Today I found out why inhaling helium can change the sound of your voice. The physics behind this little phenomenon, practiced in the back corners of parties everywhere, are actually fairly simple. What is going on in the voice tract however is not. The mechanics of a person’s voice is an awesome biological phenomenon born from the need of women […]
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Today I found out Velcro was modeled after burrs of the burdock plant that stuck to Velcro’s creator’s pants after a hunting trip. The inventor of Velcro, more generically known as a “hook and loop fastener” or “touch fastener” as “Velcro” is technically just a brand of that product, was Swiss engineer, Georges de Mestral. After going out on a […]
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Today I found out how fish gills work. These fantastic little organs allow the fish to absorb oxygen from the water and use it for energy. Functionally, gills are not that dissimilar to the lungs in humans and other mammals. The main difference is how they are able to absorb much smaller concentrations of available oxygen, while allowing the fish […]
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Today I found out what causes hickeys, that infamous badge of shame that requires most teenage boys to seriously consider buying make up to cover their necks before they go home to mom and dad! Now I know what your thinking, your partner in sadism causes those of course! While this may be true, the underlying factors that allow this […]
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Today I found out Teflon was invented by accident. The man who accidentally invented it was Dr. Roy Plunkett. After receiving his BA, MS, and eventually PhD in organic chemistry, Dr. Plunkett took a job with DuPont, in Jackson New Jersey. He was subsequently assigned to work on synthesizing various new forms of refrigerant, trying to find a non-toxic alternative […]
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Note: This is a guest article contributed by frequent TIFO visitor, paramedic, and amateur physicist, Scott. Today I found out why we divide the day in to seconds, minutes, and hours. The concept of needing to divide up the day seems second nature to even the smallest kid who asks, “is it snack time”. The reality is, even though we’ve […]
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Today I found out bread goes stale about six times faster in the refrigerator then when kept at room temperature. On the surface, this might seem counter intuitive; after all, everyone knows if you want to keep food fresher longer, you put it in the fridge. The problem stems from what bread is made out of, specifically starch molecules, and […]
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Today I found out making tires black, instead of the natural white color of rubber, produces a much stronger and longer lasting tire. Originally rubber tires were white, which is the natural color of rubber. In the early 1900s, Binney & Smith began selling their carbon black chemicals to Goodrich Tire Company, as it was found that the use of […]
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Today I found out about the “nocebo effect” which is more or less the evil twin of the placebo effect. The nocebo effect is an effect where a patient is given or told something that should make no difference whatsoever to their health, but ends up causing negative side effects because of what they believe about the thing they are […]
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Today I found out it is possible to mummify yourself. One such method of self-mummification was practiced by Japanese Shugendō monks as the ultimate act of self denial. Shugendō is a form of Buddhism that originally combined elements of Buddhism, animism, Old Shinto, mountain worship, and Taoism, among other religions. “Shugendō” itself means something to the effect of “the way […]
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Today I found out how one-way mirrors work (also known as “two-sided” mirrors). Interestingly, there is no such thing as a true one way mirror. This would actually violate the laws of physics (for more on that see the Bonus Factoids below). What’s actually going on here with one-way mirrors is that we have a piece of glass with an […]
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Today I found out that one Calorie is equivalent to one gram of TNT in terms of energy. (It is important to note the capital “C” in calorie signifies a kilo-calorie, also known as a “food calorie” because the value listed on food labels are typically in kilo-calories.) A Calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature […]
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Today I found out the human gut contains about 100 trillion bacterial cells, about 10 times as many cells as make up the human body. The human gut is basically sterile until you are born. For the first year of your life, the cultures of bacteria and other microbes in your gut fluctuate wildly and begin settling down around the […]
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Today I found out what causes the “sleep” or “eye crusties” you may have around your eyes in the morning. “Sleep” is a type of “rheum”, which is the name for discharge from your nose, mouth or eyes during sleep. More specifically, eye rheum is known as “gound”. Gound is made up of a mixture of dust, blood cells, skin […]
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Today I found out why spicy foods can cause your nose to run. In most spicy foods, this is thanks to the same chemicals that cause the burning sensation on your tongue, namely capsaicin or allyl isothiocyanate. Capsaicin is chemical found in fruits of the genus Capsicum, which includes peppers. It is present, usually in relatively high amounts, in the […]
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Today I found out why red meat turns brown when cooked. This is thanks to a protein called myoglobin, which also is what makes the raw red meat look red, not blood, as many people think. Myoglobin is a protein that stores oxygen in muscle cells, very similar to its cousin, hemoglobin, which stores oxygen in red blood cells. This […]
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Today I found out how anti-static dryer sheets work. There are two primary methods used to get rid of static charge buildup in drying clothing, which happily go hand in hand with one another using the same substance. The first method is to lubricate the clothing. The second method is to use a positively charged material to more or less […]
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Today I found out why chocolate is bad for dogs. Chocolate contains an alkaloid called “theobromine”. Theobromine is in the same family as caffeine and is a type of stimulant (they both are mythylxanines). Theobromine stimulates the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and causes a slightly increases blood pressure. Dogs and certain other animals, such as horses and cats, cannot […]
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