# The Interesting Scientific Fact Thread



## Roland Khan (May 10, 2009)

MissJordan said:


> Tomato is actually a berry.
> 
> 1-upped.


Well yeah, berries are fruits.....unless that's what you meant by 1-upped, that you just went 1 step further than I did. :kitteh:


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## RoughEstimate (Mar 10, 2012)

Let me have this one. JUST ONE. JUST THIS ONE.


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## Roland Khan (May 10, 2009)

roughestimate said:


> Let me have this one. JUST ONE. JUST THIS ONE.


I would, but that wouldn't be very scientific; we have to corroborate with each other....

Not even exactly sure what it is you were wanting though....so I guess from here it's all yours..


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## RoughEstimate (Mar 10, 2012)

Roland787 said:


> I would, but that wouldn't be very scientific; we have to corroborate with each other....
> 
> Not even exactly sure what it is you were wanting though....so I guess from here it's all yours..


 I forgot to quote MissJordan, it was intended for him. But if you have any qualms with my last post, I'm throwing you in his boat named "Let me have one. JUST ONE. JUST THIS ONE."

NOW, I'm through threadbombing. I apologize for my deviation from the topic and will cease the behavior immediately following this post.


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## Roland Khan (May 10, 2009)

roughestimate said:


> I forgot to quote MissJordan, it was intended for him. But if you have any qualms with my last post, I'm throwing you in his boat named "Let me have one. JUST ONE. JUST THIS ONE."
> 
> NOW, I'm through threadbombing. I apologize for my deviation from the topic and will cease the behavior immediately following this post.


Um okay, still not really sure what you mean by this, but um...okay.


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## an absurd man (Jul 22, 2012)

MissJordan said:


> - The moons of Uranus are named after Shakespearean characters, and Uranus itself was originally named George.


I'd rather Uranus be called George, and other planets have names like Frank and Larry instead of naming them after gods.


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

MissJordan said:


> - Black holes -- the effect of the mass of a star being expressed in an infinitesimally small area -- have a nice term coined for the people who enter them; "spaghettification". The process of having your entire body torn apart atomically due to the enormous force expressed in so little a distance that it makes individual atoms seem _enormous_


The reason one would be spaghettified is because the gravity that is expressed over the height of the human being, differs substantially from higher gravity at feet, and lesser gravity at head. But I did watch a video in where a theoretical physicist noted that super-massive black holes don't have such a greater difference of gravity. The gravity is so large that it's gradient exceeds the height of a person, so upon entrance you will not spaghetify but rather just sink down. Light will come from everywhere and it will be everywhere such that you can see the back of your own head. I will try to find the video, don't quote me on it yet, but it may have been Kaku.

EDIT: I got my theories mixed up. A super-massive black hole would spaghettify you as you are crushed inwards and extruded, and a lesser black hole with a gravitational gradient proportional to your body would break in in half, then quarters, then eights... I believe if it were possible to remain intact and look up, you would be able to see the back of your head as the light from it bends around towards your eyes. They are some interesting phenomena though.


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## Roland Khan (May 10, 2009)

Striver said:


> I'd rather Uranus be called George, and other planets have names like Frank and Larry instead of naming them after gods.


I vote to change the name of Earth to "Steve".


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## hulia (Sep 13, 2012)

I want to discuss how bacteria moves. It's cool.

Bacteria can move intentionally through liquid and on top of solid surfaces (they can be found suspended in the air but they can’t fly sorry to disappoint)


Swimming is done by flagella which are whips coming out of the cell. But they don’t whip back and forth like how you imagine sperm swimming. Instead they rotate them to corkscrew through the water. If they have multiple they will bundle together and make a giant whip. A good deal of bacteria swim including our dear friend, E. Coli.





. 


Here is my favourite picture of that happening because it’s really dramatic










As the name suggests, you can only swim in liquid. When you’re in on the surface though that’s where things get pretty creative. You can use flagella on the surface to just kinda wiggle all and that’s called swarming. In my experience all swarming bacteria are also the most obnoxious in terms of smell but I don’t know what the connection is. A popular genus they love to teach about is Myxococcus because they are predators of other bacteria (a rare trait) and when they go out hunting they adopting this predatorial swarming pattern which looks like coordinated rippling.





. 

Nifty for organisms we originally thought to be independent and single-cellular!


Bacteria can also “twitch” across surfaces, at least that’s what they call it that because that’s how it appeared under the microscope. What’s happening is they’re using pili (similar to flagella, just serve a different purpose) and they toss it out like a grappling hook and then pull themselves there. This is done at such speed that in a micrscope they looked like they just twitched to another area!


Lastly there’s gliding:






which is mysterious, because we've observed it but we haven't characterized it. We think they kinda rotate their cell walls around their cell membranes to do it but no one's proven anything.


