CULTURAL QA11-2023-03 All the BELOW QA are from Quora DIGEST to me on 03-11-2023.
QUORA ANSWERS NEEDNOT BE 100% CORRECT ANSWERS. Compiled and posted by R. GopalaKrishnan, 80, on 03-11-2023. Q1 Today my boss asked me, do peopleworship a monkey in India? What could have been my best response? A1 Mukund Arya, Follower of a MysticReligion called Hinduism Updated 6y Tell your Boss, wedon't just worship a Monkey...... or a"Cow": or an Elephant: or a Dog: or a Snake: or a Bird (Garuda): or a Fish(God Matsya): or Even trees,Tulsi (Basil): or a River(Ganges): or Sun: or Mother Earth: or Various form ofHumans, Man with normal two hands, one head and two eyes (Lord Krishna): or a Man with 4Hands (Lord Vishnu, the Maintainer): or a Man withthree eyes (Lord Shiva, the Destroyer): or a Man with 4heads (Lord Brahma, the creator): or a"Lady" with 10 hands (Goddess Shakti): but we worship every forms of nature, Air (Vayu), Water(Lord Varuna), Rain(Lord Indra),Food (Goddess Annapurna) etc. that made our ecosystem livable for humans. Basically Sir, Weworship everything that keeps you alive. Q2 What level of atmosphere do planes flyin? What is the highest altitude a plane can fly? A2 Rebecca Williams, Experience inAviation Tue The atmosphere is divided into five layers: the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere,the thermosphere, and the exosphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer, where most of the weather occursand where we live. The stratosphere is the secondlayer, where the ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation. The mesosphere is the thirdlayer, where meteors burn up as they enter the atmosphere. The thermosphere is the fourthlayer, where auroras and satellites occur. The exosphere is the fifth and outermost layer, where theatmosphere gradually fades into space. Most commercial planes fly in the lower part of thestratosphere, between 30,000 and 40,000 feet (9,000 and 12,000 meters). This is becauseflying at higher altitudes reduces air resistance and fuel consumption, as wellas avoiding turbulence and bad weather in the troposphere. However, there are limits to how high planes can fly,depending on their design and performance. The highest altitude that a commercial plane can flytoday is 45,000 feet (13,700 meters), which is achieved by some private jetsand military aircraft. This was notalways the case. In the past, someplanes could fly higher than that. For example, Concorde, the supersonicpassenger jet that was retired in 2003, had a cruising altitude of 60,000 feet(18,300 meters). And some military planes could fly even higher than that. Forexample, the SR-71 Blackbird, a reconnaissance plane that was retired in 1998,had a record altitude of 85,069 feet (25,929 meters). These planes used special engines and materials towithstand the extreme conditions at such high altitudes. Most planes todayuse jet engines that require oxygen to burn fuel. At higher altitudes, the airbecomes too thin and cold for jet engines to work efficiently. Also, the air pressure drops significantly at higheraltitudes, which puts more stress on the plane’s structure and cabin pressure. Most planes today are designed to fly at optimal altitudesin the stratosphere. My note- The QA isadded for the information in addition to height the planes can fly, about the different layers above earth. Q3 If an elephant’s brain is bigger thanours, why are they not smarter? A3 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology'sGreatest Mystery (2022)13h This is a goodquestion, because the answer teaches us a lot about the nature of intelligenceitself. The average humanbrain weighs about a kilogram and a half, which is remarkably small really.The sum of all consciousness is housed within that little scoop of nervoustissue. On the other hand, within the cranium of an African bushelephant sits a brain well over twice the size of ours. It’s clear thatthere’s more to intelligence than just brain size. The baleen whales of theoceans have brains weighing 7 kilograms, well over quadruple the mass of ours.However, their behaviour is much less complex and sophisticated than that ofhumans, or indeed of elephants. Baleen whales aren’t stupid - their songs are arich and advanced form of communication, and they’ve been known to displayaltruism - but their intelligence definitely isn’t proportional to theirmassive brain size. This is of coursebecause their brains are tiny relative to their