CULTURAL QA 01202401
Q1 What are some interesting facts about physics?
#1 The myth of an apple falling on Newton is wrong.
KR As admitted by G and repeated once again, apple fall alone s true;
but as you don’t know whether Big bang happened only this way, so too,
Newton did not write any script, whether fell on his head or not, or only
one apple fell or so many apples. Myth is purely your imagination. And as
one Quora can spin yarn that Gandhari opened her eyes and someone bluffed
“I also Heard Duryodhana etc”, so also in Quora there are so many bluffers
and willing to consume members.
#2The higher you are (building-wise), the faster time will go.
Time is a hard concept to understand when you look at it through the lens
of physics. A couple of seconds while standing on the ground will go slower
than for someone who sits on a high building, like the Empire State
building. It is best explained by Einstein and his famous theory of
relativity.
KR: I think he is repeating the old set in the same order and already I
had written how time is different within and beyond the Newton and Einstein
gravitation. So, this fact is false as usual. For every degree of longitude
covered from east to west, time changes by about 4 minutes. This is because
the Earth completes one full rotation every 24 hours, which means it
rotates 360 degrees in that time. Therefore, the Earth rotates at a rate of
15 degrees per hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. How far is 4 degrees of
latitude? The Distance Between Degrees of Latitude and Longitude; Each
degree of latitude is approximately 69 miles (111 kilometres) apart. At the
equator, the distance is 68.703 miles (110.567 kilometres). At the Tropic
of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees north and south), the
distance is 68.94 miles (110.948 kilometres). IF SO, HOW THE TIME WITHIN 70
MILES TIME WILL VARY, WHERE EVEN LIC’S ONLY FEET HEIGHT INFINITESIMAL. THE
BLUFFS ARE APPRECIATED ONLY BY SUCH COMPANION EXTOLLING WITH LOTS OF
ADJECTIVES!!
#3 The screens of smartphones work thanks to the electric charges leaving
our fingers. Touch phones work thanks to the physics behind the human body
itself. When we touch the screens with our fingers, we let out a small
number of electric charges that register with the mechanics and allow us to
interact. For this reason, things like rubber, fingernails, and others
don’t register
KR *Even with rubber gloves the screen will work sir*
#4 It’s nearly impossible to sink in the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is popular for the number of tourists that visit it, but also
for having a large amount of salt in it. Salt is not only good for food,
but also a good way of making the water much denser. There is so much of it
in that sea that people who swim there have little to no chance of
drowning. Of course, it is still important to keep things safe.
KR Why named dead sea? The Mystery of the Dead Sea: How your
organization can reconcile its core business with memory and innovation
Let’s open the door to another mystery... This time on the other side of
the door, this was not a room but a terrace opened to a gigantic sort of
lake, an unknown smell filled the air and as I looked around to ask for
direction, I saw a strong man carrying some sort of buckets walking towards
me. His buckets were full of salt. He explained that the Dead Sea is
Earth’s lowest-lying "land" spot with shores at 1,400 feet below ocean
level, and very salty waters down 1,200 feet with deep deposits of salts
and sediments of the Jordan River drainage. He looked exhausted but his
knowledge was impressive. A true expert in the subject matter he went on
explained that the Dead Sea has been shrinking rapidly because of
evaporation and water being pulled from the river. He illustrated how
climate change was drying the region putting more pressure on the water
supply: this sea had no fish, no plants, no boats and the salt prevents
life from thriving. I asked him if there was anybody else there, he said
no.
No alt text provided for this image
Later on I met an old lady, she also thought she was the only one there,
she had never met that man, but interestingly enough she was carrying the
same bucket, expect this time it was filled with mud. She went on and on
about how this mud was precious, how it can reduce skin impurities and cure
some diseases, how it provides relief for arthritis and it helps soothe
chronic back pain. She said that the mud holds the secrets and memories of
the region and all its living creatures, event and seasons. I though that
she never met the man probably because he was always there during the day
and she was only there in the evening.
No alt text provided for this image
Eventually I met a young woman full of energy and this time carrying a
bucket of fresh water. She told me that one can obverse and learn a lot
about the dead sea, by paying close attention to its seasonality. All the
salts on the bottom of the Dead Sea during annual dry seasons contain
uranium isotopes she said, which makes it possible to date sediment layers
season by season. Some of the mud deposits washes down from the hills in
the wet seasons. She had a very thorough methodology to observe that when
there is prolonged drought, thicker layers of gypsum and salt deposits
appear. From these deposits, researchers can find evidence of water
chemical components, but also winds and climate change clues, some of which
indicate that it is not the first time that the dead sea was disappearing
(click here to know more from Columbia Earth Institute).
