WTF Fun Fact 13084 – Moby Duck

by

You’ve no doubt heard of the book Moby Dick. But have you heard of the incident referred to as Moby Duck? Let’s just say that while it involves an ocean, whales aren’t the main character in this story.

What was Moby Duck?

In 1992, a shipment of children’s bath toys fell into the North Pacific Ocean on its way from China to the U.S. The accident dumped 28,000 rubber ducks into the water, where they were carried far and wide by the currents. They’ve been found on the shores of Alaska and even in Maine (which means they make it all the way to the Atlantic).

More than a decade after the incident, a journalist named Donovan Hohn decided to see if he could track the ducks, enlisting the help of citizen beach-goers and oceanographers alike.

“I figured I’d interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, read up on ocean currents and Arctic geography and then write an account of the incredible journey of the bath toys lost at sea,” he told NPR’s Dave Davies on Fresh Air in 2011 (cited below). “And all this I would do, I hoped, without leaving my desk.”

He detailed the journey in a book called Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them.

An environmental angle

While the idea of tracking the toys sounds cute on some level, Hohn also found out just how much plastic is on our oceans and the effects it has on the environment. Plastic doesn’t biodegrade, so those ducks will be around for centuries. Or at least pieces of them will.

While the ducks may photodegrade (due to sunlight), they simply fall apart into smaller pieces of plastic we can’t see. But that plastic still ends up inside wildlife and ocean garbage patches.

“We know that in the marine food web, there is an alarmingly elevated contaminant burden in species at the top of the food web,” Hohn said. “What role plastic plays in that is an ongoing area of study.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “‘Moby-Duck’: When 28,800 Bath Toys Are Lost At Sea” — NPR

WTF Fun Fact 13083 – A Group of Butterflies

by

A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope. We love that! We’ve never actually seen more than one or two butterflies at a time, but now we know what to call them if we do.

You probably know that butterflies don’t start out life as beautiful flying creatures but rather as caterpillars. A group of caterpillars is called an army. It’s quite a biological and linguistic evolution to go through in one lifetime!

A kaleidoscope of butterflies

Of course, one may also call them a “swarm,” but that’s a lot less fun and it’s not really the official name. And no one really likes swarms of things.

Now, unless you go to a butterfly sanctuary, you may not have a great chance of running into a kaleidoscope of butterflies. They’re fairly solitary creatures. They even tend to migrate alone. If you’re near a source of food, that’s your best chance of seeing a kaleidoscope in the wild. Even though butterflies must come together to reproduce, they still don’t do this in groups. But they do use pheramones to attract one another as well as the colorful (dare we say, keleidiscopic) displays on their wings.

However, as far as monarch butterflies go, they do have a habit of clustering in trees at night. And those clusters are called a “roost.”

You may spot a roost in trees during migration if the weather gets cold or if predators are around.

Other butterfly facts

According to the experts at A – Z Animals (cited below), “There are around 17,500 species of butterfly in the world, scattered across all continents except Antarctica. In the United States, there are around 750 species of butterflies.”

As you may know, sadly, the migratory monarch butterfly (which is one of the most recognizable butterflies in the U.S.) is now endangered. — WTF fun facts

Source: “What’s a group of butterflies called?” — A – Z Animals

WTF Fun Fact 13082 – Robin Williams’ Lewy Body Dementia

by

After comedian Robin Williams took his life in 2014, his autopsy revealed that he had one of the most severe cases of Lewy body dementia doctors had ever seen. Nearly every brain cell examined contains abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein (aka Lewy bodies), which can lead to problems with thinking, behavior, and mood.

Robin Williams’ struggle with Lewy Body Dementia

Most of the world learned of the comedian’s health struggle after his wife, Susan Schneider wrote an article (cited below) in the academic journal Neurology published in 2016.

She began…

“As you may know, my husband Robin Williams had the little-known but deadly Lewy body disease (LBD). He died from suicide in 2014 at the end of an intense, confusing, and relatively swift persecution at the hand of this disease’s symptoms and pathology. He was not alone in his traumatic experience with this neurologic disease. As you may know, almost 1.5 million nationwide are suffering similarly right now.”

She went on to explain that Robin Williams’ Lewy Body Dementia was an extreme case.

