“sci Christmas advent calendar”
Written by
Arina Tagmazian, Valeria Ariotta, and Suvi Sundqvist
Facts and riddles for science-passionate people:
- Do you know what happens when our vision and sense of balance is not matching?
- Answer:
This is when our bodies have entered a state called motion sickness. When what we see and feel don’t match, we feel sick! Read more
- Answer:
- Have you noticed, that the microbe emoji ? is scientifically misleading? Apple depicts it as a virus, while it appears as bacteria in e.g. Samsung and Microsoft. The COVID-19 pandemic even reinforced the false representation of the emoji in public, so people associate it more with viruses. Check it out
- After 1 billion years of optimization, human brains can solve complicated tasks consuming 23 million times less power than an advanced AI model! Let’s hope that AI will reduce energy consumption in less than a billion years! What AI can learn from a brain
- Did you know that Tardigrade protein could help human cells to reduce X-ray-induced damage by 40 %? Source; Original article
- “We have better maps of the surface of Mars and the moon than we do of the bottom of the ocean.” © NASA oceanographer Dr. Gene Feldman. According to NASA, only 10-20% of the ocean’s depths had been surveyed by traditional sonar techniques.
- Can you guess what vegetable has more DNA than humans? Hint: It is also one of the most popular vegetables in the world.
- Answer:
That’s right, it’s the onion!
In comparison, a raspberry has only 8 per cent as much genetic material as you. But although tasty, this is not that surprising since the raspberry is not that smart or complex. How can the onion then have more DNA than e.g. a Harvard professor? The answer is in a huge amount of non-coding DNA. Why does an onion need it? The mystery still needs to be solved.
- Answer:
- Have you heard of the neuroscience myth: “We only use 10% of our brain”? Turns out this is not true! Several brain areas are active simultaneously and all of them are used almost all the time, even during sleep. If we don’t use some parts of our brains at all, they are probably damaged!
- Christmas scientific tidbit. Have you ever thought about who invented the Christmas lights? Click on the link if you want to find out!