Tag: Fun Facts

A Health Benefit of Roller Coasters | The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/09/for-kidney-health-roller-coaster-therapy/501278/?utm_source=atlfb

For years in practice, Wartinger noticed anecdotal reports from patients who had passed small kidney stones during and immediately after visiting the Disney theme parks. It was a correlation he might not have noticed in another place, he told me: “This mass migration helped bring it to my attention.”

But one particular gentleman really inspired Wartinger. The man rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, and then passed a small stone. Then he did it again and passed another. And then another. “That was just too powerful to ignore,” Wartinger said. “I’d been hearing these anecdotal stories for a couple years, and then I thought, okay, there’s really something here.”

…

The stones passed 63.89 percent of the time while the kidneys were in the back of the car. When they were in the front, the passage rate was only 16.67 percent. That’s based on only 60 rides on a single coaster, and Wartinger guards his excitement in the journal article: “Preliminary study findings support the anecdotal evidence that a ride on a moderate-intensity roller coaster could benefit some patients with small kidney stones.”

Questions:

  • Do you think roller coaster rides will become more popular because of this?

25 Myths You Shouldn’t Believe About Earth, Space, And Physics | IFLScience

http://www.iflscience.com/space/25-myths-you-shouldnt-believe-about-earth-space-and-physics/all/

Which of these do you believe?

  1. The Sun is yellow
  2. The Sahara is the biggest desert on Earth
  3. Astrology can predict your personality or the future
  4. When you call someone, the signal bounces off a satellite
  5. The Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure visible from space
  6. The moon’s gravity pulling on water causes the tides
  7. Lightning never strikes the same place twice
  8. The Earth is a perfect sphere
  9. Mount Everest is the tallest thing on Earth
  10. Water conducts electricity
  11. The “dark side” of the Moon
  12. Tectonic plates move because volcanism pushes them apart
  13. Going past the edge of space makes you weightless
  14. Diamonds come from coal
  15. People in the Middle Ages thought the Earth was flat
  16. Summer is warm because the Earth is closer to the sun
  17. Lightning causes thunder
  18. The Asteroid Belt is dangerous
  19. The moon is very close to the Earth
  20. You can only balance an egg during the Spring Equinox
  21. A nuclear weapon could destroy an asteroid
  22. Nothing can go faster than light
  23. The vacuum of space is cold
  24. Enrico Fermi developed the “Fermi paradox” about aliens
  25. There are only 3 phases of matter: Solid, liquid, and gas

Questions:

  • Why is important to learn science?
  • What are some problems if people have wrong scientific ideas?
  • Is scientific progress always good?