Skulls in the Stars

Here are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week!

438. May 25: Halomonas titanicae, a new species of bacteria found in 2010 to be eating the Titanic!  This is doubly odd, in that the bacteria eats iron oxide and also that it was found on the wreckage of the Titanic.

439. May 26: 2009 was the year that remote-controlled cyborg beetles came into existence!  One can see why the military would be interested in a tiny, remote-controlled surveillance bug!  One can also see video of the testing.

440. May 27: The regular appearance of the Fibonacci sequence in plants. The Fibonacci sequence, which really started as an abstract mathematical concept, surprisingly shows up a lot in plant growth.

441. May 28: The “Slinky” was invented by accident when a naval engineer inadvertantly knocked a spring from a shelf.  Designer Richard James was attempting to develop springs that could stabilize sensitive instruments on ships in rough seas.

442. May 29: Humpback whales trap fish in a “net” made of bubbles! 

443. May 30: The 1962 experiment to determine effect of LSD on elephants. 

444. May 31: The Candiru: an Amazonian spiny fish that has been known to swim up the human vagina and urethra!  Ouch!

Here are the Twitter #weirdscifacts for the past week!

431. May 18: Paris syndrome: some visitors to Paris experience hallucinations, feelings of persecution, etc.  The city, which has such an influence on people’s imaginations around the world, apparently can overwhelm some of those who finally arrive.

432. May 19: William Perkin’s 1853 attempt to develop a malaria treatment instead led to first synthetic dye. 

433. May 20: Saturn’s rings can sport waves! 

434. May 21: The whip scorpion — no stinger or venom, but shoots acid from its rear! 

435. May 22: The hexagon at Saturn’s North Pole, and its explanation!  It is quite astonishing that very regular geometric figures can appear in a rather chaotic setting.  (h/t my friend PD)

436. May 23: In 1892, you could already get music on demand through your phone!  (h/t @jenlucpiquant and @boraz)

437. May 24: Nudibranchs: odd and beautiful “sea slugs”!  There are plenty of unusual features of nudibranchs, but here I just marvel at their variety and unusual and beautiful appearance.  An example is shown below, via Wikipedia.  (inspiration via @DrBondar)

Still going strong on the #weirdscifacts!  Here are the past week’s selections that appeared on Twitter.

424. May 11: The bombardier beetle: sprays boiling acid at any predators that attack it! 

425. May 12: Anophthalmus hitleri — a blind cave beetle that was named in honor of Adolf Hitler! The beetle was discovered and named by a scientist in honor of Hitler’s election as Chancellor of Germany, long before his infamy.

426. May 13: Soviet Dr. I.I. Ivanov’s bizarre attempts c. 1926 to breed a human-ape hybrid. 

427. May 14: The basilisk lizard, aka the “Jesus lizard”, can walk on water!  A video of the lizard in action can be viewed here.

428. May 15: “Blue Peacock“, the 1950s nuclear landmine project that planned to use live chickens to keep warm.  This sounds quite absurd, but it was probably considered a very simple and practical solution.  As opposed to more high-tech or complicated methods that could be difficult to implement or fail in the field, here they could just throw a few chickens in a box and run for it!

429. May 16: Character in Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” based on “indifferent” scientist Irving Langmuir.  Vonnegut’s brother worked with Langmuir; Kurt had the impression that Langmuir was a scientist who was indifferent to the implications or consequences of his research.

430. May 17: 1938 execution/experiment of John Deering, in which his heartbeat was monitored during firing squad.  Deering, a perpetrator of multiple murders, agreed to have his heart monitored during his execution as a scientific experiment, thought to be the first of its kind.