The "Did You Know?" Thread...

[MJ DeMarco]

Have an interesting factoid that most people might not know about?

Please post it here and include any link(s) to supporting evidence.

Any topic is game!

I'll start...

#1: Did you know that cows don't produce milk unless they've recently given birth?

I'm embarrassed to admit that I did not know this until I was in my 40's. Turns out my ignorance isn't unusual.

Spoiler: Sensitive Material

... in order to maintain uninterrupted milk production, cows are forced year after year to go through an endless cycle of pregnancy and birth, only to have their calves immediately taken from them. Cows and calves cry out for each other as they are separated.

All forms of dairy farming involve forcibly impregnating cows. This involves a person inserting his arm far into the cow’s rectum in order to position the uterus, and then forcing an instrument into her vagina. The restraining apparatus used is commonly called a “rape rack.”

Behind the Myth: Happy Cows

Dairy cattle - Wikipedia

#2: Did you know that time moves faster on Mars due to gravity?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw4HqOAEzpU


For a real mind-bender, watch Interstellar with Matthew Mcconaughey (my fave movie!)

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

Time dilation occurs in satellites too. So they have to correct for that when sending you GPS data. Otherwise, you'd end up a couple of meters into the ditch.

The Great Attractor:
More than 100k galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are falling into a gravitational well, 200 million light years away. No one knows why.

 

[MTEE1985]

Did you know that I drank milk up until 30 seconds ago?

Aside from that, this has always been my favorite: did you know that if you squeezed all the empty space out of all the atoms that make up humans the worlds population would fit in a sugar cube?

Top 4 Bonkers things about the universe | Latest Features | physics.org

Hydrogen Atoms are supposedly something like 99.999999996% empty space but the electrons dance around in such a way that they create “solid” surfaces we can see and feel.

Maybe @lowtek can confirm that for me, seems too crazy to be true ever since hearing it years ago.

Fascinating thread MJ. Definitely following.

 

[Jello]

I knew that cows had to give birth first before they are able to give milk. Grew up in a rural area and used to milk cows before going to school.
Loved it.

But did you know that the sand of the Sahara fertilizes the Amazon forest.

Saharan Dust Feeds Amazon’s Plants

 

[rwhyan]

Did you know that more men are raped than women in the U.S if you include prison? And the margin is probably greater than we know, because prison rape is more widely underreported too.

Sources:

• Is the US the only country where more men are raped than women? | Jill Filipovic
• More men raped in US than women when including prison sexual abuse | Daily Mail Online

 

[Longinus]

Did you know that more men are raped than women in the U.S if you include prison? And the margin is probably greater than we know, because prison rape is more widely underreported too.

Talk about male privilege...

They are raped by other males, so the margin of rapist among men is also greater.

OT: Captive dolphins see their trainers as other members of their group and sometimes those trainers get injured because dolphins are trying to sexually assault them.

Source: Can Dolphins Rape Humans?

 

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[NC Bidniss]

A day on Mercury is longer than a year on Mercury.

 

[Jon Rad]

We never actually Touch anything.

Because of the structure and composition of atoms, the laws of quantum physics, and the fact that electrons have a negative charge, the electrons in our bodies never actually "touch" other electrons; they just get very, very, very, very, very close.

 

[NC Bidniss]

There are roughly 10 times more microorganisms living in and on your body than the actual cells that make it up.

 

[B. Cole]

 

[Jon Rad]

There are roughly 10 times more microorganisms living in and on your body than the actual cells that make it up.

i recently read that they changed that ratio from 10 to 1 to 1/1 which is still crazy to think about.

source: joe rogan experience prodcast

and: Scientists bust myth that our bodies have more bacteria than human cells

 

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[Isaac Oh]

Did you know that some turtles can breathe THROUGH THEIR BUTTHOLES?

Edit for Source: UQ eSpace

Butt turtles are now endangered unfortunately

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If ya'll are posting something, a reputable link confirming the fact would be appreciated. Otherwise I don't know if it is just internet lore, fake news, or folk tales.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Sweet Home Alabama was a total rip off of Your Time is Gonna Come by Led Zeppelin. Which is a bit ironic considering how little credit Led Zep gave some of the people they ripped off!

