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Geek Culture / Strange Scientific Facts

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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 26th Jun 2012 19:17
I just read this....

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120626113930.htm

It is one of the strangest scientific facts I have come across.

So this thread is for strange scientific facts.

Green Gandalf
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Posted: 26th Jun 2012 23:23
That report seems to misrepresent the findings. The only mentions of the control group seem to suggest the supplemented group were similar - i.e. no benefit due to supplements. This is what that link says:

Quote: "The rats that ate the Western diet showed higher levels of the marker linked to cell-membrane damage. In contrast, the DHA and curcumin appeared to offset the injury's effect in the second group, which displayed equivalent marker levels to the control group.

Levels of the markers linked to neural repair and cellular communication were significantly lower in the rats raised on the Western diet. Again, levels in the animals fed the supplemented diet appeared similar to those of the control group."


I think I'd reserve judgement till I read the original paper.

On the turmeric theme I read recently that someone had found a link between Alzheimer's disease and turmeric usage (i.e. more turmeric is good). I've no idea how well supported that claim was. Again, I haven't seen the original paper and newspaper reporters have a habit of misunderstanding the technical details.
Benjamin
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Posted: 26th Jun 2012 23:33
Turmeric has historically been used for its medicinal properties, I'd be interested to see what kind of findings there are on the subject.



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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 7th Jul 2012 12:07
Here's a new strange fact. To swim faster you should open your fingers a bit...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9374791/Spread-fingers-like-a-fork-to-swim-faster-scientists-find.html

Nateholio
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Posted: 7th Jul 2012 12:09
Now that is a bit counter-intuitive Pincho. Interesting though.

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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 03:20
Phaelax
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 14:17
Lluvia de Peces (Rain of Fish)

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 14:40
When I was about 8 my friend's back garden was covered in fish. I asked his dad where they all came from, and he said it rained fish. Don't know if it was a joke, or not.

Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 15:00
CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 15:43
Quote: "2008 US national adult average of 34 percent overweight and another 34 percent obese."


Holy crap...is that true?
Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 16:01
Quote: "Holy crap...is that true? "


Sometimes these sites make mistakes. It doesn't sound right does it?

Benjamin
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 17:20
Quote: "Holy crap...is that true?"


Yes.

If I come across any interesting scientific finds I'll be sure to post them here.
Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 19:35
Another one I read about earlier. Scientists have found a way to slow light's speed down to speeds as little as 36MPH

Also, they have developed a way to reconstruct the human brain's memories and dreams.

Also, they have found a way for instant teleportation of information, via a method called quantum entanglement. It seems as when to atoms are tangled together, you can pull them apart for miles, and whatever happens to one atom, happens to the other instantaneously. You could theoretically do the same thing with signals, transfer them through quantum entangled atoms. The era of unlimited speed internet could just possibly be on the way, folks.

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Diggsey
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 19:56
Quote: "Another one I read about earlier. Scientists have found a way to slow light's speed down to speeds as little as 36MPH"


Light travels at different speeds in different materials, so it's just a question of finding one with the right structure. I believe they found a sort of crystal that slows it down to walking speed.

Quote: "Also, they have developed a way to reconstruct the human brain's memories and dreams."
What's do you mean by that?

Quote: "Also, they have found a way for instant teleportation of information, via a method called quantum entanglement. It seems as when to atoms are tangled together, you can pull them apart for miles, and whatever happens to one atom, happens to the other instantaneously. You could theoretically do the same thing with signals, transfer them through quantum entangled atoms. The era of unlimited speed internet could just possibly be on the way, folks."
That's kindof old, they found out ages ago that you can't actually transmit information through quantum entanglement. You can only see the effects of entanglement if you have a conventional channel of communication as well, otherwise you would be able to transmit information faster than light which is impossible.

[b]
Indicium
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 20:05
I don't understand how bandwidth is affected by the speed of the transmission medium, surely only latency is affected? What's to stop us shoving terrabytes of data down a fibre optic cable? Or have I grabbed the wrong end of the stick? xD


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Diggsey
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Posted: 17th Aug 2012 20:29
No, you're quite right.

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Pincho Paxton
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Indicium
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 01:43
What benefit does faster-than-light communication have?


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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 02:37
It'll certainly help when we have faster-than-light travel.

That, and removing latency from games massively, as well as any other real-time streaming process.
Indicium
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 02:50
Well, that's a given, but with FTL travel, you'd expect FTL communication.

Okay, did the math and realized that fibre optic doesn't transmit as fast as I thought.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 02:54
The problem is that FTL travel =/= FTL communication.

Most FTL theories rely on circumventing normal space, or warping space itself to make distances shorter/mass lighter for travel.

But radio communications, or even laser/light based transmission - if at all feasible - are limited to the speed of light at maximum, unless piggybacked onto an FTL ship, or expensive FTL data drones that can be used in the manner a ship can.
Travis Gatlin
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 04:13
Quote: "What's do you mean by that?"

