Showing posts with label Science explains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science explains. Show all posts

8 facts by science on love and romance.

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible if at the end of this article you have a rethink about the source of love and emotions ; the heart or the brain.
1. Two strangers can fall in love by looking into each other’s eyes


Eye contact is a scientifically proven way of making a person fall in love with you. Looking someone directly in the eyes causes their body to produce ‘phenyethylamine’ a chemcial capable of igniting love feelings. So, except for a person you really like, don’t tempt ‘brother Cupid’ by your visual actions.

2. The ‘butterflies in the stomach’ effect is your body reacting to...you know…


This effect, known as ‘fight-or-flight’ response is due to increase secretion of Adrenaline into the body system, which causes you to start experiencing funny feelings in your stomach. Unfortunately, these activities can be triggered by the sight of someone you’ve falling for...the same feeling you get before writing a test. Damn!

3. Why take Cocaine when you can fall in Love?


Research shows that falling in love triggers the same sensation of euphoria people experience when they take cocaine. The guys who carried out this research also proved that ‘love at first sight’ is real. Hmmm… this leads to the next point

4. There is a scientific explanation for the ‘temporal insanity’ people exhibit when they’re in love.
We all know the infamous song GRENADE by BRUNO MARS, where a full grown man was signing his death warrant by his lips because of a girl who cared little about him.
I'd catch a grenade for you
Throw my hand on a blade for you
I'd jump in front of a train for you
You know I'd do anything for you
Oh, I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you, baby…………

well, study shows that people who are in love exhibit the same characteristics with those suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive disorder; a medical condition in which people are unable to control their thoughts or activities for a period of time. This is as a result of activities triggered in four areas of the brain – media insula, anterior congulate, striatum, prefrontal cortex. 

 

5. Cuddling can treat headaches like painkillers do.
Oxytocin, a very powerful hormone is released from the brain into the body during a cuddle. And research shows that a dose of oxytocin could work as a treatment for frequent headaches reducing it significantly. Infact, 27% of the patients who partook in the experiment reported that the headache was gone after 4 hours. If only Michael Jackson knew…
6. Holding hands can soothe stress and ease pain
A research involving 17 couples has given insight into some long-standing puzzles. It showed that couples with strong affection on a long-term relationship, soothe each other in stressed situations or painful experiences by simply holding hands.
So the next time your partner is feeling all stressed out, reach out, and hold their hands...you’ll be doing a lot of good.
7. Thinking of love influences creative thinking while thoughts of sex influences analytic thinking


Weird right?

The basic idea in the published journal is that, people in love have their focus on a long-term perspective and this enhances inter-connected thoughts. Thereby leading to creative thinking.

On the thoughts of sex, the focus if on the present, concrete details and as such, analytic thinking is enhanced.

No comments on that one :-x
I’d like to end on a sad note…
8. ‘He broke my heart’ should be taken literary.
Research has given substantial evidence that traumatizing events, such as break-up or Divorce could cause real physical pains in the heart and even lead to to cardiac consequences.
Broken heart syndrome, medically known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy/ takotsubo cardiomyopathy has little to do with one’s health. Tests show that the broken heart syndrome exhibits similar symptoms as a heart attack, the only difference being; no evidence of blocked heart arteries in a ‘broken heart’
so guys, stop mocking your fellow guy when he’s finding it difficult to move on after his relationship hit the rock...he is willing, but the heart is broken!
 

Why you can't 'normaly' dodge a bullet!


StoryLine:
You just finished watching the movie-The Matrix and you're feeling so high, you practically want someone to shoot you so you could dodge the bullet. But then you have second thoughts, "let me go consult EdScienceBlog before i set out on this task".

Action!!!

You: Hey yo! I want to try out this scene...what do i need to know?






EdScienceBlog: LOL...forget about what countless hollywood movies would have you believe. Dodging a bullet fired at you is almost impossible.

You: But why?

EdScienceBlog: (remind me before the end of this meeting to explain the bolded word -'almost')
you are up against some factors, let me define them.

i  Muzzle Velocity: The speed with which a bullet leaves a gun.
For modern rifles, the average muzzle velocity is about 1,200meters per second. i.e. within a second, the bullet has gotten to 1,200 meters from where it was fired. . .think about that!

ii Reaction Time:   The elapsed time between the presentation of stimulus and your response to it.
The average reaction time for humans is 0.25 seconds for visual stimulus, 0.17 for audio stimulus and 0.15 seconds for touch stimulus.

so, you'll need a cue, like something to alert you, for you to react- by dodging.

something you need to note here is that, due to the muzzle velocity of the gun, it would be practically impossible for you to see the bullet leave the gun, so that strikes out relying on visual stimulus from your list.

