.
Alerts recently went out asking people to not touch or interact with the animals.
But gene sequencing has shown that the leprosy infecting wild armadillos actually had crossed over very recently from humans and has not had the chance to mutate into a new separate species of bacteria, so it looks like the European settlers did bring it with them.
We often think of the possibility of humans catching diseases from animals, pets, domesticated or wild.
Go anywhere these days and you will hear Mothers telling their children to not touch an animal because they could catch something.
A disease that transfers to humans from animals is a zoonose.
Flu, Rabies, SARS, Salmonella, toxoplasmosis and HIV are a few of the diseases that have regularly made the transition from animal to human.
Bovine tuberculosis is another disease that can sometimes infect people through their milk.
Herds that have been identified as having TB have been culled to prevent this from occurring.
It is often thought that TB crossed from Cattle to Humans when they were fist domesticated.
However, gene sequencing has shown that the TB that infects cattle originally came from the humans; their TB is a descendant of ours.
Researchers thought that that armadillos would be good subjects to test leprosy treatments on, because of their low body temperature.
When researchers realised that wild armadillos carried leprosy, it was suggested that it had always existed in the new world, and had not been imported from the old world by European settlers as originally thought.
Alerts recently went out asking people to not touch or interact with the animals.
But gene sequencing has shown that the leprosy infecting wild armadillos actually had crossed over very recently from humans and has not had the chance to mutate into a new separate species of bacteria, so it looks like the European settlers did bring it with them.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Today's interesting fact has to do with parasites.
Parasites do more than infect their vectors, they can also change the infected individual's behaviour.
A vector is any person, animal or microorganism that that carries and transmits an infectious agent.
Most parasites have several vectors, mice and cats are two common vectors for Toxoplasmosis although it also infects many warm blooded animals, including humans.
When Toxoplasmosis infects mice, it changes the mouse behaviour from wanting to stay in corners and dark places, to going into the light and open places.
This allows Toxoplasmosis to reach their second vector, when the mouse is caught by their predetors, such as cats or foxes.
Animals can be infected by eating infected meat, by the accidental ingestion of fecal material of another animal that has recently been infected, or by transmission from mother to fetus.
Cats often get blamed for Humans infection, but we are more likely to get infected contact with raw meat or eating meats that are undercooked or because of fecal contamination of hands.
Up to one third of the world population is thought to be infected.
The initial infection can mimic a minor flu infection, but is more likely to go unnoticed.
Most people never have a problem with the infection, although it can be fatal, especially if passed from mother to fetus.
It has been noticed that Toxoplasmosis can change an infected human's behaviour, in that those who are infected, are more likely to take risks an get into driving accidents.
Parasites do more than infect their vectors, they can also change the infected individual's behaviour.
A vector is any person, animal or microorganism that that carries and transmits an infectious agent.
Most parasites have several vectors, mice and cats are two common vectors for Toxoplasmosis although it also infects many warm blooded animals, including humans.
When Toxoplasmosis infects mice, it changes the mouse behaviour from wanting to stay in corners and dark places, to going into the light and open places.
This allows Toxoplasmosis to reach their second vector, when the mouse is caught by their predetors, such as cats or foxes.
Animals can be infected by eating infected meat, by the accidental ingestion of fecal material of another animal that has recently been infected, or by transmission from mother to fetus.
Cats often get blamed for Humans infection, but we are more likely to get infected contact with raw meat or eating meats that are undercooked or because of fecal contamination of hands.
Up to one third of the world population is thought to be infected.
The initial infection can mimic a minor flu infection, but is more likely to go unnoticed.
Most people never have a problem with the infection, although it can be fatal, especially if passed from mother to fetus.
It has been noticed that Toxoplasmosis can change an infected human's behaviour, in that those who are infected, are more likely to take risks an get into driving accidents.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)