Ripley's Believe It or Not! » Weird True Facts (WTF! Blog)

The Science of 3D Printing

suzanne — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:35:26 +0000

Ripley’s & Science North

Ripley’s has teamed up with Science North to bring you The Science of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, a 6,000 sq ft highly interactive traveling exhibit. Each week the staff scientists of Science North are going to be blogging the scientific side of Ripley’s!

3D Printing Body Parts

3D printing has been getting some bad press lately, thanks to the recent controversy around hobbyists printing working plastic guns at home; however, 3D printing technology is proving to have applications that go beyond at-home tinkering and may even save lives.

How it works

3D printers work by printing objects in thin layers, stacked one on top of the next. They often use a heated material, like heated plastic, that fuses together as the layers cool. Plastics are the most common printing media, but they’re not the only ones; printers have been used to make creations using everything from cartilage to metal to chocolate.

Scientists have already used this technology to print life-saving structures: one man received a replacement piece of skull; another man received an artificial jawbone. Recently, a baby’s life was saved using a 3D-printed trachea. The baby was born with a disorder that caused his windpipe to collapse and suffocate him, and the artificial trachea was created as a splint to support and hold open his airways. The materials used to create the trachea are designed to be absorbed into the baby’s body over the course of two or three years as his own trachea grows strong enough to support itself.

The future may be bionic

Although the printing process has not yet managed to create functional complex organs (such as a working brain or spinal cord), medical 3D printing is constantly improving. The technology is evolving to create parts that work better than our own. The most recent example is a cartilaginous 3D-printed ear embedded with sensitive electronics. The result is a fully functional ear that can hear radio frequencies a million times higher than what humans would normally hear. This bionic ear hasn’t been transplanted onto a human … yet

Brought to you by Nina Nesseth, B.Sc., a Science Communicator at Science North

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Man struck by lightning 4 times buries himself alive for safety

suzanne — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:09:13 +0000

Fourth time is a charm

Alexander Mandón has been struck by lightening not once, twice, three, but FOUR TIMES! Not only has he been struck by lightening four times, but he was struck by lightening four times in the past 6 MONTHS!

Alexander Mandón

After being struck by lightening so many times, Mr. Mandón sought the help of the village healer. The healer assessed him and determined Mr. Mandón should bury himself to rid the electrical charge.

Oops

Mr Mandón obliged and was buried. After a few hours of the healing powers of dirt, Mr Mandón learned he had been doing it incorrectly!

He was buried lying down, but the good ol’ doc pointed out he needed to be standing up for the treatment to work.

Only time will tell if the unconventional treatment will work. The team here at Ripley’s hopes for the best!

Watch the video posted at the top of the blog for an interview with Alexander Mandón

Source: Daily Mail

Header image courteous of Shutterstock

Alexander Mandón

You too can pay $6,500 to hammer a chair

suzanne — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:15:20 +0000

Do Hit Chair

Want a super-uncomfortable chair, and have to hammer yourself into oblivion to make it? You can purchase the Do Hit Chair by designer Marijn van der Poll.

The Do Hit Chair is basically a 250-pound perfectly formed steel cube that you get the expensive privilege of smashing into something that slightly resembles a seat.

Why is it an expensive privilege? Because super-fancy pieces from super-fancy designers cost a super-fancy penny.

Hammer Included

If you have a few more pennies in your pocket, you can actually purchase one pre-smashed steel cube by designer-extraordinaire himself, Mr. Marijin van der Poll. That will run you about $8,000.

If all you have is $6,500 and can’t afford a penny more, no worries, the hammer is included.

Click the top of the blog to see Do Hit Chair smashing in action.

The Science of our Raspberry Flavored Galaxy

suzanne — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:39:15 +0000

Ripley’s & Science North

Our Galaxy’s Fruit-Filled Center

If you could travel to the center of the Milky Way and take a deep breath (not recommended), what would you taste? The answer is pretty unbelievable, and also delicious. The center of our galaxy smells like rum, and it tastes like raspberries.

Are there raspberries in space?

A molecule of ethyl formate. Black is carbon,
red is oxygen, and white is hydrogen.

Not quite. In 2009, astronomers Arnaud Belloche and Robin Garrod detected the presence of a chemical, called ethyl formate, in a huge interstellar cloud of dust and gas near the center of the Milky Way. Ethyl formate, which has a smell like rum, is what gives raspberries their flavor.

