Month: October 2016

Indonesian “Bigfoot”

It’s been a bit since I’ve internet bigfooted, so here I go with a shiny new video that came out very recently. First the video, so you can know what my comments are on.

So, epic blob-squatch in a picturesque setting. The clip is nothing of interest to anyone, including bigfooters, who can’t even verify what’s in the video, let alone that It’s an undiscovered creature. Even worse is that there is no reason for the man to have been filming that waterfall.

I also wonder about the apparent container of some sort (maybe a bucket or suitcase) that the “creature” is carrying. Could it be an indication that it’s some innocent fisherman distorted by a low quality camera into a budget blob-squatch?

Why this video is making the rounds I don’t understand. It’s epically unexciting.

Proprioception: The 6th Sense

Sorry about missing a few days. Life got a little crazy.

On to what I plan to talk about today: Proprioception. This is the sense of one’s body in space, and it amounts to humans having a 6th sense. It’s out ability to do things like bring our finger to our nose, or be aware of where our foot is without looking to see where our foot is.

There’s actually some research that seems to indicate that out sense of force (mechanosensation, the ability to feel things like your fingers pressing against keys, or someone pressing on your skin) plays a roll in proprioception. There are interesting indications that a gene is involved in the whole matter, and I strongly suggest you learn more by reading the article I read from Livescience. Human sense are fascinating and this budding research is certainly mind blowing.

Source

Psalm 61:1-4

“Here my cry, o God listen to my prayer! From the ends of the earth I cray to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety for you are my safe refuge a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in your sanctuary safe beneath the shelver of your wings!” – Psalm 61:1-4

Dogs Love More Than a Full Food Bowl!

Many people believe that dogs don’t love people back, that they’re just concerned about us and humoring us because we feed them. Science seems to indicate that many dogs will pick praise from their people over food! Science supports the idea that our dogs love us, or at least enjoy us.

It should be noted that the sample size in this study was somewhat small, but it’s a good pilot study that indicates that there might be more going on in our canine friend’s mind to create the human-dog bond than we understand at this time.

 

Source

Rec: Britain’s Lost Masterpieces Discovered Hidden Painting Belived to be by Raphael

Original Article from BBC4

That’s right, at Haddo House, the Former nom of the Earls of Aberdeen, what is suspected to be a genuine unknown Raphael painting has been discovered. The pirating has been restored as part of the investigation, and much evidence points to it being the real deal.

The Haddo Madonna however, as Dr. Grosvenor identified, is not a copy of any other known Raphael composition. Furthermore, close inspection of the painting revealed a ‘pentimento’, or alteration, in the Madonna’s right hand – a sign of original creative intervention. A crucial clue was the discovery of a related drawing by Raphael, which may have served as a preparatory study for the painting.

Let’s Talk Nobel…

The Nobel Prize Ceremony has come and gone. Here’s the notables who took home the awards!

  • Medicine or Physiology: Yoshinori Ohsumi for discovery of “self-eating” cells.
  • Physics: David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane, J. Michael Kosterlitz for discovery of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter. (1)
  • Chemistry: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, Bernard L. Feringa for designing and synthesizing molecular machines. (2)

 

Notes:
1: No. I don’t know what this means, either. According to the source I used it’s some weirdness having to do with how matter behaves.
2: This apparently involves chaining molecules together into units and then hitting them with some energy. Devices created included a motor and an artificial muscle.

 

Source: Livescience Article “Nobel Prize 2016: Here Are the Winners (and What They Achieved)“

Rec: Facts About Okapi

I know these are sort of a cop-out and a lazy style of blogging, but it does give me the freedom to keep up on the blog on days when I don’t have a lot of time to devote to writing original content or collecting a group of great comic stripes or something like that.

Original Article

Though sometimes called forest giraffes, this creature doesn’t look like a giraffe. It does have a long tongue, but it has the body of a horse and its legs have stripes, like a zebra. Males also have two small horns on the tops of their heads that are covered with skin. Okapi are part of the Giraffidae family, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), which does make them relatives of giraffes.