Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: How Broad is the Side of a Barn?

December 8, 2015

What’s the latest discovery in particle physics? The fact that physicists actually have a whimsical sense of humor. For one thing, the vocabulary of this esoteric field includes the quirky term “barn.” It’s a minuscule unit of measurement based on the cross-sectional area of a uranium nucleus and describes the tiny target for colliding nuclear particles. But why “barn” for something so…much smaller than a barn? It’s derived from the old saying that someone “couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn,” riffing on the difficulty of shooting charged particles at the world’s smallest bullseye. Bonus fact: there are two minor measurement terms related to “barn” which follow the farm building metaphor—an “outhouse,” and a “shed.” Could be “chicken coop” was already taken by the guys over in nanotechnology.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Do Your Genes Make You Wander?

December 7, 2015

We all have those friends who update their social media from a different country every month; who come home for the holidays with stories of faraway lands, intoxicating food, and future adventures. So what makes some chase waterfalls while others are more than happy to stick the rivers and the lakes that they’re used to?

Turns out, your genetics can determine whether you’re a nester or a wanderluster. In 1999, a group of four scientists at UC Irvine set out to explore the migration patterns and gene pool distribution of prehistoric human beings. Originally intending to find a link between the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) and Attention Deficit Disorder, they discovered another correlation: people with DRD4 genes tend to be thrill-seeking and migratory.

Almost all of the study participants with this gene had a long history of traveling—and this phenomenon can be traced back to where we came from and whether our ancestors were migratory. Only a small portion of the genetic pool contains this trait. Most of the population prefers to “develop intensive methods for using limited amounts of land.” Possessors of the DRD4 gene, however, are intent on seeking out uninhabited (or in modern times, unfamiliar) lands to find fresh resources. Happy travels!

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Why Can’t I Shoot My Favorite Painting?

December 6, 2015

Before the age of smartphones, most museums had a no-photo, not-even-without-flash, don’t-even-think-about-it policy. There were multiple reasons for shutting down shutterbugs: first, concern over copyright of artwork and nefarious reproduction; second, good security practice meant museums didn’t want would-be crooks conducting “research;” third, flashes degrade painting pigments and delicate works on paper over time; fourth—and maybe most surprising—looking through a viewfinder makes people clumsy. In other words, you’re more likely to back into a rare sculpture or fall into a priceless painting. Now that everyone has a sophisticated camera in their pocket, it’s a whole new ballgame, and museums are challenged to adapt. Many have embraced the crowd-sourcing potential of social media, letting people Instagram-away as a means of engagement and creative looking. Improved security systems have made casing the joint with a camera less of an issue, but distracted, selfie-stick wielding visitors remain a threat to collections. So, next time you say “cheese” in front of a Van Gogh or O’Keefe, just check the museum’s photo policy and take care. When you shoot artwork, don’t shoot to kill.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Can a Sheep Say They Never Forget a Face?

December 4, 2015

It’s a refrain uttered at many a cocktail party: “Oh, sorry, buddy I’m terrible with names; great at faces, though!” This might make Jim? Bill? Bob? Steve? feel a little unappreciated, but it is technically true. Humans can recognize hundreds, if not thousands of individual faces. Sheep, however? They may not fare as well at a high school reunion.

Studies have shown that sheep can only recognize the individual faces of up to 50 sheep. While their facial recognition skills are rather sophisticated compared to other animals, what if a sheep wants to see the world? Go to college? Start a 51-sheep dance troupe? Could get tricky. A team of British scientists put sheep’s memory to the test by showing them 25 pairs of sheep faces, with one out of each pair being associated with a food reward. After about 30 trials, sheep were about to correctly recognize the food-related faces 80% of the time. In the following weeks, sheep were shown photos of the same sheep, only this time the photos were of their profiles, rather than head-on shots. Sheep were still able to recognize the food-related sheep, even though they’d never seen them from that perspective before. However, these memories eventually began to fade and after 600-800 days, their recognition levels began to decline.

So if you’re going to upset a sheep, maybe wait a solid 800 days to come around again.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Is There Any Rhyme or Reason to Area Codes?

December 3, 2015

Most people know that ZIP codes are roughly geographic, but area codes seem a bit more random. Why is New York 212 while Los Angeles is 213? Turns out, it can all be traced back to the rotary phone.

Before 1951, all long distance phone calls required an operator’s assistance. Once operators were cut out of the equation, the phone system’s infrastructure was in need of an organized routing system. Since everyone used rotary phones, area codes were given out with dialing speed in mind. The bigger the city, the less time you have to wait for the numbers to loop around. New York’s 212 took only 5 clicks to register while Nova Scotia’s 902 took a whole 21.

Until recently, all area codes had either a 1 or a 0 in the middle number so local calls could still be dialed without the area code. (The central computer was programmed to know that a second digit of 0 or 1 meant an area code, so it would wait to receive all ten digits before making the call.) However, the addition of cell phones and countless new phone numbers made this an impossible standard to keep up.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Who Smashed the First Guitar on Stage?

December 2, 2015

Who smashed the first guitar? Yes, they did.

Pete Townshend, legendary guitarist of the classic British band first destroyed his instrument on stage in 1964…by accident. Soon, the Who was known for the instrument-smashing melees that punctuated their exuberant live shows, including Keith Moon’s exploding drum kit, live on the Smothers Brothers Show. Since then, the annals of rock history have been full of violent instrumental sacrifice, with other performers getting more and more inventive with their destructive showmanship: Jimi Hendrix set his Strat on fire at the Monterey Pop Festival, Keith Emerson abused his Hammond organ with a dagger he carried for just that purpose, and Kurt Cobain made an art form of reviving Townshend-style guitar sacrifice. Today, busted-up basses and six strings are mostly relegated to museum collections, but in the classic rock era, no axe was truly safe in the spotlight.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: Is it Really All About That Bass?

December 1, 2015

It depends on the low-frequency context. A stand-up bass in a jazz trio can contribute to a soothing chill-out. The rhythmic bass line of your favorite workout jam can provide essential inspiration. But studies show that Low Frequency Intrusion (LFI)—sounds such as cars with giant sub-woofers that rattle the whole neighborhood—causes negative symptoms in unwitting listeners, including anxiety, decreased concentration, elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and insomnia. In other words, intrusive, booming bass is anything but music to many ears. But in other parts of the animal kingdom, low-frequency sound provides essential communication. Some whales use ultra-low notes in their “songs” to keep in touch with each other over great distances because long, low-amplitude sound waves hold their sonic integrity better over large distances in water. So, don’t be surprised if see a blue whale hanging out near the PA at your next rock concert—they’re all about that bass…and krill.

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Uncommon Knowledge

Uncommon Knowledge: What puts the “X” in “X-Ray”?

November 30, 2015

Sure, there are rays involved, but why the X? The X-ray came to be almost by accident as professor Wilhelm Roentgen was experimenting with the conduction of electricity through low-pressure gases in 1895—as one does during a quiet evening at home. While using an induction coil and partially evacuated glass tube, he discovered a mysterious ray capable of lighting up a fluorescent screen a few meters away. When he passed his hand between the ray and the screen, he saw a shadow of his own bones. Rather than freaking out and questioning the meaning of life, as we’re sure we would have done, he calmly continued his experiment and found that the screen could be replaced with a photographic plate—thus beginning a revolutionary milestone in modern medicine. So why the x? To math lovers, it would seem obvious: x is used as the unknown quantity. And what could have been more unknown at that time than the inner workings of our own bodies?

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