We are all interested in knowing our limits. What’s the human limitation for pain? What’s the human limits of strength? How far can we push our brains? We all ask ourselves what our limit is, and we also ask if we can overcome that limit. Thankfully, we have science to look for the answers to these questions.

Scientists from Duke University investigated athletes and pregnant women. They were interested in human limitations - specifically in human endurance.

The scientists found out that the cap is 4,000 calories a day for average people or 2.5 times the body’s resting metabolic rate. Anything higher than this would not be sustainable in the long run. They also found out that pregnant women were actually endurance specialists, as they live near the limit of what the human body can endure as they peak to up to 2.2 times the body’s resting metabolic rate.

The study, in Science Advances, showed energy use started off high but eventually levelled off at 2.5 times the resting metabolic rate.

The study found a pattern between the length of a sporting event and energy expenditure; and that while running a marathon may be beyond many, it is nowhere near the limit of human endurance.

•Marathon (just the one) runners used 15.6 times their resting metabolic rate

•Cyclists during the 23 days of the Tour de France used 4.9 times their resting metabolic rate

•A 95-day Antarctic trekker used 3.5 times the resting metabolic rate

"You can do really intense stuff for a couple of days, but if you want to last longer then you have to dial it back," Dr Herman Pontzer, from Duke University, told BBC News.

He added: "Every data point, for every event, is all mapped onto this beautifully crisp barrier of human endurance.

"Nobody we know of has ever pushed through it."

The researchers argue the 2.5 figure may be down to the human digestive system, rather than anything to do with the heart, lungs or muscles.

They found the body cannot digest, absorb and process enough calories and nutrients to sustain a higher level of energy use.

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An Oak Ridge environmental microbiologist named Christopher Schadt approaches a cottonwood tree, and “sticks a hollow tube in the middle and then takes a lighter and flicks it.” The next thing that happened was mind-blowing. There was flame shooting out of the tube? How could this be possible?

This was achievable because of the methane trapped inside the cottonwood tree. The trapped methane phenomenon happens in certain cottonwood trees. The question is: How did the methane gas get to be inside the tree? Do these trees make the methane gas?

"The wood in this particular species naturally has this condition called wetwood, where it's saturated within the trunk of the tree," says the lighter-flicking scientist, Oak Ridge environmental microbiologist Christopher Schadt.

This wetwood makes for a welcoming home for all sorts of microorganisms.

"You can't actually see a lot of the organisms because we can't grow a lot of these organisms," says Melissa Cregger, a staff scientist at Oak Ridge. "So we're able to identify them using their gene sequences."

Some of those organisms turned out to be species of archaea that are known methane producers. So it's not the trees themselves that are making the methane, it's the microbes living in the trees.

(Image Credit: Dan Yip/ ORNL)

The Beijing Civil-Military Integration Expo 2019 on Tuesday has witnessed perhaps one of the most thrilling military inventions ever made — an armored military vehicle. Disappointed? You won’t be. This vehicle can unleash 12 suicide drones that can be used for reconnaissance and for wreaking havoc.

The 5.7 meter-long, 2.4 meter-wide 4x4 off-road vehicle was developed by Beijing Zhongzi Yanjing Auto Co Ltd. It has a max speed of 125kmph and can adapt to the various demands of highly mobile troops. The vehicle can operate in difficult terrains including jungles and mountains, Global Times reported Tuesday.

The wheeled vehicle uses what the company calls "missile-vehicle integrated technology." It carries 12 pneumatic launch tubes that fire drones into the air, which then spread their wings and become operationally controllable.

These launch tubes are usually hidden within the vehicle and are only revealed upon use. This provides an element of surprise as enemies will have difficulty distinguishing drone launching vehicles from standard ones, an employee of the company said.

To be honest, I wouldn’t call this amazing. I would call this scary. What are your thoughts on this one?

(Image Credit: Liu Xuanzun/GT)

Lionfish are dangerous sea creatures. They are venomous fish whose stings can cause extreme pain to us humans and, in worse cases, paralysis. They also are harmful predators that prey on native fish and crustaceans in the Atlantic Ocean. In other words, they are a threat to the ecosystem in the Atlantic.

In order to solve this aquatic problem, the Robots in Service of the Environment (RSE) launched a robot called Guardian LF1 — a submersible robot that preys on these lionfishes. It “hunts, stuns, and captures” these predators.

The Guardian LF1 features eight thrusters, an onboard computer, a camera, and a power source, along with a set of low-voltage “stunning panels” and a chamber for storing captured fish. It is controlled from the surface using a tether but includes an autopilot and a computer vision system capable of distinguishing lionfish from other species.

The robot costs around $1,000 but could net its operator $1,500 to $2,000 worth of lionfish on a good day, its creators claim (assuming the fish can be sold for food). The latest version of the robot can dive to 1,000 feet, below the reach of sport divers.