No alt text provided for this image
I tried to test a little experiment and have these three fictional
characters meet. They were living their lives in different times, in silos,
without knowing that they can learn from each other. When the young lady
met the old one she used the fresh water to clean the sediments and fossils
that testified of the ancient story of the sea, they talked and learned
among other things that rinsing the mud with fresh water makes the skin
even more glowing. When the man joined them he took a moment to look at his
reflection in the fresh water bucket and saw how tired he looked. This
moment of reflection made him realize that he should direct his efforts
more strategically to save energy and time. The old lady applied some mud
on his back to relief and soothe his chronic pain with ancestral knowledge.
In the meantime, the young lady was listing all the solutions that can be
built using the salt he had collected: salt helps remove watermarks from a
wooden surface, polish copper tools, remove bad smells, avoid insects and
so much more she said. For in every problem in our eyes someone else in a
different time can see a solution and teach us to be stronger, wiser and
more strategic.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 Wind casts an invisible shadow.
Shadows are not always cast by objects, and winds can do it too. The only
problem? We can’t see them with the naked eye. Wind, a movement of a gas
that varies from a small gust to full-on thunderstorms, can cast a small
shadow only visible with the help of machines and physics.
KR Repeat Already replied Wind can never cast any shadow; Where it is
unseen it is not called a shadow. Any facts stated anywhere, shall be
fully read and understood; or else better not to venture, because 2 people
only encourage him. Any matter blocking the light only resulted in a dark
shadow and hence only any blocked energy area is called SHADOW REGIONS. Air
is transparent and so light can pass through. Unless there are dust in air,
shadow can never form at all. Exception is like this: “Uniform air itself
cannot refract light and create shadows because the index of refraction
does not differ anywhere. But, *when different regions of air have
different indices of refraction*, the air can indeed bend light away from
the forward direction and create a shadow. Under conditional state alone
and not all.
#6 Light gets much slower in water.
Water is not only a refresher at the end of the day, but also a great
stopper for the wavelengths of light. Light travels through air at a very
high speed, and that is thanks to its small density. Water, however, is
thicker. Since every molecule has surface tension, light gets distorted due
to the amount of energy needed to pass through.
My note- Refraction studied and performed experiment about refractive index
of materials in Physics class
KR You mean school pencil experiment? Again wrong. Light speed is
constant; but where the transparency is opaque, the light in a group wrt
that opaque medium, only travels through all the median particles by
absorption and not reflection, which is refractive; and if normality is
one, refractive index is 1 Plus; so as RI increase ,viz opaque medium is
thick, the time THAT GROUP LIGHT ALONE TAKES ALONG TIME TO PASS OF THE
STRAIGHT LINE, IF IT WERE TRANSPARENT; SO SPED IS PRESUMED TO DECREASE WRT
THE TIME IT TOOK TO REACH TRANSPARENCY AGAIN AND THAT TOO WRT THAT GROUP OF
RAYS ONLY. In glass it is still slower than water. It is a mirage. Has any
one asked while reflections are taking place, do light travels faster viz
“C” is accelerated? Science gives such twists. We say mano vegam; thoughts
are faster than light; but science says NO; and confirms that the speed of
information travels only slower than light. Yes, maybe emails; but what
about myself thinking now that I am writing this from Milan?
#7 Galileo Galilei proved his theory of free fall with the help of the
leaning tower of Pisa.
While Galileo Galilei might have created the theory of free fall, he had to
prove it by experimenting. He did it by throwing two cannonballs of the
same material, but different masses, from the leaning tower of Pisa. His
theory would be further supported by missions to the moon.
KR Mr Gopalkrishnan company of three gets wild where I prove his
errors going unchecked, simply reproducing away, ascribing himself as a
Physics student; however, till this day he cannot think rebutting anyone of
them with staunch evidence either Vedic or Science as HIS co students also
remain THUS. There are so many unchecked facts floating on the web sites,
which the young and the old minds think as genuine and produce as awesome.