And there are some really cool bacteria that are called Spirochetes:





and they are literally shaped like spirals so they just corkscrew their whole bodies through water or solids.


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## Space Cat (Nov 20, 2010)

Most of my facts are astronomically related. So here they are.



The Andromeda galaxy will collide with the milky way
The higgs boson is also known as "the god particle" and some scientist like to refer to it as "the force"
We will be seeing Comet Ison which will be brighter then the full moon by the end of this year.. and no, the world won't end.
Ceres (*cough* my name *cough*) is the largest known asteroid in this solar system
One of jupiter's moon (most likely Io or Europa) has potential of microscopic life.. we're not talking about the monolith here!
One word: String theory (ok, so that was 2 - i know it's not a fact but this is fun stuff)
Oh and my favourite, you cannot divide by zero :laughing:

I actually have sources for this but i'm too lazy to link, you'll have to take my word for it ;P
@pepsivanilla93
I thought i saw that video too, but this one relates to what you're talking about.





I remember watching a documentary/video that if you fall into a black hole, time slows down and your body stretches... Oh hey, (after watching the video) i was right lol.


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

@CeresZal That's the video I watched that sparked my reconsideration for black holes that I proposed.


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## Kaisikudo (Mar 26, 2011)

Despite some people being terrified of them, elevators are actually one of the safest forms of transportation in existence. Only 1 in every 12,000,000 uses of an elevator will result in some sort of failure. And even then it's typically only the doors failing to open.


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## geekofalltrades (Feb 8, 2012)

Cats' kidneys are so efficient that they can rehydrate by drinking seawater.


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## Adrift (Apr 5, 2011)

Barn owls are monogamous and they smell like butterscotch.


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## hulia (Sep 13, 2012)

When I first smelled E. coli I felt it was a cross between a fart and a magnolia, and I had suspicions that whatever were making those smells were related compounds. As it turns out the pleasant floral smells like jasmine, orange blossom, and magnolias are actually skatoles and indoles made at very low concentrations. Floral perfumes are actually made of these too.
And yes, skatole as in skat-, the Greek prefix for poo. 

The perfume you think smells good is made of the same components of E. coli.


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## RoughEstimate (Mar 10, 2012)

Chimeric Macaques are here, my friends.
Chimeric monkeys born in stem cell study

Meet Roku and Hex, the world's first (public...shifty eyes...conspiracy theory goes here) CHIMERIC PRIMATES.
Emphasis on the word "primates".
One step closer to designer genes.


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## Fish Launcher (Jan 14, 2013)

Saffron is an aphrodisiac
Sockeye salmon die a few days after mating


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## geekofalltrades (Feb 8, 2012)

Hagfish are capable of exuding a protein that turns around five gallons of the surrounding water into a thick, gelatinous mucous. They may use the mucous to escape from predators. After "sliming," they tie their own body in an overhand knot to scrape the slime off themselves. They can also use the overhand knot combined with the mucous to escape from a strong grip.


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## Epherion (Aug 23, 2011)

2/3rds of an Octopis neurons are found in its tentacles.


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## Wulfyn (May 22, 2010)

Only around 10 percent of the cells of the human body are human.


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## Jennywocky (Aug 7, 2009)

Great idea for a thread. 



pepsivanilla93 said:


> Only as much as the human caterpillar did.





Roland787 said:


> Now that is just gross....you should be ashamed of yourself for comparing such a beautiful act of love as the anglerfish to that of a sick twisted son-of-a-bitch creating a human caterpillar.


I feel chagrained to have to tell you it was a centipede, not a caterpillar. 
I mean, the chain wasn't even fuzzy.



Roland787 said:


> I vote to change the name of Earth to "Steve".


It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, silly...!


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## Fish Launcher (Jan 14, 2013)

Children who engage in competitive sports are shown to be better public speakers.


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

pepsivanilla93 said:


> From Wikipedia:
> "One version of the hypothesis is that a different type of nucleic acid, termed _pre-RNA_, was the first one to emerge as a self-reproducing molecule, to be replaced by RNA only later. On the other hand, the recent ﬁnding that activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides can be synthesized under plausible prebiotic conditions means that it is premature to dismiss the RNA-ﬁrst scenarios. Suggestions for 'simple' _pre-RNA_ nucleic acids have included Peptide nucleic acid (PNA), Threose nucleic acid (TNA) or Glycol nucleic acid (GNA). Despite their structural simplicity and possession of properties comparable with RNA, the chemically plausible generation of "simpler" nucleic acids under prebiotic conditions has yet to be demonstrated."
> 
> Studies:
> ...


Your links contain the following:


May have been...
plausible
Question Mark.
I rest my case.


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## geekofalltrades (Feb 8, 2012)

ISFjosue0098 said:


> Your links contain the following:
> 
> 
> May have been...
> ...


