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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

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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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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Sergio Parra

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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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Sergio Parra

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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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Sergio Parra

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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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Sergio Parra

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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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Sergio Parra

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The city with the highest air pollution by PM2.5 is Kanpur, India, according to a report published in 2018 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Specifically, the peak was recorded in 2016, with an average of 173 μg of PM.25 per cubic meter, 17 times the recommended maximum.

Kanpur

Kanpur is located on the banks of the Ganges River and is an important industrial center. It covers an area of more than 1,000 km² and has a population of around 2.7 million inhabitants according to the 1991 census.

Industrial and vehicle emissions contribute decisively to polluting Kanpur's air with particulate matter PM2.5.

They are particles that have a diameter less than 2.5 microns (μm is one millionth of a meter), such as fine soot; while the PM10 They include contaminants up to 10 microns in diameter, such as dust or pollen.

Many factories continue to burn coal to obtain the energy required for their production processes and the increase in logistics activity translates into a greater number of vehicles traveling on unpaved roads, with the consequent rise of dust and the constant emission of toxic gases.

In Xataka Science

Nine million people die annually due to pollution

Every year, dozens of its cities appear on the most polluted list, but little or no effort is made to improve air quality. In the latest report, Delhi marginally improved its ranking to sixth place, compared to the most polluted city in 2014.

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The city with the highest air pollution in the world exceeds the maximum recommended by the WHO by more than 17 times

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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