Category: Science

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A Molten Salt Reactor That Eats Nuclear Waste Might Be the Next Big Thing

Scientists are always looking for ways to do things that relate to the way we use energy better, faster, smarter, and better for the environment.

Molten salt reactors were invented in the 1950s, but since the Atomic Energy Commission (which became the Department of Energy) was committed to light water reactors – they were already used in the electric power industry and were powering the nuclear navy.

A few engineers and scientists kept quietly working on developing the molten salt reactors, though, even without government support, and two engineers – Carl Perez and Ed Pheil – founded Elysium Technologies USA.

Image Credit: Elysium Technologies

Now, they have an updated design for a Molten Chloride Salt Fast Reactor (MCSFR).

The reactor offers a number of upsides and benefits, like zero downtime to fuel (online), not needing a large water source nearby, using less electricity, and that it’s fueled by nuclear waste from other reactors and weapons.

The reactor is a potential source of hydrogen generation and doesn’t cost much to run and operate, creating safe and reliable energy with built-in failsafes like not needing an operator to shut it drown.

Image Credit: Elysium Technologies

The Elysium salt reactor stands out from its peers by requiring less safety infrastructure in general, due to its low operational pressure requirements and its components having a high technical readiness.

The fact that it burns up nuclear fuel from water reactors and weapons waste, transforming it into useful energy, is a great bonus, too.

Once it’s finished burning, only about 5% of the nuclear waste remains, and it’s less toxic for a shorter amount of time, too – it decays in around 300 years instead of 10,000, like the waste from conventional solid-fuel reactor waste.

Image Credit: Public Domain

Obviously, that’s great for the environment, too.

Elysium believes they can built these on both large and small scales, and with the world turning to nuclear power as a leading option to reduce carbon emissions and meet climate goals, this seems to be a no-brainer as the way to go.

The post A Molten Salt Reactor That Eats Nuclear Waste Might Be the Next Big Thing appeared first on UberFacts.

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According to a University of Pennsylvania study…

According to a University of Pennsylvania study, you are more likely to remember the news if it is delivered in concert with jokes. The rise of comedy-news programs, like Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert or John Oliver, may actually help inform the public. A new neuroimaging study using fMRI suggests that humor might make news and […]

The post According to a University of Pennsylvania study… appeared first on Crazy Facts.

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Why Don’t Humans Have a “Mating Season?”

The Reddit forum r/NoStupidQuestions is the place to go when you have a query you’re too embarrassed to ask your friends…or because you’ve already exhausted your friends asking this particular question.

This one should really get those brain-wheels greased – if humans are mammals just like all the rest (or close enough), why isn’t there a human mating season?

If you’re curious now, here’s what 15 people had to say about it!

15. Keep dreaming.

Ugh it’s terrible. I wish we would just have mating seasons.

U horny? yeah I’m horny, mkay let’s bang.

cool. done.

To hell with all this courtship and mind games.

14. Look at the smart guy!

There’s no definitive answer, but one part of it might be that humans are already communal creatures, so there’s no need to synchronize any sort of mating season, because we’re already together.

Additionally, human babies take a long time to mature, and are often looked after by more humans than just the mother, this makes asynchronous births easier, since there will be more humans to help with child care.

13. The more you know?

It’s actually Feb 14 and Jan 1st.

Which is why birthdays in October and November are more common…

12. It might not be for the best.

Organisms that can’t farm or stockpile resources may have no choice. If they don’t all birth when resources are increasing or abundant (usually Spring or Summer), the offspring will die. Of course disasters can strike e.g. a drought leading to famine and a mass die off for a species.

It also worth noting though that most species which require huge amounts of resources usually aren’t too numerous (humans are again another exception there, but evidence is rapidly mounting that we are using up our resources and screwing over the planet which could lead to us causing our own extinction….so yay?)

11. Hahahaha think about it.

Imagine everybody having a break off work to go out and find a mate.

Paid sex vacation?

10. We’re not alone.

Chimps and gorillas don’t have mating sessions either.

9. “Happy” holidays?

Everyone I know seems to have a September birthday which means that December is, apparently, mating season.

8. Seasons don’t matter.

Plus since we have to take care of them for years anyway, it doesn’t really make sense to avoid a winter. We’ll have to do the next one after all.