You: So what can i rely on?

EdScienceBlog: er...we have touch stimulus there, you could rely on the sense of touch from the bullet! oh wait...you'll be dead in an instance. LOL

You: Be serious jhor... how about the sense of sound?

EdScienceBlog: Ah...yeah! there could be a possibility with that, lets see.
It is scientifically proven that the speed of sound in air is 343 meters per second. Unfortunately, the muzzle velocity of an average gun is far greater than the speed of sound, meaning the bullet would have hit you before you can even hear the gun sound. . .sorry man!

You: Wow! then imagine the shooter is using a silencer, like the type James Bond uses in movies, that means no sound at all...chai!

EdScienceBlog: Argghh!! Hollywood again!
firstly, it's officially called a SUPPRESSOR. Secondly, it doesn't make the gun as quiet as Hollywood would make you believe...but then, thats a digression.

You: hmmm...so you said i should remind you about the word 'almost'

EdScienceBlog: I did?

You: yes.

EdScienceBlog: Why?

You: I should be asking you that!

EdScienceBlog: LOL... i'm just pulling your legs.
Depending on the distance of the shooter from the shooted, one could possibly dodge a bullet. (Note; not a bullet from a sniper o!) as shown by MythBusters in one of their videos. But bear in mind that the shooter has to be very, very, very far away, and you have to react before he pulls the trigger in order for you to successfully stay alive in this experiment. How you'll achieve that. . .na you know!

You: Thanks! I think i'll look for something better to do with my life.

EdScienceBlog: You welcome! please, click the share button below to share this post with your friends who are also having this thought of committing suicide!


 

New Blood test can show every virus you’ve ever had

Bloodvialtopcolour

As humans, we are exposed to a lot of disease causing organisms daily, and at such we contact some virus  which we are not even aware of.
Now Scientists have developed a new blood test which requires only a drop of your blood to tell you ‘nearly’ every virus you’ve been exposed to in your life time.
The test called VirScan (from virus scan) has been conducted on over 570 people in the U.S., Thailand, Peru and South Africa and it was discovered that on average, the participants had been exposed to about 10 different types of virus.
The usual methods employed by medical doctors is ‘testing for one virus at a time’. For instance, you’re sick and the symptoms you’re showing are related to, say, Malaria, Fever or Cancer, if the doctor is not sure, he would have to conduct a blood test for each cases. But with this new test (which is still undergoing experiments), it would be easy for the doctor to know your ‘medical history’ at once.
VirScan, which costs $25 to perform, can also determine a person’s immunity level to a particular virus and so the doctor would know if one needs more vaccine to guard against that virus.
This new test can be seen as a time-saver,  a money-saver and also a blood saver (for God knows how I detest the sight of a syringe).

So what do you think about virScan? would you love to know all your medical secrets (lol) at once? let us know using the comment box below.

Mars: What we know about the Red Planet

Mars
Ever  before robots were sent to our close neighbour Mars, we've always been curious to know what exists outside our planet and what life will be like on other planets. So many questions have been raised and some answers have been given, some of which could be mere fiction or hypothesis-like the Aliens...gosh! But below is a compilation of established facts from the exploration of the Red planet.

Robots on Mars
First fact: Mars is the only known planet occupied solely by robots...lol..i just had to chip that in somehow. Ok the facts below;







1. Mars atmosphere is made up mainly of carbon dioxide. It also has different gases including oxygen but these gases are in little volume.
2. It is referred to as the Red Planet because of its reddish colour when viewed from the outside (of the planet). This reddish colour is as a result of rusted Iron in the planet's dust particles.
3. It is a desert planet because due to its cold and thin atmosphere, water can't remain on its surface for a long time.
4. Its cloud is made up of oxidized Iron dust. The dust storms in Mars are the largest in the solar system as it can cover the planet for months.
5. It sometimes snows in Mars. But the snow is made up of carbondioxide as compared to water on earth.
6. Mars has the highest Mountain in the solar system. Olympus Mons is 3x bigger than Mount. Everest and it is equally the largest volcano known on any planet in the solar system too.
7. Mars has two moons *winks* named Phobos and Deimos with Phobos destined for destruction due to its short life-span.
8. Mars had water in the past. This is after the discovery of water canals/channels on the planet and also the finding of some rocks that could only form in the presence of water. Presently, there are traces of of frozen water at the poles and at other locations on the planet.
And Lastly: There are no Aliens on Mars!

so what do you think about this planet, and how does it compare to earth, would we ever be able to live on mars? do drop your comments in the comment box and dont forget to spread the knowledge using the share buttons below.