But they are untrue, even when I was watching Periyava episode I Sankara
TV, as great as Chanakya also made that error. There is an incident of
Tirunallar Saniswaran; he said as from NASA saying that the satellites went
slow when it crossed Thirunallar, because it is in the web. NASA denied so
many things and this one also was denied. Galileo < Newton Einstein are all
bluffs afloat and the main culprits are our own people, who gloat over,
falsely about Vedas.
“ At the time when Viviani asserts that the experiment took place,
Galileo had not yet formulated the final version of his law of falling
bodies. He had, however, formulated an earlier version which predicted that
bodies of the same material falling through the same medium would fall at
the same speed.[3]: 20 This was contrary to what Aristotle had taught: that
heavy objects fall faster than the lighter ones, and in direct proportion
to their weight.[3]: 9 [12] While this story has been retold in popular
accounts, there is no account by Galileo himself of such an experiment, and
many historians believe that it was a thought experiment.[13] An exception
is Stillman Drake, who argues that it took place, more or less as Viviani
described it, as a demonstration for students.[3]: 19–21, 414–416
Galileo's thought experiment concerned the outcome (c) of attaching a small
stone (a) to a larger one (b)
Galileo set out his ideas about falling people, and about projectiles in
general, in his book Two New Sciences (1638). The two sciences were the
science of motion, which became the foundation-stone of physics, and the
science of materials and construction, an important contribution to
engineering. Galileo arrived at his hypothesis by a famous thought
experiment outlined in his book On Motion.[14] He writes:
Salviati. If we take two bodies whose natural speeds are different, it is
clear that on uniting the two, the more rapid one will be partly retarded
by the slower, and the slower will be somewhat hastened by the swifter. Do
you not agree with me in this opinion?
Simplicio. You are unquestionably right.
Salviati. But if this is true, and if a large stone moves with a speed of,
say, eight while a smaller moves with a speed of four, then when they are
united, the system will move with a speed less than eight; but the two
stones when tied together make a stone larger than that which before moved
with a speed of eight. Hence the heavier body moves with less speed than
the lighter; an effect which is contrary to your supposition. Thus you see
how, from your assumption that the heavier body moves more rapidly than the
lighter one, I infer that the heavier body moves more slowly.[15]
His argument is that if we assume heavier objects do indeed fall faster
than lighter ones (and conversely, lighter objects fall slower), the string
will soon pull taut as the lighter object retards the fall of the heavier
object. But the system considered as a whole is heavier than the heavy
object alone, and therefore should fall faster. This contradiction leads
one to conclude the assumption is false.”
For free fall, why PISA tower? even LIC will do or a hill. And
again, it is conditional; only if there are no other forces reacting
against it like AIR RESISTANCE ETC. And again, ARISTOTLE WAS ALSO NOT
WRONG. Galileo is wrt Newton whereas Aristotle is Einstein's application
universal; as refraction of light explained above. So its false and if I
s0ay it is bluff he gets wild and says I abused him, unaware of his lack of
attention.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#8 The universe is growing every second.
The universe is already a vast space full of planets, stars, and other
celestial bodies. But it is still not big enough. The universe is growing
at a high rate every second, expanding in every direction, getting colder
and faster at the same time. This expansion has been going on for billions
of years.
KR I think Mr G forgot he already rolled over all these and his memory
lapses induce him to get into anger. Where is the proof of expansion? Mass
weight increased? Or distanced? If I shift nearer to farther Have, I expand
or it is change of directions only. All states of matter can expand meaning
changing shapes, areas, place of origin to elsewhere etc and as long the
matter weight is constant, where is the real expansions? Battle of the
bulge is one shrinking and the excess attached to the bulge. Discovery
means, we are finding or learning very late, what is already in
manifestations. The age of a person is time lapsed; but the science thinks
the movements farther await which is a mirage. Because when I open the
door of my residence and find the milk pockets, it does not conclude that
the milk carrier was then only placed in all of them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 Water can boil and freeze at the same time.
At the same temperature, water can either boil or freeze. A triple point is
a point where the temperature, pressure, and pressure value all coincide.
The fact that all three states—liquid, ice, and water vapor—are present at
this time allows water to boil and freeze at the same temperature.
