Wisdom disconnect: Oct. 21, 2009

Ouch!
Most scientists agree that insects don’t feel pain. This is primarily because insects don’t have vertebrae, the path that pain signals travel on to register pain in the brain. However, it’s possible that insects feel alternative types of pain unknown to humans.

Hot Rocks:
Fulgurite is fossilized lightening that looks like a rough, grayish glass tube. It is formed when lightning strikes quartzose sand, silica or soil.

For a love of music:
A 120GB iPod can hold 83.3 days worth of audio. That is 1500 times more than a CD, 2000 times more than a cassette tape and 2727 times more than a 12” record.

Is that you, Jimmy?
There are people who adamantly believe that a friend or family member has been replaced by an imposter with the same physical appearance. This is known as capgras delusion. The opposite scenario, where one believes that a number of people are the same person in disguise, is fregoli delusion.

Rsareceh:
Rsareceh at Cmriagbde Uitvresiny dmotsetnraes taht the haumn mnid can eialsy dehipcer wrdos wtih jumlbed ltteers so lnog as the fsrit and lsat letetrs of the wrod are in the coecrrt odrer.

Muscles, Baby!
A human baby, kilogram for kilogram, is stronger than an ox.

Doing his part:
Michael Reynolds is the Garbage Warrior. He is an architect and environmentalist who builds houses out of bottles, beer cans, old tires and mud. These houses, known as earthships, don’t require hydro or electricity.

A wise person once said:
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire