HA HA HA. The correct wording as per Mr Rajaram's dictionary is milk pockets
for the milk packed in a pouches. Milk packets is wrong usage according to Mr
Rajaram, former IRS, climbed Sarvanja peetam after Sankaracharya.
Gopalakrishnan
On Wednesday, 3 January, 2024 at 11:10:07 am IST, Narayanaswamy Iyer
<[email protected]> wrote:
Dear folks
The pseudo-genius who claimed that, according to his understanding and
interpretation, the saptha-sindhu rivers existed only when "the rishis" came
across them, and not before, now writes in his normal drain-gutter-sewet broken
ungrammatical English:-
"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."
In his crude and rude mlechcha untrained, unlearned, unschooled, uneducated
lingo, he probably refers to plastic packets of fresh milk placed at his
doorstep by the milkman courier. He obviously cannot mean that in every packet
of milk a milk carrier, even a toy, was packed.
Such was the learning curve of an old, senile, crazy stuttering dotty dotard of
an ex-taxman who never went to school.
S Narayanaswamy Iyer
On Tue, Jan 2, 2024 at 1:38 PM Rajaram Krishnamurthy <[email protected]>
wrote:
CULTURAL QA 01202401
Q1 What aresome 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 onlythis way, so too, Newton did not
write any script, whether fell on his head ornot, 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 someonebluffed “I also Heard Duryodhana etc”,
so also in Quora there are so manybluffers and willing to consume members.
#2The higher you are (building-wise), the faster time willgo.
Time is a hard concept to understand when you look at itthrough the lens of
physics. A couple of seconds while standing on the groundwill go slower than
for someone who sits on a high building, like the EmpireState building. It is
best explained by Einstein and his famous theory ofrelativity.
KR: I think he is repeating the old set in thesame order and already I had
written how time is different within and beyondthe Newton and Einstein
gravitation. So, this fact is false as usual. For everydegree 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, whichmeans it rotates 360
degrees in that time. Therefore, the Earth rotates at arate of 15 degrees per
hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. How far is 4 degreesof latitude? The
Distance BetweenDegrees of Latitude and Longitude; Each degree of latitude is
approximately 69miles (111 kilometres) apart. At the equator, the distance is
68.703 miles(110.567 kilometres). At the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of
Capricorn (23.5degrees 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 HEIGHTINFINITESIMAL. THE BLUFFS ARE APPRECIATED ONLY BY SUCH
COMPANION EXTOLLING WITHLOTS OF ADJECTIVES!!
#3 The screens of smartphones work thanks to the electriccharges leaving our
fingers. Touch phones work thanks to the physics behind thehuman body itself.
When we touch the screens with our fingers, we let out asmall number of
electric charges that register with the mechanics and allow usto interact. For
this reason, things like rubber, fingernails, and others don’tregister
KR Even with rubber gloves thescreen will work sir
#4 It’s nearly impossible to sink in the DeadSea.
The Dead Sea is popular for the number of tourists thatvisit it, but also for
having a large amount of salt in it. Salt is not onlygood for food, but also a
good way of making the water much denser. There is somuch of it in that sea
that people who swim there have little to no chance ofdrowning. Of course, it
is still important to keep things safe.
KR Why nameddead sea? The Mystery of the Dead Sea: How your
organization can reconcile its core businesswith memory and innovation
Let’s open the door to another mystery... This time on theother side of the
door, this was not a room but a terrace opened to a giganticsort of lake, an
unknown smell filled the air and as I looked around to ask fordirection, 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’slowest-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 sedimentsof the Jordan River drainage. He
looked exhausted but his knowledge wasimpressive. A true expert in the subject
matter he went on explained that theDead Sea has been shrinking rapidly because
of evaporation and water beingpulled from the river. He illustrated how climate
change was drying the regionputting more pressure on the water supply: this sea
had no fish, no plants, noboats and the salt prevents life from thriving. I
asked him if there wasanybody else there, he said no.
No alt text provided for this image
Later on I met an old lady, she also thought she was theonly one there, she had
never met that man, but interestingly enough she wascarrying the same bucket,
expect this time it was filled with mud. She went onand on about how this mud
was precious, how it can reduce skin impurities andcure some diseases, how it
provides relief for arthritis and it helps soothechronic back pain. She said
that the mud holds the secrets and memories of theregion and all its living
creatures, event and seasons. I though that she nevermet the man probably
because he was always there during the day and she wasonly there in the
evening.
