Fun fact of the day:

[MaryMary]

I enjoy learning new things, and I've noticed some of you do, too!

Share with me your fun facts - things you know, or whatever new thing you've just learned. My interests are wide and varied.


Please be so kind as to provide one link to a cite.



Here's my fun fact - During World War II, the U.S. experimented with cat-guided bombs.

Quote: http://www.hightech-edge.com/weirdest-military-experiments/9082/

When the United States Office of Strategic Services, precursors of the C.I.A, wanted a way to guide bombs down on enemy ships, they turned to cats for the solution.

It was theorized that when dropped from a plane with a parachute, the cats’ natural disdain for water would instinctively force it to guide itself – and the bomb – to enemy decks.


Unfortunately the program never got past testing stages because the cats regularly passed out during the fall.

End of quote.

 

[Tech]

Fun Fact Morel mushroom season just started here.

(Double fun fact word combination bonus)

The honey mushroom fungus is the largest living organism on earth.

 

[Larisa]

Many stations of the Moscow metro are lined with natural stone. Therefore, on the walls we often see ancient fossils.

Very rarely (every few years), in a special heat in the "Moscow River" appear freshwater jellyfish. They always have a female gender and do not live long. All the rest of the time they exist in the form of a polyp.

 

[MaryMary]

Are you the first person out of bed in the morning? Bright-eyed and bushy tailed? Up and at 'em at the crack of dawn? Well, if you haven't made coffee yet, you had best go away and let me sleep.

I'm a night owl. I don't mind staying up 'til 4 am, but no matter how much sleep I got, I don't really want to be up before 9 am. My mother was the same way, and it was a family joke that I took after her. (It was more right than we knew.)

52% of the population is one or the other. 48% of the population falls in the middle. They're the normal people.

They've discovered "Clock genes" that actually determine which you'll be before you're born.


Quote: Variations to this gene are so common, according to researchers, that nearly the entire population possesses one of several variants:

60% of the population has a variant called adenine (A)
40% of the population has a variant called guanine (G)

Since each individual has two sets of DNA chromosomes:
48% of the population will have a combination of A and G
36% of the population will have two As
16% of the population will have two Gs

According to the study results, people with the AA genotype—the early birds—tended to wake up 60 minutes earlier than those with the GG genotype. The third group—AG—tended to split the difference and wake right in the middle of this 60-minute timeframe.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sleep-newzzz/201212/early-bird-or-night-owl-it-s-in-your-genes

End of quote.


They think that the reason we evolved that way is for the advancement of the tribe as a whole. The majority of the population would be at their peak during the best times of day to hunt and forage. A smaller group would be awake all night to watch for predators and other dangers. (Someone to put another log on the fire.) As they started nodding off around 4 am, the morning people woke and took over.


Rejoice, night owls, and don't let the morning people get you down! It's not your fault you want to sleep in, you come from a long line of town criers!!

 

[Tech]

I"m a firm believer in clock genes

 

[Logan]

I know that we all have a lot of body clocks.One in the brain, all over the body and in everything. The one in the brain is in charge. It should determine how we sleep. We should wake up when the sun comes up and go to sleep when the sun goes down. When we don't get enough light during the day it can effect the way we sleep. What can help you sleep is have a high fibre diet, that helps the good bacteria in the stomach.

 

[alp]

Well, have to admit I'm never as cerebral as @MaryMary, but I like a giggle .. a lot ..actually.

I reckon this is the same pupil who has just discovered his anatomy! The one below must be gardening!

 

[Beth_B]

Vultures urinate on their legs to cool off. Also, the pee might help sterilize their legs and feet by killing bacteria.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/25961517

 

[marlingardener]

Beth, I know a few young boys that ought to NOT read about the vultures' habits. Getting them to behave somewhat decently is hard enough without giving them new and novel ideas.

 

[MaryMary]

We should wake up when the sun comes up and go to sleep when the sun goes down.

You are one of those morning people, aren't you?

The one in the brain is in charge. It should determine how we sleep.

The clock is in every single cell in your body. They removed the "clock" from the brains of "early bird" hamsters, and replaced them with a "clock" from normal hamsters - the hamsters still woke super-early. The cells are in charge.

Those poor hamsters.

 

[Logan]

Yes i like to get up early at 5am, sleep on settee in evening, go to at 11.30pm. We have dogs so get up early. Before we had them it would have been 7am - 10pm. If people don't get enough light during the day it can effect sleep. The BBC was has shown a programme about sleep.

 

[marlingardener]

Remember that old brag, "I get up with the chickens?" We have chickens, and when I go to the coop in the morning, about 7 a.m., I have to roust a few hens. Sleepy clucks, dirty looks, and ruffled feathers! Chickens are not early risers. Cats, on the other hand, get up when they want, and you get up when they want.

 

[Logan]

We get up early so we can walk dogs before OH went to work. Not that the dogs want to go out.

 

[MaryMary]

Today's fun fact - Green rumped parrots name their children. Scientists call it a "signature contact call," but it's basically a name. Each bird uses its name to introduce itself to other birds, and they call other birds by their names, as well.

 

[Logan]

That's great.