Note: This is a guest article contributed by a paramedic and fire fighter, Scott. Today I found out how the heart works. I know what you’re thinking; I hope by the end of this article I can find out if it really is true that I can MacGyver an electrical cord together and shock my heart into restarting should it […]
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Today I found out what the things you see when you close your eyes and rub them hard are called, namely “phosphenes”. A phosphene is characterized by perceiving some form of light when there is little or no light actually entering the eye, making it an entopic phenomenon (meaning the source of the phenomenon is within the eye itself). Phosphenes […]
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Today I found out why you generally shouldn’t put metals in a microwave. First, it should be noted that it is not unsafe to put all metals in the microwave. Indeed, you often put metals in the microwave anytime you put a hot pocket in the little pouch and place it in the microwave. The pouch has a thin layer […]
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Today I found out why it is nearly impossible to tickle yourself. It’s very hard to tickle yourself because your brain anticipates things going on around you in order to help speed up response times. More technically, the cerebellum monitors body movements and can also distinguish between expected sensations and unexpected ones, generally resulting in diminishing or completely discarding expected […]
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Today I found out why mint tastes cold. Similar to why peppers taste hot, what’s going on here is there is a chemical in mint, menthol, which is tricking the brain into thinking that the area the menthol is applied to is cold; even though in fact, it’s the same as it was before. More specifically, menthol binds with cold-sensitive […]
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Today I found out bananas are naturally radioactive. This comes from the fact that they contain relatively high amounts of potassium. Specifically, they contain Potassium-40, which is a radioactive isotope of potassium. The fact that bananas are radioactive has actually given rise to the radiation unit: “banana equivalent dose” (BED); this is the average amount of radiation you are exposed to by eating […]
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Today I found out why peppers taste hot. The heat sensation is caused by capsaicin, which is a colorless, odorless, oily chemical found in peppers. Capsaicin binds with certain sensory neurons which then more or less trick your body into thinking that it is being burned or at least experiencing excessive amounts of heat in the area that the capsaicin […]
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Today I found out why mosquito bites itch. When female mosquitoes poke their proboscis through your skin so they can suck some of your blood to be later used to make eggs, they inject you with some of their saliva. This saliva helps them to drink your blood more quickly, because it contains a cocktail of anticoagulants. Once the female mosquito is […]
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Today I found out what causes muscle soreness after workouts. Since the early 20th century, this specific type of muscle soreness, called “delayed onset muscle soreness” (DOMS), was thought to be cause by lactic acid buildup in the muscles during strenuous workouts where your body’s oxygen supply is depleted. Recent research has shown this is not the case at all […]
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Today I found out turkey does not make you drowsy after you eat it. Now to be clear, turkey does contain tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid which the human body doesn’t naturally produce, but is essential to proper body function and, thus, must be acquired from food. The reason tryptophan is tied to drowsiness is that it is used […]
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Today I found out shaving does not make your hair grow back thicker, stronger, faster, or any other “er”. In fact, contrary to what parents the world over tend to tell their kids when their kids start shaving, it has been proven by numerous studies going all the way back to the 1920s that shaving has absolutely no effect whatsoever […]
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Today I found out what hemisphere you are in does not affect the way water spins down your drain. So why do some textbooks, most tour guides, and pretty much all TV shows like The Simpsons get it wrong? The myth that water in your drain will spin differently depending on what hemisphere you are in primarily stems from taking […]
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Today I found out humans have a lot more than five senses. It turns out, there are at least nine senses and most researchers think there are more like twenty-one or so. Just for reference, the commonly held definition of a “sense” is “any system that consists of a group of sensory cell types that respond to a specific physical […]
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Today I found out how the completely blind dream. It turns out that if they went completely blind before around the age of 5-7 years old, they will typically dream without any visual experiences. In the very few cases where some report having visual experiences in their dreams, these experiences are more in the abstract sense where they feel like […]
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Today I found out that sugar does not make kids hyper. In fact, it has been proven in numerous studies that it doesn’t affect their behavior at all. In one such study, it was found that mothers who think their kids have been given sugar (even though their kids haven’t been given any), will almost always say their kids are […]
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Today I found out why popcorn pops. First a little background, Popcorn or “zea mays everta” is a special kind of Flint corn, also known as “Indian corn” and sometimes “Calico corn”. Flint corn is readily recognizable as the kernels have a hard outer shell, likened to flint, hence the name. This hard outer shell is essential in making popcorn […]
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Today I found out nearly all commercial banana plants are perfect clones of one another and most originate from one single plant from Southeast Asia. Now to be clear, there are approximately 1000 different types of banana plants in the world today and within each variety most are generally clones of one another, although some do have a bit of […]
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Today I found out a Coffee bean is not actually a bean, rather it is a seed. Now I know you are saying to yourself right now, “Aren’t beans seeds and seeds beans?” Surprisingly, that is not the case. (who knew?) In fact, though beans are always seeds, seeds are not always beans. A bean is just one kind of […]
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