Sergio Parra

In a homogeneous society, in which everyone has roughly the same background, religion, values, and goals, people will generally agree on what it means to be a good person and live a good life.

However, there is a whole constellation of discrepancies in the intensity of some values, even in their application; and above all there will be differences regarding data, objective information, because not everyone can or knows how to use reliable sources and ends up confused by infoxication. That explains, in part, that yesterday, on Twitter, the hashtag was TT #YoNoMeVacuno against COVID-19.

How to convince? Spoiler: you can't

The problem with excess information is that it is difficult to find the truth, but also that it is extremely easy to support any idea, theory or whim with mountains of data. As proof, a button of some of the images that were shared yesterday on Twitter under the hashtag #YoNoMeVacuno:

A key principle of liberalism is pluralism: the idea that different people, traditions, and beliefs not only can coexist together in the same society, but must also coexist together because society benefits from vibrant heterogeneity. However, hierarchies have been established regarding the sources of information to which we can turn: A study published in a peer-reviewed journal with a high impact index is not the same as a digital newspaper..

A pluralistic society fuels innovation and progress, where diverse people with unique life experiences develop and share ideas. If people remained in discrete, homogeneous communities, How many lives and ideas that would change the world would never have existed? The problem is that there are statements that, at all levels, including the epistemological level, are false.

They are statements, at least, so false that to be sustained (and respected), it is not enough to appeal to freedom of expression: the statements must be supported with the same epistemological strength as the idea that is being refuted: For example, if you say that vaccines are dangerous, provide scientific literature of the same level as that which states that vaccines are safe.

The opposite would be like asking all the passengers on an airplane, democratically, what kind of maneuver the pilot should perform to approach an impending storm.

When it comes to vaccines, we know scientifically that they are safe. Scientifically we know that they are useful. Scientifically we know that they will cause more benefits than harm. However, half of the population I would not be willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 right now because he doesn't trust, because of fear, because of conspiracy theories, because they put the chis in it, or for whatever….

COVID deniers aside, in the percentage of the population with a negative response, it seems that the key word is not “vaccine” but “immediately.” Many trust science, but have doubts about the deadlines and, above all, fear of adverse reactions.

In Xataka Science

The online movement against vaccines in the era of COVID-19 is divided into these four groups

We could try to do pedagogy, try to inform people, even try to persuade them with the best possible rhetoric. However, if this doesn't work and we are in a hurry, if there is no time to philosophize because we have to get the vaccine and keep our mouths shut... what do we do to avoid falling headlong into a totalitarian state or to force people to take communion? with millstones? There is a more effective trick than forcing people (which sometimes leads to unexpected and counterproductive consequences): libertarian paternalism. You can learn more about him in the following video:

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Yesterday, on Twitter, the hashtag #YoNoMeVacuno against COVID-19 was TT and that is a problem

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Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Let's say it now, from the beginning (especially for the purists of the original authors of the inventors, if there is such a thing): six years before Gray and Bell developed it, the Italian Antonio Meucci already had the invention of the telephone. What he did Alexander Graham Bell, in reality, was to imagine a more organic infrastructure for such an invention.

Be that as it may, in addition to this invention, the photophone is more fascinating: It is actually a kind of light phone.

The light telephone

The photophone consisted of a mirror that reflects sunlight, mounted on a support that vibrates with the voice, so that the reflected light is received by a parabolic mirror and concentrated on a selenium cell that translates the signal into audible sound in a telephone receiver, as explained Santiago Alvarez in his book Of women, men and molecules:

Thus, the inventor of the telephone was also a precursor of the optical transmission of signals, which today we call photonics.

The photophone was patented December 18, 1880, but the quality of communication remained poor and the investigation was not continued by Bell. Still, shortly before his death, he told a reporter that the photophone was "the best invention [I've ever] made, bigger than the telephone."

Later this invention served as the basis for the development of communications using fiber optics and lasers.

Understanding the phenomenon of light reflection is another story. The theory of extromission defended by Euclid and Ptlemy, among others, maintained that light comes from the eyes of the observer. In the opposite sense, the theory of intromission (light enters through the eyes) was defended by Aristotle and rescued by Avicenna in the 10th century.

If you're still a little angry about the fact that Bell is unfairly credited with inventing the telephone (or even the photophone), then you might want to watch the following video, which shows that the idea of Author has something religious or romantic, as well as the idea of Inventor; and, that given the structure of the history of innovation in the world, we should begin to give less romantic importance to inventors or discoverers, and more to the ecosystems where such inventions and discoveries occur:

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Although the telephone is one of Edison's best-known inventions, the photophone was much more fascinating.

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A little more than Nepal's previous measurement and about four meters higher than China's: this is the new agreement about the altitude of Everest: 8,848.86 meters.