bodies. A blue whale’s brainmakes up as little as 0.005% of its total body mass! Our brains, by comparison, are about 2.5% of ourbodyweight. So is brain-to-body mass ratio the true decider ofintellect? It’s certainly a better metric to compare between animals, but stillone which is deeply flawed. It turns out that, all else being equal, brain massdoes not scale linearly with body mass. After all, thereis a minimum number of neurons an animal needs to function, a concept known asthe “grey floor”. Smaller animals tend to have much higher brain-to-body massratios, without necessarily seeming any more intelligent. A humble shrew, forexample, has a brain which constitutes one tenth of the size of its body! Ifthe metric were reliable, the shrew would be taming us! While we’re on thetopic, I should mention that the species with the lowest brain-to-body massratio of all vertebrates on this Earth is the magnificently named bony-earedassfish. Brains consume huge amounts of precious energy, so in the incrediblybarren environment of the deep sea, the bony-eared assfish has done away withmost of its grey matter. For a fish withsuch an unflattering name, it is hauntingly beautiful! Anyway, it’s clear that raw brain-to-body mass ratio is far from a perfectmeasure of intelligence; it is too harsh on big animals, and too kind tosmall animals. Scientists have studied the relative brain sizes of mammals, andcome up with a formula that adjusts for this problem. Applying this formulagives a new, more refined metric: encephalisation quotient, or EQ for short. In other words, EQ is the ratio of actual brainsize to predicted brain size. When we compare different animals’ EQvalues, the results line up a lot more with what we would expect,intelligence-wise. Humanshave the highest score of any animal, at about 7.6. The tucuxi, a veryinteresting type of freshwater dolphin from the rivers of South America, takessecond place. It measures only 1.5 metres in length, and has a bright pinkunderbelly! Manta rays haveone of the highest EQs among fish, octopuses triumph among invertebrates, andcorvids outperform their feathered friends. These results are all exactly whatwe would predict based on behavioural signs of intelligence. So, isencephalisation quotient really the answer? Probably not. Once again, thismethod seems to fall short of being perfect. On average, birds have much lower EQs than mammals, butthere is ample evidence to suggest that birds are incredibly smart. Infact, all the dinosaurs, not just birds, have surprisingly low encephalisationvalues. If estimated EQ is to be believed, Tyrannosaurus rex was lessintelligent than a slug. Believe it or not, the sauropod dinosaurs have thelowest score of any animal in history ever measured, at as low as 0.01! There are severallikely reasons for this. The formula for encephalisation quotient was basedonly on data from mammalian species, so in general it probably shouldn’t beused to compare mammals to non-mammals. Bird/dinosaur cells are much smallerthan mammalian cells. For its size, a typical avian brain has twice as manyneurons as a standard mammal brain! Raw brain size,brain-to-body mass ratio, EQ… all these metrics share a fundamental problem:they’re all based on overall brain mass in some way, and there’s a lot of stuffinside brains that has nothing to do with intelligence. For example, a large portion of whales’ anddolphins’ brain mass is just insulating blubber! There are all kinds of factorslike this that really muddy the waters. Perhaps it’s better to just focus onthe part of the brain that actually does the thinking. The cerebral cortex is thought to be the seat of intelligencein mammals. This grooved andconvoluted outer layer of tissue is responsible for processing our senses,finely controlling our movement, abstract thought, and much more. Non-mammalanimals don’t have a cerebral cortex per se, but they always have an equivalentbrain region - for example, birds have their dorsoventricular ridge, or DVR. So far, the singlebest predictor of intelligence we have found is the number of cortical neurons;that is, the total number of nerve cells within the cerebral cortex (orequivalent area). Humans haveat least 16 billion, which is exceptional! Elephants, despite having abrain twice as large, have about a third as many cortical neurons. However, thereal world champion is the orca, believe it or not, with an absolutely astonishing43 billion cortical neurons! In