What if we had two moons?

Most of the planets in our solar system have more than one natural satellite. For instance, Jupiter, the largest planet has 67 moons, Saturn-62 moons, Neptune-14 moons and even our close neighbour, Mars has 2 moons.
Our planet has just one moon orbiting it. What if we had a second one? would it be fun or disastrous?

Well, astronomers believe that having two moons would have two major effects on our planet. The first is the instability of the "Tides" (the rise and fall in sea level). It is caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Sun and Moon. So adding a second moon would increase the rate of the tides. At some times. the sea level would be so high (you would think its a tsunami) it would be extremely difficult to travel by water. Living near a beach would be a bad idea too. At other times, there wont be any noticeable change in the water level.
The other major effect is that we would experience more solar eclipses than usual. . .imagine everywhere just becoming dark often.
Other effect which is minor is that we would have nights been brighter than usual. Just like adding a second torch in a dark room. So it would be more easier for night creatures to navigate, and more easier for their prey to detect them...lol.
Now i wonder how it would feel like to live in a planet like Jupiter with 67 moons!!

Jobs threatened by Robots

These are some jobs, according to Amy Webb, the founder of Webmedia group, that are ripe for disruption by artificial intelligence.

1. Phone booth operators and cashiers: The rise of wearable technology and mobile payment systems e.g the Apple Watch and the Apple pay, may make the jobs virtually out-of-date, because there is no need for a person to be there.
2. Marketers: The advertising tools of the internet can allow brands to fashion their messages to customers with 'precision accuracy'. pointing to new experiments with technologies that study customer behaviour to identify what kind of ads will be most effective, Webb indicated that if those tools work, then it would be translated to smaller Marketing and Ad firms.
3. Customer service: New technologies like predictive analytics could kill most of these jobs. Robots like Cortana and Watson fit perfectly for such jobs.
4. Factory workers: Haptics, a sensor based technology allows people to virtually feel objects that are far away. Now imagine such A.I. incorporated into a manufacturing department? it would be more cheaper and efficient.
5. Journalists: The internet has made buying and reading a local newspaper 'Old Fashioned'. With a new technology of 'Robot Journalists' which uses algorithms to automatically create stories and upload them on websites without human interaction, more journalism position would be wiped out.
6. Lawyers: Mrs Webb believes that non-litigation lawyers could soon be replaced by online form-based services that carry out simple tasks like trademark applications, Wills and even Divorce. Its been made easier by the demand to make records more open and easily accessible, thereby reducing the need for high-priced lawyers.

Travel Sickness


Motion sickness otherwise known is a nausea caused by motion, especially by traveling in a vehicle. It occurs as a result of sensory organs sending mixed messages to the brain for processing
, which causes dizziness, lightheadedness and most times, frequent vomiting.
For example, an airplane traveler cannot see turbulence, but his or her body can feel it. The resulting confusion can cause nausea or even vomiting.
Children are more susceptible to motion sickness than adults. More than half of children experience motion sickness when travelling by car.
according to chealth; When you are in a vehicle that moves continuously with relatively slow and prolonged motion, the organ of balance in your inner ear may be affected, causing motion sickness. Motion sickness is likely to happen if you are also worried about having an attack, if the air is stuffy or filled with fumes, or if you have just eaten a big meal. Looking at food can make motion sickness worse. In motion sickness, a discrepancy exists between the motion that is expected to occur and the actual motion sensed by the organ of balance in the inner ear. These unexpected signals translate into a confused message by the brain, leading to the development of symptoms.
There are different ways of treating the sickness. These include avoiding the following before or during travel:

•alcohol
•dairy products
•foods high in salt, protein, or calories
•large meals
•smoking
•unpleasant odours
also, If you read or look at nearby objects, or look at things going by such
as the scenery in your trip, motion sickness could get worse. It is
better to focus on objects on the horizon.
There are also available drugs which a doctor can prescribe but all the same, like my uncle says, its something one will outgrow!

