Sometimes it feels like science has gotten so advanced we’ve cracked a code on the deeper mysteries of our existence. Then I realize we’re still not so sure on the science behind sleeping, laughing, crying, and aging, and it makes me want to do all four at once.
Today’s Moment of Science… We dunno how this works (but we really, really should).
There are hypotheses on why we yawn, but no clear winners yet. I know there’s a good chance you’re doing it now because I mentioned it. Unless you’re a psychopath. In a 2015 study, participants who self-identified more as having psychopathic personality traits were less susceptible to contagious yawning. To be fair, I’m generally suspicious of anyone who seems well rested past the age of coffee.
There’s no firm answer for why we dream, but we should all get more sleep to investigate further.
The expression “it’s like riding a bike” is used to instill confidence that a skill you’ve gained once will be with you forever. Which might feel more compelling once we sort out the numbers on how a bicycle stays upright.
Our understanding of how quantum gravity and dark matter function throughout the universe are somewhat dependent on each other. Which is another way to say ‘we don’t have a goddamn clue how either works.’ Get a couple of astrophysicists inebriated and they’ll confess some wild things like ‘dark matter might not even be real.’
Ever been on an airplane and hit some deeply unsettling turbulence? The kind that makes you kick yourself for not listening to the goddamn motherfucking instructions on how to use the bullshit “in case of imminent death” mask? Just to help calm your weary nerves, we’re not entirely sure about how turbulence works. That said, it’s a normal part of flying that pilots are trained to handle. Resume whatever level of panic you had a moment ago.
Then there’s a lack of agreement on exactly how airplanes stay in the air. At this rate, I might take some Tylenol PM and pass out at the beginning of my next flight. But nobody’s entirely sure how Tylenol works either. We used to think it worked like an NSAID and now we’re just like “please don’t take a liver failure’s worth of it, huh?”
As for knocking yourself out medically, anesthesia is some amazing stuff. Even more amazing is that we’re still not entirely sure how it works.
Studies have only come out in the last two years elucidating the mechanism behind how it keeps a brain from noticing that a horror movie is happening to its knocked out meatsack. Doctors were just doling out the scalpel nap juice for the first 170 years of anesthesiology with an understanding of how it worked that amounted to a shrugging “iunno.”
We figured out a few things about our feline overlords, but why they purr remains a secret. Some purr when they’re happy, but they also purr all the goddamn time. Eating, injured, getting ready to sink their adorable little fluffy claws into you while appearing completely content? They’ll just keep right on purring. Though it’s a part of their communication tools, there’s a hypothesis that the frequency promotes bone growth. Which seems unlikely in my humble opinion, but just in case, get two cats so you won’t lean.
We don’t know what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but for a while we thought we did. And that’s a scandal to talk about next time.
This has been today’s Moment of Science, thoroughly verifying a lack of facts to check.
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