And writing that down, our species originated in a region with no winter. So the need for a mating season would probably be a lot less prevalent anyway. (Do other big mammals in the African plains have mating seasons?)

7. Blerg.

The human female reproductive cycle repeats every month instead of every year.

Our mating season is all the time except for one week a month.

6. Those dang kids.

Also since the time it takes for human babies to mature enough to no longer need parental support is longer than 1 year, it’d be irrational to have an annual season for mating.

5. There’s always a reason.

We don’t have a firm answer for this in nature, but generally, mating seasons are found in species that a) have a long gestational period; and b) have significantly unequal access to food year round.

Typically the mechanism is a hormonal cycle where the female is only receptive to mating under particular conditions (usually weather and calorie related).

Hardly any apes are seasonal breeders, and the few that are likely developed our common ancestors split. So while we don’t have a firm answer in nature, the most likely answer is that it’s because the ancestors of humans a few million years ago had relatively even access to food throughout the year. Our closest relatives (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos and gibbons) are all continuous breeders as well.

4. We can feed ourselves any time.

Animal mating seasons typically coincide with the season where resources (namely food) are most abundant. Pregnancy requires a lot of energy, after all, so there’s little point for a deer, for example, to try and have a child in the middle of winter when food is at its scarcest.

Humans, by contrast, have been less dependent on seasons being hunter-gatherers. More importantly, however, by possessing the capacity to be pregnant at any point in the year, males and females are ‘forced’ to stay in close proximity all year long, rather than have the males buggar off and only come back during mating season.

This allows the female to secure food, care, and resource for her and her progeny during the entire year, and allows for a better chance for the offspring to survive (as human offsprings are extremely dependent on their caretakers for a longer period relative to other animal species)

3. So…all year?

If you live in Canada, I’d call it winter.

2. “A continual basis.” Sure.

One of the more unusual aspects of human mating is that unlike most species, ovulation / fertility isn’t on display. If you’ve ever owned a female dog, you’ll know they go into “heat” and begin spotting, leaving a trail everywhere. In the wild this would lead a mate to the female during her fertile window.

Humans are one of the very few if not only(?) species that have this virtually entirely hidden… It requires that the male maintain courtship on a more continual basis… and it’s also heavily involved in preventing something akin to a mating season.

1. Details, because you know you want them.

I think it’s important to point out the differences between a menstrual) cycle and an estrous cycle. In terms of menstruation, humans are among a very limited group of mammals. Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining (endometrium), whereas estrous cycles involve the re-absorption of the endometrium.

Menstruation is generally found amongst simian species. There are some bats, the elephant shrew, and the spiny mouse that also have menstruation cycles. Beyond that, placental mammals seem to use estrous cycles. There are species that use the estrous cycle that have bloody discharges from the vagina, and that gets mistaken for menstruation.

Giraffes (estrous cycle) seem to have a pretty subtle process that requires the male to taste/smell the urine of a female in order to tell if they are fertile or not. This can mean that males will headbutt a female in the bladder to get them to pee.

Don’t you just love stuff that gets your gears grinding?

What do you think about these responses? Are you buying it? Tell us in the comments!

The post Why Don’t Humans Have a “Mating Season?” appeared first on UberFacts.

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Scientists Are Using Human Cells to Enhance Monkey Brains. Is This a Good Idea?

In today’s edition of “More Scientists Need To Watch Movies”, some people think it’s a good idea to try to increase the size of a monkey’s brain.

Now, I have a problem with this for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that monkeys are gross, disgusting little disease vectors, and the last thing we need is them realizing they can spread germs to humans faster and on purpose.

But, as people – even the smart ones – never learn, here we are again.

Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

Scientists in southern China are working to better understand how evolution happened (they say) by enhancing the brains and intelligence of several transgenic macaque monkeys.

Bing Su is the geneticist at the Kunming Institute of Zoology who led the effort.

“This was the first attempt to understand the evolution of human cognition using a transgenic monkey model,” he confessed.

Their findings indicate that the modified monkeys are better able to pass tests involving memory, colors, and blocks, and their brains took longer to develop, too – more like human children.

Image Credit: Pexels

The results were published on March 27th in the National Science Review, and several Western scientists were quick to call the experiments reckless, questioning the ethics of genetically modifying primates.

