Tag: science

Snow is more interesting than you think

Have you ever thought about why snow is the way it is? Snow is fluffy water. It happens when the temperature is below freezing, but if you put water in a freezer it turns into ice. It’s a good thing that freezing precipitation isn’t ice, because that would be painful and destructive. So for whatever reasons, we get snow instead of falling ice. That’s very fortunate! Imagine if snow was ice crystals instead…

Why is that? Precipitation that freezes becomes hail, sleet, or snow. How? Obviously temperature is a factor, yet in all cases it’s cold enough to freeze the water. Could a snowstorm cause the snow to float long enough via updrafts to form hail?

I don’t have all the answers for that. But I’m thankful that snow is not ice as it falls and that it’s fun to play in.

Does poop contain gold?

The other day I was in a conversation that got random really fast. Someone started sharing some scientific trivia, and they said you could burn a bucket of cow manure and get some rare elements like gold. I was immediately skeptical and made that known. They went to get their book of random scientific stuff (not the actual title) and found the reference. It turns out that someone had taken cow urine and boiled it to produce something useful. At this point I’m still skeptical, but figure since it’s actually published in a book and not just some obscure blog, it’s worth a minute of research. The results were surprising (and not all related to the original article)…

Apparently some doctor in India believes that cow urine has healing powers and can supposedly cure 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes. It’s also sold as “highly effective products for preventive medicine” in some countries. (So if you don’t get sick, it worked, and you should buy more!) However — and this is important — there is thus far no scientific proof about it healing anything. Some studies have shown that it can lead to significant side effects, including death. So I wouldn’t recommend it. But it is good to use as fertilizer to grow actually edible food…

During my research, I saw where one guy said, “I drink cow urine every day. That is why I do not have Covid right now.” That is faulty reasoning, and it could easily be countered by someone saying they do NOT drink cow urine at all, and thus they don’t have Covid. But then again, how many people who drink cow urine every day catch Covid? The number has to be really small, right? (Surely there are very few people who could even be in that group.)

Some doctor made a “wonder drug” of cow’s milk, cow’s urine, cow excrement (soaked in water), and butter, and they claimed it will cure “99 percent of diseases”. I’m no professional doctor, but I’m fairly certain that’s a load of crap (both literally and figuratively).

Back on point, there has been someone who claimed to have found gold in cow urine and dung. Perhaps if you want to investigate the microscopic level you could find some — I have heard that ocean water has gold in it, but it’s such tiny amounts that it’s not worth doing anything with.

Thanks to the internet’s amazing ability to lead you down rabbit trails you didn’t even know existed, I just learned that human poop does contain trace amounts of gold, silver, platinum, copper, and rare elements like palladium and vanadium that are used in cell phones and computers. So is your poop worth its weight in gold? Not quite. These particles are about 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair, and of course there are other non-valuable particles in there to sort through. (That job would stink!) It’s estimated that an American city with a population of 1 million sends down the drain about $13 million worth of precious metals each year. So maybe it’s worth finding some automated way to filter it. Actually, I bet this becomes a legitimate business someday, when someone figures out how to efficiently extract the valuable elements from all the worthless elements.

People have tried to figure out alchemy for years (converting a metal into gold), but perhaps this is the closest we’ll get.

seeing the Aurora Borealis

Recently I talked about recreating the Aurora Borealis so I could see it in the South (of North America). Well, I learned that it has actually been seen here before. In 1859 there was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, called the Carrington Event. And it will happen again. So I may get to see an aurora sometime. However, that would be a bad thing. A geomagnetic storm that intense would destroy a lot of electronics, including parts of our power grid. So calamity would ensue. It’s something that we should prepare for (both individually and as a country), but that’s beyond the scope of this article.

In 1859 the aurora was seen as far south as south-central Mexico. And in the north, it was so bright that some people thought it was morning already. It was supposedly really beautiful, with the sky filled with every imaginable color.

There were few electrical systems in 1859, but there was a telegraph system. Some telegraph operators got shocked, and some telegraph systems were still able to send messages while disconnected from their power supplies, using the power supplied from the solar storm.

If you would like to learn more about how this works and what may happen, watch this video by Physics Girl:

One neat way to think about the aurora is that it’s showing how the Earth’s atmosphere is acting as a shield. So when it lights up, it’s working. It looks like magic…

Slacking can make you more productive

We need to have a certain amount of focus in our day to be effective and efficient with our daily tasks. But new studies show that a certain amount of unfocus actually helps us in many ways. When we can completely relax our mind, it helps us organize our thoughts and regulate our emotions, among other things. I highly recommend you read this short article about it: your brain can only take so much focus.

But do you realize what this means in layman’s terms? Slacking can make you more productive! I know some people will want to argue with that because it sounds so wrong, and our culture prioritizes busyness (even if it’s not all that productive). I’ve actually heard this concept before, that our brain needs time to organize our thoughts (like what happens while dreaming, but without the crazy randomness).

Is this productive? It can be! Don’t be quick to judge…

You’ve probably experienced this before. Have you ever been taking a long shower or bath, not really thinking about a particular situation, then suddenly you realize a solution? It’s happened to me. That is the kind of experience the article is talking about. There are various other ways to reach that state, since you can only take so many showers and naps in a day. Going for a walk is a good method. Talk with a friend where the conversation is allowed to roam freely with no pressure to keep up appearances.

I’m glad science is realizing this. The all-too-common state of constant busyness is not healthy. The time of relaxing can also help you unwind, to release some of your stress buildup.

If you’re wondering why a serious post got published at this blog of randomness, it’s because of this one statement: Slacking can make you more productive. That sounds like something we’d write to be random and funny, yet it is actually true! And I could’ve taken it to a more humorous extreme, but I wanted it to be taken seriously, because it can help you.

Also, a great way to relax is to enjoy a glass of freshly brewed sweet tea. The idea of “afternoon tea” might seem quaint in our modern culture of busyness, but think about it in light of this conversation. You take a break from whatever you’re doing, drink tea, enjoy nature or talk with friends or read a book. Maybe this is a tradition that should return! (Feel free to adapt it to your use, of course, but simplicity is important here.) Be sure to “slow down” enough to be in the moment, to savor the tea and just enjoy the experience.

To the Buffet o’ Blog staff, let’s take off the rest of the afternoon to be more productive. 🙂 To all my favorite readers, what are you going to do to help your brain focus by relaxing? Try to find a way to spend 15 minutes (or whatever you can fit in) where your brain can relax. Let me know if you discover any useful tips or methods.