101 Obscure (and Useless) Facts

Imagine for a moment a bright, warm summer day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear, and you, like everyone else, are enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Perhaps you are having a picnic, or kicking around a soccer ball with your friends without a care in the world. Then, all of a sudden, you look down at your feet and from all around you thousands upon thousands of insects the size of your finger begin wriggling and burrowing their way out of the ground. Everywhere you look these nasty bugs are emerging, and the air is filled with a cacophony of chirping as they run through the grass and even take flight.

Well, unfortunately for you, this isn’t just some f–ked up horror scenario I made up. This is real, and in a few short weeks we will all be experiencing this hell together. These mystery insects are actually cicadas, and if you happen to be living in the Midwest this coming summer of 2021, they are coming for you. 

So why is this demonic cicada plague happening? It has to do with cicada life cycles. Certain species of cicadas live on periodical life cycles. Every set amount of years, the cicadas emerge en masse to mate with one another and lay eggs. Then, the eggs hatch and the nymphs burrow their way into the ground to feed and lay in wait until the next mass mating event. In North America, there are 7 species of periodical cicadas: 4 with 13 year cycles, and 3 with 17 year cycles. This year, 2021, the 17 year cicadas are due for a mating season. These 3 species together are known as Brood X or the Great Eastern Brood (why is it called Brood X? Idk some entomologist just named it arbitrarily in 1898 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). 

As Brood X emerges, billions of cicadas that have finally reached maturity will crawl out from the ground and search for a mate. You read that right: billions, with a b. I assume you may be wondering: why would cicadas evolve this strategy for mating? One theory is that during the glacial periods of the past few million years, the cicadas evolved to have extended life cycles because the growing season was too short to complete development. Another theory you can observe for yourself this summer. Cicadas, in the nicest way possible, suck at surviving. As they crawl out, all sorts of predators will make easy work of the helpless cicadas. However, because there are so many emerging, predators will literally have too much to eat, and enough will escape predation to mate and birth the next generation.

After all that, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to stay inside all summer. But, if you can brave the bugs, I do encourage everyone to get outside and see this spectacle of nature. This is a rare event that won’t happen again until 2038. Furthermore, cicadas are completely harmless – they don’t bite, sting, or do anything really except make obnoxious noises. Speaking of obnoxious noises, these cicadas will be loud. Some scientists estimate choruses of cicadas reaching up to 100 decibels (the equivalent of your car stereo blasting full sound). And, as soon as they come, they will be gone. Most of the cicadas will emerge around May and be back in the ground by July. So, for anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to see this natural phenomenon: sit back, relax, and maybe invest in some noise cancelling headphones.

One summer day in July of 1518, a young woman in the French town of Strasbourg walked out into the street and began to dance. Despite the sweltering heat and lack of any accompanying music, the woman danced, and she didn’t stop. Soon, a few more people joined her, then a few more…

After a week, the dancers still showed no signs of slowing down, and their numbers kept growing. They kept dancing day and night, and they rarely stopped for food or drink. Somewhat alarmed, the city councilors turned to local doctors to see if there was an explanation for the feverish dancers overtaking their streets. And what, you may ask, was their groundbreaking medical revelation: hot blood. The medieval doctors believed that all of the twisting, twirling, and shaking was a way for people to cool down their overheating blood. Seriously. I don’t know about you, but moments like this make me very grateful for modern medicine.

 

So, in order to accommodate the dancing peasants, the city constructed a stage and even brought in musicians. However, as the days rolled by, the dancing fever began to take its toll. Dancers began to collapse from exhaustion, and some reportedly even died from the exertion of constant dancing. At its peak, it was reported that as many as 400 people were involved in the mass dancing craze, and, according to a writer living close to the city, up to 15 people a day were dying (although this source was never corroborated). Finally, after 3 months of dance mania, the city banned dancing, and the afflicted peasants were put in the hospital or shuttled to a mountaintop shrine to pray for absolution.