James Sikela, a geneticist at the University of Colorado, is one of the scientists who has concerns.

“The use of transgenic monkeys to study human genes linked to brain evolution is a very risky road to take.

It is a classic slippery slope issue and one that we can expect to recur as this type of research is pursued.

…I find it troubling that the field is steamrolling along in this manner.”

While Europe and the US still continue to make it difficult to use primates for research, China has no such qualms.

That’s why Su was able to get this project off the ground during his quest for “signs of Darwinian selection,” and specifically, the selection for higher intelligence.

As humans evolved, our brains grew in size and power. Su, and surely others, are curious about which genes inspired the change, and given how similar our brains are to say, a chimps, they’re natural test subjects.

Image Credit: iStock

If we can isolate the 2% difference between chimps and humans, then could we figure out what makes us human?

The gene that fascinates Su is MCPH1, or microcephalin. Its sequence differs between humans and apes, and human babies born with a damaged gene have tiny heads, which would seem to correlate to brain size.

In these most recent experiments, Su added human microcephalin to a monkey genome.

He and his collaborators at the Yunnan Key Laboratory exposed monkey embryos to a virus carrying the human microcephalin, and 5 of the 11 survived long enough to have their brains measured. They all had between 2 and 9 copies of the gene at the time.

Though ethics questions abound, Su feels that by experimenting on macaques and not apes, he’s avoided the biggest concerns of his peers.

Image Credit: iStock

“Although their genome is close to ours, there are also tens of millions of differences.”

Basically, he doesn’t believe giving them a few human genes will somehow make them more than monkeys, ala Planet of the Apes, the way people fear might happen if the experiments were carried out on say, a chimp.

The transgenic monkeys in the experiments did not end up with physically larger brain, but they did score better on shot-term memory quizzes and other intelligence tests.

Martin Styner, a computer scientists involved in the paper, asked to have his name removed due to the belief that the experiments aren’t doing anything to further real scientific research into evolution.

Image Credit: Pexels

“I don’t think that is a good direction. Now we have created this animal which is different than it is supposed to be.

When we do experiments, we have to have a good understanding of what we are trying to learn, to help society, and that is not the case here.

They are trying to understand brain development.

And I don’t think they are getting there.”

Su and his team remain undaunted, with plans to create more modified transgenic monkeys in the near future.

What’s more, is that next time he plans to use a different DNA variant – SRGAP2C – which has been dubbed the “humanity switch,” due to its likely role in burgeoning human intelligence.

I don’t know about y’all, but I feel like we have enough going on.

Monkeys that are as smart as humans, apes or not, seem like a very bad idea.

The post Scientists Are Using Human Cells to Enhance Monkey Brains. Is This a Good Idea? appeared first on UberFacts.

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What Myths Are Still Widely Circulated as Truth? Here’s What People Had to Say.

Have you ever tried to have a debate (or even a polite conversation) with someone who just can’t be talked to because they won’t listen to reason about a certain topic?

That can be frustrating. And it can be REALLY frustrating when that belief isn’t true and has been disproven over and over again.

But that’s the kind of world we live in because people are stubborn and they don’t like to accept new ideas…or facts.

Here are some myths that AskReddit users think are still widely circulated as truth. Let’s take a look.

1. Be careful out there.

“If an HIV positive person has s*x with another HIV positive person, they don’t have to worry about protection.

They do, because there are 140 different strains of the HIV/AIDS virus, and getting infected with another strain, especially a potentially-deadlier one, could be dangerous.

Also, pregnancy is still a very big risk for HIV positive women. If you are considering a s*xual relationship, get tested, and talk to your doctor about birth control.”

2. History lesson.

“That people in general though the world was flat until Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

No, the Ancient World figured that out a long time before.

People just thought that it wasn’t possible to sail across the ocean to Asia because sailors would run out of food by then, while Columbus thought that wasn’t case because he thought Asia was bigger than contemporary estimates.”

3. What does that logo mean?

“The white on blue roundel in the BMW logo represents the white blades of a propeller against the blue sky, alluding to BMW’s history as a manufacturer of aircraft engines.

This myth was popularized in BMW’s advertising for aircraft engines. (And perpetuated by the movie Finding Forrester.)

