Category: Marine Biology

The Reason the Coriolis Force Does Not Affect the Way Water Flows Within Drainage

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Both clockwise and counterclockwise flowing drains can be found regardless of the hemisphere in which they are observed. The Coriolis force is too weak to affect such small bodies of water, which is why this occurs. The effect is more measurably observed in large bodies of water like the ocean which is where hurricanes and typhoons begin to emerge. The reason the Coriolis effect takes place is because of the northern and southern pole. If observed from the northern pole, the Earth rotates counterclockwise however when viewed from the southern pole, the Earth appears to rotate clockwise. The analogy of a spinning disc helps to illustrate this image. From the top, a disc appears to spin clockwise as it plays the content stored upon it, but if viewed from below, that same disc would appear to the observer as if rotating counter clockwise

Analogs of the Christian Bible’s Epic of Noah’s Ark

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In London, England in 2014, Dr. Irving Finkel, one of, if not the worlds most foremost authoritive upon cuneiform writing, published a book entitled “The Ark Before Noah” which states that a 3700 year old Sumerian tablet translated by Finkel depicts the Christian biblical story of Noah and the flood which drowned the world. This tablet is at the very least 1000 years older than that of the Biblical epic. In the Christina Bible, Noah is warned of a cataclysmic flood by God. A similar story exists in ancient Indian Vedic texts in which King Manu was forewarned by Lord Vishnu in the form a fish, of a great flood impending, with Manu constructing a large boat and ultimately surviving. In the Babylonian poem the Epic of Gilgamesh, the protagonist Utnapishtim (pronounced “ut-nah-pish-tim”) is advised of an impending flood by the god Enki (pronounced “en-kee”). In ancient Aztec culture, a sacred male and female couple hide within a hollow tree with corn while holding steady as the deluge of a great flood envelops the Earth. Ancient Celtic, Norse, and Chinese mythology also account similar stories in which a great flood occurs and only some survive. The common denominator between all of these stories is intervention by a force which knew ahead of time of the impending cataclysm

The Reason The Ganges River is Considered a Living Goddess Within Hinduism

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In Hinduism it is believed that Lord Shiva, one of the most important gods in Hinduism, absorbed the powers of the goddess Ganga as she fell from the heavens, and through the locks of his hair. This is why the Ganges River is believed to be a living goddess, with the power to wash away the sins of a lifetime. It is written in Hindu mythology that Ganga will cease to exist in the Age of Downfall which seems to be the case as the glaciers which feed the Ganges River have been retreating at a steady pace

The Loudest Animal Upon Earth

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Blue whales communicate at volumes up to 185 decibels, and can be heard tens of kilometers away and possibly even hundreds of kilometers away. It is believed that the U.S. Navy’s Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) transmitters can produce sounds underwater up to 215 decibels. To provide a frame of reference, the Saturn V rocket launch produced a sound of 200 decibels, loud enough to kill a human being. The blue whale is the loudest animal within the ocean in terms of continuous, sustained sound

The Reason Icebergs Sink Ships

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The reason that an iceberg is able to cut into the side hull of a ship (e.g. Titanic etc.) or any other marine vessel is dual fold. The first reason is because steel becomes more brittle, the colder it gets. Steel created during the early 20th century was not tempered as steel is during the modern day. The second reason is because of inertia, weight, and force. An iceberg can slash through steel the same way a tree can rip through a vehicle that has hit it. An iceberg is a large, immovable object, so whether the hull is comprised of wood or titanium, the ice will always win out as it has more inertia and mass. To provide a frame of reference, bone is incredibly strong and tensile, however if a brick which is harmless while at rest, slams down from a height above the arm, the force it imparts is enough to break said bone

The Country With the Most Vegetarians Per Capita and the First Notation of Vegetarianism Within Western Literature

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The country with the most vegetarians per capita is India, with 39% of the country identifying as vegetarian and/or vegan, a value which equates to 276,000,000 (276 million) people. This is primarily due to the dominant religion within India which is Hinduism, a faith which 79.8% of the country subscribes to, and to a lesser extent, Sikhism, a faith which promotes vegetarianism and is subscribed to by 1.7% of the country. Mexico trails India for the second spot internationally with 19% of the country identifying as vegetarian and Brazil takes the third spot with 14% having adopted this diet. The first time vegetarianism is mentioned within recorded western history is by the Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras around 500 BC, however it is unclear if this is the first recorded text worldwide