They attached diodes to someone's head, showed them a video, put them to sleep, and took their brain signals to reconstruct their brain's frequencies into an actual video. Very vague, but the video that they were initially shown is clear within the result. I'll post a video if I can find it again.

http://www.3dartistonline.com/user/Travis%20Gatlin
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Benjamin
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 04:22 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 04:24
Quote: "What benefit does faster-than-light communication have?"


Consider that communication with the Mars rovers has a latency of something like 8 minutes. If you can have zero latency (if instantaneous transmission of information is possible) it'll offer many benefits for such things. Obviously there are more immediate uses for such things, but that's the coolest.
BatVink
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 12:59
Quote: "I haven't seen the original paper and newspaper reporters have a habit of misunderstanding the technical details."


...or they choose to misunderstand, or pay to get the results they want to publish in order to sensationalise a story.

lazerus
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Posted: 18th Aug 2012 22:34 Edited at: 18th Aug 2012 22:35
Cracked.com

Travis's info.

Read the articles on there pretty regulary on my way to work. Some good stuff on it.

Portfolio; Arthiccup.com
Lazerus Reborn on Polycount and a few other places.
Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 19th Aug 2012 16:06
I think that you will all like this strange science, it's interesting...

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/07/02/stephen-hawking-time-travel_n_1643488.html?utm_hp_ref=science

CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 19th Aug 2012 18:39
Oh wow, I love Hawkings, that's such a troll thing to do.
Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2012 00:53 Edited at: 23rd Oct 2012 01:08
I had to post this, it's just so funny! Read the report, then make sure that you click the audio link at the bottom...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022122052.htm

I just found another link of a seal, this can't be real can it?

http://mustelid.physiol.ox.ac.uk/drupal/?q=node/41

Green Gandalf
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2012 02:53
[Somewhat late reply to BatVink. ]

Quote: "Quote: "I haven't seen the original paper and newspaper reporters have a habit of misunderstanding the technical details."

...or they choose to misunderstand, or pay to get the results they want to publish in order to sensationalise a story."


Agreed. I was merely giving reporters the benefit of the doubt.

Sadly, well-intentioned investigators do the same thing from time to time. Repeat an experiment many times which has little chance of success and sooner or later it will "succeed". Then publish the results of that "success" and quietly forget the failed attempts.

The biomedical sciences are particularly prone to that sort of thing despite attempts to improve them by statistical refereeing of submitted papers (referees can only comment on what's given to them not on all the other stuff which they never see). The problem is not necessarily the researchers but can simply be the nature of the beast they are studying - humans can vary widely in their response to drugs etc.
Phaelax
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2012 04:30
From the seal article:
Quote: "somewhat slurred, but the words "come over here" and "hurry" are nevertheless clearly audible."


I gotta say their definition of what "clearly audible" means is very different than mine.


On a side note, this related article from the site was amusing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/22/lg-uses-new-screens-trick_n_1999695.html

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
Nickydude
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Posted: 25th Oct 2012 03:07 Edited at: 25th Oct 2012 03:07
Southampton scientists change the colour of gold

I reject your reality and substitute my own...
Phaelax
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Posted: 26th Oct 2012 00:27
Just came across this list of facts, rather interesting.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/how-hard-can-i-punch-without-294074

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
Green Gandalf
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Posted: 26th Oct 2012 15:20
I doubt this one from the Mirror article:

Quote: "ALCOHOL

Q How much alcohol will kill you?

A Nine or 10 drinks an hour are enough - a blood alcohol level of 0.4 per cent.

"


I was at the last TGC convention ...
Kezzla
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Posted: 26th Oct 2012 19:17
Quote: "I doubt this one from the Mirror article:

Quote: "ALCOHOL

Q How much alcohol will kill you?

A Nine or 10 drinks an hour are enough - a blood alcohol level of 0.4 per cent.

"

I was at the last TGC convention ... "


I doubt that too, I'm Australian.

Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 26th Oct 2012 20:05
Nine or ten drinks an hour? They've not really specified the percentage of alcohol on those drinks or the size. I mean I'm sure 10 pitchers of absinthe an hour would kill you. Then again, there's the Irish.

Having said that, we are talking about the Mirror, they are a tabloid newspaper and generally don't have a reputation for reliability.

Green Gandalf
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Posted: 26th Oct 2012 21:21
Quote: "generally don't have a reputation for reliability"


Yes they do - and I wouldn't say it was a good one.
Phaelax
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Posted: 27th Oct 2012 14:06
Quote: "They've not really specified the percentage of alcohol on those drinks or the size"


Good point. Then again, I remember a story about a guy (I think it was in Russia actually) who registered like a 0.6 after police found him passed out in a street. The man recovered from the obvious alcohol poisoning while doctors were stunned because his alcohol level was well above the lethal limit. If I recall correctly, it was also said he was the town drunk so apparently had quite a tolerance.

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick

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