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As I’ve mentioned before, our brain does not perceive reality in a passive way, rather the brain interprets the information that our senses relay to it based on assumptions made from experience. The American scientist Adelbert Ames, Jr. exploited these assumptions to create some amazing illusions. The illusion of the Ames Window is shown in the video below by the folks from the Australian television program, Curiosity Show. The illusion of the Ames Room is shown by psychologist Philip Zimbardo in the video below.
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The body of an average human being contains trillions of germs living both on it and inside it, not to mention a good number of multicellular parasites that we won’t consider here. These germs are comprised of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and archaea, and infectious agents such as viruses. These germs outnumber the cells in the human body by a 10 to 1 ratio, and their combined number is greater than the number of stars in our galaxy. We are not conscious of it, but when we interact with each other physically as in, for example, shaking hands, or even at a distance as in, for example, talking with each other in close proximity, we exchange germs. The vast majority of these germs are either not harmful to us, or can be dealt with by our immune system. However, every now and then a germ comes along that can pose a real threat to us. Such is the case of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the video below, YouTuber Mark Rober, uses Glo Germ powder which can be visualized under black light to show how we can transmit germs to each other and pick them up from surfaces. This is especially relevant as it has been shown that the virus that produces the COVID-19 disease can survive on surfaces for intervals ranging from hours to days. In the video below, the Slow Mo Guys, Gav and Dan, travel to Singapore at the height of the monsoon season to film lightning strikes that occur within microseconds in slow motion. They clearly capture the process whereby the current begins its descent from the cloud in the form of what is called “leaders”. These are root-like patterns of electric current that branch out until one of the branches reaches the ground. When this happens, an electric current rises from the ground to the cloud through the path of the leader forming what we actually see as the lightning strike. If you don’t have the patience for the extended introduction, the actual video of the lightning strikes begins at 4 minutes and 50 seconds. Being the creative and learned guys they are, Gav and Dan play their breathtaking slow motion lightning video to the tune of Night on Bald Mountain by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. Even if classical music isn’t your “thing”, many of the older generations will recognize this music from its inclusion in Disney’s 1941 film, Fantasia (note: in Disney’s version, Night on Bald Mountain merges at the end with Franz Schubert’s, Ave Maria). The parasitic way of life is a fascinating survival strategy that is actively studied by different types of scientists ranging from those interested in pest control, wildlife management, and human health, to those interested in evolution. As shown in the video below by the folks of SciShow, a number of parasites have life cycles that involve several hosts, and some parasites even control the behavior of their hosts and modify their bodies to maximize the parasite’s chances of survival (warning, you may not want to eat anything while you watch the video). Parasites are also found in humans, and that, of course, includes you. No matter how much you clean yourself, you have probably quite a number of parasites living on or inside your body right now. In the video below, Anna Rothschild, the creator of Gross Science, talks about one of these parasites: face mites (warning, you should definitely not eat anything while you watch the video). |
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