The Reason it is Impossible to Store, Purchase, and/or Sell Live Tuna

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It is virtually impossible to store, purchase, and/or sell tuna fish live as tuna die shortly after capture. This is due to the fact that tuna breathe using ram-gill ventilation, which means that they must constantly stay in motion to have water pass over their gills and feed their body with oxygen. Motion is required continuously, exerted during both hours spent awake and time spent asleep. As the tuna is in motion, water flows into its mouth and over its gills and gill filaments, diffusing oxygen into the tunas bloodstream while simultaneously releasing carbon dioxide. This function is performed equally well at both slow and high rates of speed as long as consistent motion is achieved

How Ocean Wind Turbines Produce Electrical Energy

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Wind turbines run upon a simple engineering principle which is that of wind causing the blades to turn which rotates a shift within the turbine, with this shaft producing energy for the electrical generator. This electrical energy is pumped downward, 300’ below the water surface, and into cables buried below the seabed which connect to offshore substations which then connect to onshore power stations and finally residential homes and industrial and commercial buildings. Ocean wind turbines are typically 600’ high in altitude, with spinning fiberglass blades which are approximately 240’ long, with each blade weighing up to 30 tonnes. Because of this immense size, measurements (e.g. angle of blades etc.) are crucial during the construction phase to maximize efficiency and energy output. A single revolution of a wind turbine can generate enough electricity to power an entire family home for 24 hours

The Ecologically Destructive Technique of Blast Fishing and Cyanide Fishing

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Blast fishing was introduced in Southeast Asia post World War II, by American soldiers who threw grenades into bodies of water to yield a large cache of fish, a technique which is used  during the modern day to produce fish as a food resource in local markets. Dynamite is often used but any explosive will perform the task effectively, even improvised devices which utilize an explosive chemical within a glass drinking bottle with an improvised wick lit by a cigarette. Cyanide fishing is an ecologically destructive method of catching fish in which a diver takes bottled cyanide and pumps it into reef areas where fish reside, stunning the fish and making them easier to catch, so that they can be extracted for the pet and live fish trades. These techniques result in coral reefs losing their color and ultimately dying, eliminating a major food source for marine life within the region. Both methods are extremely damaging to the ecosystem and left unchecked, can decimate entire ecosystems within a few short years. Portions of and entire coral reefs which have slowly built over thousands of years can be destroyed in a matter of seconds by using either of these harmful techniques. Fortunately, both methods of fishing are illegal in most of Southeast Asia

The Argument Against Stem Cell Research and Why This Will No Longer be a Problem in the Future

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The reason stem cell research is controversial for some is because it is viewed as damaging and harvesting from one life to help another. This argument may be obsolete in the future as scientists are now discovering ways to create stem cells from cells within the body (e.g. skin cells etc.). The traditional method to create a stem cell was to take a skin cell, remove the deoxyribonucleic acid from its nucleus, placing it into an egg which does not have deoxyribonucleic acid but is capable of changing deoxyribonucleic acid, turning it into a stem cell which has the patients genome ascribed unto it. The new method involves placing 4 genes into the nucleus of the skin cell and allowing time to pass, as the genes reorganize the deoxyribonucleic acid so that it begins to appear as stem cell deoxyribonucleic acid, which changes the skin cell and causes it to shrink, losing its outside, converting it into an embryonic stem cell with the only difference between this method and traditional embryonic stem cell creation method being that this technique contains the deoxyribonucleic acid of the patient it is being inserted into. The 4 genes inserted into the cell create 4 proteins which exist naturally within an egg. These proteins trigger the skin cell deoxyribonucleic acid to arrange itself identically to how it would within an embryonic stem cell. Scientists refer to this type of cell as “induced pluripotent stem cells”, commonly abbreviated as “IPS cells”. Ideally, scientists want induced pluripotent stem cells to function identically to natural embryonic stem cells, avoiding the creation of unwanted cells which can lead to cancer. Researchers have discovered that some laboratory created stem cells fail to carry out the task provided and worse yet, some cause cancer to develop. Scientists are currently pursuing 2 paths to alleviate this problem, the first being the attempt to develop induced pluripotent stem cells which function identically to natural embryonic stem cells and the second being to create a system to recognize which induced pluripotent stem cells will fail in an effort to exclude these cells from being inserted into the human body