Category: Hydrology

How Japanese Fishers Used Sumi Ink to Document Their Trophy Catches During the 19th Century

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In Japan, there is a traditional art medium referred to as “Gyotaku” (pronounced “gyoo-tah-koo”), which means “fish impression” in Japanese. The art form began in the 1800’s when fishers wanted to record their prized catches before the development of photography. These fishers would coat their most prized catches in sumi ink, press the inked fish onto washi paper, and this create a highly detailed and ornate print which demonstrates the fish’s size and features at a 1:1 scale. The ink relies upon pure collagen, manufactured by simmering raw animal tissue for hours at a temperature range of 60 – 65 degrees Celsius, until such time that the protein of the tissue dissolves into a clear liquid adhesive. Once this occurs, the organic solution is mixed with ultra finely compacted soot pigment, creating a rich and viscous ink to produce prints from

The Fallacy of Snowflakes Being Perfectly Symmetrical

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The 6 sided geometric symmetry observed within snowflakes is governed by the rigid molecular structure of hexagonal ice, which is the only crystalline form water can adopt within the Earth’s atmosphere, and the reason snowflakes always have 6 dendrites (points) like a hexagon. It is a common misconception that all snow crystals (snowflakes) exhibit perfect symmetry, as most often they do not possess this characteristic. It is true in the sense that at the microscopic molecular scale, snow crystals form perfectly, but it is untrue because at the macro, real world scale, anomalies virtually always form. This occurs because as the snow crystal becomes larger, water molecules no longer attach to develop and maintain a uniform orientation. Additionally, as the snow crystal grows and expands, factors of the ambient environment begin to influence it (e.g. effects of humidity and temperature etc.) causing the snow crystal to grow one way whilst in one position of a cloud and then grow in a completely different orientation once having been forcibly moved to a different spot within that same cloud. Because of this, it is rare but still possible to find a perfectly symmetrical snowflake. This explains why despite the complex and random nature of snow crystal growth, all 6 arms must align in every case and grow along the same 6 fixed 60 degree axes. If this does not occur, the snow crystal would violate the fundamental laws of energy minimization (to become most stable) dictated by the hydrogen bond lattice (framework connecting atoms within water), which would cause the structure of the snow crystal to become thermodynamically unstable and therefore highly prone to fracture

The Origin of Life Upon Earth

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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is most likely not the first building block of life because of its complicated double helix pattern. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is also statistically unlikely because although it is only half as complex as deoxyribonucleic acid being that it does not resemble a double helix structure, but rather a single helix structure, it would have required 5 specific sugar molecules to spontaneously bind together, one by one, in a very specific order. Threose nucleic acid (TNA) however, would only require 4 identical simple sugar molecules to spontaneously, come together. This is theoretically the most probable candidate for being the first spark of life. Threose nucleic acid can easily base pair and exchange genetic information with ribonucleic acid making it the best blueprint which would have shown up long before the complex cellular machinery, which is found within all living cells today

The Reason WD-40 Was Developed

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The WD-40 formula was developed by 3 scientists who succeeded in their goal upon the 40th design attempt, with the name WD-40 being an acronym meaning “Water Displacement: 40th Formula”. WD-40 was created in 1953 by the Rocket Chemical Company located in San Diego, United States of America. The formula was originally researched and developed as a means to protect the outer skin and thin tanks (e.g. lightweight pressurized tanks which provide structural support when filled saving weight overall) of SM-65 Atlas intercontinental ballistic missiles from rust and corrosion during the manufacturing, handling, and storage process(es) of missile silos. This proprietary mixture resolved for the aerospace industry the need for a dependable water displacing solvent which prevented moisture and other related damage. Early use of WD-40 upon Atlas SM-65 missiles demonstrated the solutions superior effectiveness in comparison to analogs. This prompted a handful of employees to take canisters of WD-40 home which inadvertently inspired the projects founder, Norm Larsen, to package WD-40 in an aerosol form designed specifically for consumer use. WD-40 first appeared on store shelves in 1958 and developed applications in spacecraft maintenance, disaster recovery, and countless home and industrial tasks (eg. lubricating stuck hinges of seized doors, displacing moisture upon electrical contacts, loosening rusted and/or seized bolts etc.)