In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey Project established the first published altitude of Everest, then known as Peak XV, in 8840 meters. China and Nepal reached a consensus last year on jointly announcing the new height of the peak, and it is being made public now.

Everest height conflict

In 2005, China measured the mountain's altitude again and came up with a result of 8,844.43 meters. Thus began a discussion between China and Nepal that lasted five years. China argued that the measurement should be made up to the altitude of the rock, which is 8844 meters, but Nepal objected that it should be made up to the altitude of the snow, which is It is 8848 meters.

In 2010, both nations reached an agreement that the altitude of the mountain is 8,848 meters, and Nepal recognized China's claim that the altitude up to the rock of Everest is 8,844 meters. Now, in 2020, both countries have closed the matter with a commonly recognized height.

In Xataka Science

This antenna has been installed on Everest to measure its exact altitude

However, we should not confuse the highest point on Earth with the highest mountain in the world. This mountain is the Mauna Kea, is the Hawaiian Islands, which is 10,205 meters from its underwater base in the Hawaiian Depression to its summit. Of this total height, 4,205 meters are above sea level.

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The new height of Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, is 8,848.86 meters: China and Nepal agree

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He Phineas Cage case is a classic of neuroscience: A bar weighing five kilos, more than a meter long and 2.5 centimeters thick pierced his head, entered through his left cheek and exited through the top of his skull driven by a gunpowder explosion. Cage survived, but his character changed radically, becoming an extroverted and foul-mouthed person when he had been someone very shy and timid.

But it is not the largest object removed from a human skull (keeping the patient alive). That honor belongs to another bar of iron, namely a 46 centimeter drill bit, almost half a meter.

Objects removed from the body

On August 15, 2003, the American bricklayer Ron Hunt fell face down from a ladder a 46cm drill bit which passed through his right eye, through his skull and out above his right ear. The drill bit displaced Hunt's brain instead of penetrating it, saving his life.

The heaviest object removed from a stomach, however, was removed in November 2007, when a 10-pound trichobezoar (hairball) was removed from the stomach of an 18-year-old girl at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. . The Rapunzel syndrome that the patient suffered from is the result of trichophagia, the compulsive urge to ingest hair.

The largest collection of surgically removed foreign bodies corresponds to Chavelier Quixote Jackson, who over 75 years of profession, removed 2,374 objects from the throats, esophagus and lungs of his patients, which are stored in the Chevalier Jackson Foreign Body Collection of the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

The collection has objects such as a child's theater binoculars, a padlock and a miniature trumpet. It is difficult to imagine that a person could swallow a wristwatch, 3 squirrel vertebrae or a shoe buckle, but it is true.

One of the most terrifying cases he had to face was that of a woman, a psychiatric patient, who had exactly 1,446 objects removed from her stomach; among them 453 nails, 409 pins, 63 buttons, 42 screws, 5 thimbles and 3 salt and pepper dispensers. He died during the operation.

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This is the largest object extracted from a human skull

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Electro, one of Spiderman's supervillains, can generate large amounts of electricity, theoretically up to about a million volts. In nature we cannot find something like this, but at least we can find a creature that can generate up to 860 volts.

This creature is the electric eel (gender Electrophorus), which is native to the river systems of the tropics of South and Central America.

Electrophorus

According to A study published in Nature in 2019, of the three known living species, E. voltai It is the one that generates the most electricity, with up to 860 volts in the case of a 1.2 meter long female.

The fish produces electricity with three pairs of organs throughout the body. The doctor William Crampton, one of the directors of the study, states, however, that size and electrical potential are not related:

Electric eels can reach enormous sizes, up to 2 meters, but these monsters often have less voltage than other smaller specimens.

The power of the Electrophorus voltai It could be explained as a way of adapting to its aquatic environment, located in highlands, where electrical conductivity is weak. About 250 species of electric fish live in South America. They all produce electrical current to communicate or orient themselves, but eels are the only ones that use it to hunt or defend themselves.

In Xataka Science

How an eel is electrocuted by generating 600 volts of electricity

Electric eels, which despite their name look more like fish than real eels, fascinate scientists for their ability to produce electricity, managing to paralyze their prey through an electroshock mechanism. To get an idea: A Taser gun provides 19 high-voltage pulses per second, while the electric eel produces 400 pulses per second.. Eel I would be able to knock down a horse.

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The most electric animal that we can find in nature generates up to 860 volts

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We tend to think that there are enormous creatures in the seas and oceans, but that in a river or a lake it is difficult to find massive fish.

However the Yangtze paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) is one of the largest fish: three meters long and 300 kg in weight.

In Xataka Science

These 16 species of 'ultra-black' fish were discovered this year and absorb 99.9% of light

However, in January 2020, the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences and experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature They formally declared it extinct.

