Damascus, Syria, the birthplace of Damascus steel was prized in the ancient world for its durability but unbeknownst to the craftspeople who forged Damascus steel, the region from which the iron ore was taken had naturally occurring nickel which meant that Damascus metalsmiths had composite steel 3000 years before the rest of the world as the idea to mix different kinds of metals had not yet been invented. Damascus steel was shatter resistant and could be sharpened to become sharper than any other type of steel. Having first encountered it during the Crusades of the 11th century, European forgers attempted for centuries to recreate what their Middle Eastern counterparts had already perfected
Category: Engineering
The Advent and Original Intent of Intelligence Quotient Examinations
Intelligence quotient examinations were invented by the French psychologist Alfred Binet as a way of measuring and identifying skill sets which children had or had not yet developed during their adolescence. The idea was to calculate the mental age divided by the chronological age to determine whether a child was ahead or behind their peer group
The Evolution of Primitive and Sophisticated Neural Networks
The human brain has 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) connections and 86,000,000,000 (86 billion) neurons, which is more connections and neurons than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Ironically, the majority of the most successful creatures on Earth do not have a brain; organisms like plants, coral, and jellyfish. The sea squirt is a primary example as it has just 200 neurons, allowing it only to perceive and display simple interaction with the environment by sensing light and moving its flagellum. The sea squirt moves around until it finds a rock, then it dumps its tail and uses those once dedicated neurons for different applications, staying anchored to this spot for the rest of its life. Neurons were originally designed to allow for simple motion and movement, but as evolution progressed steadily, neural networks began to build and design intelligent life which is capable of consciousness and a sense of self but also more abstract concepts like art, mathematics, and science
The Decaying Sewage Infrastructure of Calcutta, India
Kolkatan sewers were once the envy of the world, built during the Victorian era and spanning 90 kilometers below the city. Because the Kolkatan sewer system is now 130 years old, it no longer functions as it should, especially when accounting for the increasingly large modern day population of Calcutta, India. Due to this, teams of workers with buckets enter the sewers every night all over Calcutta to shovel and remove excrement so that blockages don’t occur. Workers typically work 11:00 PM – 5:00 AM because this is when the least amount of people are awake to use the bathroom. The problem is becoming increasingly worse as time progresses, being that more and more people are now connecting into the central city sewage line as incomes and quality of life increases throughout India
The Mathematical Inventions of Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
The mathematical concept of algorithms were developed by and subsequently named after Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (pronounced “moo-ham-mad ih-bin moo-sah al kwar-iz-me”), an Islamic scholar who lived during the 8th century. The concept of algorithms arrived in Europe in the 12th century and al-Khwarizmi’s name was translated to Latin which is where the term “algorithm” is derived. al-Khwarizmi also introduced the western world to the decimal system and introduced reduction and balancing methods (e.g. like and unlike terms) causing al-Khwarizmi to become referred to as the ”father and founder of algebra”. The term “algebra” is derived from the Arabic term “al-jabr” which means “reunion of broken parts”. al-Khwarizmi invented and used algebra to solve quadratic equations and it has been stated throughout history that the ideas that al-Khwarizmi developed, helped usher in the European Renaissance during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries
The End of the Universe and the Big Crunch Theory
The likelihood of a Big Crunch in which the universe expands to the point that it then collapses inward upon itself is not very probable as mathematical calculations demonstrate that there simply isn’t enough mass in the entire universe to be able to revert into into an enormous compaction. The idea of the universe folding in upon itself can be visualized by imagining a person throwing a ball in the air. The Earth has enough mass to bring a thrown ball back down to the ground but if thrown faster than the speed of escape velocity which is 11.186 kilometers per second, a thrown ball would never come back down, in fact, it would travel an infinite distance over an infinite timespan before the Earth mathematically had enough time and mass to pull the ball back to its starting position. The universe is represented by the Earth in that it acts as a force upon other objects and the ball represents all matter throughout the universe in this thought experiment
The National Security System of Dubai