Led Zep:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cvEVivHVsU

Lynyrd:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye5BuYf8q4o

 

[renaissance man]

well, this escalated quickly.

 

[Fassina]

Physics is so awesome we can tell the position of most galaxies based on the Cosmic microwave background.
"The cosmic microwave background is electromagnetic radiation as a remnant from an early stage of the universe in Big Bang cosmology."

Basically with an 'image' of the moment when light and matter separated we can tell how most galaxies are distributed today and in the future..

 

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[Rabby]

When you take a supplement or medication, in many cases it is absorbed into the hepatic portal system (the part of the circulatory system that passes through the liver). This pass from the digestive system through the liver is one type of what is referred to as "first pass metabolism."

For many drugs and supplements, it is assumed that the liver will greatly reduce the amount of chemical circulating in the blood. The liver does this by secreting enzymes to react with the chemical, either neutralizing it or transforming it (generally, "breaking it down" or shortening the chemical equation).

This reaction around the liver affects the bioavailability of many drugs and supplements - so much so that there are a great number of supplements (especially) which are sold as healthy, but which do not survive first-pass metabolism in any quantity. As a result, people taking these supplements gain no benefit from them, even though "studies" may exist showing that there is a benefit from said supplements. For example, the study may have been on injected supplements, while the commercial product is a pill. This may be discovered by searching google scholar for peer reviewed studies on a given supplement, and for studies on its oral bioavailability.

Pharmaceutical companies calculate this first-pass metabolism into their dosing recommendations, and the chemical formulae of the medicaments (fancy talk for pills and stuff). This places only a slight load on a healthy liver, and when the packaged medicines are reacted with enzymes, the surviving (shorter) chemicals in the blood include the actual theraputic medication. That medication is then further broken down by the liver and other organs as it passes through them. But the intended medication has an opportunity to pass though the tissues it will affect.

Problems can, of course, occur if the liver is not in top shape. For example, a person who has not eaten in several days can have decreased glycogen and glutathione in the liver. This shortage, particularly of glutathione, reduces the liver's defense against chemical damage caused by the reactions it initiates. So for example, taking paracetamol/acetaminophen (Tylenol) while fasting could damage your liver. This is because paracetamol is primarily reacted in the liver, and healthy glutathione levels are needed to defend it from damage caused by those reactions and the surviving molecules.

Potential damage to the liver aside, how do we get around this liver processing in order to deliver a beneficial drug or supplement? Something that is very effective when injected or absorbed through the skin may be completely nullified by first pass metabolism.

There are several strategies. Avoidance is one, obviously. For drugs and supplements that can be absorbed under the tongue, for example, a sublingual route may be a simple fix. Pharmaceuticals, as previously mentioned, often opt for ingestion because it is easier. To survive the first pass metabolism, they can increase the complexity of the molecules. They may make a molecule that survives liver enzymes, or they may package it such that absorption is slowed down and distributed over a longer period of time.

Another alternative is to bypass first pass metabolism by packaging drugs or supplements in very small lipid particles. SLNs, or solid lipid nanoparticles, are tiny lipids which are attached to drugs or therapeutic molecules (vitamins, curcumin, etc). For fat solubles, the usual process is for the fats to be emulsified by liver and pancreatic chemicals. They are then absorbed by the lymphatic system, where they make their way into the portal vein (which is a literal portal into the body through the liver), for first pass metabolism.

But SLNs are much smaller and more easily absorbed than long chain triglycerides. You may be familiar with this from how MCTs such as coconut oil are absorbed - they can go directly into the blood through capillary walls, just like sugars and amino acids.

Thus, packaging a drug/supplement in SLN form allows it directly into the circulatory system, avoiding liver metabolism until that drug/supplement has circulated through other tissues.

All of this is something to think about when shopping for, buying, and taking drugs and supplements. Keep in mind that bioavailability is an important, and often overlooked, factor with nutritional supplements, and that liver metabolism is one factor in bioavailability. When taking medications and prodrugs, the state of the liver should be considered, especially if you make lifestyle choices that could affect the liver's defense against toxic byproducts.