(Image Credit: Technology Review)

How does water behave in a zero gravity environment? If there was one word to describe such behavior, it would be weird. Very weird.

Normally, when we shake a container full of water here on Earth, bubbles would form and these bubbles would make its way to the top. But if we shake that water-filled container in space, it would be a bizarre experience. The water would appear to be a gel-like substance. What would be the reason for this strange behavior?

The reason water takes on this unfamiliar form has to do with gravity, or rather, the lack thereof. On Earth, air is lighter than water, and its added buoyancy compared to water makes it float upward and quickly burst through water droplets. In space, however, air bubbles linger in the liquid rather than floating to the top, because gravity isn't pulling the liquid down. 

(Image Credit: CSA)

Schrödinger’s cat has been the symbol of quantum superposition and unpredictability. But you might ask yourself, “What really is this cat?” It is not a cat; it is a thought experiment — and one that remains a puzzle for physicists.

Schrödinger’s cat is a well-known paradox used to illustrate the concept of superposition — the ability for two opposite states to exist simultaneously — and unpredictability in quantum physics. The idea is that a cat is placed in a sealed box with a radioactive source and a poison that will be triggered if an atom of the radioactive substance decays. The superposition theory of quantum physics suggests that until someone opens the box, the cat is both alive and dead, a superposition of states. Opening the box to observe the cat causes it to abruptly change its quantum state randomly, forcing it to be either dead or alive.

To put it simply, once you put the cat inside the box, there is no way of saving the poor creature. However, researchers from Yale University may have found a way to rescue the cat, and that is by predicting its “quantum jumps”.

More details of this at YaleNews. 

(Image Credit: Kat Stockton)

Watching the sunset is a calming and relaxing activity to do. Have you ever wondered how this magnificent event looks from above? This is what ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst shared with us — a sunset photo from the International Space Station.

(Image Credit: Alexander Gerst/ Twitter)

Back in 1964, an antiques dealer bought an ivory chessman for £5 ($6). Little did he know that this chessman is worth $1,000,000. The said chessman is the lost “Lewis Warder”, and is one of the most famous chess piece around the world. To think that an object worth this much was stored in a drawer for 55 years.

...the piece... could now fetch up to £1 million ($1.3 million) at auction after the late owner's family took it to Sotheby's auction house in London for assessment.

The Lewis Chessmen were found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 1831, but the circumstances of their discovery are shrouded in mystery. With 93 pieces found -- the majority carved from walrus ivory -- the set was missing one knight and four "warders."

The leading theory about their origin is that they were carved between the late 12th and early 13th centuries in Trondheim, Norway, Sotheby's said in a press release.

Of the 93 pieces discovered in 1831, 82 are in the British Museum in London while 11 are in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The new discovery is a 3.5-inch warder, a bearded figure with a sword in his right hand and shield at his left side. In modern chess it would be the equivalent of a rook. It will be auctioned at Sotheby's London on July 2, the first time any of the Lewis Chessmen has been auctioned.

A spokesperson for the family, which wishes to remain anonymous, said in a statement that the warder was cataloged in the antiques dealer's purchase ledger as "Antique Walrus Tusk Warrior Chessman."

"From this description it can be assumed that he was unaware he had purchased an important historic artifact," the spokesperson said. "It was stored away in his home and then when my grandfather died my mother inherited the chess piece."

"My mother was very fond of the Chessman as she admired its intricacy and quirkiness. She believed that it was special and thought perhaps it could even have had some magical significance."

"For many years it resided in a drawer in her home where it had been carefully wrapped in a small bag. From time to time, she would remove the chess piece from the drawer in order to appreciate its uniqueness."

(Image Credit: Bob Roy/ Wikimedia Commons)

During World War II, German scientists attempted to build a nuclear reactor by using uranium cubes, but they failed miserably. Why did the Germans fail in creating one? And what happened to the uranium cubes?

Fast forward to several years ago. University of Maryland physicist Timothy Koeth received a strange birthday gift from a friend. It was a mysterious heavy metal cube of which he recognized as one of the missing uranium cubes the scientists of Germany had used. Accompanying the gift was a note: "Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger." This would begin Koeth’s journey for finding out the origin of the cube he just received. Who was Ninninger? Where are the other cubes?

Learn more of Timothy’s journey over at Ars Technica.

(Image Credit: John T. Consoli/ University of Maryland)

Men usually get away with wearing the same thing everyday. People would just assume that men are just so busy with everything that they don’t have time to be thinking about what they have to wear. It is not the same case with women, however. Women who would wear the same clothes everyday would be labeled, “boring”, “unfeminine”, and “unstylish.” But is it really true?

In order to test this notion, Fast Company invited their Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Mehta, and Associate Editor Lara Sorokanich to participate in an experiment: the women would be wearing a “uniform” of their own choice for a number of weeks — two weeks for Stephanie, and six weeks for Lara.

