Are There Things We Can Never Know ?

In a post from NPR –

Gardner allows that humans have wonderful brains, that we can invent thinking machines, microscopes and any number of intelligence-enhancers, but he says there are still limits, hard limits. Just as “there is no way to teach calculus to a chimp, or even make it understand the square root of 2,” he writes, “surely there are truths as far beyond our grasp as our grasp is beyond that of a cow.” He concedes that once upon a time humans were chimp-like and over time developed brains that cracked the “square root of 2” problem — but that doesn’t faze him. There are properties of our universe so profoundly complex that no sentient mind, no matter how enhanced, will ever understand them fully.

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New Island Created Near Pakistan By Earthquake

BBC reports –

Barely half an hour after they were jolted by a major earthquake on Tuesday, people of the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar had another shock when they saw a new island emerge in the sea, just over a kilometre from the shore.

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Drawings That Seem To Jump Off The Page

Moillusions.com posted a page of illustrations by Alessandro Diddi that seem to leap off the page.

Check them out HERE

Which Fictional Character Shares Your Birthday

Everyone has a birthday, so do a lot of fictional characters. BuzzFeed has a page that has a fictional character’s birthday for each day of the year.

Check it out HERE

 

Salt Conundrum

ScienceDaily reported –

Sep. 8, 2013 — Eat less salt’ is a mantra of our health-conscious times and is seen as an important step in reducing heart disease and hypertension. Too much salt in the diet — and specifically sodium — is widely acknowledged as a major risk factor for high blood pressure however, scientists have found that salt’s other oft-overlooked constituent chloride might also play an important role. A study by researchers at the University of Glasgow has revealed that low chloride levels in the blood is an independent indicator of mortality risk in people with hypertension. The role of chloride in hypertension has received little attention from scientists hitherto. After analysing data from almost 13,000 patients with high blood pressure, followed up over 35 years, the researchers found that low levels of chloride was associated with a higher risk of death and cardiovascular disease.

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Stunning HDR Video Of Rio De Janeiro [video]

The Kid, Not The Phone [comic]

original source

Hair Care Tips From 100 Years Ago

Mental_floss posted a few hair care tips from the early 1900’s. They are ridiculous and downright dangerous.

It is ascertained that a full head of hair, beard, and whiskers, are a prevention against colds and consumptions. Occasionally, however, it is found necessary to remove the hair from the head, in cases of fever or disease, to stay the inflammatory symptoms, and to relieve the brain. The head should invariably be kept cool. Close night-caps are unhealthy, and smoking-caps and coverings for the head within doors are alike detrimental to the free growth of the hair, weakening it, and causing it to fall out.

Read all the sketchy tips HERE

 

Rotating Moon From Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter [video]

Updates To Old Sayings [infographic]

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original source

8 Strange Geography Facts [video]

‘Terminator’ Polymer Spontaneously Repairs Itself

Phys.org reports –

Scientists in Spain have reported the first self-healing polymer that spontaneously and independently repairs itself without any intervention. The new material could be used to improve the security and lifetime of plastic parts in everyday products such as electrical components, cars and even houses. The researchers have dubbed the material a ‘Terminator’ polymer in tribute to the shape-shifting, molten T-100 terminator robot from the Terminator 2 film.

watch video and continue reading HERE

Scientists in Spain have reported the first self-healing polymer that spontaneously and independently repairs itself without any intervention. The new material could be used to improve the security and lifetime of plastic parts in everyday products such as electrical components, cars and even houses.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-09-self-healing-polymer-spontaneously-independently.html#jCp