In truth, the blue and white come from the Bavarian flag, presented as a circular coat of arms in reverse order to avoid a trademark law prohibiting the use of symbols of state sovereignty in a commercial trademark.

It was only in later marketing for aircraft engines they overlaid the logo over spinning propellers, as coincidentally it could be taken to look like a propeller against the sky. They made all sorts of engines for land vehicles as well.”

4. Fact or fiction?

“That one I’ve heard repeatedly is “shaving makes your hair grow back thicker.”

I have had lengthy arguments with more than one person about this.”

5. Space race.

“That the US spent over a million dollars and two years to develop a pen that could work in space…whereas the Soviets decided to just use a pencil.

In the early days, both used pencils, but since pencils are made out of graphite, and graphite is conductive, snapped graphite particles are dangerous in a pressurized space capsule….to put it lightly.

Fisher, the owner of the pen company, spent his own money to develop a pressurized ball point pen. And cost only about $3.00 per pen.”

6. Snake stuff.

“The Myth: You can tell if a snake is venomous or not by the shape of its pupil (slit for venomous, round for nonvenomous).

The Truth: Pupil shape has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a snake has venom, and, if you’re close enough to get a good look at a snake’s pupils, you’re probably close enough to get bit.

The Advice: If you cannot, from a safe distance, immediately identify a snake beyond a reasonable doubt, assume it’s dangerous and behave accordingly; keep your distance, stay out of its direct path, and keep your eyes on it until one or the other of you leaves the area.”

7. Hmmmm…

“That urine neutralizes jelly fish stings.

Use vinegar instead.

That stuff will actually save you, at least long enough for an ambulance to arrive.”

8. That old story…

“That Marylin Manson removed 2 of his ribs to blow himself.

I will never understand how this one traveled around the world before widespread use of the Internet for stuff like this. Some of the other ones, sure, they were stuff that sounded medical or scientific were circulated by papers or magazines.

But this one somehow circulated in places that may have never even known who Marilyn Manson was.”

9. Those poor fish.

“That goldfish have a 6 second memory.

I mean it’s still not great, I think like a couple months. But still….

Get your fish a bigger d*mn tank”

10. They don’t?

“Undercover police have to tell you they are policemen when you ask them.”

11. Not true.

“Catherine the Great died after attempting to have s*x with a horse.

This myth was started by the French.

And then they ask why everyone believes Napoleon was a tiny, tiny man.”

12. Brainpower.

“That we only use 10% of our brain.

I legit read something that said “Normal people use only 8% of their brains; Einstein was able to achieve what he did because he used 11%. Imagine if we unlocked all of our brain.”

It’s scary how misinformation can be so prevalent.”

13. I remember this one.

“Something about touching baby birds and their parents abandoning them due to the smell of human touch.”

14. I wish it was true.

“That Mr. Rogers was a sniper and/or had tattoos covering his arms.

Both untrue.

Fred Rogers lived a pretty mundane live and dedicated considerable time to creating television programming that didn’t rot kids brains.”

Now we want to hear from you.

In the comments, tell us what myths you think people out there still think are true.

Please and thank you!

The post What Myths Are Still Widely Circulated as Truth? Here’s What People Had to Say. appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Share Myths That a Lot of Folks Still Believe Are True

This is gonna be interesting!

The world is flat. Climate change is a hoax.

These are all examples of myths that are not true that people believed (and some still believe) for years and years.

We live in a superstitious world where people cling to their beliefs and ideas, no matter what kind of evidence is presented to them.

Let’s see what myths folks on AskReddit still think a lot of people out there believe are true.

1. Eat up!

“Carrots being good for your eyes.

It was a myth created in WWII by the Allies to explain how their pilots got so good at shooting down enemy planes all of a sudden.

The real reason was radar technology.”

2. False!

“That Lucky Strike is named such because it used to be that one cigarette in every 20 packs is a joint.

And if you found that joint, you were the lucky one.

In reality, the name comes from striking it lucky as a gold prospector. This joint claim has been disproved.”

3. That’s a tough one.

“The myth that if you work your *ss off during your college days, its gonna be smooth sailing in your adult years.

Nope.”

4. These people…

“That masks are ineffective.

