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A scientific fact/tidbit you recently learned that you thought was interesting

3point14 said:
Wikipedia talks about it here:

en.wikipedia.org

Carboniferous - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org


There is ongoing debate as to why this peak in the formation of Earth's coal deposits occurred during the Carboniferous. The first theory, known as the delayed fungal evolution hypothesis, is that a delay between the development of trees with the wood fibre lignin and the subsequent evolution of lignin-degrading fungi gave a period of time where vast amounts of lignin-based organic material could accumulate
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Maybe trees started getting so high because they needed to outgrow all the dead trees lying around?
 
steenkh said:
Maybe trees started getting so high because they needed to outgrow all the dead trees lying around?
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I suspect it was simple competition with each other. The higher they grow, the more sunlight (and water to a lesser extent) they can get.
 
bigred said:
I suspect it was simple competition with each other. The higher they grow, the more sunlight (and water to a lesser extent) they can get.
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Trees are suprisingly cooperative.

(My friend Ian has written a whole album about it)
 
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3point14 said:
Trees are suprisingly cooperative.

(My friend Ian has written a whole album about it)
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I've been reading recently about how trees and root fungi cooperate, and divert nutrients to forest fire survivors and the like. Fascinating stuff for sure. The more I see of this stuff the more trivial and puny the supposed scriptural deeds of gods seem. Joyce Kilmer had it all wrong. No god we've heard about ever imagined this, much less figured out how to make it go.
 
The Human Genome project needed 13 years, finishing in 2003, to completely sequence a single human Genome.
A lab just broke the latest record doing in about 4!hours, only 22 years later.

The group is focused on rapidly sequencing the DNA of newborns with unexplained medical issues, where time is of the essence.
 
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The Great Zaganza said:
The Human Genome project needed 13 years, finishing in 2003, to completely sequence a single human Genome.
A lab just broke the latest record doing in about
4!hours, only 22 years later.

The group is focused on rapidly sequencing the DNA of newborns with unexplained medical issues, where time is of the essence.
Click to expand...
I assume you meant 4 (exclamation) there, rather than 4 (factorial). Still, 24 hours would still be an amazing improvement! :wink:
 
For most of my 59 years, I was under the impression that humans could not digest dietary fiber. It was just bulk that passed through the body unchanged. It might help lower the risk of cancer and improve blood cholesterol and sugar somehow, but didn't really do anything. Late last year, though, I learned that human gut microbes can and do digest our dietary fiber, and the waste products they release, such as polypeptides, have many health benefits for humans, including reducing the risk of neurological diseases (such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease) and the risk of cancer. Some types of dietary fiber of particular research interest now include inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides.
 
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We all know that non-celiac gluten sensitivity isn't really a thing, but it turns out that most food with gluten also contain FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), and sensitivity to FODMAPs is a thing. So a lot of people might be blaming gluten for their wind and water retention when it's not actually the gluten doing it.
 
arthwollipot said:
We all know that non-celiac gluten sensitivity isn't really a thing, but it turns out that most food with gluten also contain FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), and sensitivity to FODMAPs is a thing. So a lot of people might be blaming gluten for their wind and water retention when it's not actually the gluten doing it.
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My wife suffers from something similar. We have found that it is not the gluten, but wheat that is the problem. She gets belly aches from wheat, but not from rye, which contains gluten. But most gluten-free stuff is fine (well, oats is just as bad as wheat).
And FODMAP is worse than wheat. There are more details, but I won't bore you with them.
 
Keeping track of FODMAP content, and your own reactions to the buggers (which can change overnight, just to make it even more fun), is like skating on thin ice by a cliff edge. In the dark. Without skates.

I recommend the Monash FODMAP app, it's excellent. But don't let it lull you into a sense of safety, do not relax, the buggers will get you, no matter how careful you are... But the app is really good, and they update it regularly.
 
arthwollipot said:
We all know that non-celiac gluten sensitivity isn't really a thing, but it turns out that most food with gluten also contain FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), and sensitivity to FODMAPs is a thing. So a lot of people might be blaming gluten for their wind and water retention when it's not actually the gluten doing it.
Click to expand...
I wonder if that's why my fructo-oligosaccharide supplement gives me a lot of gas? Also, it seems to have changed my odor, even the smell of my urine. The smell is much stronger and smells like meat.
 
I recently learned that Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) transports cholesterol from the liver and intestines to the body's cells. High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) scavenges excess cholesterol from the body's tissues and arteries and returns it to the liver, where it is broken down. The liver is capable of providing all the cholesterol the human body needs, but it will produce less if dietary cholesterol rises. The body's cholesterol level is regulated by the liver-LDL-HDL system.
 
They are making the Birds Trans !

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Invariant HVC size in female canaries singing under testosterone: Unlocking function through neural differentiation, not growth - PubMed

Testosterone administration to nonsinging adult female canaries induces song, making this a model for behavioral plasticity and its underlying neural mechanisms in vertebrates. The song control nucleus HVC is traditionally believed to undergo a substantial size change when transitioning from a...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Normally, only male canaries sing - but so do females when injected with testosterone.
 
Helen said:
Keeping track of FODMAP content, and your own reactions to the buggers (which can change overnight, just to make it even more fun), is like skating on thin ice by a cliff edge. In the dark. Without skates.

I recommend the Monash FODMAP app, it's excellent. But don't let it lull you into a sense of safety, do not relax, the buggers will get you, no matter how careful you are... But the app is really good, and they update it regularly.
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The BBC food website has a section of low FODMAP recipes.
www.bbc.co.uk

Low FODMAP recipes

These recipes have been checked by a dietitian to confirm they are suitable for a low FODMAP diet. However, the ingredients and quantities individuals can tolerate differs, so it is best to seek advice from a dietitian to guide you through the process.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Not science exactly, but folklore:

Stories of people transforming into wolves (or other animals) are found across the world, and date back at least to the ancient Greeks. But according to folklorist Sebastian Major from the Our Fake History podcast, the idea that werewolves only transform during the full moon originated with the 1943 movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman starring Lon Cheney Jr. and Ilona Massey.
 
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