“Not until the coroner’s report, 3 months after his death, would I learn that it was diffuse LBD that took him. All 4 of the doctors I met with afterwards and who had reviewed his records indicated his was one of the worst pathologies they had seen. He had about 40% loss of dopamine neurons and almost no neurons were free of Lewy bodies throughout the entire brain and brainstem.”

The comedian’s struggle

Before his death, Williams had huge spikes in anxiety that led his wife to wonder if he might be a hypochondriac. But only later did she learn these were symptoms of the disease. “Not until after Robin left us would I discover that a sudden and prolonged spike in fear and anxiety can be an early indication of LBD,” she explained.

The winter before his death, he was suffering from other symptoms such as “paranoia, delusions and looping, insomnia, memory, and high cortisol levels.” None of the psychotherapy he received could ease his pain. Like many people with LBD, antianxiety medication and other psychiatric drugs may have made his symptoms worse.

After his suicide, Robin Williams’ wife got her answers.

“Once the coroner’s report was reviewed, a doctor was able to point out to me that there was a high concentration of Lewy bodies within the amygdala. This likely caused the acute paranoia and out-of-character emotional responses he was having. How I wish he could have known why he was struggling, that it was not a weakness in his heart, spirit, or character.” — WTF fun facts

Source: “The terrorist inside my husband’s brain” — Neurology

WTF Fun Fact 13081 – Dogs Fake Sneeze

by

Did you know that dogs fake sneeze? We know our fluffy buddies can manipulate their environment to get more attention, but fake sneezing actually has a few different uses that we found interesting.

Why do dogs fake sneeze?

According to the American Kennel Club (cited below), dogs will fake a sneeze for play and communication purposes.

“Many dogs like to sneeze when they play with other dogs or humans. This ‘play sneezing’ is normal and something dogs use to show that they are excited and having a good time. Dogs will also use play sneezing to show that their behavior is only playful.”

When dogs play sneeze, they tend to curl their lips and create a wrinkle in their nose. These sneeze sound more like a short “snort” than a sneeze, since the air comes from the nose and not the lungs.

Attention-getters

Your pup is watching you closely for signs of what will make you more empathetic and playful.

According to the AKC, “When a dog fake sneezes, they tend to watch you as they sneeze to make sure they’ve got your attention. They may even move closer and sneeze on or near you so you can’t ignore them.”

And dogs will even sneeze to communicate with one another. Sometimes, they’ll use it as a calming signal to let those around them know things are getting out of hand.

Pay attention to dog sneezes

Of course, dogs can sneeze due to illness and allergies as well. So it’s important not to assume your dog is sneezing just because it wants to play. And dogs with compressed nasal passages, like pugs, will sneeze more often simply because of their physiology. This may require attention if it starts to happen more often since it can be indicative of breathing issues. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Do Dogs Sneeze?” — American Kennel Club

WTF Fun Fact 13080 – Errors in Hair Analysis

by

Crime scene analysis and the scientific investigation of crime scenes got a lot of attention once we started seeing them on television. More people than ever wanted to go into the field. But the science underlying some of these investigations is shaky at best. And in 2015, the FBI had to admit that at least one aspect of their crime scene analysis training was seriously flawed. Over 3000 cases needed to be rechecked for errors in hair analysis.

The Innocence Project

Sometimes we think the science on biological evidence left at a crime scene must be iron-clad or prove that a person was there. But that’s simply not the case.

In fact, it was the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Innocence Project, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)who jointly reported that:

“…the Department and the FBI are committed to ensuring that affected defendants are notified of past errors and that justice is done in every instance. The Department and the FBI also are committed to ensuring the accuracy of future hair analysis testimony, as well as the application of all disciplines of forensic science. The Department and FBI have devoted considerable resources to this effort and will continue to do so until all of the identified hair cases are addressed.”

Improving the science going forward

Of the past errors, the statement also revealed:

“These findings confirm that FBI microscopic hair analysts committed widespread, systematic error, grossly exaggerating the significance of their data under oath with the consequence of unfairly bolstering the prosecutions’ case,” said Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law. “While the FBI and DOJ are to be commended for bringing these errors to light and notifying many of the people adversely affected, this epic miscarriage of justice calls for a rigorous review to determine how this started almost four decades ago and why it took so long to come to light. We also need lawmakers in Washington to step up and demand research and national standards to prevent the exaggeration of results in reports and in testimony by crime lab analysts.”

