When I hear the word "windfall", I think of a big pile of cash. However, that wasn't its original meaning. If a storm were to knock down a tree, the wood would be easier to harvest, so it is called a windfall. Likewise, fruit that falls from a tree is easier to harvest, so it is called a windfall.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
What's BETWEEN the Atoms? Feynman's Answer Will Break Your Brain
I knew all this but I like the way he explains it.
In 420 BC Democritus argued for the existence of atoms.
"Democritus's argument for the existence of atoms hinged on the idea that it is impossible to keep dividing matter infinitely - and that matter must therefore be made up of extremely tiny particles"
Democritus thought that the universe consisted of atoms and the voids between them.
Until relatively recently, people thought that atoms were invisible. J.J. Thompson, Marie Curie, and Earnest Rutherford showed that atoms could be divided. It took a while to discover protons and neutrons, and people thought that these were also indivisible. It was later discovered that protons and neutrons were made of up and down quarks.
One could argue that quarks and electrons are the smallest (fundamental) units of baryonic (quark) matter, but this is misleading. Every type of subatomic particle has a field associated with it. A field is something that has a value at every point in space. That value represents that amount of excitation of the field at a particular point. There is likely some energy everywhere, because the fields have been shown to be like tiny ripples on a vast ocean, but if the energy is low at any point in space then not much happens. However, if the energy reaches a certain threshold, then a particle exists at that point.
The Standard Model of Particle Physics has 17 fundamental fields. (There is recent new evidence that Dark Matter may be an unknown type of particle. If so, it might require a new type of field.) Some of these fields interact with each other like the way the electric and magnetic fields can make particles move. These interactions between the fields create the laws of physics, although there is currently no quantum theory of gravity.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Scientists may have finally 'seen' dark matter for the 1st time | Space
it would mark the first time humanity has 'seen' dark matter. And it turns out that dark matter is a new particle not included in the current standard model of particle physics," Totani said. "This signifies a major development in astronomy and physics."
While Totani is confident that what he and his colleagues have detected is the signature of dark matter WIMPs annihilating each other at the heart of the Milky Way, the scientific community in general will require more hard evidence before the book is closed on this nearly century-old mystery.
"This may be achieved once more data is accumulated, and if so, it would provide even stronger evidence that the gamma rays originate from dark matter," Totani added.
While Totani is confident that what he and his colleagues have detected is the signature of dark matter WIMPs annihilating each other at the heart of the Milky Way, the scientific community in general will require more hard evidence before the book is closed on this nearly century-old mystery.
"This may be achieved once more data is accumulated, and if so, it would provide even stronger evidence that the gamma rays originate from dark matter," Totani added.
Friday, December 26, 2025
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Heavy Metals in your Chocolate: The Best & Worst Brands
The California Proposition 65 standard is not a safety standard, but a labelling standard. The FDA allows higher levels of heavy metal contamination.
I can no longer find the Sam's Choice brand of dark chocolate. The 72%, which according to the video has too much cadmium, shows up on the Walmart site, but it is out of stock.
Walmart has replaced the Sam's Choice brand with their "Better Goods" brand. I was buying this, because it is about a dollar cheaper, but I can't find any information about its heavy metal content.
According to the video, if I wanted to play it safe, I would buy the Giradelli 86%.
Hot & Sticky: The Magic of Polymer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzcZxvM20QU
Can you imagine having this job? I don't think that I'm coordinated enough, but plus the tedium would drive me crazy.
Saturday, December 20, 2025
Humidifiers: Simpler is better?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHeehYYgl28
During the cold weather, I have trouble with dry skin, so I asked my doctor if I should get a humidifier. He thought that it would be a good idea, and he said that he uses one.
Speaking of "swamp coolers", they are very popular in Utah where the climate is very dry. My house came with one, and it did a very poor job of cooling my home. So I had an AC system installed.
Friday, December 19, 2025
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Scientists uncover a hidden protein behind deadly mystery diseases
Scientists discovered that the protein RPA plays a critical and previously unconfirmed role in stimulating telomerase to maintain long, healthy telomeres. When RPA malfunctions, telomeres can shorten dangerously, leading to serious diseases.
Stanford study reveals why COVID vaccines cause rare heart inflammation
Myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart, occurs in about one in 140,000 people who receive the first dose of the vaccine and one in 32,000 after the second dose, according to a Stanford press release. Among males 30 and younger, that rises to one in 16,750.
Symptoms of the condition include chest pain, shortness of breath, fever and palpitations, which can occur just one to three days after vaccination. Another marker is heightened levels of cardiac troponin, which indicates that the heart muscle has been damaged.
They found that those with myocarditis had two proteins in their blood, CXCL10 and IFN-gamma, which are released by immune cells. Those proteins then activate more inflammation.
"We think these two are the major drivers of myocarditis," said Wu. "Your body needs these cytokines to ward off viruses. It's essential to immune response, but can become toxic in large amounts."
"One of the most striking findings was how much we could reduce heart damage in our models by specifically blocking these two cytokines, without shutting down the entire (desired) immune response to the vaccine," Wu told Fox News Digital, noting that a targeted, "fine‑tuning" immune approach might be enough to protect the heart.
"This points to a possible future way to prevent or treat myocarditis in people who are at the highest risk, while keeping the benefits of vaccination," he added.
The findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"This is a very complex study," Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel told Fox News Digital. "Myocarditis is very rare, and the immune mechanism makes sense."
"Myocarditis is worse with COVID — much more common, and generally much more severe." Wu agreed, adding that COVID infection is about 10 times more likely to cause myocarditis compared to mRNA-based vaccines.
The researchers emphasized that COVID-19 vaccines have been "heavily scrutinized" for safety and have been shown to have an "excellent safety record."
In rare cases, however, severe heart inflammation can lead to hospitalizations, critical illness or death.
"mRNA vaccines remain a crucial tool against COVID‑19, and this research helps explain a rare side effect and suggests ways to make future vaccines even safer, rather than a reason to avoid vaccination," Wu said.
"The overall benefits of COVID‑19 vaccination still clearly outweigh the small risk of myocarditis for nearly all groups."
Symptoms of the condition include chest pain, shortness of breath, fever and palpitations, which can occur just one to three days after vaccination. Another marker is heightened levels of cardiac troponin, which indicates that the heart muscle has been damaged.
They found that those with myocarditis had two proteins in their blood, CXCL10 and IFN-gamma, which are released by immune cells. Those proteins then activate more inflammation.
"We think these two are the major drivers of myocarditis," said Wu. "Your body needs these cytokines to ward off viruses. It's essential to immune response, but can become toxic in large amounts."
"One of the most striking findings was how much we could reduce heart damage in our models by specifically blocking these two cytokines, without shutting down the entire (desired) immune response to the vaccine," Wu told Fox News Digital, noting that a targeted, "fine‑tuning" immune approach might be enough to protect the heart.
"This points to a possible future way to prevent or treat myocarditis in people who are at the highest risk, while keeping the benefits of vaccination," he added.
The findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"This is a very complex study," Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel told Fox News Digital. "Myocarditis is very rare, and the immune mechanism makes sense."
"Myocarditis is worse with COVID — much more common, and generally much more severe." Wu agreed, adding that COVID infection is about 10 times more likely to cause myocarditis compared to mRNA-based vaccines.
The researchers emphasized that COVID-19 vaccines have been "heavily scrutinized" for safety and have been shown to have an "excellent safety record."
In rare cases, however, severe heart inflammation can lead to hospitalizations, critical illness or death.
"mRNA vaccines remain a crucial tool against COVID‑19, and this research helps explain a rare side effect and suggests ways to make future vaccines even safer, rather than a reason to avoid vaccination," Wu said.
"The overall benefits of COVID‑19 vaccination still clearly outweigh the small risk of myocarditis for nearly all groups."
Sunday, December 14, 2025
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
At that moment...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJyYVwP99cA
Yes, most dinosaurs went extinct around 66 million years ago due to a massive asteroid impact, but birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs and are technically living dinosaurs, meaning dinosaurs as a group are not entirely gone, just the non-avian ones.
At two meters tall, this thing is a freaking dinosaur.
There has been much speculation about dinosaurs being multicolored, which wouldn't show up in the fossil record. Some dinosaurs had feathers for warmth.
Theropod dinosaurs are closely related to birds, and had traits in common with birds.
According to Google AI...
Friday, December 5, 2025
Grizzly Vs. Gorilla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQu5YnZ6b8E
I am more afraid of bears than any other animal, at least in North America. In North America, I'm not likely to run into a komodo dragon.
If you act passive and don't make eye contact with a gorilla, it is unlikely to attack you.
A former coworker was hiking in Yellowstone National Park when a bear followed him on the trail. He got off the trail and the bear continued on.
My late stepdad co-owned a small farm with some friends. They would mostly use it for get togethers. It was very close to Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge where a bear had been spotted. Bears are rare in Indiana, but this particular bear had been spotted multiple times, first swimming the Ohio River from Kentucky to Indiana. It covered much ground because it had been spotted in multiple places, including Salem, Indiana where I was born. It would have had to cross highways to cover this much ground.
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
The 1970s Cooling Scare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdDdmQCneQA&t=139s
This has not changed. The Earth is halfway between its maximum tilt and its minimum tilt, which we will reach in roughly 11,000 years. A period of mass glaciation is inevitable, but we are not likely to see a change in our lifetime. Nevertheless, we should be in the cool-down period. Our warming of the Earth is temporary since we have limited fossil fuel reserves.
We could avoid the next period of mass glaciation by either increasing the CO2 level, by getting it from limestone, or we could find ways to destroy the advancing glaciers.
Monday, December 1, 2025
Whale swallows two Women in Kayak and then......
1 year ago
Marine biologist here: Baleen whales can't actually swallow anything larger than a softball. They take a huge mouthful of water into their mouths (usually full of tiny critters like krill, which are tiny versions of shrimp, and maybe some small fish), and use their tongues to push the water back out of their mouths while filtering out the krill with their baleen plates (they don't have teeth). Then they swallow all the krill that the baleen trapped. If they accidentally get larger animals in their mouths (like seals or such, which has been witnessed to happen), they reopen their mouths pretty quickly and let them out because they can't swallow them.
@rita1259-y5c
3 years ago
What bragging rights they had afterwards! You could say " Well, this day might be bad, but not as bad as the day I got swallowed by a whale!"
3 years ago
What bragging rights they had afterwards! You could say " Well, this day might be bad, but not as bad as the day I got swallowed by a whale!"
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Friday, November 28, 2025
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