KR States of matter is conditional and if you allege that at one
temp of zero or minus or plus, three states can co-exist , you have to
prove it since what was stated then is HYPOTHETICAL in the sense , if these
conditions do happen then…….. What is it called when water freezes and
boils? It's a phenomenon called triple point, which occurs when the
pressure and temperature are perfectly set for the three states of a
substance—solid, liquid and vapour—to coexist in equilibrium. Water reaches
its triple point a hair about freezing (0.01 C) and at a pressure of 0.006
atm (atmospheric pressure). WHEN WILL IT HAPPEN?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3 If an elephant’s brain is bigger than ours, why are they not
smarter?
KR Hope If I say today's kids knew it but not G and Co? Is there a
status as “Brainless wisdom"? It is known as “anencephalic anencephalous
foolish imbecile senseless silly stupid thoughtless witless. ROBOT is
brainless but can do wonders than all the writers put together here. OWLS,
CHIMPS, AND ORANGUTANS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN HUMAN. The human brain is
bigger than owl size. And do hope in future a similar question is not shot,
titling every animal.
Q4 Why was the old calendar changed?
KR We all read and I had also written the time and calendar concept
under our scriptures; but even the brain is bigger, without reading
anything, as a JUNOON spectrum, one goes after the urchins to unfold the
west side story only. Then all the words of the size of the brain answer
shall fit tight.
Q5 What is the craziest domesticated animal to ever exist?
KR Bizarre is unusual; don’t we have such among our
population. Do we call them crazy? Nature has created varieties which help
the earth except humans. Pigeons are a friend of humans and never are they
domesticated by us nor developed as pets. All animals including the Pythons
are friendly with us. As long as they do not have a fear, we can be
friendly even with a lion which many foreign women have done with. Pigeons
were used by Damayabthi and heroines of kalidasa , sanga kappiya heroines
and Kings as they are trained to fly through certain roots. Today even a
couple of years back my balcony in T Nagar had quite a lot of pigeons; and
suddenly they are nowhere now. I did Pigeon net to avoid them entering the
rooms. But today the nets are alive but no pigeons. Where are they like
sparrows?
Mr Sekar wants comments from men of steel and not straw; well on time and
various calendars I had written long as from Sanskrit and Tamil and even
other regional versions. Good habits are in Grhya sutras written by so
many.
குறள் 490:
கொக்கொக்க கூம்பும் பருவத்து மற்றதன்
குத்தொக்க சீர்த்த இடத்து.
பொறுத்திருக்கும் காலத்தில் கொக்குப் போல் அமைதியாக இருக்க வேண்டும், காலம்
வாய்த்த போது அதன் குத்து போல் தவறாமல் செய்து முடிக்க வேண்டும்.
English Couplet 490:
As heron stands with folded wing, so wait in waiting hour;
As heron snaps its prey, when fortune smiles, put forth your power.
Couplet Explanation:
At the time when one should use self-control, let him restrain himself like
a heron; and, let him like it, strike, when there is a favourable
opportunity.
Transliteration(Tamil to English):
kokkokka koompum paruvaththu matradhan
kuththokka seerththa idaththu
Surya Siddantham explains in detail the ancient formats of
time changed over according to the astronomy of the space and not as based
on Jesus and Mohamad. In case anyone does not possess my old copies , if
they need pl send me personal emails ,including your queries Thank You K
Rajaram IRS 2 1 24
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: 'gopala krishnan' via iyer123 <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2024 at 19:51
Subject: [iyer123] CULTURAL QA 01-2024-01
To: Patty Thatha <[email protected]>, Iyer <
[email protected]>, Kerala Iyer <[email protected]>
*CULTURAL QA 01-2024-01*
*All the BELOW QA are from Quora digest to me on 01-01-2024.*
*Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers *
*.Compiled* *and posted by R. Gopala krishnan, on 01-01-2024*
*Q1 What are some interesting facts about physics?*
*A1 Deepaktopzone, Dec 4*
*#1 The myth of an apple falling on Newton is wrong.*
*We’ve all heard the story of an apple falling on Isaac Newton's head, but
few know it was a myth. In reality, Newton drew inspiration from apples,
not because one hit his head, but because they fell straight down and not
sideways. This observation helped him develop the theory of universal
gravity.*
*#2The higher you are (building-wise), the faster time will go.*
*Time is a hard concept to understand when you look at it through the lens
of physics. A couple of seconds while standing on the ground will go slower
than for someone who sits on a high building, like the Empire State
building. It is best explained by Einstein and his famous theory of
relativity.*
*#3 The screens of smartphones work thanks to the electric charges leaving
our fingers.*
*Touch phones work thanks to the physics behind the human body itself. When
we touch the screens with our fingers, we let out a small number of
electric charges that register with the mechanics and allow us to interact.