Dubai has one of the most sophisticated surveillance states in the world. It is incredibly difficult to bypass Dubai intelligence, which Dubai promotes as a positive aspect of its government. The Arab Spring of 2011 gave way to multiple riots and protests across the Middle East which is why monitoring and security have become especially tight within the past decade. Social media and smartphones played a pivotal role in the uprising of the public across the Islamic world which is why Dubai has stepped up its surveillance measures. Dubai’s surveillance system is an ecosystem entitled “Falcon Eye”, a nod to the importance of falconry within Arab culture, a sophisticated network with software which tracks the movement of a person from the moment they leave their home until the moment they return. Camera surveillance is not the only method used however as the Dubai government has openly admitted to the tracking and monitoring of smartphones as well as to sending state agents to follow individuals like journalists via motorized vehicle and upon foot when a person is deemed to possibly cause a threat to the states national security. The reason this activity is not hidden from the public is because the Dubai government wants citizens and foreigners to know that they actively engage in the monitoring of what people do when within its borders. Dubai started spending millions of dollars in 2011 on state of the art Israeli spyware which had the ability to infect smartphones and turn them into portable surveillance devices as they are almost always with the person who is being spied upon. In the past decade, as of 2019, the United Arab Emirates has made strides in opening up communication and relationships with law enforcement and governments located near the Indian Ocean. This allows the reach of the Dubai government to effectively be international, much the same way that the U.S. has international diplomatic links with many other democracies around the world
One of the Key Factors Behind the Rise of the U.S. as a World Super Power
The U.S. went from being an experiment in democracy and a colonial backwater during the 18th century, to the most technologically advanced and industrialized country in the world in the 20th century, with this incredible transformation occurring because of those who founded the country and their understanding that the U.S. could not farm its way to wealth, with innovation being encouraged and promoted. Because of this simple yet novel idea, ordinary people suddenly had the opportunity to invent and make life easier for society at large, and were incentivized to profit from these ideas because of patent protection. The Americans developed a system in which new ideas were sought after because they were profitable which is a much more powerful motivational factor than prestige alone or the will and desire to help the greater collective of civilization. It’s not that the U.S. population is more creative than other nations, rather it is because the U.S. government actively decided to back and support those who pursued invention by providing them with a high probability to a path of moderate to substantial fortune. Protecting invention is single handedly one of the most important and influential ideas which has ever developed within the U.S., and even during the modern era, countries which fail to inspire innovation and protect it from theft and exploitation, continue to play catch up with industrialized nations who do reward and promote innovation
Scientific Explanation of the Abortion Procedure
Abortions can be carried out in 2 ways, either surgically or pharmacologically by taking medication. Pharmacologically speaking, the secondary option is indicative of an induced miscarriage. Women can choose this option until 10 weeks into their pregnancy. The medication Mifepristone RU486 (pronounced “miff-eh-priss-stone”) was approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 2000, and allows women to undergo the abortion procedure within the privacy of their own home. Mifepristone is taken first which causes the process of an abortion to start by halting the growth process and detaching the infant from the womb. 24 hours later, Misoprostol (pronounced “miso-prah-stull”) helps to induce the cramping and bleeding which will help the body push the developing fetus out of the uterus. Most physicians offer intravenous sedation to help comfort those who undergo an uncomfortable and sometimes painful procedure with social stigma attached. Most patients prefer surgical abortion as it allows them to psychologically leave the abortion behind them, in the clinic. The procedure itself is incredibly safe and requires that a woman be placed into stirrups after which a physician performs a bimanual examination to feel the positioning of the uterus, a speculum is placed into position and the cervix is cleaned, a small clip is placed upon the top of the cervix so that the uterine canal is straight, after which the cervix is then dilated and the pregnancy is removed via suction. The entire process takes 2 – 5 minutes and complications are incredibly rare. One of the most important components of safety in terms of procedure is to ensure that all pregnancy tissue has been removed from the uterus. Physicians take any tissue removed, usually to a specialized room within the clinic, so that it can be rinsed off and examined in a dish with a backlight which allows for confirmation of all the tissue which should be present in respect to the length of gestation prior to the abortion procedure. This helps physicians monitor for possible complications which may arise in the future. Prior to 10 weeks, a fetus is a small sack of tissue with nothing recognizable as human, but after the 10 week mark, various bits of tissue become recognizable as human parts
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The Physics of the Pac-Man Universe
The game of Pac-Man allows players to exit the world on one side, and re-enter upon a completely different side without delay. Pac-Man’s universe appears to be a flat, two dimensional, rectangular shape, but in reality it must be cylindrical like a pipe, only with the 2 ends of the pipe touching, making Pac-Man’s universe actually in the shape of a donut