No alt text provided for this image
Eventually I met a young woman full of energy and thistime carrying a bucket of
fresh water. She told me that one can obverse andlearn 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 containuranium isotopes she said,
which makes it possible to date sediment layersseason by season. Some of the
mud deposits washes down from the hills in thewet seasons. She had a very
thorough methodology to observe that when there isprolonged drought, thicker
layers of gypsum and salt deposits appear. Fromthese deposits, researchers can
find evidence of water chemical components, butalso winds and climate change
clues, some of which indicate that it is not thefirst time that the dead sea
was disappearing (click here to know more fromColumbia Earth Institute).
No alt text provided for this image
I tried to test a little experiment and have these threefictional characters
meet. They were living their lives in different times, insilos, without knowing
that they can learn from each other. When the young ladymet the old one she
used the fresh water to clean the sediments and fossilsthat testified of the
ancient story of the sea, they talked and learned amongother things that
rinsing the mud with fresh water makes the skin even moreglowing. When the man
joined them he took a moment to look at his reflection inthe fresh water bucket
and saw how tired he looked. This moment of reflectionmade him realize that he
should direct his efforts more strategically to saveenergy and time. The old
lady applied some mud on his back to relief and soothehis chronic pain with
ancestral knowledge. In the meantime, the young lady waslisting all the
solutions that can be built using the salt he had collected:salt helps remove
watermarks from a wooden surface, polish copper tools, removebad smells, avoid
insects and so much more she said. For in every problem inour eyes someone else
in a different time can see a solution and teach us to bestronger, wiser and
more strategic.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
#5 Wind casts an invisible shadow.
Shadows are not always cast by objects, and winds can doit too. The only
problem? We can’t see them with the naked eye. Wind, amovement of a gas that
varies from a small gust to full-on thunderstorms, cancast a small shadow only
visible with the help of machines and physics.
KR RepeatAlready replied Wind can never cast any shadow; Where it is
unseen it is notcalled a shadow. Any facts statedanywhere, shall be fully read
and understood; or else better not to venture,because 2 people only encourage
him. Any matter blocking the light onlyresulted in a dark shadow and hence only
any blocked energy area is calledSHADOW REGIONS. Air is transparent and so
light can pass through. Unless thereare dust in air, shadow can never form at
all. Exception is like this: “Uniformair itself cannot refract light and create
shadows because the index ofrefraction does not differ anywhere. But, when
different regions of air have differentindices of refraction, the air can
indeed bend light away from theforward direction and create a shadow. Under
conditional state alone and notall.
#6 Light gets muchslower in water.
Water is not only a refresher at the end of the day, butalso a great stopper
for the wavelengths of light. Light travels through air ata very high speed,
and that is thanks to its small density. Water, however, isthicker. Since every
molecule has surface tension, light gets distorted due tothe amount of energy
needed to pass through.
My note- Refraction studied and performed experiment aboutrefractive index of
materials in Physics class
KR You meanschool pencil experiment? Again wrong. Lightspeed is
constant; but where the transparencyis opaque, the light in a group wrt that
opaque medium, only travels throughall 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 ,vizopaque medium is thick, the time THAT GROUP
LIGHT ALONE TAKES ALONG TIME TOPASS OF THE STRAIGHT LINE, IF IT WERE
TRANSPARENT; SO SPED IS PRESUMED TODECREASE WRT THE TIME IT TOOK TO REACH
TRANSPARENCY AGAIN AND THAT TOO WRT THATGROUP OF RAYS ONLY. In glass it is
still slower than water. It is a mirage. Hasany one asked while reflections are
taking place, do light travels faster viz “C”is accelerated? Science gives such
twists. We say mano vegam; thoughts arefaster than light; but science says NO;
and confirms that the speed ofinformation travels only slower than light. Yes,
maybe emails; but what aboutmyself thinking now that I am writing this from
Milan?
#7 Galileo Galilei proved his theory of free fall with thehelp of the leaning
tower of Pisa.
While Galileo Galilei might have created the theory offree fall, he had to
prove it by experimenting. He did it by throwing twocannonballs of the same
material, but different masses, from the leaning towerof Pisa. His theory would
be further supported by missions to the moon.