As crazy as it may sound, the ‘Dancing Plague of 1518’  is a well documented 16th century event. In the modern era, scientists and historians have attempted to explain this bizarre phenomenon in a few different ways. One theory is that the bread eaten by the peasants was infected with ergot fungi. These fungi produce a chemical named ergotamine which is structurally similar to LSD, thus causing a massive drug trip among the town. This fungi was also implicated in other historical anomalies including the Salem witch trials. However, some scientists argue that this is an unlikely explanation. 

The leading theory is that the dancing fever was an event of mass hysteria or mass psychogenic illness (MPI). MPIs are characterized by large numbers of people exhibiting the same bizarre behavior which seemingly spreads in an epidemic pattern. These events are usually associated with stressful environmental conditions. At the time, Strasbourg was suffering from widespread food shortages, new disease outbreaks, religious conflicts, and other stressors which undoubtedly took a toll on the peasantry. Additionally, historian John Waller has pointed to St Vitus, a catholic saint who Europeans believed had the power to curse people with a dancing plague, as another factor in the dancing epidemic. The townsfolk may have experienced mass hysteria from the stress of their environment which manifested in a belief that they were being cursed to dance.

Fortunately for us, Penn State’s annual dancing maraTHON has yet to cause anyone to die from exhaustion. However, if you see someone silently dancing alone in the street, maybe don’t join in.

 

I think most of us can agree: brownies are one of the easiest and most delicious treats to make. With only a handful of ingredients, an oven, and about 30 minutes of time, you can whip up a batch of brownies for a party or just some close friends, and, best of all, most brownie recipes are simple enough even for novice bakers to make. That is, unless you are in the U.S. Military.

As with all bureaucracies, the military has found a way to make even the easiest tasks needlessly complicated and soul crushing (because, after all, why do something in 5 steps when you could do it in 20). Case-in-point: the official brownie recipe sanctioned by the U.S. Military is 26 pages long. 

I’m sure that statement brought up more than a few questions. First: why does the military have an official brownie recipe? More importantly, what the hell did they put in there to make it 26 pages?? Well, in true military fashion, a majority of the document is filled with a long list of specifications on ingredients and quality inspection details. For example, instead of simply saying “eggs”, the document reads:

This hyper specific index of ingredients along drags on for an entire 7 pages. Finally, by page 8, you reach the actual recipe for the brownie preparation. Hallelujah. But what could be on the other pages? Well, once again in true military fashion, the writers go on to detail quality specifications such as ‘water content’, ‘net weight inspection’, and other product requirements. Finally, the recipe ends with instructions for packaging and vacuum sealing the finished product.

In the end, for all your perseverance you are rewarded with: a gross brownie. Seriously, these things taste like chocolate chalk. But, to be fair, they aren’t meant for you. These brownies are part of an MRE (aka Meals Ready to Eat). MREs are what soldiers eat when they are on deployments. They are designed specifically to resist spoiling and withstand a variety of harsh environmental conditions. Amazingly, the standard shelf life for these things is up to 5 years, so I guess it makes sense that they have to forego some of the taste considerations. Anyways, if you are thinking about making a nice batch of brownies, maybe stick to Pinterest, but if you plan on keeping them around for a while, the military has you covered.

In the past year, I think it’s pretty fair to say that we have all become a lot more cognizant of disease. The spread of coronavirus around the globe has opened our eyes as a society to the devastating effects microorganisms can have on ourselves and the ecosystems around us, and this pandemic is sure to have long lasting impacts looking forward. However, Covid-19 hasn’t been the only pandemic to rock the boat in 2020…

Say hello to Tropical Race 4 (TR4), the other microorganism to begin wrecking major havoc in 2020. Unlike the coronavirus, TR4 is a fungus, and its primary target is everyone’s favorite fruit: the banana (ok so maybe ‘everyone’s favorite fruit’ is a bit hyperbolistic, but you get the point). When TR4 infects a banana tree, it causes a nasty disease known as Fusarium wilt, aka Panama disease. As the disease progresses, the fungus colonizes and blocks off the vasculature of the plant causing the precious bananas to wilt and die. 

