That's a paddlin' dot gif
Today I Learned #4: Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
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EgonSpengler
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Or, as in the Middle East, shish kebab.And a group of ducks all lined up is called a "row".
EgonSpengler
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Respiratory Syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) Virus (RSV) is the third strand of a potential "tripledemic" this Winter. (The other two being the seasonal flu and COVID-19.) RSV infection mostly feels like like a common cold for healthy adults, but it can cause bronchiolitis in infants and pneumonia in immunocompromised people. RSV kills about 100,000 children under 5 a year, globally. The US CDC estimates about 58,000 children are hospitalized by RSV each year in the US, and 500 die from it. A doctor on the radio this morning noted that the usual 'season' for RSV is February & March, but they're seeing a spike in cases already.
They have made a hybrid of RSV and flu that evades the immune system, in a way that suggests it may happen naturally.
The flu virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can fuse together to create a virus that can evade the human immune system. Researchers who were keen to understand co-infections — in which both viruses infect someone at the same time — deliberately infected human lung cells with both viruses. They found that the RSV and the flu virus fused together to form a palm-tree-shaped hybrid, which could infect new cells even in the presence of flu antibodies. “This kind of hybrid virus has never been described before,” says virologist Pablo R. Murcia, who worked on the research. “We are talking about viruses from two completely different families combining together with the genomes and the external proteins of both viruses. It is a new type of virus pathogen.”
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EgonSpengler
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I think the BBC did a show about that a few years ago...
Spoiler :
I grew up calling them a flock.
What's another term for a litter of kittens? On the Cheezburger site, it's an "itteh-bitteh-kitteh-committeh" (itty-bitty-kitty-committee, for those unfamiliar with lolspeak grammar).
Holy... that is terrifying. I need to read that paper.
r16
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Spoiler :
don't know if it will lead to the correct post but ı have found an original and stuff for the gun . So , it seems the Germans had an Achtling or octuple or whatever of twin barrelled MG-81Z machine guns and it fired upto 12 000 rounds per minute . Still two Minigun worths of firepower .
This is beyond beautiful (not for the specific case presented, power of 3, but the simple tie to combinatorics)
In other words, arrangements of two objects (in this case, x and y) in n (in this case n=3) positions, with repetition and order, gives you the algebraic form and ties it to combinations in easy to follow ways. It is also a good entrance to using the binomial theorem.
One wonders why powers aren't presented as combinatorics from the start.
There is also the generalized binomial theorem (for all rationals), which typically is attributed to Newton because he didn't publish it first.
In other words, arrangements of two objects (in this case, x and y) in n (in this case n=3) positions, with repetition and order, gives you the algebraic form and ties it to combinations in easy to follow ways. It is also a good entrance to using the binomial theorem.
One wonders why powers aren't presented as combinatorics from the start.
There is also the generalized binomial theorem (for all rationals), which typically is attributed to Newton because he didn't publish it first.
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A cool til linking the (arguably) most famous ever citizen of Thessalonike (Cyril, who created the alphabet of the slavs) to another of its most famous cizitens:
Leo the Mathematician, who later on served as the metropolitan bishop of Thessalonike (this is at the time of the wars with Al-Mutasim; 9th century AD), was the object of an offer by Mutasim (following a letter by his predecessor, Al-Mamun) to the Byzantine Empire: to have continuous peace with the Byzantine Empire and also pay it a large sum of money, if Leo would agree to spend some time in Bagdad to teach the arabian mathematicians some math they were having trouble with (Leo declined, it was feared he wouldn't be allowed to return to the Byz Empire)
Leo is part of the tradition in the empire to have academies dealing with science and mathematics; this is in the aftermath of the banning of the old philosophically-oriented schools by Justinian I, a few centuries earlier. But the story of Leo is linked to the Justinian era too, since (for example) the famous Archimedes Palimpsest was originally compiled in Constantinople by Isidoros of Miletos (one of the two architects of the Hagia Sophia).
As to how Leo is linked to Cyril: Cyril was his student.
Also notable that those byzantine mechanical "automata" (like the singing mechanical birds, the roaring statues of lions and the elevating throne) are attributed to Leo. He also created the system of beacons through Asia Minor (to give quick news to Constantinople of any arab border attack).
Leo the Mathematician, who later on served as the metropolitan bishop of Thessalonike (this is at the time of the wars with Al-Mutasim; 9th century AD), was the object of an offer by Mutasim (following a letter by his predecessor, Al-Mamun) to the Byzantine Empire: to have continuous peace with the Byzantine Empire and also pay it a large sum of money, if Leo would agree to spend some time in Bagdad to teach the arabian mathematicians some math they were having trouble with (Leo declined, it was feared he wouldn't be allowed to return to the Byz Empire)
Leo is part of the tradition in the empire to have academies dealing with science and mathematics; this is in the aftermath of the banning of the old philosophically-oriented schools by Justinian I, a few centuries earlier. But the story of Leo is linked to the Justinian era too, since (for example) the famous Archimedes Palimpsest was originally compiled in Constantinople by Isidoros of Miletos (one of the two architects of the Hagia Sophia).
As to how Leo is linked to Cyril: Cyril was his student.
Also notable that those byzantine mechanical "automata" (like the singing mechanical birds, the roaring statues of lions and the elevating throne) are attributed to Leo. He also created the system of beacons through Asia Minor (to give quick news to Constantinople of any arab border attack).
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Why expect mensa people to pay? I wouldn't ^^
But at least the two who asked me seemed nice enough, and it will be a positive experience (what's the worst that can happen?
)Edit: here is a stupid joke along those lines: Mensa Musa :/
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I don't think you can join without taking the test (I don't think: I know), and I am not sure if such is provided here (there is one, in Athens).
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