KR MrGopalkrishnan company of three gets wild where I prove his errors
goingunchecked, simply reproducing away, ascribing himself as a Physics
student; however,till this day he cannot think rebutting anyone of them with
staunch evidenceeither Vedic or Science as HIS co students also remain THUS.
There are so manyunchecked facts floating on the web sites, which the young and
the old mindsthink as genuine and produce as awesome. But they are untrue, even
when I waswatching Periyava episode I Sankara TV, as great as Chanakya also
made thaterror. There is an incident of Tirunallar Saniswaran; he said as from
NASA sayingthat the satellites went slow when it crossed Thirunallar, because
it is in theweb. 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 ofthe same
material falling through the same medium would fall at the samespeed.[3]: 20
This was contrary to what Aristotle had taught: that heavyobjects fall faster
than the lighter ones, and in direct proportion to theirweight.[3]: 9 [12]
While this story has been retold in popular accounts, thereis no account by
Galileo himself of such an experiment, and many historiansbelieve 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 ademonstration for
students.[3]: 19–21, 414–416
Galileo's thought experiment concerned the outcome (c) ofattaching a small
stone (a) to a larger one (b)
Galileo set out his ideas about falling people, and aboutprojectiles in
general, in his book Two New Sciences (1638). The two scienceswere the science
of motion, which became the foundation-stone of physics, andthe science of
materials and construction, an important contribution toengineering. Galileo
arrived at his hypothesis by a famous thought experimentoutlined in his book On
Motion.[14] He writes:
Salviati. If we take two bodies whose natural speedsare different, it is clear
that on uniting the two, the more rapid one will bepartly retarded by the
slower, and the slower will be somewhat hastened by theswifter. 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 moveswith a speed of, say,
eight while a smaller moves with a speed of four, thenwhen they are united, the
system will move with a speed less than eight; butthe two stones when tied
together make a stone larger than that which beforemoved with a speed of eight.
Hence the heavier body moves with less speed thanthe 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 lighterone, I infer that the heavier
body moves more slowly.[15]
His argument is that if we assume heavier objects doindeed fall faster than
lighter ones (and conversely, lighter objects fallslower), the string will soon
pull taut as the lighter object retards the fallof the heavier object. But the
system considered as a whole is heavier than theheavy object alone, and
therefore should fall faster. This contradiction leadsone to conclude the
assumption is false.”
For freefall, 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. Andagain, ARISTOTLE WAS ALSO NOT WRONG. Galileo is wrt
Newton whereas Aristotle isEinstein's application universal; as refraction of
light explained above. So its false and if I s0ay it is bluff he getswild 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 universeis growing at a high rate
every second, expanding in every direction, gettingcolder and faster at the
same time. This expansion has been going on forbillions of years.
KR I think Mr Gforgot he already rolled over all these and his memory
lapses induce him to getinto anger. Where is the proof of expansion? Mass
weight increased? Ordistanced? If I shift nearer to farther Have, I expand or
it is change ofdirections 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 theexcess 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 thescience thinks the movements farther await which is a
mirage. Because when I open the door of my residenceand find the milk pockets,
it does not conclude that the milk carrier was thenonly placed in all of them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#9 Water can boil and freeze at the sametime.
At the same temperature, water can either boil or freeze.A triple point is a
point where the temperature, pressure, and pressure valueall coincide. The fact
that all three states—liquid, ice, and water vapor—arepresent at this time
allows water to boil and freeze at the same temperature.
KR States ofmatter is conditional and if you allege that at one temp of
zero or minus orplus, three states can co-exist , you have to prove it since
what was statedthen is HYPOTHETICAL in the sense , if these conditions do
happen then…….. Whatis it called when water freezes and boils? It's a
phenomenon called triplepoint, which occurs when the pressure and temperature
are perfectly set for thethree 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 pressureof 0.006 atm (atmospheric pressure). WHEN
WILL IT HAPPEN?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3 If anelephant’s brain is bigger than ours, why are they not smarter?
KR Hope If Isay 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 sillystupid thoughtless witless. ROBOT isbrainless but can
do wonders than all the writers put together here. OWLS, CHIMPS,AND ORANGUTANS
ARE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN HUMAN. The human brain is biggerthan owl size. And do
hope in future a similar question is not shot, titlingevery animal.