How does water extinguish fire?

My curiousity has lead me to do a little research on why water is used to put out fire. We use water to extinguish domestic fire, even water is one of the trademarks of the fire-fighters. But how does does water actually do the job?

Firstly, we have to understand that fire is a form of chain reaction which requires heat, fuel and oxygen to take place. It is the product of heated flammable materials(the fuel) reacting with any nearby oxygen. This reaction produces some substances like carbon-dioxide, carbon-monoxide and ash; releasing heat and light- which is Fire!



And as long as there is more fuel, more oxygen to react with and enough heat to sustain the reaction, the fire will continue.

Now, when water is applied to the fire, it covers the fuel(the flammable material) creating a barrier and as a result, prevents oxygen from reaching the fire. When the supply of oxygen is stopped, the fire reaction will then slow down and if it remains like that, will die finally.

Also the fire could still be put out through evaporative cooling by the water because, for the fire to be able to boil the water to evaporative state, it would need to apply a lot of heat energy, and when the water evaporates, it carries the heat along thereby cooling the fire. This will slow down the fire and help to put it out.

NOTE: not all types of fire can be extinguished by water. it depends on the source of fuel. for instance, an electric fire cannot be put out by water because water is a conductor of electricity.

Walking or Running in the rain?



You are going home after spending some time in the library and suddenly it begins to rain. The closest shed from where you are is some good metres away. In this case you are left with two options; it is either you run to the shed or walk quickly to the place. The question now is, to avoid excess wetting of your clothes which would be more beneficial?

Yes! I know common sense (which is not common to some people) would tell you that it is better to run than to walk. But what's the reason to that?

Some scientists have tried to analyse this notion by carrying out experiments to know the best method of avoiding excess wetness. Some concluded that walking exposes less part of the body to the rain while running exposes (to a great deal) the anterior of your body thereby causing the individual to get wet excessively. Well this observation is true bearing in mind that there is an angle between the rainfall and the person involved (sometimes you feel the rain coming from the front, sometimes from the back and most times it just comes straight down. This is due to the action of wind). But walking in the rain makes you spend more time in the rain giving it more time to hit you.

Running, however, is a faster mode of movement to walking. And Nick Allen, a British inventor was able to deduce a formula to explain this concept and I’ll try to break it down so that we can all understand.

assuming W= total wetness i.e. the total mass of rainwater on your body.

p= the density of rainwater

a= top surface area of the body (that big head of yours...lol)

A= front surface area of the body( the chest downward)

VR= velocity of the rain

VP= velocity of the person

t= time spent in the rain.

From these parameters he got;

W=P(aVR + AVP)t

Looking at the equation clearly, the only quantities we can directly control are ‘t’ (the time spent in the rain) and VP (how fast we can move).

The equation shows to us that we get very wet if we stay out in the rain for a long time i.e if we are walking or running without a destination. Surely running towards shelter would minimize the time spent in the rain. And so, if the distance to the shelter is D, then the time spent in the rain (‘t’ in the equation) will be D/VP and if we insert this into the "total wetness equation" to replace t, we get W=P[aVR /VP+A]D

So, we can see that maximizing our velocity is a good idea to stay less wet. Therefore the next time it starts to rain, first identify the nearest shelter, and the run to it as quickly as you can.

Extreme sleep duration could affect brain health.







A new research study has shown that extreme changes in sleep duration may affect memory function. This research carried out by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) suggests that sleeping too much or too little, may affect brain health later in life.
     The team, led by Elizabeth Devore, an instructor in medicine at the hospital found that women who slept for less than five hours per day, or more than nine hours per day, had worse memory, equivalent to nearly two additional years of age, than those sleeping seven hours per day.
     They also found that women whose sleep duration changed by greater than two hours per day over time, had worse memory than women with no change in sleep duration.
     In a statement, Elizabeth noted that good sleeping habits was an important factor to be considered in preserving memory into later life.

"Our findings suggests that getting an 'average' amount of sleep, seven hours per day,  may help maintain memory and that clinical interventions based on sleep therapy should be examined for the prevention of cognitive impairment"
     For the study, researchers collected data from more than 15200 participants of the Nurses Health Study.