Today I Learned #3: There's a wiki for everything!

[Kyriakos]

Another law in the Leopold II vein?

 

[Josu]

TIL that Spanish alt-right, traditionally monarchist, has started to call Spanish King Felipe VI, Felpudo VI (Doormat VI), after he signed some pardons to catalan separatist approved by Spanish Government

 

[Samson]

Today the world learned quite separately about TWO different "species" of "humans"!!!!!!!!

A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel

The authors present comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses of fossilized remains from a site in Israel dated to 140,000 to 120,000 years ago indicating the presence of a previously unrecognized group of hominins representing the last surviving populations of Middle Pleistocene Homo in Europe, southwest Asia, and Africa.

Dragon Man (China) - Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium

As one of the most complete archaic human fossils, the Harbin cranium provides critical evidence for studying the diversification of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens.
​

Neither have any genetics, I guess there is none to be found in these skulls. I THINK both teams are claiming that these are not ancestors of us, but other branches of the tree. It is not at all my field, but I would be willing to bet that these are part of the web of hominids that contributed genes to modern humans.

​

Spoiler Israeli Skull WRT other hominids :

Spoiler Dragon Skull Graphical Abstract :

 

[Birdjaguar]

For the hardcore among you: https://www.cell.com/the-innovation/fulltext/S2666-6758(21)00056-4

It is the paper that the ^^^ post is taken from.

 

[Kyriakos]

Large buildings can be assembled in a day.

 

[Zardnaar]

Is this unusual?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/educ...-of-more-than-a-dozen-different-nationalities

Rural school 85 kids from 15 nationalies?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Is this unusual?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/educ...-of-more-than-a-dozen-different-nationalities

Rural school 85 kids from 15 nationalies?

Not really, if the district has a lot of refugees, recent immigrants, or migrant children, not to mention children of parents who could be transferred at any time (if they were military or police).

 

[Samson]

Today the world learned quite separately about TWO different "species" of "humans"!!!!!!!!

A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel

The authors present comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses of fossilized remains from a site in Israel dated to 140,000 to 120,000 years ago indicating the presence of a previously unrecognized group of hominins representing the last surviving populations of Middle Pleistocene Homo in Europe, southwest Asia, and Africa.

Dragon Man (China) - Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium

As one of the most complete archaic human fossils, the Harbin cranium provides critical evidence for studying the diversification of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens.
​

Neither have any genetics, I guess there is none to be found in these skulls. I THINK both teams are claiming that these are not ancestors of us, but other branches of the tree. It is not at all my field, but I would be willing to bet that these are part of the web of hominids that contributed genes to modern humans.

​

Spoiler Israeli Skull WRT other hominids :

Spoiler Dragon Skull Graphical Abstract :

Two days before these papers came out, there was another which found, in Siberia’s eponymous Denisova Cave in which a single finger bone yielded the DNA that showed the existence of the Denisovans, they have found:

• Denisovans from about 300,000 years ago
  
• Neanderthals about 170,000 years ago
  
• Modern humans about 45,000 years ago
  
• First-generation Neanderthal–Denisovan teenager about 50,000 years ago

 

[EgonSpengler]

TIL that Uzo Aduba grew up about 15 miles from me (and also 10-15 miles from her Orange is the New Black costar, Taylor Schilling).

 

[EgonSpengler]

TIL about the Encontro das Águas in Brazil. Near Manaus, the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões meet and join the same riverbed. But because of stark differences in their composition - the Solimões carries silt from the Andes and is about 6C cooler than the Negro - the waters run alongside each other for several miles without mixing. The two-tone effect in the color of the waters is not just a 'trick of the light.'

EDIT: Turns out that it's not the only one.

The confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers in Lytton, BC, Canada.

Spoiler :

The Danube and Inn Rivers, Passau, Germany. There's actually a third river, the Ilz, just on the lower left of this picture, on the left of the red-roofed building, and its waters are a third color, although the difference isn't quite as stark.

Spoiler :

 

[Valka D'Ur]

EDIT: Turns out that it's not the only one.

The confluence of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers in Lytton, BC, Canada.

Spoiler :

I've been there... back in 1977. That would have been the trip my dad, grandmother, and I took to the coast, the summer before I started high school.

Fast-forward to yesterday: Lytton has been especially hit by this heat dome we're under. It was 49.5C there.