The Advent of the Ancient Egyptian Clepsydra (Water Clock)

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The Clepsydra (pronounced “clep-see-drah”), more commonly referred to as the “water clock”, was among the earliest technological devices engineered for measuring time, predating mechanical clocks by over a millennia. The earliest known example of a clepsydra is from Ancient Egypt, constructed close to 1400 B.C., and attributed to an Egyptian court official named “Amenemhet” (pronounced “ah-men-ehm-het”). Clepsydra clocks operated using 1 of 2 primary designs; which includes both outflow and inflow setups. In an outflow clepsydra, water exited the chamber container through a small hole at the bottom, and the measurement of time was tracked by the continually lowered water level which was measured against internal markings. Inflow clepsydras reversed this design setup with water entering a marked container vessel, and the continually rising water level indicating the amount of time which had elapsed. The main challenge of the inflow and outflow designs was maintaining a consistent flow rate of water because as water drained, pressure dropped which slowed the drip rate and skewed the clocks accuracy. Ancient Greek engineer Ctesibius (pronounced “teh-sib-ee-us”) addressed this problem by introducing an overflow tank with a fixed water level, ensuring constant pressure and uniform water flow at all times. Ctesibius also added a float regulated valve system, an early feedback mechanism designed to stabilize inflow of water and prevent overflow, much the same as the float controlled fill valve (e.g. ballcock, float cup valve, diaphragm type inlet valve etc.) installed within toilets during the modern day. Subsequent future cepsydra designs implemented gears and escape mechanisms to convert water movement into mechanical energy/motion. Chinese engineers expanded further upon the concept of the clepsydra by introducing polyvascular systems, in which water flowed through multiple containment vessels in an effort to better regulate timing intervals. These innovations permitted water clocks to function independently of sunlight unlike sundials, the prevailing time keeping technology throughout history, and laid the foundation for regulated mechanical timekeeping which proceeded it. Despite limitations (e.g. temperature dependent viscosity, leakage and evaporation, the need for constant manual maintenance by human beings etc.), clepsydras remained in use for centuries and were the first controlled, replicable timekeeping systems in history only falling out of fashion during the late Middle Ages due to the ascendency of mechanical, pendulum and gear based clocks

The Period When Human Begins Developed a Throw Away Cultural Mindset

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Human beings have arguably been a throw away culture, or at the very least mindset and culture, since 1892 when bottle caps were first introduced. The trend has become more and more prevalent to the point where we now replace an entire transmission rather than a gasket. This shift reflects the rise of planned obsolescence, in which products are intentionally designed to have limited lifespans and/or be extremely difficult or expensive to repair. As manufacturing has become cheaper and mass production more efficient, the economic incentive to discard and replace overtook the values of maintenance and longevity. In all industries (eg. electronics, automotive, fashion etc.), repair has been sidelined in favor of convenience and profit. The result is a global surge in waste, with millions of tons of usable materials ending up in landfills each year. Fortunately, there is an expanding movement advocating for the right to repair one’s own possessions which is now acting as a counterbalance to this disposable mindset

The Advent and Evolution of Noodles Within China

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The oldest known noodles ever discovered were found in China and date back 4000 years, discovered virtually fully preserved in a sealed bowl buried beneath sediment. These noodles were not made of wheat but rather from millet, which provides insight into early culinary traditions of the ancient world. These millet based noodles were distinct from future varieties which relied upon wheat, reflecting the grains available in ancient China during the period. This discovery demonstrates the early noodle making techniques which became refined over the coming centuries. By 400 B.C., noodles existed across Asia, likely produced by mixing flour and water into a dough. In comparison to the noodles from 400 B.C., which were likely produced using wheat or other grains and kneaded into dough, the 4000 year old noodles appeared to have been hand pulled and stretched into thin strands rather than being cut. By 400 B.C., more structured noodle cutting methods had emerged, allowing for different regional styles and preparations of noodles to develop (e.g. Lamian which is a hand pulled noodle still popular during the modern day, Dao Xiao Mian which is shaved directly from a block of dough, Biang Biang Mian which is known for its wide belt like shape etc.). These discoveries highlight not only the ingenuity of early civilizations but also the evolution of food production and technologies to produce said food. The shift from millet based noodles to flour based dough reflects advancements in milling, agricultural practices, and culinary techniques, demonstrating how food has continuously adapted over time to the resources available to local populations