Masks are incredibly effective, for both the wearer and those around them. Mask fibers are woven close enough to block the droplets that carry the coronavirus.

People say it’s like using a chain link fence to stop a fly, but it’s more like using a chain link fence to stop a fly that’s hitching a ride on a baseball. It reduces transmission drastically. It is proven science. I mean, for god’s sake, no one questions surgeons and nurses who wears them.

They do not block your breathing. And yes, they trap your coronavirus particles, but if they’re trapping your coronavirus particles then you already have coronavirus. It won’t make you more sick.

Masks are simple, easy. Put it over you face, and you’re doing your part to bring an end to this pandemic. All you people out there who are refusing for “my freedumbz” are making this thing last longer than it should and kill more people than it should.

You want things to go back to normal? You want the economy to come back? You want business to stop shutting down? You want children to actually go to school in person? THEN WEAR A MASK.”

5. Trippy!

“That LSD, Psilocybin and Cannabis are drugs that are highly addictive and have no medicinal value.

The literal reason for them being schedule 1 drugs and considered extremely criminal.

Its all bullsh*t and not true at all, Nixon made this up to harass and arrest his political opposition in the antiwar left and pro-rights blacks. They even admitted doing this and knowing well that the war on drugs would neither work nor had any sound reasoning behind it, yet 5 decades later we still kill thousands worldwide every year because of Nixon.

Most of the myths in reddit pages like this are silly or benign, while this myth is among the most deadly misconceptions that is only recently being very slowly reversed in younger generations.”

6. Oh, boy…

“The Earth is flat.

I went on a date with a guy that believed this. I laughed because I thought he was joking. He was not.

It was our only date.”

7. The old days.

“That cars were built better back in the day.

No, they weren’t.

Those old cars barely made it to 100k miles before sh*tting out.

Cars these days can go on for 500k+ miles if you do preventive maintenance on them throughout the years.”

8. Don’t wait!

“That you have to wait 24 hours before you can report a missing person.

If someone is missing, go get help!”

9. The numbers.

“10% of people are gay. This is taken from the Kinsey reports, and out of thousands of statistics, 10% appears only once.

It’s actually much more accurate to say (according to Kinsey) 4% are gay, 50% are straight, and 46-48% are somewhere on the bis*xual spectrum.”

10. Nope.

“That tax cuts for the rich result in job creation and a wealthier middle class.”

11. Old George.

“The myth that George Washington’s false teeth were made of wood should be put to rest.

The teeth in the contraption that he wore at times were teeth of different animals like elk, for one. The teeth were held in with wooden pegs.

Hence the myth.”

12. Gross.

“Margarine is healthier than butter.

It’s not, not even close it causes heart disease faster and your body doesn’t even recognize it as food.

Flies won’t even touch it.”

13. All kinds of stuff!

“Lightning round:

That Galileo was the first person to come up with a heliocentric model.

That Copernicus was the first person to come up with a heliocentric model.

That everyone believed the world was flat until Columbus.

That Columbus’ ships were named Niña, Pinta and Santa María.

That Columbus was the first European to discover America.

That tetanus is caused by rusty metal.

That Napoleon was comically short.

That the Great Wall of China is ‘the only manmade structure visible from space’.

That there is a rule in English that you aren’t supposed to boldly split infinitives.

That there is a rule in English that says ‘I before E except after C’.

That pot is a “gateway drug”.

That Einstein flunked math as a child.

That Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the Great Chicago Fire.”

14. History lesson.

“The European “Dark Ages”

People seem to love the idea that, between the fall of Rome and, like, DaVinci or something, everyone in Europe was just blowing spit bubbles and looking at the funny pictures in the Bible.

Not only was there not a complete absence of classical learning in Europe during the dark ages, but throughout the dark ages and mediaeval period, there actually was a fair amount of progress in fields like architecture, engineering, metallurgy, philosophy, theology and yes, even science.

But then again, I suppose it all ties back to the notion that people in the past were somehow far stupider than we are.”

Now it’s your turn.

In the comments, share some more myths that are still widely believed to be true.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

The post People Share Myths That a Lot of Folks Still Believe Are True appeared first on UberFacts.

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What Has 2020 Taught You? Here’s What People Said.

This sure has been some year, am I right?

