Science Advocacy
Science Advocacy
Ridiculous question from the internet: I swallowed an ice cube, and I haven’t pooped it out?
Source of said ridiculous question: Yahoo Answers
Science’s answer: Ice melts at 32ºF, or 0ºC. Your body temperature is approximately 98.6ºF, or 37ºC. I can’t believe I’m going to say this… ok, here it goes… 98.6ºF is warmer than 32ºF, so the ice melted. There, I said it. No one should feel good about this. You actually did excrete the ice in question, but it came out as water, likely as urine, but also potentially as sweat, water vapor you exhaled and yes, maybe also as part of a “poop”.
The Internet Asks: Do cats cause mental illness?
Source:
Science’s Answer: The rumor that cats can cause mental illness stems from the fact that some cats carry a parasite called Toxoplasmosis gondii, which can cause the disease toxoplasmosis under the right circumstances. However, you are just as likely to become infected with the parasite by eating under-cooked meat as you are from owning a cat, and most people infected with the parasite are not even aware of it (immune system FTW). Scientific studies have not found a relationship between cat ownership and the development of mental disorders. That being said, the CDC does caution pregnant women against cleaning the cat litterbox, because toxoplasmosis shed in cat feces may harm fetal development. In the end, probably just thoroughly cook your meat and don’t eat cat poop.
While it’s true that cats just see us as very warm, very loud, food delivery animals, and are probably plotting to overthrow the human race, they definitely have not developed mind control capabilities quite yet (or have they?).
Yes, it’s May the 4th, and we mild-mannered nerds here at UseYourBrain! are just as excited as you are for all the geekiness that comes with this most hallowed of nerd holidays, so we thought we would celebrate by exploring a few burning (pun!) questions most often posed by the Star Wars universe:
The Internet Asks: What is zero minus any number?
Source: Yahoo Answers
Science’s Answer: It’s the negative of that number. For example: 0 – 7 = -7, 0 – 223 = -223, 0 – (-462) = 462, or a boy has zero apples and the bank repossesses his apple orchard containing 50 trees, each with 100 not-quite-ripe apples on them, then he has -5000 apples, and some very angry investors.
The Internet Asks: “What is the penalty for blowing up the moon?”
Source: Yahoo Answers
Science’s Answer: Please don’t blow up the moon. Keep in mind that the moon is held in place by the earth’s gravity, so some of the pieces of the moon (those that are accelerated towards the earth’s surface after you blow it up) will shower down on all of us. If the human race survives, I think it’s fair to say you will be in a lot of trouble.
The Internet Asks: Can radiation really give humans mutant powers like in the comics?
Source: Quora.com
Science’s Answer: Please don’t expose yourself to radiation in an attempt to gain mutant powers. Just don’t do it – I can’t stress this enough. People are exposed to radiation all the time, mostly natural sources like ultraviolet radiation from the sun or radon from the earth, but also man-made sources like x-rays, and nuclear waste. These people never get super powers. Do you know what they get? They get cancer. And that’s not a superpower, despite what you might have learned from “The Fault In Our Stars.”
