More than 20% of the general population may experience the loss of their sense of smell, known as anosmia, at some point in their lives. Anosmia can be caused by an injury or disease, and it’s a common symptom of COVID-19. Now, a neuroprosthetic nose being developed by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Smell and Taste Disorders Centercould help people with long-term anosmia by restoring their sense of smell. The device works by transforming odor into radio waves and transmitting the signal directly to the brain, bypassing the olfactory nerves. The concept is similar to a cochlear implant: Users wear a small sensor that picks up an aroma in the air and transmits it to a tiny processor, which turns it into a specific frequency and sends it to a receiver implanted in the user’s brain. The receiver then sends the signal to electrodes that stimulate the brain as if the user were smelling the odor. If the final product makes it to market, this bionic nose may one day help people smell again.
Wi-Fi, which stands for “Wireless Fidelity,” uses radio waves to send signals, and just as with regular radio waves, it can be disrupted or impeded — mainly by thick walls and metal barriers. It also degrades over distance.
While AM and FM radio broadcasts cover the ranges of kilohertz and megahertz, respectively, Wi-Fi transmits in gigahertz (or a billion cycles per second). That allows Wi-Fi signals to carry an immense amount of information, while severely limiting its range. Many Wi-Fi routers come with two network frequencies — 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The first frequency carries a lower bandwidth (aka speed) but can reach farther distances, whereas 5 GHz is faster but can’t travel as far. If you’re experiencing Wi-Fi dead zones, try switching to the farther-reaching 2.4 GHz frequency (if available), or investing in a Wi-Fi extender that can boost these data-heavy signals.
Interestingly, microwave ovens operate on a frequency very similar to Wi-Fi networks, at around 2.412 GHz to 2.472 GHz, so sometimes Wi-Fi can be disrupted when you’re warming up your dinner. Speaking of which …
Bioluminescence, the strange biology that causes certain creatures to glow, is usually found at the darkest depths of the ocean where the sun’s light doesn’t reach. While these light-emitting animals seem otherworldly, the trait is actually pretty common — in fact, you’re probably glowing right now.
According to researchers at Tohoku Institute of Technology in Japan, humans have their own bioluminescence, but at levels 1,000 times less than our eyes can detect. This subtle human light show, viewable thanks to ultra-sensitive cameras, is tied to our metabolism. Free radicals produced as part of our cell respiration interact with lipids and proteins in our bodies, and if they come in contact with a fluorescent chemical compound known as fluorophores, they can produce photons of light. This glow is mostly concentrated around our cheeks, forehead, and neck, and most common during the early afternoon hours, when our metabolism is at its busiest. At such a low level, human bioluminescence likely isn’t an intentional product of evolution as it is for deep-sea fish, fireflies, and many other animals. And most other bioluminescent creatures rely on a compound called luciferin (Latin for “light bringer”) — which humans lack — for their light show. Fortunately, we have unique ways of making light that are all our own.
Music lovers today know that many live shows are a luxury expense or even out of reach — an average concert ticket costs well over $100. But in 1980, $20 could snag you two tickets to see some of the top acts of the day, including Peter Gabriel, Bob Seger, or the Grateful Dead. Today, meanwhile, it might be able to get you a drink at big arena shows.
For kids (or collectors), brand-new Transformers toys at the peak of their popularity in the ’80s were typically priced at about $10; for a more deluxe figure, $20 was the norm. And while $20 doesn’t go very far in the fast-food realm today, in the 1980s, it bought a lot: A McDonald’s value meal deal cost a mere $2.59, meaning $20 could feed a family of seven — or a family of five with money left over for ice cream afterward.
Goosebumps, known in medical parlance as piloerection, are caused by contractions in small muscles that are connected to hair follicles. This creates a depression on the skin’s surface, resulting in the hairs standing upright. Its name comes from the resemblance of skin to that of a plucked bird.
It is believed that this is an inherited trait from our prehistoric ancestors. They had thicker coats of body hair, which created insulation and kept the body warm when stimulated. While our layer of body hair is too thin to make this insulation process effective, the muscle contraction and increased electrical activity does help to stimulate the body, which is why goosebumps that are caused by the cold go away when you warm up.
Goosebumps are also associated with a wide range of emotional situations. People talk about getting goosebumps when scared, or while listening to rousing songs or watching a high-stakes sporting event. Goosebumps can be triggered by the subconscious release of the testosterone hormone. When high levels of stress occur, whether positive or negative, testosterone is released to help in the fight-or-flight decision-making process. This cues goosebumps, and we start to feel our hair prick up.
Goosebumps may be a little mysterious, but generally speaking, when you feel them cropping up, all you need to do is take a deep breath, relax a little, and maybe put on a sweater.
The MAGA morons are sadly going to get what they are asking for and it will hurt everyone. They want to turn the economy around even though our inflation is at 2.5%, unemployment is at record low, the current administration has had positive job growth every month but we need to turn this car around . Every economist has said that DJTs tariff plan will cause inflation and possibly a recession and that is the direction that the red hat militia wants us to go in. Yes grocery prices are up but so are profits for those retailers and there is no plan for curtailing corporate profits.
So thank you those who didn’t vote because … (black woman) and those who thought a 34 count felon was a good idea.
Louisiana has reported the first U.S. fatality from avian influenza. Most of the country’s human cases have been mild.
The Louisiana Department of Health recently reported the first U.S. death from H5N1 avian influenza: this individual was a patient who became severely ill and was hospitalized after having contact with both backyard poultry and wild birds. The department didn’t identify the deceased but said the person was older than age 65 and had underlying health conditions.