It likely disappeared between 2005 and 2010 due to overfishing and habitat loss.

Other criteria

There are several species that aspire to the title of largest water fish, depending on the criteria we use. He arapaima (Arapaima gigas) from the Amazon basin in South America, can measure up to 4.5 meters long and reach 200 kg.

He Mekong giant catfish and the thai shark from Indochina weigh around 300 kg, but do not exceed 3 meters in length.

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The freshwater fish with the largest mass reaches 300 kg, but became extinct in 2020

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300 times per minute. Five times per second. That is the slowest flap ever recorded in an insect and it is enough for it to fly.

This milestone is marked by macaon either king butterfly (Papilio machaon).

Machaon

It is one of the best known and most beautiful butterflies in Europe, and It is also very common in the Iberian Peninsula (not so in the Atlantic islands or Ireland, and in England it is barely widespread).

Has between 32 and 80 mm wingspan and is characterized by its black and cream-yellow wings. The lower wings have red ocelli and have tails.

The "dust" that covers the wings of butterflies and moths is, in fact, a network of tiny scales composed mostly of chitin, the second most abundant natural polymer after cellulose.

What is the macaón butterfly called in other languages? English: Old World swallowtail; French: Le Grand porte-queue; Italian: macaone; German: Schwalbenschwanz.

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The insect with the slowest flapping of all moves its wings "only" 5 times per second

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From a scientific point of view, perhaps the only people you could consider to be non-immigrants would be some Khoe-San speaking groups in southern Africa, as explained Austin Reynolds, assistant professor of anthropology at Baylor University in Texas specializing in Human Population Genetics.

The designation Khoe-San refers to certain African communities in the areas of Botswana, Namibia, Angola and South Africa who speak similar languages with distinctive consonants.

Last genetically Aboriginal people

Joisan, Khoisan or Khoisanid are terms that define an important African population group in a cultural, ethnic, linguistic and racial sense; It comes from the union of Khoi (Khoikhoi) and San, main groups that speak one of the Joisan languages, characterized by incorporating clicking or clicking sounds.

There are two main factors that indicate that the Khoe-San groups they may be non-migratory descendants of the original humans: They live where humans likely first appeared and have a large amount of genetic diversity.

This happens because some types of genomes came from this place, but there were more in the original site.

In Xataka Science

We are all descendants of 14,000 sub-Saharans

However, despite the Khoe-San groups' proximity to the proverbial 'cradle of humanity' and their significant genetic diversity, identifying them as the last genetically aboriginal peoples is not easy.

First of all, researchers are not sure that southern Africa is the cradle of humanity. Some scientists think that humans first evolved in East Africa.

Other researchers do not believe there are any people left on Earth who are not, at least scientifically, immigrants. That is all human populations have been in contact with other, including the Khoe-San.

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Scientifically speaking, the only people who are not immigrants are some Khoe-San in southern Africa

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A hypodermic needle is a medical instrument made up of a hollow needle normally used with a syringe to inject substances into the body. And that's exactly what this bird's beak looks like.

It is the longest beak in relation to the total length of the body and belongs to the sword-billed hummingbird.

Swordpecker Hummingbird

He sword-billed hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera) is a species of hummingbird that lives in the Andes (from Venezuela to Bolivia), presenting a beak and a long tongue as an adaptation to its diet based on the nectar of certain types of flowers.

It has a beak of 10.2 centimeters, that is, it is longer than its body (if the tail is excluded).

More than 25 centimeters from the end of its tail to the tip of its prodigious beak, we are also facing the longest hummingbird.

It is tan-green on the head, more metallic on the rest of the body, with a somewhat long and forked tail. The female similarly unmistakable, with whiter ventral parts, with green spots towards the sides. It weighs 12 g.

When it perches to maintain its balance, its beak is raised, pointing towards the sky.

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This bird's beak is so long that it looks like a hypodermic needle.

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There are animals with soft fur, and then there is the chirú, which has the finest hair in nature.

He chiru either tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) exhibits strands of hair 7 to 10 micrometers (one-thousandth of a millimeter) in diameter, one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.

Chiru

The chirú is a species of medium-sized artiodactyl mammal of the subfamily Antilopinae native to the Tibetan Plateau, northern India and certain regions of Nepal and central China.

However, the trade in the wool of this mountain animal, known as shahtoosh, has caused a drastic decrease in its population.

Shahtoosh (also spelled Shatush), a Persian word meaning "Pleasure of Kings", is the name given to a particular type of shawl, woven using the strands of the fur of the Tibetan antelope or chirú, by the weavers of Kashmir. Several chiru must be sacrificed to obtain the amount of material needed to make a Shahtoosh shawl.

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This animal's hair is ten times finer than human hair.

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