So what makes TR4 so bad? Afterall, there are millions of disease causing microbes out there, and not all of them cause massive epidemics. Well, there are a few key features that contribute to TR4’s success. First, when a plant contracts Panama disease, farmers can’t tell right away. Crops that have been infected don’t show signs of wilting and death for up to a year after exposure. By that point, the fungus has already likely spread through spores in the soil and on farmers’ boots and equipment. Secondly, TR4 spores are highly resistant, and they are able to lay dormant in soil for years after the plant has died. This means that new banana crops can’t be planted for decades after the disease rampage. Finally, the bananas have no defense against the fungus. It seems like science fiction, but all the bananas that we eat are actually clones of one another. The banana you know and love is a variety called the cavendish banana. Because of the way bananas reproduce, all of the banana plants around the globe are actually a part of the same plant forming the largest organism on the entire planet. Since these bananas continue to ripen after being picked, they have been a serious cash crop for the entire banana industry; however, the lack of genetic diversity means that all bananas are highly susceptible to TR4. And, worst of all, there is no cure.

Amazingly, this isn’t even the first time that this has happened. Back in the 1950s, the main variety of banana was called the Gros Michel. These bananas were said to have a sweeter, better taste. Unfortunately, they were nearly wiped out by a different fungal strain named TR1. This caused the banana industry to shift to the cavendish bananas we know today because of its immunity to TR1. Nowadays, the Gros Michel banana is only grown on small farms, and these bananas are highly expensive due to their rarity. 

Although it may not seem like a huge deal, the spread of TR4 poses serious threats to us as humans. The fall of the cavendish banana could crumble the entire banana industry leading to food shortages in South American countries. After the disease found its way into Brazil in 2019, the Columbian government declared a state of emergency due to the threat to one of its major industries. To combat the spread, Colombia imposed strict biosecurity measures such as quarantining farms and increasing sanitization practices (the equivalent of washing your hands and social distancing, but for bananas). However, the fungus continues to creep through the barriers and kill our crops. So, enjoy your banana smoothies while you can. Soon enough, they may be wiped out of existence.

I began this post thinking that I was going to focus on one specific example of a nation attempting to use animals in warfare. Any students of psych may have even heard of my original idea: project pigeon. However, as I began researching, I found a lot more examples of extraordinarily stupid projects to use animals in warfare. For some reason, it seems that many of the largest, most advanced governments on the planet have funded a project to strap explosives to animals as a tactic in war. Even stranger: every single example was conceived during World War II. I couldn’t pick one because they were all idioic to the point of hilarity. Enjoy… (Anyone who is sensitive to animal violence or cruelty should avoid this post.)

Project Pigeon: 

Project Pigeon was behaviorist B.F. Skinner’s attempt to use pigeons as a missile guidance system. Skinner, commonly known in psychology as the father of operant conditioning, developed a system to train and reinforce pigeons to recognize enemy ships. At this point, Skinner and his team planned for the pigeon to be placed in a special missile containing a capsule for the pigeon with a screen in front of it. The screen would show the view from in front of the missile, and the pigeons were trained to peck at the ship on the screen. These pecks would be used to adjust and guide the missile to the ship. The missile could even readjust at any point as the pigeons kept pecking at the ship. The project was eventually scrapped in 1944 and in 1953 the U.S. developed reliable electronic guidance systems.

Bat Bombs: 

The most interesting part of the bat bomb idea, besides the ridiculousness of the idea itself, is the man who first came up with the idea: Lytle Adams. Adams, instead of being a military strategist or engineer, was a dental surgeon from Irwin, PA. His amazing idea was to invent a bomb which would house hundreds of bats. These bats would all be strapped with incendiary devices which were times to ignite at once. The bomb was planned to be dropped over mainland Japan which contained mainly wood and paper constructions. The bats would be released in the air where they would fly out and nest in eaves and attics around the city. Then, all the incendiaries would ignite setting the city ablaze. However, the idea never made it to fruition.

Explosive Rats:

This idea came straight from the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Their grand plan was to fill rat corpses with plastic explosives and drop them near German boiler rooms. The Germans would think little of the rats, and they would hopefully dispose of them by burning. Once the rats were thrown into the boilers, they would explode and cripple the structure. The SOE even tried to implement their tactic; however, the first shipment of rats was intercepted and the idea was foiled. Despite the failure, the German army would, throughout the rest of the war, spend so many resources checking for more boobie trapped rats that the operation was declared a success. 