Sadly, many who were perhaps wrongfully convicted still had to wait for evidence to be reassessed.

“It will be many months before we can know how many people were wrongly convicted based on this flawed evidence, but it seems certain that there will be many whose liberty was deprived and lives destroyed by prosecutorial reliance on this flawed, albeit highly persuasive evidence. Just as we need lawmakers to prevent future systemic failures, we need courts to give those who were impacted by this evidence a second look at their convictions,” said Norman L. Reimer, Executor Director of NACDL. —WTF fun facts

Source: “FBI Testimony on Microscopic Hair Analysis Contained Errors in at Least 90 Percent of Cases in Ongoing Review” — FBI.gov

WTF Fun Fact 13079 – Snowflakes Require Dust or Pollen

by

Snowflakes are frozen bits of water that form around a “nucleus.” That nucleus is something that must already exist in the air – like a dust or pollen particle.

How are snowflakes made?

All political jokes aside, snowflakes are actually an interesting natural phenomenon.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (cited below): “A snowflake begins to form when an extremely cold water droplet freezes onto a pollen or dust particle in the sky. This creates an ice crystal. As the ice crystal falls to the ground, water vapor freezes onto the primary crystal, building new crystals – the six arms of the snowflake.”

This doesn’t mean the air is dirty or polluted – after all, pollen is completely natural!

Who are snowflakes so unique?

You may be wondering why all snowflakes are unique if they each require the same circumstances in order to form.

NOAA has an answer for that!

Snowflakes are made up of ice crystals. These build up around the nucleus symetrically “because they reflect the internal order of the crystal’s water molecules as they arrange themselves in predetermined spaces (known as “crystallization”) to form a six-sided snowflake.”

A combination of air temperature, humidity, and the speed at which they fall determine precisely how the ice crystals form into different shapes. When it warmer, the crystals have a longer, sharper shape and when it’s cold, they tend to be shorter and flatter.

Snowflakes always have six sides, but those “arms” can branch off in different directions depending on those factors as well.

That’s why no two snowflakes are exactly alike.

Of course, when you get 5 or 6 feet of snow, it’s pretty hard to think about those snowflakes as individuals! They all go in the same shovel! — WTF fun facts

Source: “How do snowflakes form? Get the science behind snow” — NOAA

WTF Fun Fact 13078 – World’s Biggest Snowflake

by

We really can’t picture the world’s biggest snowflake. Apparently, it was 15 inches long. But there is no photo since it was spotted by multiple people all the way back in 1887. Nothing has overtaken it in the Guinness Book of World Records because…well, how do you preserve a snowflake long enough to prove it?

According to the Guinness Book of World Records page for the “largest snowflake”: “It is reported that on 28 Jan 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA, ranch owner Matt Coleman measured a snowflake that was 15in 38cm wide and 8in 20cm thick, which he later described as being ‘larger than milk pans’ in Monthly Weather Review Magazine.”

Spotting the world’s biggest snowflake

Experts insist that snowflakes as large as frisbees or basketballs aren’t entirely out of the question – but they’re likely multiple snowflakes attached to one another.

Yet, since the 19th century, there have been multiple recorded sightings of such giant flakes falling from the sky (and really falling since their weight and size would make them fall faster than small snowflakes).

According to the NYT (cited below), there are still questions.

“But the evidence was always sketchy and, because of the fragile nature of snowflakes, fleeting. The giant flakes were not quite in the category of sea monsters or U.F.O.’s. Even so, skeptics noted the human fondness for exaggeration, as well as the lack of convincing photographs. And the organizations that compile weather records never made tracking big flakes an observational requirement. So the giants languished in a twilight world of science, their existence claimed but seldom documented.”

Snowflakes can get BIG

Maybe there really was a 15-inch snowflake. Multiple Army officers reported seeing them, as did a nearby rancher in Montana where they fell. But what other evidence could we reasonably expect?

There’s not much restricting the possible size of snowflakes other than the wind. It’s likely that a truly huge flake would be torn apart before anyone could see it.

