Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

Qs on science and my replies to them- Part 261

Q: Why do fungi eat away the leather-like material? Is there anything in it for it to munch upon?

Krishna: Mold will grow on leather if the leather is left for a long time without cleaning, conditioning, and protecting it.
Leather and goods made out of it are susceptible to microbial growth when they get suitable temperature and humidity condition as leather has a nutrient medium of protein and lipids.

Why leather?

Fungi require adequate temperature, nutrients, right pH and moisture to grow.

Leather is porous and absorbs moisture in the air as well as sweat from our bodies when humidity is high.

Mold will form on leather items if there is heat around (the right temperature) the leather items as well as inadequate ventilation.

If you use moldy water to clean the leather items or store them in dirty places where there is no proper air circulation, mold will grow on them. Mold can get onto your leather through air-conditioning systems, vents, or any other air-movement in the house.

Every leather item must be treated from time to time. This means that leather articles must be cleaned and conditioned.

Mold and mildew are living organisms - they're fungi. They need food to grow and flourish. And they literally eat leather and stitching.

The sweat the leather absorbs when you wear also form food for fungi.

Dissolved in the water of sweat are trace amounts of minerals, lactic acid, and urea. Although the mineral content varies, some measured concentrations are: sodium (0.9 gram/liter), potassium (0.2 g/L), calcium (0.015 g/L), and magnesium (0.0013 g/L).[1]

Mold also consumes important additives used in leather making, such as fat liquors, tannins, etc.

So when you provide the right temperature, moisture, right pH and food, any microbe can grow on any surface, even on cotton, linen, woolen and silks clothes!

Footnotes:

1. Montain, S. J.; Cheuvront, S. N.; Lukaski, H. C. (2007). "Sweat mineral-element responses during 7 h of exercise-heat stress". International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 17 (6): 574–582. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.17.6.574. PMID 18156662. S2CID 3030692.

Q: What is the difference between an observable universe and a participatory universe?

Krishna:

The universe means everything there is.

But if the universe is everything, does that mean it includes the things that we don't know that we don't know exist, or even the things that we believe exist but haven't yet seen or observed?

In science, we usually distinguish between these two notions of the universe :

1. the observable universe, which is everything whose existence we've thus far been able to confirm or observe, or could, in principle, observe if we pointed our telescopes at it.

2. the Universe with a capital U, or the whole universe, which is everything that exists, has existed, or will exist, anytime, anywhere, regardless of whether or not we are aware of it yet or ever will be.

Some physicists say we live in a 'participatory universe'. Physics gives rise to observer-participancy, which results in information, which gives rise to physics. This means that the observer is a participant, just by his/her mere existence.

Man is “entangled” in this “participatory universe”, suggested Niels Bohr. And so, according to another physicist, John Archibald Wheeler, it follows that the “laws” of the functioning of the Universe (physics) make man’s participation in the flow of events – in the observable material reality – a given (2).

Footnotes:

2. https://www.britannica.com/video/23886/Aristotle-theory-solar-system

Q: What is blue sky research?

Krishna: Research where there is no clear goal is called blue-skied research. It is usually a curiosity driven work, like asking and finding why sky is blue. It is also basic research. Basic (or “blue-sky”) research is distinct from applied research, which is targeted toward developing or advancing technologies to solve a specific problem or to create a new product.

Examples of blue sky work are finding new particles in physics, finding gravitational waves.

Blue-sky projects are sometimes politically and commercially unpopular and tend to lose funding to research perceived as being more reliably profitable or practical.

But I think this doesn't portray the true picture. I think no research is aimless. It leads to some more important work. For instance, finding why the sky 's blue was initially thought to be of no value but led to many other discoveries of much more direct use.

Einstein devoted his life to elucidating elementary concepts such as the nature of gravity and the relationship between space and time.

In addition to advancing our understanding of the world, Einstein’s work led to important technological developments. The Global Positioning System, for instance, would not have been possible without the theories of special and general relativity. A GPS receiver, like the one in your smart phone, determines its location based on timed signals it receives from the nearest four of a collection of GPS satellites orbiting Earth. Because the satellites are moving so quickly while also orbiting at a great distance from the gravitational pull of Earth, they experience time differently from the receiver on Earth’s surface. Thanks to Einstein’s theories, engineers can calculate and correct for this difference.

There’s a long history of serendipitous output from basic research. For example, in 1989 at CERN European research center, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee was looking for a way to facilitate information-sharing between researchers. He invented the World Wide Web.

While investigating the properties of nuclei within a magnetic field at Columbia University in the 1930s, physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi discovered the basic principles of nuclear magnetic resonance. These principles eventually formed the basis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI.

Another tool of particle physics, the particle detector, has also been adopted for uses in various industries. In the 1980s, for example, particle physicists developed technology precise enough to detect a single photon. Today doctors use this same technology to detect tumors, heart disease and central nervous system disorders. They do this by conducting positron emission tomography scans, or PET scans. Before undergoing a PET scan, the patient is given a dye containing radioactive tracers, either through an injection or by ingesting or inhaling. The tracers emit antimatter particles, which interact with matter particles and release photons, which are picked up by the PET scanner to create a picture detailed enough to reveal problems at the cellular level.

So no research work is actually useless in science.

Q: Does drinking milk or eating curd increase phlegm?

Krishna: No, this is a myth. When a person drinks milk or eat curd they mix with their saliva and this can make it feel more viscous. The texture of milk can make some people feel their saliva is thicker, but there’s no evidence that it creates phlegm. This can make people feel like there’s more mucus, but it’s just aggregates of milk emulsion lingering in their throat.

Milk and curd are highly nutritious and you shouldn't stop drinking/eating them.

Q: Who should take covid booster shots?

Krishna: Usually booster shots are recommended to old people whose immunity doesn't work properly. Also to moderate-severely immunocompromised individuals – which includes:
– On active treatment for malignancies of the blood
– Taking immunosuppressant medication post organ transplantation
– Underwent a stem cell transplant in the last 2 years or taking immunosuppressant medication
– Genetic disorders in which the immune system is moderate to severely compromised (Examples: Wiskott Aldrich syndrome, Digeorge syndrome)
– HIV in an advanced stage or not treated
– On high dose of corticosteroids which causes immunosuppression

-- Cancer patients who are undergoing various therapies

Q: Are you left-brained?

Krishna: I am whole-brained!

The very notion that some of us are right-brained or left-brained is a load of old neurobunk. The roots of the myth lie in the fact that our brains are divided into two hemispheres and that there is so-called lateralisation of function in the brain – for instance, most people show more language-related activity in the left brain hemisphere compared with the right.

The two brain hemispheres are joined by a massive bundle of connective fibres and we use both of them together for most tasks. What’s more, brain scan studies have failed to find any evidence that some people are in any sense consistently more dependent on one of their brain hemispheres rather than the other, compared with the average.

Qs on science and my replies to them- Part 261

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