I for one, have learned a little bit more about what’s really important in life: health, family, and good friends. After that, all the other stuff really isn’t that important.

What has 2020 taught you?

Here’s what folks on AskReddit had to say.

1. Working from home.

“I’ve been open for a long time about how working from home for jobs that can be done remotely should be the norm.

Why would you commute if it’s avoidable? The pandemic has forced lots of employers’ hands and it turns out, many of us can work effectively from home!”

2. I like this one.

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sadly, I feel like this is the most relevant this quote has ever been. People conflating science and societal care with tyranny and violation of rights.”

3. Harsh times.

“Nothing can prepare you for the harshness of our society.

If you want to be successful and live you have to take your life into your own hands and make things happen.”

4. Some people don’t change.

“It taught me the red flags of a mentally abusive relationship and that you will never be able to change that person.”

5. Congrats!

“It taught me that my SO is definitely the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.

Nothing like a global pandemic and shelter in place order to rapidly progress a new relationship, eh?”

6. Pay attention.

“Authoritarianism is never that far away in any place.

People are too willing to forgo critical thinking and will readily buy the bullsh*t.”

7. Downsizing.

“That I don’t need to shop.

My son and I don’t need to go out every weekend and buy new things. We are perfectly capable with what we have. In fact we’ve pared down what we had.

Money in the bank. Soon as this passes over (if…) we’re going to Disney!”

8. Learn to think!

“That huge swaths of our society lack even the most basic critical thinking skills.

Sorry, but if you outright deny facts and empirical evidence to believe in something comfortable to you, you aren’t some “woke up” great thinker above all the “sheep”.

You’re a moron and a huge drain on the rest of us.”

9. Great!

“I love being a dad.

Being a stay at home dad is awesome. The roles were always reversed until now and I felt like I was missing so much of my kids lives providing for them. Going from bread winner to Mr mom obviously took some adjustments but I feel like I know my boys better than ever.

Helping them doing their online kindergarten classes and teaching my youngest to walk along with another long list of memories has changed my view on fatherhood and taught me so much.”

10. Good points.

“Even if you think you are in control of the things in your life, you really aren’t.

Sometimes the things you want and work hard for aren’t what you thought they would be.

The most important things in life are the intangible ones (good relationships, mental well-being)

We could all stand to be a little nicer to each other

It’s okay to not be okay.”

11. Yup.

“That the more uneducated people are, the more assertive and vocal they are regarding something they don’t have any clue about!”

12. Not so fast.

“I’ve learnt that I’m ready for retirement.

The lifestyle of doing nothing all day and getting paid for the privilege suits me well.

It’s a shame I have 31 more years until I actually can retire though.”

13. Baby steps.

“That a little work on something every day makes a huge difference over a couple of months.”

14. A nice story.

“That despite all those things my parents lead me to believe, I can be successful.

I bought my first house this year, reconnected with a good friend and am starting a business with her. It’s been rough having zero breaks from my kids and they’re missing out on socializing and preschool, but we have grown closer and they’re learning a new resilience that I never learned.

I’m proud of them and myself.”

Now we’d like to hear from you.

In the comments, tell us what you learned in 2020.

Please and thank you!

The post What Has 2020 Taught You? Here’s What People Said. appeared first on UberFacts.

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Learn About Debunking the “Scientists” Who Say There’s a Black Hole in the Center of the Earth

A story like this one just goes to show that academic degrees don’t always mean a whole lot…

13 scientists actually claimed in a published journal that there’s a black hole in the center of the Earth. Basically, it’s close to the most unscientific claim ever.

Though this paper might be a clever hoax, the hypothesis here is still close to crazy. Science can be weird, but surely it’s not supposed to be this weird.

Image Credit: iStock

The essay, “A Black Hole at the Center of Earth Plays the Role of the Biggest System of Telecommunication for Connecting DNAs, Dark DNAs and Molecules of Water on 4+N- Dimensional Manifold,” squeaked by peer review and got published last year in the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences.

Wait… what?!? First of all, as if that title isn’t a GIGANTIC red flag.

Second, one look at the paper is a deep-dive into some word salad. For example, the abstract reads:

“The earth’s core is the biggest system of telecommunication which exchanges waves with all DNAs and molecules of water.”