We asked them to observe how they felt as they got ready in the morning and went about their day. We also asked them not to tell their colleagues about this experiment, and note how people organically reacted to them wearing the same thing every day.

…

The most surprising thing about this experiment was other people’s reactions to the uniform–or rather, their lack of reaction. Stephanie believes her outfit was so inconspicuous–perhaps even bland–that people did not seem to remember what she wore from one day to the next. In Lara’s case, it took five weeks for anybody to comment on her outfit choices, and even then, a colleague simply observed that she had been ‘wearing a lot of black lately.’ “None of my coworkers even noticed,” Lara says. “It was really instructive. We assume that other people are paying attention to what we are wearing when they are all really more focused on their own lives.”

(Image Credit: FotografieLink/ Pixabay)

Good news for coffee-drinkers out there!

A new study from England’s Queen Mary University has shown that drinking coffee is not linked to having stiffer arteries. The research even involved people who drank as much as 25 cups of coffee in a day! In other words, coffee’s not that bad for the heart, as previously thought.

Coffee consumption was categorised into three groups for the study. Those who drink less than one cup a day, those who drink between one and three cups a day and those who drink more than three. People who consumed more than 25 cups of coffee a day were excluded, but no increased stiffening of arteries was associated with those who drank up to this high limit when compared with those who drank less than one cup a day.

The associations between drinking coffee and artery stiffness measures were corrected for contributing factors like age, gender, ethnicity, smoking status, height, weight, how much alcohol someone drank, what they ate and high blood pressure.

Of the 8,412 participants who underwent MRI heart scans and infrared pulse wave tests, the research showed that moderate and heavy coffee drinkers were most likely to be male, smoke, and consume alcohol regularly.

Dr Kenneth Fung, who led the data analysis for the research at Queen Mary University of London, said: “Despite the huge popularity of coffee worldwide, different reports could put people off from enjoying it. Whilst we can’t prove a causal link in this study, our research indicates coffee isn’t as bad for the arteries as previous studies would suggest.

I feel bad for those people who feared coffee and were not able to enjoy the rich taste it offers.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Japanese Instagram user Yota (yota7454) makes his two cute kids even cuter by transforming them to iconic anime characters. The kids’ pictures are taken against plain backdrops, and this creative father added costumes, hairstyles, and other flourishes.

While the kids are both boys, Yota has no problem using them as models for female anime characters like the Sailor Moon team.

Check out the adorable pictures on Instagram.

Via SoraNews24

(Image Credit: Yota7454/ Instagram)

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to step on the Moon, and the 1969 Moon landing would be one of the most memorable moments in the history of humankind. That was indeed, in Armstrong’s words, “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Now, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that historical event, LEGO unveiled the Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander on the first day of June. The said LEGO product was developed in partnership with NASA.

The set comes with the golden decent stage, a grey ascent stage, a brick-built lunar surface and two astronaut minifigures.

The LEGO Lunar Lander costs $99.99.

(Image Credit: The Brothers Brick)

Physical characteristics can be passed down from parent to child. This is why some people say to you, “you have your mother’s eyes,” or nose, or lips, or whatever part of the body that is. In the same way, behavioral patterns can also be passed down. For example, if your parents loved to travel, then most likely you’ll like to travel when you grow up. Could this answer the question of why we love dogs? This is what Stanley Coren of Psychology Today explored.

As a psychologist, I have always been interested in which factors determine certain patterns of behavior, especially when those patterns seem to be passed on to subsequent generations in the same family. When it comes to positive or negative feelings toward dogs and dog ownership, I have always presumed that this is determined partly by culture (for example certain religions may support or abhor interactions with dogs) and partly by an individual's personal history. This idea has been supported by the fact that previous research has indicated that exposure to dogs during childhood is associated with more positive attitudes towards dogs and an increased likelihood of dog ownership in adulthood. However, there is an alternative.

A team of Swedish researchers headed by Tove Fall, a Professor of Molecular Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory at Uppsala University, was aware of data showing that certain personality characteristics were more common in dog owners than in owners of cats or non-pet owners. Since there is already a lot of evidence showing that there are genetic influences on personality characteristics, it is a natural next step to wonder if there might be a genetic factor that plays a role in determining whether a person will be attracted to dogs and want to own one.

Why do you love dogs? Have you thought about it?

(Image Credit: llipkind/ Pixabay)

In order to immerse himself in Hong Kong and Cantonese culture and also learn the language, Hong Kong-based photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze took advantage of the colorful street signs around him.

Jacquet-Lagrèze set himself the task of documenting visually striking street signs and then took them home where his wife would help to translate. This art-to-language process slowly enabled him to decipher the characters that adorn his city’s streets. As his archive grew so did his knowledge, forming sentences with photographs of individual characters resulting in poems that sound poetic both lyrically and visually. 

(Image Credit: Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze/ DesignBoom)