For this reason, things like rubber, fingernails, and others don’t register*
*#4 It’s nearly impossible to sink in the Dead Sea.*
*The Dead Sea is popular for the number of tourists that visit it, but also
for having a large amount of salt in it. Salt is not only good for food,
but also a good way of making the water much denser. There is so much of it
in that sea that people who swim there have little to no chance of
drowning. Of course, it is still important to keep things safe.*
*#5 Wind casts an invisible shadow.*
*Shadows are not always cast by objects, and winds can do it too. The only
problem? We can’t see them with the naked eye. Wind, a movement of a gas
that varies from a small gust to full-on thunderstorms, can cast a small
shadow only visible with the help of machines and physics.*
*#6 Light gets much slower in water.*
*Water is not only a refresher at the end of the day, but also a great
stopper for the wavelengths of light. Light travels through air at a very
high speed, and that is thanks to its small density. Water, however, is
thicker. Since every molecule has surface tension, light gets distorted due
to the amount of energy needed to pass through.*
*My note- Refraction studied and performed experiment about refractive
index of materials in Physics class*
*#7 Galileo Galilei proved his theory of free fall with the help of the
leaning tower of Pisa.*
*While Galileo Galilei might have created the theory of free fall, he had
to prove it by experimenting. He did it by throwing two cannonballs of the
same material, but different masses, from the leaning tower of Pisa. His
theory would be further supported by missions to the moon.*
*#8 The universe is growing every second.*
*The universe is already a vast space full of planets, stars, and other
celestial bodies. But it is still not big enough. The universe is growing
at a high rate every second, expanding in every direction, getting colder
and faster at the same time. This expansion has been going on for billions
of years.*
*#9 Water can boil and freeze at the same time.*
*At the same temperature, water can either boil or freeze. A triple point
is a point where the temperature, pressure, and pressure value all
coincide. The fact that all three states—liquid, ice, and water vapor—are
present at this time allows water to boil and freeze at the same
temperature.*
*Q2 Is it strange that I don't think of January 1st as the start of
my new year?*
*A2 Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, I am not the partying type 4h*
*No. It is not strange.*
*Many Indians do not feel that January 1st should be celebrated as the New
Year festival at least in India.*
*A comment was posted in Hindi by Sobhachand Dugar in one of my answers
yesterday. This a condensed translation of what was mentioned in that
comment.*
*Why do we observe Jan 1st as the beginning of the new year? We Indians
should think this over.*
*The season did not change.*
*In school or college, the class did not change and neither did the term.*
*The harvest did not change and neither did the crop.*
*Neither did the colors of the trees and plants change.*
*Neither did the direction of the sun and stars change.*
*Let us consider a comparison of the New year per the Gregorian Calendar
and the traditional Indian New year day.*
* Nature:*
*There is no difference between December and January in the Gregorian
Calendar while in the Indian new year, flowers bloom, new leaves appear on
trees. There is greenery all around.*
*Clothes:*
*We wear the same warm clothing in December and January*
*But when the Indian new year begins, there is a change in clothing due to
change in weather.*
*New terms in school.*
*There is nothing new in the Gregorian Calendar, while in the Indian new
year the academic session closes and results of exams are declared.*
*New Financial year:*
*Our account books don’t close in December-January*
*New accounting is opened during the Indian new year.*
* Farmers:*
*There is no difference between December and January for farmers in the
Gregorian Calendar.*
*But on Indian New year season the crop is harvested and there is a
celebration on this occasion.*
*For these reasons we need not celebrate January 1 as a New year festival
in India.*
*My note- Generally January is told as the English new year. We follow
English 99% in computer, office files, and common language medium in
India. All regional calendars and diaries also printed from January. So we
may consider English New year with equal importance to regional new year
avoiding*
*Meaning less things like lighting lamp at midnight in pooja roometc.*
*Q3 If an elephant’s brain is bigger than ours, why are they not
smarter?*
*A3 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology's Greatest Mystery (2022)Nov 2*
*This is a good question, because the answer teaches us a lot about the
nature of intelligence itself*
*The average human brain weighs about a kilogram and a half, which is
remarkably small really**. The sum of all consciousness is housed within
that little scoop of nervous tissue. On the other hand, within the cranium
of an African bush elephant sits a brain well over twice the size of ours.*
*It’s clear that there’s more to intelligence than just brain size. The
baleen whales of the oceans have brains weighing 7 kilograms, well over
quadruple the mass of ours. However, their behaviour is much less complex
and sophisticated than that of humans, or indeed of elephants. Baleen
whales aren’t stupid - their songs are a rich and advanced form of
communication, and they’ve been known to display altruism - but their
intelligence definitely isn’t proportional to their massive brain size.*
*This is of course because their brains are tiny relative to their bodies**.