Yet, if you look back far (and wide) enough in history, there are multiple mentions of abnormally large flakes. These days, anyone with a ruler and a camera could document the world’s biggest snowflake if they wanted to.

According to the NYT:

“William S. Pike, a British weather observer for the Royal Meteorological Society, found 11 poorly known reports, which he described in The Journal of Meteorology in January 1988. He wrote that reliable observers of big flakes estimated their diameters at anywhere from two to six inches.” —WTF fun facts

Source: “Snowflakes as Big as Frisbees?” — New York Times

WTF Fun Fact 13077 – The Origin of Bowling

by

Who knew the origin of bowling goes back thousands of years?! It could go back to over 5000 years, to be exact.

What is the origin of bowling?

According to the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame (cited below): “A British anthropologist, Sir Flinders Petrie, discovered in the 1930’s a collection of objects in a child’s grave in Egypt that appeared to him to be used for a crude form of bowling. If he was correct, then bowling traces its ancestry to 3200 BC.”

If Petrie’s assessment is inaccurate, bowling would still be many centuries old. It could go back to 300 AD Germany. At the latest, we know bowling was already popular in 1366 in England “A German historian, William Pehle, asserted that bowling began in his country about 300 AD. There is substantial evidence that a form of bowling was in vogue in England in 1366, “when King Edward III allegedly outlawed it to keep his troops focused on archery practice. And it is almost certain that bowling was popular during the reign of King Henry VIII.”

Variations on bowling

Of course, ancient and medieval bowling didn’t have the same technology as we do today. These games were variations on trying to hit pins with balls.

Immigrants from Germany, England, and the Netherlands all brought their own pin games to America, where lawn bowling became popular.

But bowling was rarely a wholesome sport. Aside from getting banned in England briefly in the 14th century, “An 1841 Connecticut law made it illegal to maintain ‘any ninepin lanes,’, probably because bowling was the object of much gambling.” By this time, New England mansions were already home to personal bowling lanes.

“While it is uncertain where the tenpin game evolved, by the late 1800s it was prevalent in many states such as New York, Ohio and as far “west” as Illinois. However, details like ball weights and pin dimensions varied by region. But that changed when restauratnteur Joe Thum finally pulled together representatives of the various regional bowling clubs. On September 9, 1895, at Beethoven Hall in New York City, the American Bowling Congress was born. Soon, standardization would be established, and major national competitions could be held.”

In 1914, we saw the first modern bowling balls in America. By 1952, we had automatic pin setters and bowling was becoming popular on television. —WTF fun facts

Source: “History of Bowling” — International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame

WTF Fun Fact 13076 – Heilan Horse Culture Museum

by

The Heilan Horse Culture Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated to living horses. It’s also part palace for some of the world’s most beautiful horses from around the world.

What is the Heilan Horse Culture Museum?

Located in Jiangyin City, China, outside of Shanghai, the museum shows off 43 breeds of horses from 30 different countries. Horses come from China, Germany, Turkmenistan, and Spain, for example. The roughly 300 horses live in glamorous marble stables – and are even a few zebras on site.

According to Atlas Obscura (cited below): “The horses on display are “dressed” for the occasion. Some of their manes are braided, or styled in ripples or waves. The horses live in proper stables, but are displayed in luxurious marble pens to greet visitors. The palatial museum is decorated with chandeliers, carpeted grand staircases, amazing statues, gold ceilings, and a shopping mall.”

Visiting the horse museum

The museum is located half an hour north of Shanghai as part of an effort by Chinese menswear company Heilan Group to build a “Luxury Town” for tourists.

In 2015, the museum’s Heilan Equestrian Club broke the Guinness World Record for the largest horse dressage, which included “30 black horses, 30 white horses, and a riding team of all women.”

The museum was built in 2009 and offers not only performances and competitions by training. Iin fact, it was the first comprehensive training facility in China, according to Atlas Obscura.

The museum didn’t open to the public until 2016. It also includes many caretakers for the horses, including on-site veterinarians. Visitors can not only see the well cared for horses, but learn about the development of the species and how horses have played a role in human civilization. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Heilan Horse Culture Museum” — Atlas Obscura