The Reason Human Beings Evolved to Become Bi-Pedal

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There is evidence that between 6,000,000 – 10,000,000 (6 million – 10 million) years ago, grasslands expanded across landscapes, creating vast open savannas, whilst tall grasses continued to remain dominant within wetter environments. These novel environments influenced the movement and adaptation of early human beings. It is theorized by scientists that human beings walked out of these evolving landscapes and adapted to the ground as humans were not evolved and/or adapted to take advantage of tall grasses the way other species are (e.g. snakes, mice, large cats etc.). It is also theorized by scientists that human beings needed to stand upright because the forests around them were thinning and with that, the canopy disappearing, making it virtually impossible to move from treetop to treetop as time moved forward. With the discovery of the hominid Anamensis, it is now clear to scientists that the tree of human ancestry follows its evolutionary order from Australopithecus Anamensis 4,200,000 (4.2 million) years ago, to Kenyanthropus Platyops, to Homo Habilis within the past 2,300,000 (2.3 million) years, to Homo Erectus, and finally to Homo Sapiens, the species to which modern day human beings belong to. Anamensis allows scientists to definitively state that bipedalism occurred 500,000 years earlier than what was previously believed as the tibia bone from Anamensis clearly demonstrates that Anamensis walked upright on both legs

How Plants Produce Food Via Photosynthesis

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If a leaf is magnified 1000x, green bacteria like structures can be observed, referred to as “chloroplasts,” which are packed into virtually every cell of a plant. These chloroplasts behave like bacteria, retaining their own deoxyribonucleic acid, and are only 5000ths of 1 millimeter (0.005 millimeters or 5 micrometers) in diameter. It is inside chloroplasts that photosynthesis occurs. Photons, which are tiny and rapid moving particles of electromagnetic energy (e.g. rays of light), are harvested upon the surface of the plant’s leaves, where they then enter the plant’s cells and are absorbed by the light harvesting complex located within the chloroplasts themselves. It is here that the photon is leveraged to drive the photolysis reaction, which is to split a water molecule and release oxygen, electrons, and hydrogen ions, fueling the energy transfer mechanisms that ultimately convert carbon dioxide into sugars for the plant’s growth and survival

The Lush Forests of Australia and Antarctica During the Mesozoic Period and the Reason Antarctica Became Cold

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Both Australia and Antarctica were once fused together as part of the supercontinent Gondwana, neither being an arid and hot landscape nor a cold desert but instead a vast and lush forest, larger than the Amazon Rainforest, spanning thousands of kilometers in size. The reason Antarctica is no longer temperate and forested is because in contrast to most shorelines which disrupt and disperse ocean currents upon contact with the coastline, the waters around Antarctica encircle it unobstructed, forming the Antarctic Circumpolar Current after the Drake Passage opened 34,000,000 (34 million) years ago. Because there is no land to stop this flow of water, it forces the current to become stronger and deeper over time. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current cut the continent of Antarctica off from the warm waters of the north, a thermal isolation further exacerbated by decreasing carbon dioxide levels over millions of years. In a mere 1,000,000 (1 million) years during a rapid cooling phase, although the full shift took tens of millions of years to complete, Antarctica transitioned from an appearance which resembled Australia during its wetter, forested period of the Cenozoic Era, to become a frozen tundra, virtually uninhabitable by humans until the mid 20th century, due to its subzero temperatures which consistently remain far below any other location upon Earth, as well as being locked in by vast ice sheets which formed 14,000,000 (14 million) years ago