A blue whale’s brain makes up as little as 0.005% of its total body mass!
Our brains, by comparison, are about 2.5% of our bodyweight. So is
brain-to-body mass ratio the true decider of intellect? It’s certainly a
better metric to compare between animals, but still one which is deeply
flawed.*
*It turns out that, all else being equal, brain mass does not scale
linearly with body mass. After all, there is a minimum number of neurons an
animal needs to function, a concept known as the “grey floor”. Smaller
animals tend to have much higher brain-to-body mass ratios, without
necessarily seeming any more intelligent. A humble shrew, for example, has
a brain which constitutes one tenth of the size of its body! If the metric
were reliable, the shrew would be taming us!*
*While we’re on the topic, I should mention that the species with the
lowest brain-to-body mass ratio of all vertebrates on this Earth is the
magnificently named bony-eared assfish. Brains consume huge amounts of
precious energy, so in the incredibly barren environment of the deep sea,
the bony-eared assfish has done away with most of its grey matter.*
*For a fish with such an unflattering name, it is hauntingly beautiful!*
*Anyway, it’s clear that raw brain-to-body mass ratio is far from a perfect
measure of intelligence; it is too harsh on big animals, and too kind to
small animals. Scientists have studied the relative brain sizes of mammals,
and come up with a formula that adjusts for this problem. Applying this
formula gives a new, more refined metric: encephalisation quotient, or EQ
for short.*
*In other words, EQ is the ratio of actual brain size to predicted brain
size. When we compare different animals’ EQ values, the results line up a
lot more with what we would expect, intelligence-wise. *
*Humans have the highest score of any animal, at about 7.6.*
*The tucuxi, a very interesting type of freshwater dolphin from the rivers
of South America, takes second place**. It measures only 1.5 metres in
length, and has a bright pink underbelly!*
*anta rays have one of the highest EQs among fish, octopuses triumph among
invertebrates, and corvids outperform their feathered friends. These
results are all exactly what we would predict based on behavioural signs of
intelligence. So, is encephalisation quotient really the answer? Probably
not. Once again, this method seems to fall short of being perfect.*
*On average, birds have much lower EQs than mammals, but there is ample
evidence to suggest that birds are incredibly smart**. In fact, all the
dinosaurs, not just birds, have surprisingly low encephalisation values. If
estimated EQ is to be believed, Tyrannosaurus rex was less intelligent than
a slug. Believe it or not, the sauropod dinosaurs have the lowest score of
any animal in history ever measured, at as low as 0.01!*
*There are several likely reasons for this. The formula for encephalisation
quotient was based only on data from mammalian species, so in general it
probably shouldn’t be used to compare mammals to non-mammals. Bird/dinosaur
cells are much smaller than mammalian cells. For its size, a typical avian
brain has twice as many neurons 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 stuff inside brains that has nothing to do with
intelligence. For example, a large portion of whales’ and dolphins’ brain
mass is just insulating blubber! There are all kinds of factors like this
that really muddy the waters. Perhaps it’s better to just focus on the part
of the brain that actually does the thinking.*
*The cerebral cortex is thought to be the seat of intelligence in mammals**.
