The Meaning Behind "Touch"

Science is giving more attention to our earliest form of communication - touch.

1) Studies have found that students who received a supportive touch on the back/arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not. 2) A doctor's sympathetic touch makes one think the visit lasted twice as long VS those who were untouched. 3) A massage from a loved one eases pain, depression and strengthen a relationship. 4) Volunteers communicated eight distinct emotions merely by touching a blindfolded stranger. 5) A study of the high-5's and chest bumps in an NBA season revealed that, with a few exceptions, good teams (and oftentimes players) were touchier than bad ones (most touchy: Celtics and Lakers; least touchy: Kings and Bobcats).

A warm touch seems to release oxytocin, a hormone that helps create a sensation of trust and reduces stress hormone cortisol levels. In doing so the prefrontal area, which affects emotion, bears less of a burden and the body "chips in" to help in the task at hand. Psychologists think man builds relationships to distribute problem solving across brains. We're wired to share the processing load, and touch provides this supportive signal.

What is, and how to stop, a Brain Freeze

The esteemed British Medical Journal published an editorial on the science behind brain freezes. Good news: you don't have to give up ice cream.

The most common cause of head pain is ice cream - occurring in 1/3rd of a randomly selected population. When something cold touches the roof of your mouth, blood vessels in your head dilate. The dilation may be due to contact with a nerve center in the roof of your mouth.

Whatever the case, if you want to avoid brain freezes don't give up ice cream or cold drinks. Instead, just avoid having anything cold touch the roof of your mouth.

Physics of a Hydrogen Bomb

We explained last time how an atom bomb works. What about a hydrogen bomb (H-bomb)?

An H-bomb works on the principle of fusion. Fusion occurs when multiple like-charged atomic nuclei join to form a heavier nucleus, which releases a tremendous amount of energy in the process. The energy released through fusion is 3-4 times greater than the energy of fission because the amount of mass transformed into energy is that much greater. Fusion is the process that occurs in stars in the universe, like the sun.

In an H-bomb, 2 forms of hydrogen fuse to form a nucleus of helium and a neutron, causing a release of 17.6 MeV of energy (= to a 100 kiloton TNT explosion). Unlike nuclear fission, nuclear fusion has no limit in regards to how many times it can occur.

Here is a clip of an h-bomb.

Physics of an Atom Bomb

An atom is made up of protons (+ charge), neutrons (no charge), and electrons (- charge). An atom is incredibly small: 10-8­ cm. To put this in perspective, if we assumed a period (.) to be the size of a carbon atom, the size of a scaled pencil (originally 7cm long) would be 100 miles long and 3.5 miles wide. But if its so incredibly tiny, how can an "atom" bomb be so destructive?

E = mc2 (where E = energy, m = mass and c = the speed of light) tells us that matter and energy are interchangeable -- matter can convert into energy and vice versa. Add to this the fact that any object is comprised of an enormous amounts of atoms one can easily see when squaring the speed of light the result, regardless of the negligible mass of an atom, is enormous.

Aside from Einstein's famous equation, radioactive decay also plays a role where atoms split at high speeds. Nuclear bombs use uranium-235 as fuel because it is highly unstable, with an irregular number of neutrons. Uranium can be induced to decay if struck with a neutron. This process of splitting atoms through neutron bombardment is known as fission. When fission occurs, a chain reaction ensues with the original neutron collision creating numerous consequent collisions. With each collision, more atoms are split and more energy is released.

What about the trademark mushroom cloud that results due to an atomic explosion? Well, a mushroom cloud is not particular to an atomic explosion. It occurs in any instance where a massive fireball is created and rises, leaving behind a column of hot, and rising, air. The vacuum draws in all surrounding gas and flame which creates a "stem" of smoke. The head of the cloud forms because the center of the plume is the hottest, so it rises faster than the outer edges which gives the effect of the edges crawling downward.

Aside from the mushroom cloud, atom bombs also deliver an awesome shock-wave. Radiation energy is released during the explosion and in the presence of a surrounding material (air, water, etc) this energy rapidly heats the surrounding matter so it's temperature is equal to the temperature of the atomic bomb's matter. This vaporizes the surrounding material and the energy of this expansion forms a shock-wave.

­One other thing to note is that conventional bombs explode due to chemical reactions, but the atoms that make up the chemicals stay unchanged. Atomic/Nuclear bombs explode as a result of reactions and do change the atoms, creating explosive energy in turn.

Here is a video of atomic bomb explosions.

The Science Behind Lebron's Magic

Ever wonder how Lebron can do what he does so much better than everyone else his age?

Sports Science has the answer in this video.

Egg or Chicken Debate Solved

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Scientists found the answer ... about 3 years ago.

The answer: the egg came first.

Scientists reasoned that genetic material does not change during an animal's life and, therefore, the first bird that evolved into a chicken first existed as an embryo with chicken DNA inside an egg.

Computer Cracks Code Thomas Jefferson Could Not

In 1801 Thomas Jefferson received an encrypted message but its message remained a mystery ... until March 2009. In the letter, math professor Robert Patterson wrote that he had devised the perfect cipher: simple, yet impossible to break without the key. Patterson claimed that his message would stump humanity “to the end of time.”

Challenging Patterson's challenge, Lawren Smithline wrote a computer program which unveiled various pairs of letters. Pairs like “qu” and “nt” offered promise, while impossible pairs like “vj” and “dx” were rejected. After a week, Smithline exposed the message - words Jefferson would have easily recognized: the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

A Sonic Black Hole

A black hole is a pocket of density so intense that light cannot escape. Scientists have created a sonic black hole - that is a pocket of space from which sound cannot escape.

Cooling rubidium atoms to just barely above absolute zero, a laser shot into the cloud created a void. The atoms, attracted to the breach, left the pocket at +4 times the speed of sound, creating a black hole type effect. No sound wave could travel against the flow of the racing fluid - much like trying to swim against a current much faster than you.

Aside from being real cool, a sonic black hole could help evaluate Stephen Hawking’s prediction that a real black hole slowly evaporates as it emits radiation.

Smelling Fear

Some sweat, aside from smelling, emits an odor of fear as well according to a study. Studies of brain responses to different sweat odors revealed the brain detects differences when the sweat was produced during periods of duress. The study suggests that fear, maybe even other emotions as well, can be chemically transferred between people - something like a 6th sense.

Knockouts

Knockouts are, above all else, quick. But what happens when someone gets knocked out?

Your brain is sitting in cerebrospinal fluid with the skull forming a protective outer shell. When a blow lands the skull recoils, moving in the direction the punch/kick has forced the skull, and then back again. The skull does not move much more than this. The brain, however, is like a boat in a turbulent ocean at this point - constantly moving back and forth in the fluid. Every time the brain makes contact with one side of the skull, trauma ensues. Newton's 2nd law says force = (mass) X (acceleration). Therefore, the larger the force (i.e. the heavier and/or faster the blow) the more severe the trauma. When the trauma is severe, the brain sends misfiring electric signals throughout the body which essentially overload the nervous system and the body shuts down - i.e. you collapse.

The blow itself also offers a lesson in physics. When a punch or kick is delivered, a transfer of kinetic energy occurs. If, for example, you throw a punch, you gather energy from your base, and while swinging your torso and then your arm, transmit that energy from your feet through your hand and into the opponent.

This principle is found in all knockouts, delivered with a punch or kick.

Time Travelling - Sort of

Research indicates that man's perceptions of space and time is interwoven. Researchers found that the mere act of thinking about the past or future caused test subjects to move backward or forward.