Q4 Why wasthe old calendar changed?
KR We all readand I had also written the time and calendar concept under
our scriptures; buteven the brain is bigger, without reading anything, as a
JUNOON spectrum, onegoes after the urchins to unfold the west side story only.
Then all the wordsof the size of the brain answer shall fit tight.
Q5 What isthe craziest domesticated animal to ever exist?
KR Bizarreis unusual; don’t we have such among our population. Do
we call themcrazy? Nature has created varietieswhich help the earth except
humans. Pigeons are a friend of humans and neverare they domesticated by us nor
developed as pets. All animals including the Pythonsare friendly with us. As
long as they do not have a fear, we can be friendlyeven with a lion which many
foreign women have done with. Pigeons were used byDamayabthi and heroines of
kalidasa , sanga kappiya heroines and Kings as theyare trained to fly through
certain roots. Today even a couple of years back mybalcony in T Nagar had quite
a lot of pigeons; and suddenly they are nowherenow. I did Pigeon net to avoid
them entering the rooms. But today the nets arealive 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 Tamiland even other
regional versions. Goodhabits 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 forthyour power.
Couplet Explanation:
At the time when one should use self-control, let himrestrain himself like a
heron; and, let him like it, strike, when there is afavourable opportunity.
Transliteration(Tamil to English):
kokkokka koompum paruvaththu matradhan
kuththokka seerththa idaththu
SuryaSiddantham explains in detail the ancient formats of time
changed over accordingto the astronomy of the space and not as based on Jesus
and Mohamad. In caseanyone does not possess my old copies , if they need pl
send me personalemails ,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 byR. Gopala krishnan, on 01-01-2024
Q1 What are some interesting facts aboutphysics?
A1 Deepaktopzone, Dec 4
#1 The myth of an apple falling on Newton iswrong.
We’ve allheard the story of an apple falling on Isaac Newton's head, but few
know it wasa myth. In reality, Newtondrew inspiration from apples, not because
one hit his head, but because theyfell straight down and not sideways. This
observation helped him developthe theory of universal gravity.
#2The higher you are (building-wise), the fastertime will go.
Time is ahard concept to understand when you look at it through the lens of
physics. A couple of seconds while standingon the ground will go slower than
for someone who sits on a high building, likethe Empire State building. It is
best explained by Einstein and his famous theory of relativity.
#3 The screens of smartphones work thanks to theelectric charges leaving our
fingers.
Touch phoneswork thanks to the physics behind the human body itself. When we
touch the screens with ourfingers, we let out a small number of electric
charges that register with themechanics and allow us to interact. For this
reason, things likerubber, fingernails, and others don’t register
#4 It’snearly impossible to sink in the Dead Sea.
The Dead Seais popular for the number of tourists that visit it, but also for
having alarge amount of salt in it. Saltis 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 havelittle to no chance of drowning. Of course, it
is still important tokeep things safe.
#5 Wind casts an invisible shadow.
Shadows arenot 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 gasthat
varies from a small gust to full-on thunderstorms, can cast a small shadow only
visible with the help ofmachines and physics.
#6 Lightgets much slower in water.
Water is notonly a refresher at the end of the day, but also a great stopper
for thewavelengths of light. Light travels through air at a very high speed,
and thatis thanks to its small density. Water, however, is thicker. Since
everymolecule has surface tension, light gets distorted due to the amount of
energy needed to passthrough.
My note-Refraction studied and performed experiment about refractive index of
materials in Physics class
#7 Galileo Galilei proved his theory of free fallwith the help of the leaning
tower of Pisa.
WhileGalileo Galilei might have created the theory of free fall, he had to
prove itby experimenting. He did itby throwing two cannonballs of the same
material, but different masses,from the leaning tower of Pisa. His theory would
be further supported bymissions to the moon.
#8 The universe is growing every second.
The universeis already a vast space full of planets, stars, and other celestial
bodies. But it is still notbig enough. The universe is growing at a high rate
every second, expanding inevery direction, getting colder and faster at the
same time. Thisexpansion has been going on for billions of years.
#9 Watercan boil and freeze at the same time.
At the sametemperature, water can either boil or freeze. A triple pointis 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 thistime
allows water to boil and freeze at the same temperature.
