Grover Krantz was one of the few anthropologists who dedicated their time to studying Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot.
As a cryptozoologist, Krantz believed that Bigfoot might exist and did everything he could to research it. Five of his ten books explored the possible existence of the ape-like creature.
Perhaps even more interestingly, the peculiar scientist donated his body to science with the one condition that his dog Clyde, an Irish wolfhound, would be right by him.
“I’ve been a teacher all my life and I think I might as well be a teacher after I’m dead, so why don’t I just give you my body,” said Krantz. “But there’s one catch: You have to keep my dogs with me.”
Both Krantz and Clyde are on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.
PS, if you’re wondering why mentions of Bigfoot may be on the decline, blame technology.
Vestrahorn mountain in south-east Iceland is one to behold.
Nicknamed “Batman Mountain” for its awe-inspiring beauty, the1490 foot mountain looks down at the flat black sand Stokksnes beach below.
Known for its spiky peaks that resemble the horns on a bull, Vestrahorn is composed of gabbro and granophyre rocks. But in order to access the photogenic landscape of the mountain beach, you’ll need to make a small payment to the landowner.
By the looks of it, the experience is worth every penny.
Instagram 3D artist Frank J Guzzone gives us at least an imaginative glimpse into the workings of an eye.
Don’t get carried away by the reality or irreality of the visualization. Just admire the concept.
Eye doctors on Twitter have promptly responded to Twitter account ZonePhysics with rightful criticism. “There’s no windstorm in the anterior chamber,” writes Dr. Cheryl G Murphy in debunking the graphic tweeted with the headline “This is your eye under microscope.”
As someone who stares at eyes under the microscope day in and day out, that’s not even close. Not that much movement on the iris. There’s no windstorm in the anterior chamber. Peripheral cornea blurred for no reason. The actual iris magnified is much more beautiful than this.
“When you’re hit on the football field, parts of your brain may fizz like a just-opened can of soda.”
The brain released humans from the prison of biology. So why do we do anything that damages our ability to think? Because of sports like football that entertain.
However, a new technology designed to mimic a woodpecker’s shock-absorbing beak may prevent football players from brain injury.
“It likely clinched its jugular vein with its long omohyoid muscle, protecting against brain slosh by filling its brain with blood.”
Scientists first theorized that increasing blood to the brain would help safeguard the head against collisions. Existing data revealed that playing football at higher altitudes generated fewer concussions. However, scientist Joseph Fisher thought he could still protect players’ brains without suffocating their oxygen. He went back to study the physiology of the woodpecker’s distinctive “omohyoid solution” for battling head trauma.
“forget CO2, Fisher thought. All you needed was to press lightly on the neck. Fisher bought a pair of headphones at an electronics store, bent the metal band a little, and placed them around his neck with the pads against his jugular veins.”
Naturally, scientists tested the hypothesis on rats by putting a neckband on them and forcing collisions. The neck-protected rats saw an “83 percent reduction in brain damage compared to rats that didn’t.” Scientists got approval to test a neck collar on high school football players.
“The kids who had worn the collar, on the other hand, saw significantly fewer changes. Their brains hadn’t suffered the same way. The findings were also replicated in hockey players. What worked for woodpeckers seemed to work for humans. A little extra blood in the skull swaddled the brain enough to reduce damage.”
In other words, squeezing the jugular sends just enough blood to the head to prevent brain injury and in the long-run, dementia caused by CTE. Astonishing, right? It makes you think why the NFL does not have an R&D department. The worst-case scenario? Figure out how to play American football using bubbles.
Reddit user harpalss used animation software D3 to create a beautiful visualization of the changing patterns of daylight in one year. This is how the user describes it:
Equation to calculate the hours of daylight for a given day of year and latitude can be found here. The animation was built with D3.
Both the northern and southern hemispheres experience longer and shorter days, depending on the time of year. That means less daylight right now (late November) for those in the United States and Canada and longer days for those in South America.
Daytime is shorter in winter than in summer, for each hemisphere. This is because the Earth’s imaginary axis isn’t straight up and down, it is tilted 23.5 degrees. The Earth’s movement around this axis causes the change between day and night.
During summer in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours increase the farther north you go. The Arctic gets very little darkness at night. The seasonal changes in daylight hours are small near the Equator and more extreme close to the poles.
Scientists are developing a vaccine to help treat Lyme disease.
Humans can get Lyme disease through the transmission of the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium from the bite of an infected tick.
Called VLA15, the vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to make antibodies that ward off 6 of the most common types of Lyme-causing bacteria in the tick’s gut.
Valneva, the biotech company in France developing the vaccine, is currently in phase II of testing. Writes the Scientific American:
The Food and Drug Administration gave VLA15 fast-track designation in July 2017. Valneva completed initial safety studies in a Phase 2 clinical trial and, according to a company press release , VLA15 “had no associated safety concerns.” The company is now working to determine the dose. Based on current estimates, Lingelbach said Valneva plans to test the vaccine in a clinical trial of at least 15,000 people, and it should be available in four or five years.
There is a second immunity being developed to prevent Lyme disease as well.
Called Lyme pre-exposure prophylaxis (Lyme PrEP), it works by sending a single antibody as a vaccine and is known to have fewer side effects than the VLA15.
The new vaccines build off the original Lyme disease vaccine called LYMErix developed twenty years ago. But production stopped due to fears of the side effects.
Unlike other viruses, Lyme disease is hard to treat since it pervades the body’s tissue in addition to the blood. Joint pain, heart palpitations, muscle weakness, and confusion are some of the symptoms of Lyme disease.
In a worst-case scenario, the bacteria can even dominate the entire central nervous system, producing disastrous effects on the human body.