Anti-tank Dogs:

The idea of anti-tank dogs originated in the USSR. Dogs would be strapped with explosives and trained to carry them to German tanks to cripple them. Originally, the dogs were trained to drop the explosives off and run. Unfortunately, this routine was determined to be too inefficient, and eventually it was replaced with an impact-detonation. Unlike the other ideas, anti-tank dogs were actually used by the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1942. However, the idea did not go exactly as planned. The dogs, even after training, were very hesitant to run up to the large, intimidating tanks. Dogs would also sometimes run back to the trenches in fear and explode on the Soviet troops. Eventually, the use declined, yet Russia kept training anti-tank dogs until 1996.

Contrary to what you may think, the election of America’s first female mayor did not begin as some progressive movement to illustrate the power of women in politics. Instead, the candidacy of Susanna M. Salter began as a sick joke by men.

Back in 1887, 27 year old Susanna Madora Salter was on the verge of her first election. In Argonia, Kansas, where Salter lived, women had only recently been granted the right to vote in city elections, and the city council election would be the first during which women like Salter were allowed to finally express themselves through the ballot box. 

In preparation for the election, Argonia’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), of which Salter was a member, held a meeting to nominate and support several prohibitionist men to the city council. With their combined votes, they hoped to elect these men to pass alcohol prohibition laws which were central to the WCTU’s political stance. During this meeting, two anti-prohibitionist men (nicknamed ‘wets’) showed up to heckle the meeting and intimidate the women. However, the women didn’t budge. So, the ‘wets’ came up with another plan. They called their own secret meeting and came up with a plot to derail the WCTU: they were going to nominate Salter for the mayoral race.

Because of the way elections worked back in the 1800s, candidates did not need to register before election day. Instead, partisans would distribute ballots listing candidates to the townsfolk who would drop them off to vote. This allowed the ‘wets’ to create their own set of ballots to distribute which listed Salter in place of the WCTU candidate. By doing this, they hoped to create confusion and split the vote as they assumed most people would not vote for a woman. 

As the morning of election day arrived, ballots were distributed and, understandably, confusion ensued. A delegation of townsfolk went to Salter’s house where she was washing clothes to explain what had happened. They gave her a chance to remove her name from the ballot, but Salter refused. Instead, she stood by the ballots and agreed to serve if elected. Empowered by this decision, the WCTU fully backed Salter. In the end, Susanna Salter ended up winning the vote by 60%. Instead of humiliating women, they had ended up electing the first woman mayor in the country. 

Word of Salter’s election spread quickly, and many either expressed displeasure or a ‘wait and see’ attitude. On Salter’s first day in office, a New York Sun reporter showed up to document the unprecedented event. Afterwards, the reporter ended up describing her as “a good parliamentarian” and having a strong sense of decorum. In the end, Salter’s term was fairly uneventful with no major ordinances passed; however, her election was still a momentous event that broke the glass ceiling for women in politics.

Ahh Halloween: the spookiest time of the year. As I’m sure you already know, this frightening annual holiday boasts a whole array of spine-chilling creatures: ghosts, werewolves, vampires, and, if you live in some parts of Canada, polar bears. 

Back in 2014, the remote hamlet of Arviat in the territory of Nunavut, Canada was forced to cancel its traditional Halloween festivities in what must have seemed like much more of a trick than a treat. The reason: polar bears. Authorities in the town no longer felt confident in protecting the children of Arviat as they roamed the streets and extorted citizens for candy. Luckily, it is not all doom and gloom for the children of Arviat: the town set up indoor activities in the community complex. 

As their name suggests, polar bears tend to live in polar regions. Crazy idea right? So why would they be invading Canada’s northern regions which are decidedly not filled with glaciers? Well, as with many modern problems, it’s our fault. Specifically, global warming has begun to push many polar bears south. 

Polar bears are hunters with no set territories. Normally, they tend to stay far out on the shore ice where all of the tasty seals and fish reside. However, as more and more of the ice in the Hudson Bay melts, the bears are forced inland towards populated areas such as Arviat. Fortunately, polar bear attacks still remain very rare. These bears tend to only attack in the off season when food is difficult to find. However, this forced migration has significantly increased the number of attacks in recent decades. 20% of polar bear attacks against humans in the last 144 years have occurred between 2010 and 2014. With the increased numbers of bears, the town no longer felt comfortable with outdoor celebrations in October.

