Brain dump issue 34 2016

YOUR
REGULAR DOSE OF

INCREDIBLE
FACTS

BROUGHT TO YOU BY


BROUGHT TO YOU BY

welcome

Getyourcurious questionsanswered
Congratulations! Another
SCIENCE
issue of Brain Dump has
been delivered direct to your
tablet or smartphone. As
usual, it’s packed with facts,
stats and info encompassing a
fascinating range of topics
from the worlds of science,
Why cats love catnip
space, nature, transport and
the human body. Give your
HISTORY
brain a workout and swipe left
to get started.

Learn about Benjamin Franklin

ENVIRONMENT

Inside Yellowstone Park

SPACE

How planet names are chosen

TRANSPORT

Anatomy of the Tiger tank

TECHNOLOGY

The QWERTY keyboard explained

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acebook.com/braindumpmag
Design: Laura Barnes photography; Getty; Thinkstock; NASA


that s

AMAZING
These attentiongrabbing stars are the
stellar celebrities of the
Milky Way. The stars

were snapped by the
Hubble Space Telescope
and belong to the
glittering star cluster
Trumpler 14. Located
about 8,000 light years
away from Earth in the
Carina Nebula.


that s

AMAZING
A stunning view of the
Villarrica volcano taken
from Pucon, some 800
km south of Santiago,
showing visible signs of
activity on April 21,
2015. Villarrica is one of
Chile’s most active
volcanoes, rising above
the lake and town of the
same name, 750 km
south of Santiago.


that s

AMAZING

Like a cosmic bull’s-eye,
Enceladus and Tethys
line up almost perfectly
for Cassini’s cameras.
These two moons of
Saturn were captured in
perfect alignment by the
Cassini Probe in
December 2015.


HOW DO

BIRDS STAY
PERCH
WHEN THEY
ON THEIR

SLEEP?
Passerines have three toes facing
forward and one facing back.
The flexor tendon that pulls these toes
into a claw runs up the back of the leg
over the ankle joint. When the bird
squats down to perch, the flexor
tendon is pulled tight by the pulley
action of the tendon over the tarsus
bone. The weight of the bird forces its
claws shut around a twig or telephone
wire, without any muscular effort.

WHAT WOULD
HAPPEN IF
THE ISS WAS
EVACUATED?
The Russian Soyuz
rocket launches
astronauts to the ISS
aboard a Soyuz capsule

In case of emergency,
astronauts
on
the
International Space Station can
take refuge or return to Earth on
board the Soyuz escape capsules.
One or two Soyuz spacecraft
remain docked with the station
at
all
times,
with
each
accommodating up to three
people. Since the ISS’ launch in
1998, its crew have never had to
make an emergency return to
Earth. In January 2015, a

suspected ammonia leak forced
American astronauts to shelter
temporarily in the Russian
section of the ISS. Close
encounters with space debris
have also forced crew to move
to Soyuz as a precautionary
measure three times, but no
collisions occurred.


HOW ARE THE

STRIPES
IN STRIPY
TOOTHPASTE MADE?
Perhaps surprisingly, there are not
separate compartments inside a
tube of striped toothpaste. To get them
in the tube in the first place, the different
coloured pastes are merged into a
divided nozzle, which keeps the colours
separate while dispensing them evenly
into the tube from the bottom via a
funnelling machine. If you were to cut
open a tube of stripy toothpaste, you’d
see that the stripes are thicker inside.

It’s only when you squeeze the tube
that they become thinner as they flow

out the nozzle. The reason they flow at
the same speed and consistency is
down to the scientific study of the flow
of matter. In scientific terms, the stripes
all have the same rheology. This means
that they keep the same thickness and
flow in the same way under different
pressures, so they keep their positions
and remain as stripes in the paste.


55 NEPTUNE
COOL
THINGS

1

Neptune’s eyecatching deep
blue colouring is
caused by the
methane gas in
its atmosphere,
absorbing red
light and
reflecting blue.

Upper
atmosphere,
(cloud tops)

Atmosphere

(hydrogen, helium,
methane gas)

Mantle

(water, ammonia,
methane ices)

2
3

5

Due to the fast nature of
Neptune’s spin around
its axis, its equatorial
diameter is 846
kilometres larger than
its polar diameter.

Around its equatorial region
Neptune is privy to winds
in excess of 2,150 kilometres
per hour as well as
extremely violent storms.

Core

(rock, ice)

4

Neptune’s one major moon is
actually named, funnily enough,
after his Greek counterpart
Poseidon’s son, Triton.

Neptune undergoes
seasons just like here
on Earth. However,
they last 40 years each
instead of just the three
months we’re used to.

Sizes…

Neptune’s
diameter is
nearly four
times that of
Earth, with a
mass that is
the equivalent
of 17 Earths.

