Stikkordarkiv: fact of the day

Turns out there may be a chemical reason that we think dogs are man’s best friend. A new brain-imaging study has found that both dogs and humans scan voices for clues about their emotional content in startlingly similar ways, understanding that it’s not always what you say but how you say it that counts. Adam Miklosi, a leading researcher on canine intelligence, explains that – just like humans – dogs are hard-wired to decipher emotional content from voices. Whilst this won’t surprise dog owners one bit, it’s the first time scientific evidence has conclusively proved that there’s a special bond between the species.

Dagens fakta fra Afrika – via Daily Maverick

Fact of the day – 21. februar

It’s no secret that Olympic gold medals only contain about 6 grams gold plating. But what if they really were made of the good stuff? Someone with a lot more time on their hands than us did calculations based on standard medal size and average gold price and determined that not only would each medal weight over 1.5kg, but it would cost over $75 992 (some R840 000).

Dagens fakta fra Afrika – via Daily Maverick.  Se der, ja – de er allikevel litt interessert i OL.

Fact of the day – 20. februar

Ever been so frustrated at your feeble 3G signal that you want to tell your network to take a hike? Turns out you’d probably be better heeding your own advice. Thanks to the 2010 installation of a base station on Mount Everest, the whole mountain is now 3G enabled, including the peak! Now that’s some seriously cool communication.

dagens fakta fra Afrika – via Daily Maverick

Fact of the day – 19. februar

We tend to relegate teenagers to the world of incomprehensible music, weird fashion and not much else. Time to get inspired by these teen inventors! At 15, Jake Andraka discovered a new way of diagnosing pancreatic cancer. Shree Bose figured out how chemotherapy resistance forms in ovarian cancer patients at 17 and, at 18, Eesha Khare invented a super-capacitator that could charge a phone in 20 seconds. Relax, Offspring – the kids are alright after all.

dagens fakta fra Afrika – via Daily Maverick

Fact of the day – 18. februar

Fact of the day – 17. februar

Det første jeg leser om morgenen, mandag til fredag, er Daily Maverick – en sørafrikansk nettsted som analyser først og fremst det som skjer i Sør-Afrika, men også i resten Afrika og i verden for øvrig. (Som regel henger jo alt sammen med alt, viser det seg.) Utrolig dyktige skribenter og veldig artig å lese. Jeg abonnerer på nyhetsbrevet deres, og der presenterer de først et knippe av viktige ting som har skjedd i løpet av natta rundt omkring i verden, så får man det på plass. Så er det litt om hva som kommer til å skje i løpet av dagen (nei, det inkluderer ikke OL-øvelser i Sotsji, men DM er lidenskapelig opptatt av cricket), litt vær, litt aksjekurser – og så – dagens høydepunkt, før selve artikkel-delen: Fact of the day.

Det er utrolig mye man ikke vet, og det utrolig mye som er artig å vite. Og jeg er like spent hver morgen på å finne ut hva jeg skal få vite om i dag. Og jeg har tenkt lenge at jeg bør dele dette med Craftprats lesere. Et slag for kunnskapssamfunnet.

Så mens man i Norge diskuterer i avgrensede fora om hvordan man skal få informert nordmenn om Afrika – her kommer det omvendte. Litt fakta om dette og hint. Brought to you – 100% free –  from Africa – og vi starter med dagens fakta, 17. februar:

Hey generation gadget, we all know you’re advancing our IT evolution, but did you know you’re influencing our biological evolution too? A recent study published in the journal Social Neuroscience shows that the human brain is now reacting to emoticons as if they were real human faces. Those little collections of commas and parentheses have somehow made the leap into our hard wiring, triggering the same chemical response in the occipitotemporal parts of the brain. Interestingly, this only works if the smiley is in the standard order of bracket, dash, comma. So-called ‘reverse’ smileys (placing the bracket first) don’t trigger the same reaction.
🙂

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