encyclopedia0401-blog

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Suicide Shower

In reading up on faucets for my previous post, I came across a term, suicide shower. Suicide squad shower sounds like a torture method from a B-grade gore movie or embodies a gruesome image of a mass suicide by jumping.

The real meaning of the term is not any less disturbing. In Latin America and some parts of East Africa, suicide shower is a way of heating up water for a shower without the conventional water heater.

Suicide Shower is a larger shower head that heats the cold water inside the head with an electric heating coil. You turn on the water, the water fills the head, completes the circuit, and you get hot (usually lukewarm) water. If the water flow is low it will come out boiling hot, too high and it’s only lukewarm. Controlling the flow to the optimum level can take some time and in some hotels there are detailed instructions on the back of the bathroom door.

Why it is coined the term “Suicide shower” is pretty obvious - water and 120V of electricity never sounds like a good combination. One of the main safety precautions that even kindergarten children know by heart is to never touch electrical appliances with wet hands. In fact, suicide shower has resulted in many deaths by electrocution. 

A blogger described his experience with suicide shower: 

“... I turned off the water, and the heater kept going. I could hear it growling inside the shower head. The water left in the head began to boil, hissing and bubbling inside the shower head. Something was seriously wrong. ... Steam started squealing from the seals, like a kettle boiling on full blast. Up until this point, I’d been standing there naked, dripping wet, and confused as to what was going on. But I figured this thing might actually explode, so I grabbed my towel and got the hell out of the shower. ... I could see it, glowing red, raging inside the plastic shower head. Black smoke started streaming from the holes in the plastic, and the heater raged on, squealing a more and more high pitched death knell. ... I told my landlady what had happened, and she said, “Oh, that happens sometimes, we’ll get you a new one.””

So, those who can take a shower without worrying that it could be your last one, know that you are privileged and lucky.

Source -https://journals.worldnomads.com/will/story/1533/Argentina/The-Latin-American-Suicide-Shower

http://justinwashere.com/the-suicide-shower/

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Between lava from hell and freezing ice

People who surf online regularly (me) would have seen this picture or a variation of it. One of my proudest achievements include being able to find the exact angle of my faucet for the optimal warm shower temperature.

In my daily routine of standing under the showers contemplating life for 30 minutes, I wondered how exactly the faucet regulates the temperature of the water. I had rough ideas about it but they were merely guesses and I wanted to know for sure.

Searching for my answer online, I realised that my guess was more or less correct. There are mainly two types of faucets - faucet with one handle to control the temperature by changing the direction and faucets with two handles, one for hot water and one for cold water.

I have the faucet with one handle and the inside of the faucet will look something like this:

Turning the handle will change the proportion of the opening size of the pipes for hot and cold water. The hot and cold water will get mixed before being released through the spigot.

Before I go into the shower, I make sure that the washing machine is not running or that no one is doing the dishes because , when someone else is using the water, the water pressure is considerably lower. Also, my optimal temperature position is also changed.

This is because the water pipes are all connected around the house. Thus, when someone is using the cold water, the water pressure in the cold water pipe is relatively lower so more cold to hot water ratio drops. Some valves have a special "scald guard" that shut off when the water reaches above some temperature.

Source - https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-faucets-regulate-water-temperature

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Myth of MSG

TLDR summary: MSG is infamous for being a “bad additive” that causes many negative side effects. However, MSG is a naturally occurring chemical in numerous food and considering the low quantity of added MSG, it does not deserve the negative image.

After a nice dinner in a Japanese restaurant, my friend said “Do you have some water? I’m really thirsty; I think it is the MSG in the food.” It led me to question myself, why does MSG have such a bad name?

Not only in casual conversations, the notoriousness of MSG can also be observed in food packages where they advertise their food as being MSG-free. But what is MSG and why is it so infamous?

MSG stands for monosodium glutamate, the sodium salt of glutamic acid. Glutamate is the magic ingredient in MSG. It’s a common amino acid that occurs naturally in a large range of foods including tomatoes, parmesan cheese, dried mushrooms, soy sauce, a host of fruits and vegetables, and human breast milk.

University of Tokyo chemistry professor Kikunae Ikeda discovered in 1908, isolating it from the dried kombu seaweed (kelp). Umami’ – which translates as ‘savoury’ – is associated with a “meaty” flavour.

Conventional toxicity studies using dietary administration of MSG in several species did not reveal any specific toxic or carcinogenic effects nor were there any adverse outcomes in reproduction and teratology studies. FDA considers the addition of MSG to foods to be “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). Although many people identify themselves as sensitive to MSG, in studies with such individuals given MSG or a placebo, scientists have not been able to consistently trigger reactions.