12,756.3km

49,532km

WHY AREN’T
KEYBOARDS
ALPHABETICAL
?

It’s because
it’s less efficient.
An
alphabetical
keyboard
would put A and E on the left and
middle of the top row, and T on the left
of the bottom row. These are the most
uncomfortable places for touch typists
to reach, for some of the most common
letters in English. The alphabet is a
random sequence of letters and there’s

no reason to suppose it has an
advantage for keyboards. There are
patterns that are theoretically more
efficient than QWERTY. These layouts
never took off, but alphabetic order is
demonstrably worse than QWERTY.


WHAT ARE TONSILS FOR?

We have four sets of tonsils. There
is a palatine tonsil either side of
the back of the mouth. The lingual tonsil
behind the tongue, and the tubal tonsils
and adenoids on the roof of the mouth
are part of the lymphatic system, a
network of vessels used by the immune

system to patrol and defend the body.
Together they form a defensive ring
that guards the entrance to the lungs
and digestive system. Inside the tonsils,
powerful cells of the immune system
can detect infection early, and mount a
rapid response.


WHAT ARE BLACK BOX FLIGHT
RECORDERS MADE FROM?

Cockpit flight recorders are
enclosed in a steel or titanium box
(which is painted orange to make it
easier to find). Inside that there are
some racks of very rugged electronics,
but most of these don’t actually need
to withstand a plane crash, as long as
the tapes or memory chips containing

the actual data do. They are stored in

an inner armoured steel case coated in
a flame retardant paint and lined with
several layers of insulating materials.
Blocks of paraffin wax are used at
various points as thermal barriers. In a
fire, the paraffin melts and absorbs
some of the heat.


WHAT

IT?

SWIPE TO REVEAL

IS


“HIGH DUNE”
MARTIAN SAND DUNES
The rippled surface of the first
Martian sand dune ever
studied up close fills this Nov. 27,
2015, view of “High Dune” from the
Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity
rover. The dunes close to Curiosity’s
current location are part of “Bagnold
Dunes,”
a
band

along
the
northwestern flank of Mount Sharp
inside Gale Crater.


WHY DO

CATS

LOVE

CATNIP?

There is an oil found in the catnip
plant (nepeta cataria) called
nepetalactone. Researchers believe
that when this oil enters a cat’s nasal
tissue, it binds to protein receptors
that stimulate sensory neurons. This
leads to a response in neurons in a
certain part of the brain known as the
olfactory bulb which projects to other
brain regions; regions that mediate
emotional responses to stimuli
(causing a behavioural response),
and regulate neuroendocrine
responses, making the cat react
to an artificial cat pheromone. It
doesn’t affect all cats, but many

roll around, flip over, get
hyperactive and sometimes act
aggressively, before experiencing a
come down ten minutes later.


WHY DOES

WATER

EXPAND
WHEN FROZEN?
The molecules of most
elements are more compact
in their solid form than they are
in their liquid state, but water is
different. As you may know,
each water molecule is made
up of one oxygen atom with
two hydrogen atoms attached.
The hydrogen atoms in water
have a positive charge and
cause the water molecules to
be attracted to one another.
This attraction forces water to
form a net of crystals with lots
of gaps in it as it freezes. The
crystal net structure takes
up more space than liquid
water and so water expands

as
it
turns
to
ice.


HOW ARE THE

NAMES OF

PLANETS
CHOSEN?
Planetary names in our Solar
System
are
derived
from
mythology – except for Earth, which
comes from Middle English. Since five
of the planets can be seen by the naked
eye, they have been called many things
depending on the culture over the
centuries before their
current names became
standard.
Uranus
(previously thought to have
been a star) is the only
planet whose name comes from

Greek
rather
than
Roman

my thology.
N e p t u n e ’ s
discoverers argued
over who could name
it, while former planet Pluto’s name
was suggested by an 11 year old in the
UK. There were no planetary naming
rules until 1919, when the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) formed. The
IAU is currently in charge of naming all
celestial objects.


WHY DO
LIPS GET

CHAPPED?

When lips lose moisture,
the skin covering them
can become tight and crack or
become
flaky,
sometimes
resulting in sore and even bleeding

lips. Unlike other parts of our body,
our lips do not contain oil glands,
which means they are more likely to
become dry. Other factors then
exacerbate the situation. So, a lack of
moisture makes matters worse, whether
this is weather induced or a failure to
moisturise lips manually, and frequently
licking lips actually removes moisture too.
Extreme weather conditions, like cold or
dry air, wind and Sun exposure,
strip moisture, and also lead
to chapped lips.


