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The 5 second rule

By Dung Beetles, Science

does the 5 second rule apply to dung beetles?So what does science say about the 5 second rule?

Well, to do the topic full justice, please pop on by to my favourite science blogger, Jen Martin from Espresso Science, where she’ll give you the full blown scientific low down in a fun and disgestable format.

This week she explored exactly what science has to say on the popular notion that less than 5 seconds, means thumbs up to the consumption of a dropped item of food.  Without giving away too much, I was initially surprised by the finding that although duration was an obvious consideration, both the landing surface type and food type were more important. Dropping a moist piece of watermelon onto a tiled surface is more likely to pick up bacteria when compared with say a dry biscuit on carpet…(carpet? surely not?)

But I have shared enough. Read Jen’s study into the 5 second rule quandary, so that next time you drop food onto the ground, you’ll know exactly what to do.

So tell me, do you or don’t you eat food that’s been dropped?

Seven day news forecast

By Uncategorized

weather forecast

We possibly take weather forecasting for granted these days, but within the study of meteorology is a whole set of terminology that perhaps you weren’t aware of…well, at least until now. Here is a summary of some of the more quirky words that can used to describe the weather.

  • Ball lightning  A relatively rarely seen form of lightning, generally consisting of an orange or reddish ball of the order of a few cm to 30cm in diameter and of moderate luminosity, which may move up to 1 m/s horizontally with a lifetime of a second or two.
  • Barber pole  A thunderstorm updraft with a visual appearance including cloud striations that are curved in a manner similar to the stripes of a barber pole. The structure typically is most pronounced on the leading edge of the updraft, while drier air from the rear flank downdraft often erodes the clouds on the trailing side of the updraft.
  • Bitterly cold   In winter, bitterly cold or very cold, refers to more than seven degrees Celsius below normal. (So, descriptions are relative to your location, which might explain why Canadians laugh at us Australians when confronted with a ‘bitterly’ cold forecast whilst vacationing in Melbourne. You can easily spot them, they are walking around in shorts, whilst the locals are rugged up in scarves and black coats).
  • Broken clouds  Clouds which cover between 5/8ths and 7/8ths of the sky.
  • Heat index  An index that combines air temperature and humidity to give an apparent temperature (how hot it feels).
  • Hot spot  Typically large areas of pavement, these “hot spots” are heated much quicker by the sun than surrounding grasses and forests. As a result, air rises upwards from the relatively hot surface of the pavement, reaches its condensation level, condenses, and forms a cloud above the “hot spot”.
  • Iridescence  Brilliant patches of green or pink sometimes seen near the edges of high or medium level clouds.
  • Katabatic  Wind blowing down an incline, such as down a hillside; downslope wind.
  • Mushroom  A thunderstorm with a well-defined anvil rollover, and thus having a visual appearance resembling a mushroom.
  • Yellow wind  A strong, cold, dry west wind of eastern Asia that blows across the plains during winter and carries a yellow dust from the desert.
  • Sunny Sunny or a few clouds means that less than half the sky has clouds.

I had to stop myself and limit it to eleven, but if you want to read the entire list, then click on over here.

The most beautiful weather I’ve ever experienced was whilst sun baking on the amazing Whitsunday island – The perfect sunny day (zero cloud)… probably the environment had a little bit to do with it.

What is the most amazing weather you’ve experienced?

 

Who ate your homework?

By Space and Aliens

Black hole ate my homework

Back to a favourite stomping ground – aliens and space – and this cartoon happens to be the perfect lead into the topic of black holes. Cool, huh!

Many of you know my affinity with all things astronomical in nature and black holes are up there in my favourite top space wonders of the universe. So tell me, have you ever wondered about the humble black hole and what would happen if you ever had the misfortune of getting sucked into one? Well, you wouldn’t be the first to have wondered. In fact, there are many scientists who dedicate their time to understanding more about the black hole and some of them conduct thought experiments to theorise what would actually happen to someone entering the hole of no return. Many thought experiments have been undertaken and there are three versions that I’m particularly fond of.

If you’re a wee bit curious, click on here to download your very own black hole (yes, I’m not joking this time), along with the thought experiment details. All you need is a computer, printer, scissors and sticky tape and you could be the proud owner of your very own black hole in less than 5 minutes! (Hang on, why are you still reading? You should be in print mode by now).

Hey, and if you enjoy that, come and visit my fun space website. I call it Cosmic Caboodle and if full of, you guessed it – aliens and space stuff.

In the mean time, let me know what you thought of the black hole download above.

 

Why are the lights off? Reason #23

By That's life

When the lights go out

When confronted with a blank canvas and no funny ideas to draw, I take the ostrich approach… I stick my head deep into the sand and just let the cartoon get on with the job without me.

When was the last time you stuck your head in the sand?

Half full

By That's life

I love to see what Google has to say on certain topics, so today I asked ‘Is the glass half full or empty?’ and I found this website, Businessballs.com, that dedicated a whole page to this concept. Here are a few thoughts on the topic:

  • The computer programmer says the glass is full-empty
  • The actor says, “Whatever the director wants it to be – or not to be…”
  • The Buddhist says don’t worry, remember the glass is already broken.
  • The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
  • The inventor says: I can invent a new glass that will put an end to this ridiculous misperception.
  • The millennial says: I cannot make an informed decision about whether the glass is half-full or half-empty before I have checked all the reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor.
  • The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.
  • The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double, be half the price, but cost you 50% more for me to give you the answer.
  • The call-centre operator asks if you’d mind holding while she finds out for you. (Your call is important to them…)

So tell me, what’s your glass like? 

 

Remember Eleanor Rigby?

By That's life

Eleanor rigby

Eleanor Rigby is probably my favourite Beatles song. I remember listening to the quirky words as a child and picturing the whole story unfold in my imagination.

What’s your favourite Beatles song?