From there, the essay goes on to claim that DNA imprints on the Earth’s core created a black hole… Which resides conveniently in the middle of the planet. That idea has naturally given other scientists some pause.

If your jaw is already on the floor, just wait. It gets a whole lot crazier.

What’s even more shocking is the fact that this happens in the academic world pretty often. There’s also a VERY likely chance that this essay is just a regular part of trolling in the science world.

Researchers use this method of “peer-review-tricking” to ensure that journals stay accurate and reputable. They’ll sprinkle blatantly unscientific claims throughout their papers just to make sure readers are paying attention.

Sometimes, it works; other times, it totally backfires.

For instance, take this mind-blowing sentence:

“Each DNA has two parts which one can be seen on the four-dimensional universe, and another one has existed in extra dimensions.

This dark part of DNA called as a dark DNA in an extra dimension.”

Yes, sci-fi language actually made its way into an academic journal. (Note to self, never take anything from that journal seriously. They definitely give a whole new meaning to “open access.”)

Image Credit: iStock

When crazy theories like this one manage to slide by, it shows a serious issue with the peer review system. But hey – it sure beats Flat Earthers!

Well, this paper proves that anything is possible if you just set your mind to it. Then again, it sure helps when you have 13 other people in on the plan with you.

What are some crazy scientific theories you’ve come across?

Share them with us in the comments!

The post Learn About Debunking the “Scientists” Who Say There’s a Black Hole in the Center of the Earth appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Talk About the Question: How Are We Supposed to Save The Planet When It’s Cheaper to Trash It?

Reddit has a forum called “No Stupid Question,” and this one is pretty great.

The OP (original poster) points out that even if a person wants to do the right thing for the environment and the planet and such, the fact that it’s literally cheaper to like, throw out your entire printer instead of buying a new ink cartridge make it hard.

How are you supposed to do what’s best for the environment when it’s cheaper to purchase a whole new printer than it is to buy ink cartridges? from NoStupidQuestions

That’s just one example of course.

Let’s see what these 16 folks had to say in reply to his not-a-stupid question, shall we?

16. Be the bigger person.

Same way you expect governments and corporations to spend money to protect environment – you do what you know is best even if it costs more or is less convenient.

Also last I heard you can refill the cartridges instead of buying new ones

15. You might just have to work harder.

Assuming you’re using printers and cartridges as an example, that’s the point. Environmental damage exists because it is in general easier and cheaper to do things that are worse for the environment.

This ranges from throwing recyclables away instead of recycling, to chemical plants throwing unprocessed waste away directly into rivers.

At some point, you have to evaluate whether the damage to the environment of some action is “worth” the alternative.

In your case, this would be the cost of buying ink cartridges rather than new printers (buy a laser printer).

14. Make a choice.

If you’re concerned about the environment, you do the thing that’s better for the environment… If and when you can.

You’re not compelled to do the cheapest thing possible all the time, to the detriment of your values.

13. A fair alternative, at least in this case.

I guess the best you can do is recycle the old printer, but even then, you can’t guarantee that any of the components will actually be put to use.

12. They’re trying…sort of.

Fortunately, manufacturers have started bringing refillable ink tanks to their printers. Canon G2000 for example, comes with a full tank of ink that should last a home user a couple of years.

And refilling it is quite reasonable. 40$ gets you all the colors you need and lasts another couple of years.

It has it’s drawbacks though. For example if you don’t print that much, air can get into the ink tubes which is easily fixed by a printer cleaning but it’s troublesome.

11. The more you know.

Here. From PC World:

Costco inkjet refills ($8 to $10, plus sales tax where applicable; HP 60 refill for black or tricolor cartridge, $8) Vendor URL: Costco Inkjet Refill Service

10. You’re probably wrong.

I simply stopped using a printer. I have “needed” to print something exactly 4 times at home since 1999.

When I need to print, I go to Staples/FedEx/whatever is nearby somewhere I will already be anyway.

You may think “that’s ridiculous, I cant stop printing?!?”… Well tbh, you’re probably wrong, and if you think about it very little of what you’ve printed has needed to be printed, or at least been printed immediately at home, on demand.

9. If you want to get technical about it.

The best thing you can do for the environment is elect a government that will enact systemic reforms forcing corporations to pay the cost of repairing the damage they do to the environment.