fact, by thismeasure, humans sit at humble fifth place. There are four species of dolphinswith more cortical neurons, the most of all belonging to the orca. Some mightbe quick to discredit this method as soon as they hear that it doesn’t puthumans on top, and I would encourage those people to keep an open mind. Ifwe’re so, so sure that orcas are less smart than us, perhaps we’re looking atintelligence in the wrong way. But that’s a morephilosophical discussion for another answer. Anyway, for centuries, humans have been trying to put anumber on intelligence, to find some way to quantify it. None of the metrics we’ve come upwith are perfect, but for now, the best we have is the number of corticalneurons. It doubtless has its discrepancies, but overall it seems to bean extremely useful way of comparing animal acumen. So, going back toyour question, if an elephant’s brain is bigger than ours, why isn’t itsmarter? Because the size of a brain, as we’ve seen, has little todo with intelligence. Apologies if this answer was long-winded, though Ithink we visited some interesting places on our journey through animal minds!Thank you everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and have a great day. My note- Not toucheditem above is parrots- how they talk. I read elsewhere they share same type of chromosomeslike humans in the brain, enabling them to talk. Q4 Why are cars not made of aluminium;considering it is readily available, rust-proof, and lighter than steel? A4 Erika Fernandez, Car Lover Jul 9 Cars are not made of aluminium for several reasons,despite its advantages of being readily available, rust-proof, and lighter than steel. Aluminium is more expensivethan steel, both in terms of material and processing costs. Aluminiumrequires more energy and specialized equipment to produce, shape, and join thansteel, which increases the manufacturing costs and the final price of the car.According to some estimates, aluminium can cost two to three times more per kilogram than steel. Aluminium isweaker than steel, both in terms of tensile strength and stiffness. Aluminium has a lower resistance to deformation andfracture than steel, whichaffects the safety and durability of the car. Aluminium also hasa lower fatigue limit than steel, which means it can fail afterrepeated loading and unloading cycles. To compensate for its lower strength,aluminium needs to be thicker or reinforced with other materials, which reducesits weight advantage over steel. Also aluminium is less compatible than steel with othermaterials and components used in cars, such as plastics, rubber, glass, orelectronics. Aluminium has a higher thermal expansion coefficient than steel, which means it expands and contracts more withtemperature changes, causing stress and distortion in the car structure.Aluminium also has a higher electrical conductivity than steel, which caninterfere with the electrical systems and cause corrosion or galvanicreactions. Q5 What are some of the best examples ofhumanity? A5 Divya Yadav,May 6 Meet Babu Muddrappa, the 29 year old auto driver fromBengaluru. On his way homeBabu found a pregnant woman in labour and crying for help on Whitefield road. He took thatunknown pregnant woman to the hospital for delivery. The woman was in a lot ofpain so he just filled up the admission forms with his details. Babu waited tillthe woman gave birth to a baby girl. But the baby was 2 months premature,weighing just 850 grams and suffered from severe breathing problems. He was asked to run the infant to Bowring Hospital fortreatment and so he did. However, when hecame back to the hospital, he found out that the woman had fled. Babu felt bad forthe newborn and decided to adopt the girl and raise her as his own child. Heeven took care of the hospital bills. He took care ofthe food and medicines and he did everything that was required to keep the babygirl healthy. But as events turned, her health deteriorated and the baby diedafter 18 days in the hospital. The auto drivers inIndia, especially in the metropolitan cities, are infamous for charging absurdamount of money and most importantly, refusing a ride. However, even amidst their notoriety, there exist driverslike Babu Muddrappa who set an example of striking a balance between one’s dutyand humanity. People like him make the world a better place to live in! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1547481825.1698317.1699004238075%40mail.yahoo.com.