The glutamate in MSG is chemically indistinguishable from glutamate present in food proteins. Our bodies ultimately metabolize both sources of glutamate in the same way. An average adult consumes approximately 13 grams of glutamate each day from the protein in food, while intake of added MSG is estimates at around 0.55 grams per day. 

Despite the safety of MSG, it continues to carry a bad name. An article titled “MSG: Is This Silent Killer Lurking in Your Kitchen Cabinets” on a natural health website garnered more than 2,454,000 views and 54,500 shares. An article titled “MSG IS DANGEROUS — THE SCIENCE IS IN” warns the public about the “negative health effects” of MSG, garnering comments such as “I don’t think I will ever understand why these kinds of substances are allowed in our food. It makes no sense.”

So how did the negative image of MSG come about?

Monosodium glutamate’s notoriety took off in 1968 when Dr Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine musing about the possible causes of a syndrome he experienced whenever he ate at Chinese restaurants in the US. In particular, he described a feeling of numbness at the back of his neck that then spread to his arms and back, as well as general weakness and heart palpitations. He blamed MSG for his syndromes and his suggestion went viral, spawning a huge number of scientific studies, books exposing ‘the truth’ about MSG, anti-MSG cookbooks, and even prompting Chinese restaurants to advertise that they didn’t use MSG in their cooking.

At first, it looked like Kwok might have been onto something. Washington University researcher Dr John W. Olney found that injecting enormous doses of monosodium glutamate under the skin of newborn mice led to the development of patches of dead tissue in the brain. When these mice grew into adulthood they were stunted, obese, and in some cases, sterile. Olney also repeated his study in infant rhesus monkeys, giving them the MSG orally, and noted the same results. But 19 other studies in monkeys by other researchers failed to show the same, or even similar results. In addition, the proportionality of MSG given to the rats are much higher than the amount of MSG intake by humans.

Despite the supporting scientific facts on the safety of MSG, people tend to remember the negative image of MSG more and speculate on it. This piques my curiosity on the psychology of humans in their interest and impact of negative news, which I will save the discussion and research for another time.

Sources - https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/foodadditivesingredients/ucm328728.htm

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151106-is-msg-as-bad-as-its-made-out-to-be

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024320514004524

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/130/4/1049S.short

http://eprints.abuad.edu.ng/829/1/WJNS_2015110615354000.pdf

http://www.foodrenegade.com/msg-dangerous-science/

https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/foodadditivesingredients/ucm328728.htm

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Unlikely link between a frog and anti-icing surface

“Bioinspired stimuli-responsive and antifreeze-secreting anti-Icing coatings.” 

Traditional anti-icing surfaces are able to slow down and reduce ice accumulation, but are still susceptible to frosting over. Konrad Rykaczewski, assistant professor of Engineering at Arizona State University, has created an anti-icing coating that releases antifreeze liquid in response to surface icing, helping to reduce frost and ice build-up. 

The coating is comprised of two layers: a superhydrophobic porous outer layer, and an inner layer infused with antifreeze. The outer layer functions similarly to traditional anti-icing surfaces, where large water droplets effectively roll off the surface, preventing ice formation, inspired by the non-adhesive characteristics of pitcher plant and lotus leaves. However, in the event of frost, ice fills the pores of the outer layer and eventually makes contact with the antifreeze in the inner layer. This begins to melt the ice, and capillary pressure slowly drives the antifreeze up the walls of the pores. Eventually, antifreeze is secreted onto the outer layer, preventing frost build-up. 

The “on-demand” release of antifreeze from the inner layer is based on the skin of the poison dart frog. The frog stores toxins in specialized glands in the inner layer of its skin, and when it senses danger, it releases the toxins through pores onto the outer layer.

Currently used methods of ice removal use either chemical, mechanical, or thermal techniques, or a combination. However, these methods are often time consuming, costly, and can impact the environment. Now in the prototype phase, the new anti-icing coating uses 2-8 times less antifreeze and has been shown to delay icing up to ten times, compared to commercial methods. It has promising application in the surface of airplane wings.

