Today I found out how the lines projected on the field during a televised football game work. What is happening behind the scenes of this seemingly simple line projection is actually quite complex. Putting that yellow line across your television screen to mark a first down or a blue line to mark the line of scrimmage requires numerous technicians, 3-D […]
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Today I found out what causes blisters. We’ve all seen them, and unfortunately most of us have had one. Those painful, pockets of goo that form because some over exercised, over caffeinated, happy to be living life, outdoors-man decides to include you in their daily torture fest that is a hike up mount agony! So what exactly is going on […]
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Today I found out that there is a type of duck that sometimes lassos potential mates with its penis to prevent them from getting away. Most male birds do not have penises. They typically copulate by briefly touching genital openings with a female, called a “cloacal kiss”. However, most ducks do have penises. The theory behind why this is the […]
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Today I found out that all 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 positions of a standard Rubik’s Cube can be solved in 20 moves or less. Anyone who is serious about solving a Rubik’s Cube uses some sort of algorithm, or sequence of steps to help them solve the puzzle. There are many different algorithms, varying in complexity and number of moves required, but those that […]
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Today I found out how a Jake Brake works (also known as “Jacobs Engine Brake” or “compression release brake”). For those who don’t know, a “Jake Brake” is what makes that machine-gun like noise that you might hear from semi-trucks when they head down long steep hills. A normal gas motor uses the air flow from the intake manifold to […]
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Today I found out how to read an EKG. While some people might say that kind of skill should require 13 years of preparatory school, four years of college, four years of medical school and a specialty in cardiac electrophysiology, I say…Pshaw! It’s not rocket science! If it were, there would be more combustion and potential for speedy projectiles gone […]
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Today I found out there once was a man was hit on the head by a falling baby… twice! According to Time Magazine (Miscellany, Oct. 17, 1938), the year of the first event was 1937. Joseph Figlock, a local street sweeper in Detroit, Michigan, was walking down the road when a baby fell from a 4th story window. The baby […]
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Today I found out that Dick Cheney likely doesn’t have a pulse. No, really! Dick has had several heart attacks since 1978. These heart attacks have made his heart extremely weak and he is currently in need of a new one. Technology has advanced to the point that we, as humans, have invented several mechanical devices that can help our […]
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Today I found out what exactly is going on with the heart during a heart attack. We’ve all seen the 70 year old man on TV who suddenly clutches his chest and yells “Oh, my chest!!” and then falls over dead. Seems like a relatively easy way to die, certainly better than massive burns over your body then dying three […]
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Today I found out where the term “Going Postal” came from. It seems to be common knowledge that if you have a co-worker who appears they might take out a 9mm handgun and play target practice with all the panicking office help, you would say, “he’s about to go postal!” It also seems like common sense then, that this could […]
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Today I found out what makes your eyes red in flash photographs. Simply put, that crazy zombie look people tend to get, as if they are about to use you as a pre-lunch snack, has to do with how light from a camera flash reflects off the eye, and the specific wavelengths at which it tends to do this. It […]
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Today I found out why inhaling helium can change the sound of your voice. The physics behind this little phenomenon, practiced in the back corners of parties everywhere, are actually fairly simple. What is going on in the voice tract however is not. The mechanics of a person’s voice is an awesome biological phenomenon born from the need of women […]
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Today I found out how trick candles work. There is nothing more humorous then seeing a person become woozy and light-headed at a feeble attempt to blow out candles that fight back! Candles themselves work on a fairly simple and ingenious principle. The three elements to sustain fire are concealed in one convenient package. The fuel itself is the container […]
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Today I found out how fish gills work. These fantastic little organs allow the fish to absorb oxygen from the water and use it for energy. Functionally, gills are not that dissimilar to the lungs in humans and other mammals. The main difference is how they are able to absorb much smaller concentrations of available oxygen, while allowing the fish […]
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Today I found out what causes hickeys, that infamous badge of shame that requires most teenage boys to seriously consider buying make up to cover their necks before they go home to mom and dad! Now I know what your thinking, your partner in sadism causes those of course! While this may be true, the underlying factors that allow this […]
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Note: This is a guest article contributed by frequent TIFO visitor, paramedic, and amateur physicist, Scott. Today I found out why we divide the day in to seconds, minutes, and hours. The concept of needing to divide up the day seems second nature to even the smallest kid who asks, “is it snack time”. The reality is, even though we’ve […]
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Today I found out bread goes stale about six times faster in the refrigerator then when kept at room temperature. On the surface, this might seem counter intuitive; after all, everyone knows if you want to keep food fresher longer, you put it in the fridge. The problem stems from what bread is made out of, specifically starch molecules, and […]
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Note: This is a guest article contributed by a paramedic and fire fighter, Scott. Today I found out how the heart works. I know what you’re thinking; I hope by the end of this article I can find out if it really is true that I can MacGyver an electrical cord together and shock my heart into restarting should it […]
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