Tuesday, January 3, 2012

25 Discoveries

So I was reading my favorite magazine "Muy Interesante" last night, and a stumble upon an article about 25 discoveries they had found in the year 2011. So I really had to share the information with you guys.

1) The ex-planet Pluto has a almost perfect twin named Eris, with almost identical size. Eris appears to have a highly reflective surface, suggesting that is covered by a thin uniform layer of ice, and probably a frozen atmosphere.

2) An experiment published in the magazine Journal of Experimental Psychology has shown that pigeons can solve simple mathematical tests. It was thought that only primates were able to reason numerically.
*Take that uncle Edwin, and you say birds don't have a brain* 

3) Neanderthals and hominids were not as separate as previously thought, but often intertwined, and this could spell the end of the Neanderthal species, as published in the magazine Journal of Human Ecology, scientists universities of Arizona and Colorado.
*I will have to do a research about this, because I dont know what they are talking about. LoL* 

4) The movements of the whiskers of mice and rats back and forth at high speeds and in different ways, allow them to actively perceive their environment, determining the position, shape and texture of objects, as demonstrated researchers at the University of Sheffield (United Kingdom).
*In other words mice and rats have super powers, and we treat them as inferior beings* 

5) The early primitive solar system expelled a giant planet similar to Jupiter to "save" the Earth, as apparent from a new study published in the magazine The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 

6) The world's largest virus is Megavirus chilensis and measures about 0.7 microns in diameter, which means it is 10 to 20 times larger than the average of viruses

7) People with fewer academic skills age faster. The key is in the telomeres that cover the ends of the chromosomes in their DNA, which are shorter in people with lower educational level.
*I will have to disagree, our ancestors had lower educational levels, and they lived more years than the average person these days*

8) The thaw in the Himalayas is accelerating. According to experts from the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), between the periods 1980-2000 and 1996-2005, the rate of melting of glaciers has doubled. In the last thirty years, the area covered by glaciers in Bhutan decreased by 22% and 21% in Nepal. 
*Global Warming is for real people, so we are literary fucked* 

9)  Australopithecus sediba is an ancestor of human beings who lived 1.98 million years ago in South Africa today, at about the same time that the first Homo species began to appear on Earth. The new findings on Au. sediba reveal that this remote relative of modern man not only used his hands to move through the trees, but also was able to grasp objects.
*How many of you think we are descendants of the apes? They haven't convince me yet* 

10)  The decisions we make in our love relationships are the leading cause of regret (18.1%), followed by those related to family (15.9%), education (13.1%), career (12, 2%) and finance (9.9%). The data was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

11) Mosquitoes select their victims based on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by breath and not, as popular belief, the "sweetness" of blood.
*So is it bad that u emit more amount of carbon dioxide? Or those that doesn't matter? Will have to do a research*  

12) Orangutans who are happy live longer, according to an article that was published in the magazine Biology Letters
*I think this is common sense, I know of animals that die from depression. So in my opinion is obvious a happy Orangutan will live longer than a sad one*  

13) 22,000 years ago, several miles of ice covered most of the northern hemisphere, but as the ice cap has been melting the planet has also changed its shape, so the Earth is now more spherical than ever. In fact, since the nineties, the Earth has tended to "fatten".

14) Researchers at the University of Murcia and the University of Harvard (USA.) Have conducted a study showing that the Mediterranean diet-characterized by eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish, may be related to a higher percentage of motile sperm in men. 

15) The day lasts 46 hours for the blind fish of Somalia (Phreatichthys andruzzii) according to the magazine PLoS Biology. 

16) With a full bladder we make better decisions, suggests a study by researchers at the University of Twente (Netherlands) and published in the magazine Psychological Science. According to Mirjam Tuk, coauthor of the study, while controlling the urgent need to go to the bathroom the overall improvement of self-control mechanism of the brain, that helps us make better choices among several options.
*If someone stop me from going to the bathroom to give my honest opinion about something, and I really need to go, I will say the first stupid thing that comes to my mind, just so I can go to the bathroom*   

17) Research published in the magazine Current Biology shows that bees, like humans, also have a pessimistic view of reality after being subjected to a stressful situation
*OMG... So is this the true reason why they sting you? Bees die when they sting someone, maybe they are just trying to commit suicide because they just had a stressful situation. LoL*

18) Physical exercise is as effective in preventing migraines as certain medications, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg (Sweden).
*Okay, I'm the kind of person that does whatever she founds it can help before taking a non-natural medication, but honestly, who will go do exercise with a migrane that makes you feel like your head is gonna explode?*

19) When the team is losing and it's time penalties, soccer goalkeepers tend to move to the right, according to a curious study in the journal Psychological Science.

20) Women who have a large waist have a higher risk of developing certain types of cancers. 
*Please if you are a hypochondriac woman with a large waist, just ignored this discovery*

21) Climate change is advancing the spring two days per decade, according to an international study published in the magazine Science.

22) Usually a person has twice the friends in cyberspace than in reality, according to research conducted by Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
*People in cyberspace is not as cruel as people in real life*
  
23) Crossing your arms after suffering a burn or being hit relieves pain. According to British researchers explaining in the magazine Pain, when you cross the upper extremities of the body the brain is confused about the source of pain. The strategy is especially effective when the pain is felt in your hands.
*Something I will definitely try the next time the little finger of my foot get stuck on the door*     

24) Games existed 4,000 years ago, according to reveal remains found in the ruins of the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro, now in Pakistan, including different forms of dice and pieces.

25) When humans perceive the color red our muscles react faster and stronger, according to a research published in the magazine Emotion.

So some things are interesting, others are known facts already. I couldn't help myself and added my personal thought (**) on a couple of the discoveries. Please feel free to comment, if you want to comment about a specific discovery just put the number before your comment. If you have extra information about any of the discoveries on this list, feel free to add the link on your comment.
 

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