Source - https://asknature.org/idea/anti-icing-coating-prevents-frost-and-ice-buildup/#.WZZlgq2PB-U 

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Fireflies

TLDR summary: Fireflies structure = Bright LED = Less energy used = Happy humans

Fireflies create light through a chemical reaction in photocytes. The light is emitted through a part of the insect’s exoskeleton called the cuticle. Light travels through the cuticle more slowly than it travels through air, and the mismatch means a proportion of the light is reflected back into the lantern, dimming the glow. The unique surface geometry of some fireflies’ cuticles, however, can help minimize internal reflections, meaning more light escapes to reach the eyes of potential firefly suitors.

LEDs used by humans have the same problems with internal reflection. So by copying the patterns used by the fireflies, much greater efficiencies than have been previously achieved are possible. Specifically, the researchers created a jagged overlayer that was placed on top of a “standard gallium nitride LED.” They “deposited a layer of light-sensitive material on top of the LEDs and then exposed sections with a laser to create the triangular factory-roof profile. This increased the efficiency by 55%.

“What’s nice about our technique is that it’s an easy process and we don’t have to create new LEDs. With a few more steps we can coat and laser pattern an existing LED.”

Although this paper was released in 2013, it is still very fascinating how an everyday item that we cannot live without has been improved by learning from nature.

Source - http://www.osa.org/en-us/about_osa/newsroom/news_releases/2013/scientists_mimic_fireflies_to_make_brighter_leds/ (Jan 2013)

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Doctors in Brazil have found a medicinal use for tilapia, using the skin of the fish to treat burn victims with impressive initial results. Tilapia it is one of the most common freshwater, disease-resistant fish found in Brazil. Moreover, it contains optimum levels of collagen type one and high degrees of humidity, so it takes a long time to dry out and thus, the dressing does not have to be changed daily. This reduces the trauma and pain suffered by patients.

The skin triggers healing in roughly the same amount of time as the topical creams that we currently use in the conventional treatment.

Source -https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/food-safety-health/tilapia-skin-used-to-heal-brazilian-burn-victims (December 20 2016)

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Biomimicry - innovation that taps into nature’s time-tested designs and processes in order to solve human-scale problems

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Taxi

An unexpected learning point surfaced when I least expected it -  in a taxi. I was on the way to the airport with my parents to send my mum off. The road was narrow and there was a traffic jam. I asked my mum, “Isn’t there a highway near our house that leads directly to the airport?” and she replied that to get on the highway, the taxi would have to go in the opposite direction, away from the airport, first. So the taxi driver took the narrow and complicated road as he did not want to backtrack, away from the airport.

This is when I realised that backtracking is not putting oneself at a disadvantage. Although going the opposite direction is seemingly counterintuitive, sometimes, it is necessary in order to make the most beneficial choice. For example, when I start on a project using method A, and if I discover later on that there is a better method B, (Of course, the best course of action would be to consider all the options carefully before diving into making a choice.) I should not be afraid to abandon method A despite the progress I have made on method A. 

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Slimy Slugs

A team of scientists from Harvard University (Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering) have engineered a bio-glue from the defensive mucus secreted by Dusky Arion slug. The "bio-glue" is incredibly strong, moves with the body and crucially, sticks to wet surfaces. The incredible stickiness comes from the trinity of the attraction between the positively charged glue and negatively charged cells in the body; covalent bonds between atoms in the cell surface and the glue, and the way the glue physically penetrates tissue surfaces. Another crucial aspect of this glue is that it is able to absorb shock - it can take the physical stress and strain. So far it has proven its capabilities mechanically in the laboratory, in tests on rats and by sealing a hole in a pig's heart through tens of thousands of simulated heartbeats. (Source - BBC)

The world is full of natural gifts and evolutionary winners that humans can learn greatly from. This is exactly the kind of study that I would like to do - exploring the natural world to look for answers.

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

Imagining yourself enjoying your new cheese leads you to it

Who Moved My Cheese? -Spencer Johnson

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

"... you were managing when you needed to be leading"

Who Moved My Cheese? -Spencer Johnson

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

"The fear you let build up in your mind is worse than the situation that actually exists"

Who Moved My Cheese? -Spencer Johnson

[encyclopedia0401-blog]

The Beginning

This is the first page of Bernerd Werber's Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge. A french science fiction writer, my favourite author of all times. His creativity never ceases to amaze me, especially in his book The Empire of The Ants. He is partially the reason why I started learning the french language as not all of his works were translated into English or Korean. His book Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge is what inspired me to start this blog. I have some of the most useless knowledge in my head and scattered away in my notes here and there. I want to compile these knowledge and sometimes quotes and personal learning experiences in this blog. And to continue updating, I will also actively seek out knew knowledge to add on to this blog.