Learn One Thing A Day

Discover this peculiar organism ;) Nature is so amazing! Brought to you by scishow

Some time ago I prepared a draft-post to tell you about the 2-Billion-Years-Old nuclear reactor in Oklo (Gabon, in Central Africa). However the scishow guys come first with an episode on the subject, an episode that I warmly recommend you  :) Bonus info: To get a "controlled" and self-sustained nuclear fission requires extremely care! The first nuclear reactor was turned on 2 December 1942 by Enrico Fermi, at  University of Chicago. It was called the Chicago Pile-1 and it was built under the west viewing stands of a football field! (No joke!)... tomorrow you'll find a post about it :) Other references: http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.4948 https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/in-the-1970s-scientists-discovered-a-2-billion-year-old-nuclear-reactor-in-west-africa-4472460b82c2

Have you ever wondered why your fingers wrinkle when you do the washing-up?   (source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ ) As surprised as you might be, it seems that only recently scientists have found an explanation for this phenomenon. According to researchers of the New cast le University , it could be the results of evolutionary development.  The shrivelling of the skin on the fingers makes it easier to grip things underwater and pick up wet objects!  Researcher Tom Smulders said: ‘Going back in time, this wrinkling of our fingers in wet conditions could have helped with gathering food from wet vegetation or streams.’ (source: dailymail.co.uk ) So, when you do the washing-up without gloves and your fingers get wrinkled, it's just your body telling you " Sir, can I impro ve your grip o n th at soapy dish of yours ?"  The small comic strip below seems perfect to close this post :)  (source: dailymail.co.uk )

Today I learnt that the Blue Whale is not not only the largest living animal but - probably - also the largest one to have ever lived! They live  worldwide and are considered endangered by IUCN ( International Union for Conservation of Nature ) due to the human activity, most notably the pollution and the fisheries interactions. Here is some impressive numbers: Weight :  up to 150000 kg (330000 pounds) Length :  27-33 m (88-108 feet) depending on location (the largest live in Antarctic) Life :       unknown (maybe about 90 years) but sexually mature at 5-15 years. Diet :       Krill, a lot of it! 3.6 metric tons (4 imperial tons) of krill each day. However a picture (or in this case, a drawing) is much more effective in visualizing how large they are! (photo by Harry Wilson via I fucking love science ) They are considered endangered and it's estimated there are 5000-12000 Blue Whales r...