This grooved and convoluted outer layer of tissue is responsible for
processing our senses, finely controlling our movement, abstract thought,
and much more. Non-mammal animals don’t have a cerebral cortex per se, but
they always have an equivalent brain region - for example, birds have their
dorsoventricular ridge, or DVR.*
*So far, the single best predictor of intelligence we have found is the
number of cortical neurons; that is, the total number of nerve cells within
the cerebral cortex (or equivalent area). Humans have at least 16 billion,
which is exceptional! Elephants, despite having a brain twice as large,
have about a third as many cortical neurons. However, the real world
champion is the orca, believe it or not, with an absolutely astonishing 43
billion cortical neurons!*
*In fact, by this measure, humans sit at humble fifth place**. There are
four species of dolphins with more cortical neurons, the most of all
belonging to the orca. Some might be quick to discredit this method as soon
as they hear that it doesn’t put humans on top, and I would encourage those
people to keep an open mind. If we’re so, so sure that orcas are less smart
than us, perhaps we’re looking at intelligence in the wrong way.*
*But that’s a more philosophical discussion for another answer. Anyway, for
centuries, humans have been trying to put a number on intelligence, to find
some way to quantify it**. None of the metrics we’ve come up with are
perfect, but for now, the best we have is the number of cortical neurons.
It doubtless has its discrepancies, but overall it seems to be an extremely
useful way of comparing animal acumen.*
*So, going back to your question, if an elephant’s brain is bigger than
ours, why isn’t it smarter? Because the size of a brain, as we’ve seen, has
little to do with intelligence. Apologies if this answer was long-winded,
though I think 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.*
*Q4 Why was the old calendar changed?*
*A4 Steve Baker, Senior Software Engineer (2013–present)Sun*
*The problem is that the Earth orbits the Sun in 365.2422 days (an
“astronomical year”).*
*The older calendars used 365 days per year - with a leap day every four
years.*
*So that’s: 365 + 1/4 = 365.25 days*
*But that 365.25 is a little too long - it should be 365.2422.*
*Without some kind of a fix - the calendar was slowly slipping away from
reality**. The solstices and equinoxes were drifting slowly - but
measurably.*
*Although the error wouldn’t bother most people - it bothered the Catholic
Church A LOT - because they’d gone to a LOT of trouble to formally
establish the date of Easter.*
*Easter is defined as: The first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on
or after the spring equinox. If the full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter
is the next Sunday.*
*But if you have the date of the equinox wrong - by even just one day -
then you could have Easter an entire week away from when it should be…and
that would evidently displease God and “Very Bad Things” would happen.*
*So it was decided to skip the leap day every 100 years.So - for example -
the year 1900 - despite being a multiple of 4 years was NOT a leap year.*
*That gave a year to be 365 + 1/4 - 1/100 = 365.24 days - which is pretty
close.*
*But the next rule is that a century year that’s an exact multiple of 400
years IS a leap year - which is why the year 2000 was a leap year - despite
being a multiple of 100 years.*
*So now we have:*
*356 + 1/4 - 1/100 + 1/400 = 365.2425*
*So we’re still not 100% perfect - but the error of a single day every few
thousand years is actually OK* *because the length of our orbit does change
a tiny bit each year depending on the location of Jupiter - so going for
more accuracy than that is over-kill.*
*Q5 What is the craziest domesticated animal to ever exist?*
*A5 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology's Greatest Mystery (2022)4y*
*In my opinion, that honour goes to the domestic pigeon**. In the 10,000
years since their domestication, the birds have been selectively bred into
countless bizarre forms, collectively known as “fancy pigeons”.*
*Ever wondered if there was a pigeon with the** erectile fan-shaped tail of
a turkey? Probably not, but check.*
*What about a pigeon with a huge puffy crop? Check.*
*Pigeons with curly feathers on their wings? Check.*
*Pigeons with huge feathers on their feet and powdery down? Check.*
*Pigeons with fleshy, flower-like wattles all over their faces? Check.*
*Pigeons with that, plus scrawny giraffe necks? Check.*
*Flightless pigeons that look and act like chickens? Check.*
*Pigeons with enormous ruffs like parka hoods? Check.*
*Pigeons with virtually non-existent beaks? Check.*
*Bug-eyed pigeons? You guessed it, check.*
*In a way, it saddens me that we’ve practically engineered these natural
creatures to suit our strange desires. At least they’re not unhealthy,**
though - unlike so many poor dogs, especially purebreds.*
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"iyer123" 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/iyer123/1730095884.3333233.1704118911639%40mail.yahoo.com
<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/iyer123/1730095884.3333233.1704118911639%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>
.
--
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/CAL5XZoqdp-CbUZWMcNw0X74oACOma0%2BKkr62%2BEs%2B%2Bm8KD6%3DMew%40mail.gmail.com.