WHAT’S THE
DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN
FROGS AND
TOADS?
Frogs and toads share many
features, so they are often
confused. They both belong to the
Anura order of the class Amphibia, but
they usually have features that help to
separate them. Frogs have long legs to
enable them to jump and mucuscovered skins. Toads are fatter, have

dry skin, and have shorter legs. Frogs
tend to stay close to water while toads

are more often found inland. While this
category is huge, we tend to think of
‘true frogs’ as members of the Ranidae
family, and ‘true toads’ as members of
the Bufonidae family, each of which
contains hundreds of different species.


K
R
A
P
E
N
O
YELLOWST
-metre high
Wild beasts, 30 ervolcano
up
geysers and a s y the USA
ro
that could dest

SWIPE
FOR MORE


1
Jackson Lake

“During the 1988 ‘summer of fire’ 36 per
cent of the park was affected by wildfires”
3
Heart Lake

5

2
Grand Teton

e Yellowstone
Grand Canyon of th

4

Yellowstone Lake

2
1
6

3

7
8
9

4

5

10

6
Lewis Lake

7
Shoshone Lake

8
‘Old Faithful’ Geyser

9

Grand Prismatic Spring

10

Mammoth Hot S
prings


WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE

DIFFERENT FOODS?

The tip and sides of the tongue
have lots of fungiform papillae,
responsible for sensing the five different
tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and

umami. Different people have different
numbers of these bumps, allowing
them to be broadly separated into three
groups: non-tasters, medium tasters
and supertasters.

Supertasters can have as many as
ten times more fungiform papillae than
non-tasters, and as a result of this, are
much more sensitive to flavour.
They report that sweet foods taste
sweeter and fatty foods taste creamier,
and they often dislike the taste of bitter
foods, such as broccoli, cabbage and
brussel sprouts.


FLY?
FLYING
FISH
HOW DO

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s
actually a fish. Strictly speaking
though, flying fish do not really fly.
They use their fins to help them glide
through the air, but they do not flap
them like wings. The fish developed
this technique to help them escape
predators in the water, but they cannot

remain airborne for very long, because
they need to return to the water
to breathe.

Tail technique

Gliding

The fish begins rapidly beating its
tail, which is still underwater, to
gain thrust.

By spreading its fins, the fish
can glide through the air for
up to 200 metres (655 feet)
at a time.

Lift off

Staying airborne

When it falls back towards the
surface, it can beat its tail in the
water to begin another glide.

Long distance flight

Flying fish can glide for up to
45 seconds at a time

Streamlined body

When swimming, the fish folds its
fins against its body to make it
more streamlined and gain speed.

By completing successive glides, the fish
can travel up to 400 metres (1,312
feet) through the air.

By angling its body upwards,
the fish breaks through the
surface of the water to
heights of up to six metres
(20 feet).

Speedy swimming

The fish begins by swimming really
fast underwater. They can reach
speeds of over 60 kilometres (37
miles) per hour.


HOW WAS STONEHENGE BUILT?
An enigma of prehistoric civil
engineering and a dramatic
silhouette on the landscape of Salisbury
Plain, the megalithic monuments at
Stonehenge are a constant reminder of

the incredible resourcefulness of
ancient civilisations.
Construction of Stonehenge was
divided into three stages. The first,
between 3000 and 2500 BC, involved
the creation of an ordinary henge
monument (a circular enclosure
bounded by banks and a ditch) that was
used for ceremonies and burials.
The second stage saw the arrival of
Welsh bluestones from the Preseli
mountains. In around 2150 BC, people
began transporting these four-ton
stones to Wiltshire using a combination
of rollers and sledges on land, and rafts

across the sea and rivers. At the end of
the 386-kilometer journey the stones
were arranged as a double circle in the
centre of the Stonehenge site. These
bluestones provided a sacred focus,
which Stonehenge experts professors
Timothy Darvill and Geoff Wainwright
suggest was due to the stones’
perceived magic healing powers. Once
the stones were set up, the site attracted
more interest with visitors and pilgrims
from all over northern Europe.
In around 2000 BC, the third phase
of construction began when Sarsen

stones were transported from a site 25
miles from the monument. These
immense stones – the heaviest of which
weighed 50 tons – were positioned
upright in an outer circle with horizontal
lintels running between each vertical.


WHY HAS

FLOODING
BECOME SUCH A
PROBLEM?

Unfortunately, flooding is simply
a part of nature. One in six
properties are at risk of flooding in
England and Wales. Changes in our
climate, such as more severe storms
and wetter winters, will increase the
risk of flooding in the future. There are
a variety of ways to tackle flooding and
these are just a few of them.
Changes in land use, such as
building houses or putting down
concrete, can increase the risk of
flooding. Because of this, we advise

against developments that will have an
adverse affect on flooding.

When building flood defences we
look for ways to work with nature rather
than against it. Creating mudflats and
salt marshes to store flood water can
prevent flooding elsewhere, and can
also provide environmental benefits
such as new habitats.
Individuals and communities also
have a role to play in protecting
themselves and their properties from
flood risk.