The printer isn’t particularly relevant.

8. Yeah, man. Totally.

Planned obsolescence is the enemy of the environment.

7. Damn the man.

You’re not. The idea that any individual person can significantly impact the environment—by reusing bags, by buying a Prius, by turning down the AC in the summer, by buying organic—is a myth propagated by large corporations to shirk responsibility for modern climate change.

Within the current dominant economic system (i.e., capitalism), not only is it completely impossible to live in an eco-friendly way, but even if you could do that, you’re only 1 person out of 7.5 billion (and counting). You have no power to help the planet except by fighting capitalism. Capitalism’s only way to exist is to grow, extract, grow, extract, grow, extract, ad infinitum, which is not sustainable. Capitalism can never coexist with widespread, genuine care for nature.

Also, capitalism is inherently both racist and imperialist (look up “mlk three evils”).

We gotta change this sh%t up.

6. Invest in quality.

As people point out there are better lasting printers out there, but a lot of people think affordable rather than long term.

In terms of printers, i’ve rarely needed one so buying a new one has literally been every 7 or 8 years.

But its the same for a lot of things people buy. Why is it cheaper to buy a heap of junk food instead of eating healthy? Because junk food tastes nice and people will buy more of it than health food.

I once bought shoes from Kmart for $30 and in a month became so uncomfortable, they were torture to stand/walk in. Saved my pennies and bought them from a proper shoe shop for $180 and 6 years later they are still going strong.

Those who make cheap things with shoddy quality dont care about the environment.

5. Well maybe you can make a difference?

This isn’t entirely true, I’m actually studying sustainability and climate change and thought it is true that an individual’s chooses have less of an impact that that of a large company it can still have a significant effect. People indirectly control the industry if 10% of people stop buying beef that’s a 10% drop in profit for beef producers. That can have a serious effect on how a company operates so while it is important to change the policy regulating large corporations it is still important for individuals to live more sustainability especially since the implementation of new policy is painfully slow.

If anyone wants advice on some minor changes you can make to live more sustainability here are some of the best things you can do.

fly only when absolutely necessary. Flying is one of the most environmentally damaging things an individual can do if possible drive or take a train/bus.
reduce your consumption of beef and dairy products. Cows are responsible for a significant amount of global warming due to their emission of methane which is a much better greenhouse gases than CO2. Cows are the biggest offender but generally meat is the worst offender the least environmentally damaging meat that is available is chicken.

try to repair devices and applications whey they have broken and simply buy less stuff especially if it is single use this reduces your impact as you will consume less and will cause you to produce less waste.

4. I think it’s the walking that’s the key.

Personally, I walk to the library or the UPS store.

This is one of the reasons cities are a pretty eco way to live—strangers can share instead of buying their own shit.

3. Just wait for evolution to catch up.

We need to evolve as a people. It has to do with consumer demand. We need to demand longer lasting or products.

Maybe have our government s subsidize the good stuff. And tax the single use type crap.

2. Even that’s a scam.

Recycling has so much better of a reputation than it deserves. It’s just one small step above throwing stuff straight in the garbage.

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is in priority order. Recycling is a last ditch option before throwing stuff away. The best option is to just use less stuff.

1. We can only do so much one person at a time.

Doing what’s best for the environment isn’t really about what you and I do day to day. On an individual level, we could be vegan as fuck and be completely carbon neutral without making a dent on the vast, global environment. Even that #TeamTrees thing on YouTube will do next to nothing, as great as that was.

What needs to happen is companies and governments need to take immediate, drastic action. That’s the only way we can save the planet. If you still want to do something yourself, then the best thing to do is get involved in politics and campaigns, and make sure to vote for people who genuinely want to tackle the climate crisis.

Of course consumers are gonna pick the cheapest options that are worse for the environment. Especially if they have to pick between the environment or feeding their kids. It’s up to companies and those in charge to make the more environmentally friendly options more accessible.

It’s kind of depressing when you lay it all out like that, don’t you think?

What are your thoughts on companies making it harder than it should be to do the right thing?

Let’s talk about it in the comments!

The post People Talk About the Question: How Are We Supposed to Save The Planet When It’s Cheaper to Trash It? appeared first on UberFacts.