Fortunately for Arviat, the bear migrations have not been wholly bad. Arviat has now become a popular location for polar bear sightseeing, bringing in some revenue for the town. Also, in 2016 trick or treat was reinstated. In order to protect the children, the police and fire department now create a barrier around the town with their lights and sirens scaring off the bears. 

So, if you ever find yourself in the northern reaches of Canada, watch your back. Without a significant reversal of the climate, ice will continue to melt and polar bears will continue to be pushed south. Also, not that I have to say it, probably don’t approach giant, carnivorous wildlife.

It may not seem like it, but the process of delivering your LED tik tok lights is actually quite complex. Billions of packages are delivered every year across the country, and these numbers are only expected to rise. In order to keep up with this massive demand, delivery companies must maintain maximum efficiency in order to save time and resources. In the pursuit of this efficiency, one such company, UPS, has historically employed what, at first, may seem to be a strange strategy: never turning left.

The policy of minimizing left turns first came about in the 1970s with a system called “Loop Dispatch.” This is similar to a mathematical problem known as the travelling salesman problem which deals with visiting points in the most efficient path, then returning to your starting position. With each added point, the number of possible paths increases as a factorial function (ex. 4! = 4x3x2x1, these functions grow VERY fast). One statistical way to minimize the distance is by creating loops. UPS truck drivers would organize their package delivery routes in these ‘loops’ starting with the right side streets then the left. In essence, it worked similar to only turning right in a maze: you are able to efficiently cover all the ground without backtracking. Not every single route would be shorter, but statistically it evened out to overall shorter routes which means more packages and more money.

You may be asking, why not only make left turns instead of right to solve the loop issue? Left turns are both more dangerous and less efficient. In order to turn left, you need to sit and wait for gaps in oncoming traffic. Once you finally decide to move, any small miscalculation in how fast the approaching cars are coming could mean a crash. On top of this, it is significantly harder to see pedestrians during left turns. An estimated one quarter of pedestrian crashes in the U.S. take place due to simply turning left. All of these problems are magnified when dealing with trucks instead of cars. Right turns, on the other hand, are much more efficient and safer. Drivers can even turn right on certain stoplights decreasing the time they spend idling.

Overall, the system of avoiding left turns was extremely profitable for UPS. Routes became faster and idle time decreased, thus minimizing how much money was spent on fuel. UPS estimates that 10 million tons of fuel are saved per year as each route is decreased by an average of 6 – 8 miles. This is also beneficial for the environment as UPS trucks spend less time on the roads. It prevents an estimated 100,000 tons of CO2 being released per year. But most of all, Loop Dispatch (later updated with GPS to the ORION system which still prioritizes right turns) was good for the profit margins of UPS. One mile per day per driver over the course of a year can save up to $50 million. This means, over the course of a year, UPS saves between $300 – $400 million.

To you, the average reader, this may not seem particularly impactful. If you want the most efficient route between 2 points, avoiding left turns will not do that. However, if you have siblings who still trick-or-treat, you could win them some candy. Try telling them to only take right turns when going from house to house: it’s (in principle) the same as the travelling salesman problem.

Don’t get your hopes up – this is not a book review of The Martian. This blog is not nearly that interesting D:

Instead, this post will be about the ACTUAL cosmonaut who ended up stuck in space. Notice how I said cosmonaut? Well that’s no typo. Who else but the Russians would end up getting a man stuck whizzing around the planet (it’s just a joke, please don’t come for me Putin).

Say hello to Sergei Krikalev, a famously humble Soviet cosmonaut who, like most who have left the planet, was simply enamored with space. Krikalev said that the space station was like his second home, and crewmates frequently noticed him spending free time just looking out the window.

