Huwebes, Hulyo 7, 2011

Did you know?

Lonomia Obliqua is the world's most deadliest caterpillar?




And this is what it does to a person..



Lonomia obliqua (or Giant Silkworm Moth, a name also used for a wide range of other Saturniid moths) is a species of Saturniid moths from South America. Its famous for its larvae form, rather than the adult moth, for several reasons. Recently announced in an episode of the Discovery Channel, known as the “assassin caterpillar,” this caterpillar has a spine-covered back filled with venom, and has been responsible for several deaths, especially in southern Brazil. This caterpillar has also been in numerous medical studies.

These caterpillars are about 4.5 -5.5 cm (about 2 in.) in length, with background colors ranging from green to brown. Well camouflaged, they have rows of tubercles crowned with whorls of easily detachable spines of different sizes.

As an article by Antonio Pinto stated, the Lonomia obliqua has a very unique venom that causes disseminated intravascular coagulation and a consumptive coagulopathy, which can lead to a hemorrhagic syndrome. It was soon discovered that at the base of each spine was a sack where the toxins were stored. As the stems and needles were stuck into the victim, venom would flow through the hollow needles and into the puncture wound.
It was also discovered that the toxin in this creatures skin held one of the strongest anti-clotting agents ever found in nature. This anti-clotting agent would attach with another protein to the body’s cells and cause them to leak as blood is unable to clot. This internal bleeding would fill the surrounding tissue with “bruised blood.” This internal bleeding spreads through the internal organs and eventually leads to compression and brain death. This accounts for the minimum of 500 deaths as a result of contact with Lonomia. Interestingly enough, the poison only takes effect in large amounts. In order to feel the extreme injuries caused by this creature, the victim would need at least 20 to 100 hundred stings.
The genus Lonomia includes 26 species found on the American Continent. However, only Lonomia obliqua and Lonomia achelous have caused severe accidents, leading to hemorrhagic syndrome. Since 1989 the number of human accidents caused by these caterpillars has been increasing in the southern region of Brazil. Most victims were male (63%), many were between 0 and 19 years old (45%), and lesions are especially common on the hands (38%). The reported death rate is 2.5%. An antiserum is produced by the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. It effectively reverses the coagulation disorders induced by Lonomia obliqua venom, and patients treated with this antiserum recover rapidly.

Why do men's clothes have buttons on the right while women's clothes have buttons on the left?

Because: When buttons were invented, they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich. Because wealthy women were dressed by maids, dressmakers put the buttons on the maid’s right.! Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left. And that’s where women’s buttons have remained since.

LIFE is SHORT... But a little smile can make it longer, somehow.

They say that laughter is the best medicine. That's a hundred percent true. But how about happiness?
Actually, happiness is much better than JUST laughter. You see here, you cannot possibly laugh without something funny (You may but it might make you look stupid or plastic).

Happiness is everywhere. You just need to find it. It may be high up, down low, or deep inside of you.
You are the one to figure them all out.

But for the meantime, just smile and make everyone smile with you.

God bless!

Martes, Hulyo 5, 2011

Beowulf [Chapter 1-7]

SMILE!

A long time ago I heard the adage that it takes something like 43 muscles to frown but only 17 muscles to smile, ergo, we should just smile because it's easier. It wasn't until my first anatomy class in college that I realized these numbers couldn't possibly be right. As far as I can tell, there are only about 36 named muscles of facial expression, and they're not all involved in smiling and frowning. Here they are in alphabetical order (a "2" in parentheses means the muscle is bilateral, "1" means it's unpaired):

Auricularis anterior (2)
Auricularis posterior (2)
Auricularis superior (2)
Buccinator (2)
Corrugator supercilii (2)
Depressor anguli oris (2)
Depressor labii inferioris (2)
Depressor septi nasi (1)
Frontalis (1)
Levator anguli oris (2)
Levator labii superioris (2)
Levator labii superioris alaeque nasi (2)
Mentalis (1)
Nasalis (2)
Orbicularis oculi (2)
Orbicularis oris (1)
Platysma (1)
Procerus (1)
Risorius (2)
Zygomaticus major (2)
Zygomaticus minor (2)

So which ones are responsible for smiling and/or frowning? I could hazard a guess, but I'll defer to Dr. David Song, a plastic surgeon and Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Hospitals, who was interviewed for a Straight Dope article: Does it take fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown? Counting only the muscles that make significant contributions, he concludes that smiling takes one more muscle than frowning (12 vs. 11). That doesn't necessarily mean that smiling is harder to do. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I suppose you could compare the masses of "smiling muscles" vs. "frowning muscles" to get a rough estimate of energy consumption (assuming the muscles all consume energy at the same rate per unit mass). In the meantime, check out Happiness Is Only Grin Deep at the always enlightening and entertaining Urban Legend Reference Pages.


Source? Click here!

TOP 20 Amazing Science Trivias


1. There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5 times
2. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth
3. The risk of being struck by a falling meteorite for a human is one occurrence every 9,300 years
4. A thimbleful of a neutron star would weigh over 100 million tons
5. A typical hurricane produces the energy equivalent of 8,000 one megaton bombs
6. Blood sucking hookworms inhabit 700 million people worldwide
7. The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 166.94 mph, by Fred Rompelberg
8. We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine
9. 65% of those with autism are left handed
10. The combined length of the roots of a Finnish pine tree is over 30 miles
11. The oceans contain enough salt to cover all the continents to a depth of nearly 500 feet


12. The interstellar gas cloud Sagittarius B contains a billion, billion, billion liters of alcohol [JFrater is planning to move there in the near future]
13. Polar Bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump over 6 feet in the air
14. 60-65 million years ago dolphins and humans shared a common ancestor
15. Polar Bears are nearly undetectable by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur
16. The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life
17. A single rye plant can spread up to 400 miles of roots underground
18. The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds 430 degrees C during the day, and, at night, plummets to minus 180 degrees centigrade
19. The evaporation from a large oak or beech tree is from ten to twenty-five gallons in twenty-four hours
20. Butterflies taste with their hind feet, and their taste sensation works on touch – this allows them to determine whether a leaf is edible.