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

geekofalltrades said:


>


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

ISFjosue0098 said:


> Your links contain the following:
> 
> 
> May have been...
> ...


Don't you think it may have been plausible that a scientific article can contain any one of the three aforementioned traits in the title alone and still be a credible source? The verdict is still out on account that it appears you have misinterpreted me. My original statement was a hypothesis, and you are arguing that I am claiming such hypothesis as truth. Basically, you walked into a murder trial and argued that Obama was a bad president. Nice try, wrong room.


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

Jennywocky said:


> Great idea for a thread.


Oh, hey! Thank you! :happy:


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## VIadimir (Feb 11, 2013)

I think we should keep on topic with such a great thread. 

How about you make it a rule that for every reply you must also post a scientific fact, so that even if one veers into off topic discussion, it's still on topic?

I read this one recently: 

Because they are seedless and therefore sterile, *navel oranges* continue to be propagated through cutting and grafting. and so all navel oranges can be considered fruits from that single nearly two-hundred-year-old tree: they have exactly the same genetic make-up as the original tree and are, therefore, *clones*. (from  Orange (fruit) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

VIadimir said:


> I think we should keep on topic with such a great thread.
> 
> How about you make it a rule that for every reply you must also post a scientific fact, so that even if one veers into off topic discussion, it's still on topic?
> 
> ...


Staying on topic should always be in consideration, but thanks for your appraisal on my thread! The title is a bit of a misnomer since scientific "facts" are just testable conjectures that have yet to be falsified.

Interesting enough that navel oranges are clones! How so does the cutting and grafting work? I'm on iPhone, so sorry if I'm too lazy to check your link 

Also, here is the chemical equation for the combustion of octane in gasoline: C8H18 + O2 ->CO2 + H20. In a perfect mixture scenario (I believe 14.2:1 Oxygen to Gasoline) the reaction yields CO2 + H2O as its only products. Even the other organic compounds in gasoline yield just carbon dioxide and water. Unfortunately, due to vehicular acceleration, this ratio is constantly in a fluctuating state. That's why there are O2 sensors in your emission system and a catalytic converter to reduce non-wanted by-products of imperfect combustion.


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## VIadimir (Feb 11, 2013)

Do you guys also find it easy to recall relevant facts when you're discussing a topic but when you're supposed to remember a fact off the top of your head you draw a blank (or is it just me)?

Anyway, the best way to get oral cancer is to drink and smoke since alcohol weakens the cells making it easier for smoke to seep in.
(I know this doesn't sound scientific, but it's the gist of a several page research paper I had to translate for a dentist)


Also, do you people know some facts that can be amusing in a social setting?
For instance, that (and I'm amazed at how some people are amazed by this) we have two cartilages (specifically, lower lateral cartilages) at the tip of our nose and they can be felt by lightly pressing your index finger on the tip of your nose and moving it side to side


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

VIadimir said:


> Also, do you people know some facts that can be amusing in a social setting?


In a social drinking situation, this may prove knowledgeable: How Do Drinking Straws Work? | A Moment of Science - Indiana Public Media


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## VIadimir (Feb 11, 2013)

@pepsivanilla93 Cool, I didn't know that

Thought you guys might like this, I know I did






This animation depicts the treatment of atherosclerosis through an angioplasty procedure.

In an angioplasty, a long, thin, flexible tube called catheter is inserted into a small puncture over an artery. The catheter is guided through your arteries to the blocked area. Once in place, a special balloon, which is attached to the catheter, is inflated and deflated several times. The balloon pushes the plaque in your artery against your artery walls, widening the vessel. In some circumstances, a tiny mesh-metal tube, called a stent, may be placed into the narrowed area of your artery to keep it open. The stent remains permanently in your artery. After this procedure, blood flows more freely through your artery.


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## geekofalltrades (Feb 8, 2012)

VIadimir said:


> Because they are seedless and therefore sterile, *navel oranges* continue to be propagated through cutting and grafting. and so all navel oranges can be considered fruits from that single nearly two-hundred-year-old tree: they have exactly the same genetic make-up as the original tree and are, therefore, *clones*. (from  Orange (fruit) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )


The same is true of Cavendish bananas. Unfortunately, there's a downside to this: such a uniform gene pool makes for a very weak species. For example, I bet you didn't recognize the name "Cavendish." A Cavendish banana is the fruit that you would commonly think of as just a "banana" - the oblong, curved, yellow one. There's a reason that you don't see other banana varieties (that are at all similar to the Cavendish; occasionally you see plantains, but their cooking niche is closer to a potato than to a Cavendish) in stores: they've all been driven to extinction by fungal species. Right now, the world population of Cavendish bananas is severely threatened by a couple of fungi that are sweeping through the population - and, since they're all clones, none of the Cavendishes is going to resist - their cards are all on the table already.

I'm going to miss those sweet, starchy bastards.


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