 

[Zcott]

Camels are native to North America.

There used to be a massive beaver 1.5 meters long in North America.

Read both of these in a history book of Canada, but here are some links to back it up.

The Giant Camels of the Prehistoric High Arctic Castoroides - Wikipedia

 

[Charnell]

 

[Hai]

Did you know that Immanuel Kant was mainly responsible for Modern art movement(originality is good) we have today while Aristotle would encourage craftsmanship, competion and copying?

How is it possible that cinema keeps profiting from human emotion and aesthetics, while painting a figure in a classical way would be seen as oldfashioned?

View: https://youtu.be/EcjVXBXn7b4

 

[Crissco]

Al Capone is the one who created expiration on milk bottles.

Milk expiration dates, courtesy of Al Capone | Times News Online

 

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[StrikingViper69]

Did you know that Immanuel Kant was mainly responsible for Modern art movement(originality is good) we have today while Aristotle would encourage craftsmanship, competion and copying?

View: https://youtu.be/EcjVXBXn7b4

That was a good video - thanks!

Immanuel Kant is maybe the most evil man to have ever lived. He did not encourage originality, he set out to destroy our ability to think - and has nearly achieved it. His ideas have destroyed art, science and even politics.

 

[YoungPadawan]

The mitochondria is the PowerHouse of the cell.

 

[Kid]

Person sitting at rest is creating about 100 Watts. (10% of KiloWatt)
https://www.quora.com/How-much-power-does-the-human-body-generate/answer/Ralph-Berger-4

 

[Arrived2015]

Can a story contain 5000 words and the letter 'E' does not appear?​

Yes!

A lipogram (ancient Greek leipográmmatos, 'leaving out a letter') is a constrained writing or word game consisting of writing paragraphs or longer content where a particular letter or group of letters are avoided.

FACT
Ernest Vincent Wright, accomplished a lipogram in 50,000 words when he wrote the novel - Gadsby. (I read he did it to prove it could be done) He reportedly said: "I tied down the "e" key on my typewriter whilst completing the final manuscript."

Even though he struggled to find a publisher, it was finally published in November 5, 1939 and the letter E, the most common letter in the English language, didn't appear in the original. Sadly, the printers somehow slipped in four letter E's with the word "the" (pages 51, 103 and 124) not forgetting with the word "officers" (on page 213).

I'm glad he didnt know this because he died October 7, 1939.

For the curious thinking wonder how it flowed, the two opening paragraphs are:

'If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn't constantly run across folks today who claim that "a child don't know anything." A child's brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult's act, and figuring out its purport.

Up to about its primary school days a child thinks, naturally, only of play. But many a form of play contains disciplinary factors. "You can't do this," or "that puts you out," shows a child that it must think, practically, or fail. Now, if, throughout childhood, a brain has no opposition, it is plain that it will attain a position of "status quo," as with our ordinary animals. Man knows not why a cow, dog or lion was not born with a brain on a par with ours; why such animals cannot add, subtract, or obtain from books and schooling, that paramount position which Man holds today.'​

SOURCES:
Wikipedia website

Gadsby (novel) - Wikipedia​

Gadsby: A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter "E"

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/47342/47342-h/47342-h.htm​

 

[MTF]

"Colonel" is the only word in the English language that is pronounced with an “r”-like sound, but has no letter “r” in the spelling.

- via Skinner, Edith. Speak with Distinction.

Gotta love the English language and all its logical rules.

 

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[P789]

Doing household chores like: sweeping, mopping, watering as well as taking care of the plants, cooking, washing the dishes etc. is almost equivalent to a gym workout.

Is cleaning your house exercise? | Everyday Activities & Fitness

Absolutely! We play a little game at my house to see how fast we can get the housework done. You would be amazed at how taxing it is, and what a rewar

www.sharecare.com

 

[Andy Black]

Person sitting at rest is creating about 100 Watts. (10% of KiloWatt)
Ralph Berger's answer to How much power does the human body generate? - Quora

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