Krikalev set off on what would become a longer than expected journey in May of 1991. An experienced cosmonaut, Krikalev would be joining the crew of the Mir (the soviet space station) for a scheduled 5 month stay packed with space walks, experiments, and other space-y things. However, for any of you caught up with your history, things were about to go very wrong. While Krikalev orbited 230 miles above the ground, some changes began to take place in the USSR. Following Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika policy (restructuring of the Soviet political system), countries began to vye for independence. The first to go was Kazakhstan in the summer of the same year. In order to appease the new government, Gorbachev promised a space on Mir to a Kazakh cosmonaut. Unfortunately, the spot offered to the Kazakh government was the experienced cosmonaut who was scheduled to replace Krikalev. Krikalev would need to stay in Mir to maintain the station.

After Kazakhstan, things would begin to deteriorate quickly in the USSR. By August, tanks would roll into Red Square in a coup d’etat. Although Gorbachev regained control, nations within the USSR saw the government’s weakness and pushed even harder for independence. During this time, more cosmonauts would come and go from Mir, but Krikalev would need to stay as the experienced cosmonaut on the station. From his vantage point, he could do nothing but watch as his homeland crumbled. Finally, on Christmas of 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and Krikalev officially became the last Soviet citizen. 

Now let me be clear: Krikalev could have left. Mir had an Soyuz capsule which could be used to return back to Earth, but Krikalev stayed. Why? If Krikalev had left, it would have meant the end of Mir and the Soviet space program. Even though he knew the risks to his health and safety, Krikalev stayed out of devotion to his country and dedication to the exploration of space. After the dissolution of the USSR, President George H.W. Bush swiftly picked up what was left of the Soviet space program (which was only being narrowly held together thanks to Krikalev) in order to prevent rocket scientists from defecting to North Korea, Iran, and other countries developing nuclear technology. This would set up the modern day cooperation between the United States and Russian Space programs leading to the ISS.

Finally, on March 25 of 1992, Krikalev was relieved and finally returned to a very different Earth. In total, he had spent 803 days in space and had orbited around the earth over 5000 times. This record would only be beaten in 2015 by another cosmonaut who went up for that specific reason. And, miraculously, Krikalev was not done with space. Years later, Krikalev would become the first cosmonaut on the American Space Shuttle. Take that Mark Watney.

From Jaws to Finding Dory, the oceans of the world have always been a point of interest to millions of people. Considering over 95% of the oceans have still not been explored, it is no wonder that humans throughout history have speculated about what may exist down there. But, frankly, we don’t really know much about what that may be, and that can be a very scary thought. Well (as if we all weren’t stressed enough) here is one more thing about the oceans to keep you up at night:

In 1997, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who were listening for volcanic activity in the Pacific Ocean found something rather unexpected. Using hydrophones (underwater microphone arrays), these researchers picked up a strange and extremely loud sound in a remote part of the South Pacific. To give you a scale on how loud this was: the sound was picked up by hydrophones that were placed over 3219 kilometers apart (that’s over 2000 miles…). Beyond that, the sound was unlike anything the researchers had heard before. Instead of resembling that of volcanic activity, it had a more…lifelike quality to it. Due to this unique profile, the event came to be known as The Bloop.

You can hear The Bloop for yourself here:

See? It sounds like a ‘bloop’.

Afterwards, researchers at the NOAA began looking for explanations for The Bloop. One of the most interesting and sensational theories to explain this was an enormous underwater creature. However, if this was true, the ‘Bloop creature’ would have to be truly gigantic. The largest animal on earth, the blue whale, can, at its loudest, create sounds that can be heard a few hundred miles away. The Bloop was heard thousands of miles away. This would make the bloop creature many times larger than anything known to man. And, frankly, the NOAA couldn’t exactly disprove this. As previously mentioned, 95% of the oceans have yet to be explored. Could some giant beast be living out there?

For years, The Bloop went unexplained. Conspiracy theorists continued to speculate about what could have caused it; meanwhile, oceanic researchers were busy looking for a more scientific explanation. Finally, in 2005, the source of the mysterious Bloop was finally confirmed. According to the NOAA, The Bloop was: an icequake! Icequakes, also known as ice calving, are a phenomenon where massive icebergs break away from the Antarctic glacier. Researchers were able to match up the sound profiles of known icequakes to the sound profile of The Bloop. 

However, without having observed The Bloop themselves, researchers can only be so certain. Something could still be out there. I guess the world will never know…