A total of 66 confirmed human cases of bird flu have been reported in the U.S. since the beginning of 2024. Most have been very mild and have occurred in people who work with dairy cattle or poultry. The scant handful of severe cases that have occurred throughout North America during that time have included one person in Missouri who was hospitalized and tested positive for the H5N1 virus and a 13-year-old in British Columbia who also had obesity and asthma and had been listed as in critical condition, according to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In previous international outbreaks in humans, the virus has had a reported mortality rate of more than 50 percent, though that is likely an overestimate because not all cases are caught.
The death in Louisiana and hospitalizations in Missouri and British Columbia are concerning, but they have not changed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s assessment that the risk to the general public from H5N1 remains low.
“We have to put H5N1 deaths in perspective. This has been a horrible disease for well over 27 years in humans,” says Michael Osterholm, chair of public health and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Yet “the virus activity we’re seeing now, in terms of cases, has been largely a very mild illness,” Osterholm adds. “And while there have been two severe cases, both of these individuals also had underlying health conditions that would predispose them to severe disease.”
In comparison, he notes that there have been more than 2,700 deaths from seasonal flu in the U.S. so far this fall and winter alone. When it comes to bird flu, “we seem to live in two separate universes: one where we have a state like California, which has just declared a state of emergency over bird flu, and then you have the CDC saying it’s low-risk—and they’re both right,” he says. Osterholm likens the current situation to walking safely along a long, flat field and then suddenly coming upon the edge of a cliff with a mile-high drop. Once one gets past that edge, “that’s what a pandemic is,” he says. So it’s accurate to say the risk is low right now, he adds—but that could change “in a heartbeat.”
So far there have not been any reports of human-to-human spread of H5N1 in the U.S. That’s not a reason to be complacent, however. The more people are exposed to or infected with H5N1, the higher the chances are that the virus will mutate and mix with seasonal flu viruses, possibly making it easier to spread between people.
The individuals in the Louisiana and British Columbia cases were both infected with viruses related to the D1.1 bird flu genotype that is currently circulating in wild birds and poultry—not the B3.13 strain that is circulating in cattle. It’s too soon to draw conclusions about whether the avian strain is more virulent, however, Osterholm says.
Public health experts say one thing is clear: people who work with or have contact with wild birds, poultry or cattle should take precautions. More than two thirds of California’s dairy herds have been infected with H5N1 in the past year, and human cases may be going uncounted (especially if they are mild). Dairy workers are at risk from the milking process, during which milk with high levels of virus could splash into their eyes. Poultry workers have been infected while culling sick birds. Several domestic cats have been infected after drinking raw milk or consuming raw meat. Fortunately, pasteurization or cooking to the appropriate temperature kills the virus.
It’s too soon to tell whether H5N1 will develop into a pandemic. “I’ve been worried about a flu pandemic dating back to the last [flu pandemic], and that includes time during COVID,” Osterholm says. Worldwide, vaccine makers have capacity to make enough bird flu vaccine to inoculate fewer than two billion people (about 25 percent of the world’s population) in the first year after an outbreak. “We’re extremely vulnerable right now, on a global basis, to a flu pandemic,” Osterholm says. “So, yeah, I worry about that every day, whether it’s H5N1 or H2N2 or some other virus that emerges out of the flu world.”
The end of the dinosaurs is often pictured as an apocalyptic event complete with a giant asteroid, a cataclysmic collision, and general fire and brimstone-type stuff, but the ends of biological epochs are rarely so cut-and-dried. In fact, the story of the dinosaurs didn’t even end on that unfortunate spring day 65 million years ago, because dinosaurs still live among us — we just call them birds.
Today, scientists consider all birds a type of dinosaur, descendants of creatures who survived the mass extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. And yes, that even includes the chicken. In 2008, scientists performed a molecular analysis of a shred of 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein, and compared it to a variety of proteins belonging to many different animals. Although proteins from alligators were relatively close, the best match by far belonged to ostriches — the largest flightless birds on Earth — and the humble chicken.
Today’s chicken is a descendant of a still-extant tropical bird known as the red junglefowl, and a member of an order of birds known as Galliformes (gallus means “rooster” in Latin). Following the initial 2008 study, further research has proved that a chicken’s genetic lineage closely resembles that of its avian dinosaur ancestors. Scientists have even concluded that a reconstruction of T. rex’s chromosomes would likely produce something similar to a chicken, duck, or ostrich. So the next time you eat a chicken for dinner, you might pause to consider its connection to some of the most fearsome beasts to ever stalk the planet.
Ulysses S. Grant, America’s 18th president, was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio, to Jesse and Hannah Grant. Though Hannah initially wanted to name her son after American diplomat Albert Gallatin, her father suggested the name Hiram and her mother proposed Ulysses. After much discussion, Jesse announced the boy would be named Hiram Ulysses Grant in an effort to please both grandparents. The future president lived the first 17 years of his life with the first name Hiram — until there was a clerical mistake at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Grant was nominated to West Point in 1839 by Ohio Congressman Thomas Hamer, who accidentally wrote Grant’s name in the application as “Ulysses S. Grant.” The confusion stemmed from the fact that Grant often went by Ulysses, rather than Hiram. To further complicate things, the application called for a middle initial, so Hamer added an “S” for Grant’s mother’s surname, Simpson. Grant made several efforts to correct the mistake, but the name stuck. Fellow cadets even referred to Grant as “Uncle Sam” because of his unintentionally patriotic initials. In an 1844 letter to his future wife Julia Dent, Grant wrote, “You know I have an ‘S’ in my name and don’t know what it stand for.”
Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void 
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