Q2 Is it strange that I don't think ofJanuary 1st as the start of my
new year?
A2 Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, I am not thepartying type 4h
No. It is not strange.
ManyIndians do not feel that January 1st should be celebrated as the New
Yearfestival at least in India.
A commentwas posted in Hindi by Sobhachand Dugar in one of my answers
yesterday. This acondensed translation of what was mentioned in that comment.
Why do we observe Jan 1st as the beginning ofthe new year? We Indians should
think this over.
The seasondid not change.
In school orcollege, the class did not change and neither did the term.
The harvestdid not change and neither did the crop.
Neither didthe colors of the trees and plants change.
Neither didthe direction of the sun and stars change.
Let usconsider a comparison of the New year per the Gregorian Calendar and
thetraditional Indian New year day.
Nature:
There is nodifference between December and January in the Gregorian Calendar
while in theIndian new year, flowers bloom, new leaves appear on trees. There
is greeneryall around.
Clothes:
We wear thesame warm clothing in December and January
But when theIndian new year begins, there is a change in clothing due to change
in weather.
New terms in school.
There isnothing new in the Gregorian Calendar, while in the Indian new year
theacademic session closes and results of exams are declared.
New Financial year:
Our accountbooks don’t close in December-January
Newaccounting is opened during the Indian new year.
Farmers:
There is nodifference between December and January for farmers in the Gregorian
Calendar.
But onIndian New year season the crop is harvested and there is a celebration
on thisoccasion.
For thesereasons 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% incomputer, office files, and common language medium in India. All regional
calendars and diaries also printed fromJanuary. So we may consider English New
year with equal importance to regionalnew year avoiding
Meaning less things like lighting lamp atmidnight in pooja roometc.
Q3 If an elephant’s brain is bigger thanours, why are they not smarter?
A3 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology'sGreatest Mystery (2022)Nov 2
This is agood question, because theanswer teaches us a lot about the nature of
intelligence itself
The averagehuman brain weighs about a kilogram and a half, which is remarkably
smallreally. The sum of all consciousness ishoused within that little scoop of
nervous tissue. On the otherhand, within the cranium of an African bush
elephant sits a brain well overtwice the size of ours.
It’s clearthat there’s more tointelligence than just brain size. The baleen
whales of the oceans have brainsweighing 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 ofcommunication, and they’ve been known to
display altruism - but theirintelligence definitely isn’t proportional to their
massive brain size.
This is ofcourse 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! Ourbrains,
by comparison, are about 2.5% of our bodyweight. So is brain-to-bodymass ratio
the true decider of intellect? It’s certainly a better metric tocompare between
animals, but still one which is deeply flawed.
It turns outthat, all else being equal, brain mass does not scale linearlywith
body mass. Afterall, there is a minimum number of neurons an animal needs to
function, aconcept 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 metricwere reliable, the shrew would be
taming us!
While we’reon the topic, I should mention that the species with the lowest
brain-to-bodymass ratio of all vertebrates on this Earth is the magnificently
namedbony-eared assfish. Brainsconsume huge amounts of precious energy, so in
the incredibly barrenenvironment of the deep sea, the bony-eared assfish has
done away with most ofits grey matter.
For a fishwith such 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 formula
gives anew, more refined metric: encephalisation quotient, or EQ for short.
In otherwords, EQ is the ratio of actual brain size to predicted brain size.
When we compare different animals’ EQ values, the results line up a lotmore
with what we would expect, intelligence-wise.
Humans have thehighest score of any animal, at about 7.6.
The tucuxi, avery interesting type of freshwater dolphin from the rivers of
South America,takes second place. It measures only1.5 metres in length, and has
a bright pink underbelly!
anta rayshave one of the highest EQs among fish, octopuses triumph among
invertebrates,and corvids outperform their feathered friends. These results are
all exactlywhat we would predict based on behavioural signs of intelligence.
So, is encephalisation 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, but there is ample evidence
to suggestthat birds are incredibly smart. In fact,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 areseveral likely reasons for this. The formula for encephalisation
quotient was based only on data frommammalian species, so in general it
probably shouldn’t be used to comparemammals to non-mammals. Bird/dinosaur
cells are much smaller thanmammalian cells. For its size, a typical avian brain
has twice as many neuronsas a standard mammal brain!
Raw brainsize, brain-to-body mass ratio, EQ… all these metrics share a
fundamentalproblem: they’re all based on overall brain mass in some way, and
there’s a lotof stuff inside brains that has nothing to do with intelligence.
For example, alarge portion of whales’ and dolphins’ brain mass is just
insulating blubber!There are all kinds of factors like this that really muddy
the waters. Perhapsit’s better to just focus on the part of the brain that
actually does thethinking.
The cerebral cortex is thought to be the seat ofintelligence in 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, thesingle best predictor of intelligence we have found is the number of
corticalneurons; 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 manycortical neurons. However, the real world champion is the orca,
believe it ornot, with an absolutely astonishing 43 billion cortical neurons!
In fact, bythis measure, humans sit at humble fifth place.There are four
species of dolphins with more cortical neurons, the most of allbelonging to the
orca. Some might be quick to discredit this method as soon asthey hear that it
doesn’t put humans on top, and I would encourage those peopleto 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 amore philosophical discussion for another answer. Anyway, for
centuries, humanshave been trying to put a number on intelligence, to find some
way to quantifyit. 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 be anextremely useful way of comparing
animal acumen.
So, goingback to your question, if an elephant’s brain is bigger thanours, why
isn’t it smarter? Because the size of a brain, as we’ve seen, haslittle to do
with intelligence. Apologies if this answer waslong-winded, though I think we
visited some interesting places on our journeythrough animal minds! Thank you
everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed, andhave a great day.
Q4 Why was the old calendar changed?
A4 Steve Baker, Senior Software Engineer(2013–present)Sun
The problem isthat the Earth orbits the Sun in 365.2422 days (an “astronomical
year”).
The oldercalendars used 365 days per year - with a leap day every four years.
So that’s:365 + 1/4 = 365.25 days
But that365.25 is a little too long - it should be 365.2422.
Without some kind of a fix - the calendar wasslowly slipping away from
reality.The solstices and equinoxes were drifting slowly - but measurably.
Although the error wouldn’t bother most people - itbothered the Catholic Church
A LOT - because they’d gone to a LOT of trouble toformally establish the date
of Easter.
Easter is defined as: The first Sunday after thefull Moon that occurs on or
after the spring equinox. If the full Moon falls ona Sunday then Easter is the
next Sunday.
But if you have the date of the equinox wrong - byeven just one day - then you
could have Easter an entire week away from when itshould be…and that would
evidently displease God and “Very Bad Things” wouldhappen.
So it wasdecided 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 ayear to be 365 + 1/4 - 1/100 = 365.24 days - which is pretty close.
But the nextrule is that a century year that’s an exact multiple of 400 years
IS a leapyear - which is why the year 2000 was a leap year - despite being a
multiple of100 years.
So now wehave:
356 + 1/4 -1/100 + 1/400 = 365.2425
So we’re stillnot 100% perfect - but the error of a single day every few
thousand years isactually OKbecause the length of our orbit does change atiny
bit each year depending on the location of Jupiter - so going for moreaccuracy
than that is over-kill.
Q5 What is the craziest domesticatedanimal to ever exist?
A5 Gary Meaney, author of Zoology'sGreatest Mystery (2022)4y
In my opinion, that honour goes to the domesticpigeon. In the 10,000 years
since theirdomestication, the birds have been selectively bred into countless
bizarreforms, collectively known as “fancy pigeons”.
Ever wondered if there was a pigeon with theerectile fan-shaped tail of a
turkey? Probably not, but check.
What about apigeon with a huge puffy crop? Check.
Pigeons withcurly feathers on their wings? Check.
Pigeons withhuge feathers on their feet and powdery down? Check.
Pigeons withfleshy, flower-like wattles all over their faces? Check.
Pigeons withthat, plus scrawny giraffe necks? Check.
Flightlesspigeons that look and act like chickens? Check.
Pigeons withenormous ruffs like parka hoods? Check.
Pigeons withvirtually non-existent beaks? Check.
Bug-eyedpigeons? You guessed it, check.
In a way, it saddens me that we’ve practically engineeredthese natural
creatures to suit our strange desires. At least they’re notunhealthy, though -
unlike so many poor dogs,especially purebreds.
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