 

[Samson]

TIL that hiccup cures can get published in the best journals

Nature (Impact factor 42) has convened a survey:

Last week, we convened to decide once and for all which is the best cure for hiccups. Holding your breath (maybe alongside some other action, like swallowing) came out the clear winner, with 38% of votes cast. Drinking from the wrong side of the glass (or similar drinking acrobatics) was a distant second. Other favourites, such as eating a spoonful of sugar, surprising or bewildering the patient, and just chilling out, battled it out pretty much equally in third.
​

JAMA Network Open (Impact factor 5) has recently published about a device:

The forced inspiratory suction and swallow tool (FISST) has a low-cost design and straightforward mode of action that stimulates the phrenic and vagus nerves by inducing diaphragmatic contraction and epiglottis closure, respectively. FISST stopped hiccups in nearly 92% cases and was rated favorably compared with home remedies across all demographic characteristics, hiccup frequencies, and hiccup durations.
​

Spoiler The device :

From the grundiad

The BMJ (Impact factor 30) published a "Miracle hiccough cure" in 2006:

I must thank Roberts for bringing to greater attention Lam's miraculous hiccough cure (plugging both ears tightly, pushing both right and left tragus, and drinking the entire glass of water through the straw without pause, without releasing the pressure over the ears).
After a few successes (and from personal experience, the method is nearly infallible when applied correctly) you get an intuition about whether the cure has worked. This allows you to step back (as a true magician would) while the recipient waits indefinitely for the next spasm. This is a particularly satisfying way to bond with a patient, or make friends in the pub.
​

Spoiler The tragus :

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Hold your breath.

Hiccups-related reminiscence: One day I came downstairs to find our beagle in the midst of hiccuping. The "scare" remedy didn't work.

What did work was hugging him. He relaxed, and the hiccups stopped.

Then I got them. Thanks, Snoopy.

 

[Hrothbern]

What I like on the topic "hiccups", is that we are supposed to do everything to end that "out of control abberation" as quick as possible.
lol
Why not embrace... enjoy it ?
I would love to get hiccups.
So long ago that I hardly remember it well.
I was always thrilled by it and innerly laughing at myself at the same time.
Just like the sensation (I still have luckily) of an upcoming sneeze. When I feel it coming I already feel happy and let it explode in full

 

[Samson]

What I like on the topic "hiccups", is that we are supposed to do everything to end that "out of control abberation" as quick as possible.
lol
Why not embrace... enjoy it ?
I would love to get hiccups.
So long ago that I hardly remember it well.
I was always thrilled by it and innerly laughing at myself at the same time.
Just like the sensation (I still have luckily) of an upcoming sneeze. When I feel it coming I already feel happy and let it explode in full

Really? Sometimes I get them for hours, and I hate it. Especially when they keep me up. Fortunately that is rare.

 

[Hrothbern]

Really? Sometimes I get them for hours, and I hate it. Especially when they keep me up. Fortunately that is rare.

ahhh.. for hours... yes, then it becomes really annoying. I never experienced that.

 

[Kyriakos]

TIL (by watching a youtube video) how to unclog a sink by taking part of the pipe apart.
Also did it, for the first time.
Can't say I liked the experience, but at least I won't have to contact a plumber
I needed a shower as soon as I finished...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What I like on the topic "hiccups", is that we are supposed to do everything to end that "out of control abberation" as quick as possible.
lol
Why not embrace... enjoy it ?
I would love to get hiccups.
So long ago that I hardly remember it well.
I was always thrilled by it and innerly laughing at myself at the same time.
Just like the sensation (I still have luckily) of an upcoming sneeze. When I feel it coming I already feel happy and let it explode in full

Okay, here's a story of enjoying someone else's misery.

Waaay back in the Dark Ages of junior high school (mid-'70s), I took music as one of my options. One day three of the girls wanted to rehearse a song as part of a concert we were going to do (we performed at malls, seniors' homes, etc.). So they started out:

"Once upon a time there was a tavern..."

And one of the girls promptly let out a rather loud hiccup.

"Where we used to raise a glass or two..."

HIC!

She proceeded to hiccup through the rest of the song, and was embarrassed as the rest of us couldn't help giggling (remember that this girl was maybe 12 or 13 at the time).

 

[Kyriakos]

TIL why the torus is important...

 

[Hrothbern]

TIL why the torus is important...

Topology is real nice
elegant-abstract and elegant-tangible.
I learned at secondary school: the Koenigsberg bridges and the other one "only 4 colors needed" on a flat map (not so on a torus).