10 Interesting Things I Learned in 2017

“You’re mad. Bonkers. Completely off your head…But I’ll tell you a secret…All the best people are.” –Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Lifelong learning begins with curiosity. And curiosity opens rabbit holes before us. Like many of you, when I read or hear about things, I investigate the ones that interest me.

Here are a few interesting things I’ve learned this year. I probably could write a full post on any of them, but I decided to spare you and list them all in one. Here’s hoping that some of these “10 Interesting Things” pique your curiosity also!

10. Nose hair extensions are a thing

Isn’t nose hair a bad thing? Just when I think I understand fashion, I realize I know nothing. Until now, nose hair’s only benefit has been its ability to block a few airborne germs during cold and flu season. That’s not enough reason to let a forest grow. Get a personal trimmer and chop down those logs.

Knowyourmeme.com

But now we have photographic evidence of models who look like star-nosed moles with eyelashes radiating from their nostrils. I’m not saying this trend will catch on, and hopefully it was just a joke gone wrong, but it’s mildly disturbing that anyone is trying to push this trend.

Cosmopolitan article: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/a12837250/nostril-hair-extensions/

9. Goldfish can trick birds into feeding them

The bird in this video is a cardinal. Some have commented the fish look like hungry baby birds (similar color), so that may have triggered this bird’s instinct to feed these gaping, hungry mouths. Or maybe this behavior has a genetic link with male pattern baldness, since this cardinal is missing a few feathers upstairs.

YouTube video:

8. There’s a woman in England who can scream as loud as an AC/DC concert.

The Guinness World Record for the loudest human scream belongs to Jill Drake from Kent, England. Her scream, which is louder than a jackhammer, measures 129 dBA. That’s about the same level of noise as being at a rock concert. I wonder if she can sing an aria and shatter crystal. (This record has been out there for a while, but I only learned about it this year.)

YouTube video of Jill Drake screaming:

Guinness World Record: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/67537-loudest-scream-individual
Human Voice (Discover Magazine): http://discovermagazine.com/2015/sept/20-things-human-voice

7. You shouldn’t shoot at hurricanes

During storm season, a sheriff’s office had to warn people not to shoot into hurricanes. This warning came into response to a joke posting that a Florida man made about holding a hurricane shooting event. But since this happened in Florida, the warning may have been needed anyway. I’m not sure what is more frightening about this story, a storm that can blow a bullet back in your face or someone dumb enough to consider attacking a violent storm with a firearm.

Pasco County (FL) Sheriff's Office.

Police One article: https://www.policeone.com/bizarre/articles/417922006-Fla-sheriffs-office-warns-public-not-to-shoot-at-Hurricane-Irma/

6. You shouldn’t sell things on Facebook

The proof is right here. Enough said.

Source: Facebook via article link below.

Shortlist post: https://www.shortlist.com/news/funny-stupid-news-stories-2017/336312

5. Humans were living in Morocco 300,000 years ago

The origin of our species was thought to have been some 100,000 years later and in East Africa. The journey may have begun in East Africa, but humans apparently walked the earth earlier and hiked further from that cradle than scientists had guessed. With every discovery of early human remains, we learn something new, and this time we learned a lot.

Source: Science.com

Let’s face it: evolutionary anthropologists should use pencils, not pens, to sketch the human evolutionary journey. It’s a map that needs some frequent edits.

Scientific American article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-fossils-from-morocco-mess-up-modern-human-origins/

4. 10 out of 12 water companies in the United Kingdom still use divination (dowsing for water) to locate pipes underground

Dowsing is the practice of using rods or sticks to find underground water, metals, graves, or lost objects. It is considered a pseudo-science. Though it’s been used for centuries, controlled studies in Britain, Germany, New Zealand, and the United States have proved that dowsing is no more effective than random chance.

Public domain

Why, then, do water companies use it? They claim it works: 10 out of 12 U.K. water companies admitted to using the practice recently. According to an engineer at a water company in the United Kingdom, quoted last month in the Guardian, dowsing works about 80% of the time to find water pipes underground, more effective than some modern methods.

It’s also more successful in studies that do not control to remove other potential indicators of water, such as land surface features. When dowsers walk around with their sticks, they are observing these features also and making inferences based on their experience. When they locate water, their hands may respond (consciously or subconsciously) to those signals in their minds and help make the judgment on location. That probably accounts for the success.

Medium article: https://medium.com/@sallylepage/in-2017-uk-water-companies-still-rely-on-magic-6eb62e036b02

Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/22/water-divining-bunk-popular-myths-science-sally-le-page

3. “New money” cryptocurrency investors can send a shitcoin higher than the GDP of many countries

Proof: Monacoin jumped higher than the GDP of Gambia, St Kitts & Nevis, Samoa, and several other countries.

Sources: Coinmarketcap.com (Top); GDP in billions of dollars from Statisticstimes.com/economy/countries-by-projected-gdp.php (Bottom)

2. Scientists can’t turn water into wine, but they can pull water out of air

Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley built a solar-powered harvester that can pull 3 quarts (2.8 liters) of water in 12 hours from air that contains 20-30% humidity. Other groups are working on similar projects. This could be a game-changer in arid climates, in parts of the world where clean water is scarce, and for any off-the-grid needs.

And it looks awesome! Source: MIT.edu.

UC Berkeley article: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/04/13/device-pulls-water-from-dry-air-powered-only-by-the-sun/

1. Love is important

Google has concluded that nine of the Top 10 skills for its employees are soft skills rather than technology skills. For others, it’s all about IQ or EQ (intelligence or emotional intelligence). One of the world’s top entrepreneurs, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, added that Love Quotient (LQ) is what separates the best people in the age of technology. What is LQ? Compassion. In essence, it’s the humanity that machines are lacking.

Love is all we need? Maybe not quite, but it’s very important!

Washington Post article on Google’s findings about its employees: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/12/20/the-surprising-thing-google-learned-about-its-employees-and-what-it-means-for-todays-students/?utm_term=.13f1c2599ecf

Inc. Magazine article on Jack Ma: https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/1-rare-trait-that-actually-trumps-iq-emotional-intelligence-says-billionaire-jack-ma.html

Top image of rabbit hole: Creative Commons via Flickr.com by Valerie Hinojosa.