How did it get there?

One possible explanation is that these complex chemicals are formed when smaller molecules like ethanol, which are already stuck to the dust grains of the cloud, link together to form large chains.

How do you taste space anyway?

The IRAM 30m radio telescope in Spain

With a telescope! The researchers used a 30 meter-wide (98 ft) radio telescope in Spain to collect the electromagnetic radiation (in this case, radio waves) from a nebula called Sagittarius B2 near the center of our galaxy.

The molecules of dust and gas that make up this hot, dense nebula absorb energy from a nearby star, and then release some of that energy. The exact amount of energy they release is unique to each type of molecule. When their telescopes detect these unique energy ‘signatures’ coming from a nebula, astronomers can identify the kinds of molecules it contains.

Why did they want to taste space?

The scientists were searching our galaxy for signs of amino acids: complex molecules found in living organisms that form important proteins like DNA. While they haven’t detected any amino acids yet, the molecules that they have found are just as big and complex as amino acids. So, it is possible that they could exist in interstellar clouds.

If there are amino acids in interstellar clouds, they could also end up in solar systems, like our own, which are formed when these clouds are compressed by gravity into stars and planets. The discovery of amino acids in space would be an important step in the search for life in other solar systems.

Brought to you by Jonathan Jerome (B.Sc.), a Science Communicator at Science North

Photo Credits, from top to bottom: ESO/APEX & MSX/IPAC/NASA; Wikimedia Commons; Wikimedia Commons; Shutterstock

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Real-Life Barbie

suzanne — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:16:22 +0000

Playing Dress-Up

At first glance, you think the striking photos of Valeria Lukyanova are the magical results of Photoshop or plastic surgery. Her resemblance to to the iconic doll Barbie is uncanny. However, Valeria claims the only magic involved is her.

No Touch-Ups

Valeria is from the Ukraine. She admits to having only one plastic surgery (I’ll let everyone come to their own conclusion on what that might be…).

The rest of her shapely figure comes from an all-liquid diet and workouts at the gym.

She says she relies on makeup and blue contacts to give her her Barbie-like looks.

“Many people say bad things about people who want to perfect themselves. It’s hard work, but they dismiss it as something done by surgeons or computer artists. Some people even spread rumors about me and retouch my pictures to hurt me. But I don’t take them seriously. I’m even flattered! It’s what success is like. I’m happy I seem unreal to them, it means I’m doing a good job.”

Out of this world

She says she is a singer and also teaches at School of Out-of-Body Travel where she shows students how to leave their physical body and travel in their spiritual body, where you can visit any place on the planet and in the universe.

I’m not sure about all the Out-of-Body business, but I will admit that Valeria does seem to come from another planet.

Check out some of her photos from a photo shoot with V Magazine along with an interview.

Newest Acquisition: 4-pound Tiger Hairball

suzanne — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:00:03 +0000

Cough it up

Ty is a 17-year-old tiger who wasn’t feeling very well. Turns out Ty had a hairball the size of a basketball lodged in his stomach.

Ty the Tiger, pre-surgery

Ty lives at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in Floirda. After being brought to BluePearl Veterinary Partners, internal medicine specialist Dr. Brian Luria discovered the giant hairball. He deemed surgery was necessary to remove the hunk of hair.

Step in Edward Meyer, VP of Archives and Exhibits here at Ripley’s. He hears about the hairball and immediately wants it for Ripley’s!

Not our first rodeo

Hairballs have a special place in Ripley’s. We own over 600!

Most of our hairballs come from cows, so this new tiger acquisition is very special. As Edward points out, “If a cow wakes up during surgery, it only moos at you.”

Ripley’s plans to exhibit the tiger hairball at our Panama City Beach location, next to a taxidermied man-eating Bengal tiger that had ingested 50 jeweled bangles in its stomach.

Worth Every Penny

Probably the best part of the story is after officials at the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation heard that we wanted to purchase the hairball, they offered it to us FREE OF CHARGE!!! All they ask is that we thank the doctors who saved Ty’s life somewhere in the exhibit.

Well, I speak on behalf of Ripley’s when I say that’s a small price we don’t mind paying!

The Science of Snakes

suzanne — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:15:41 +0000

Ripley’s & Science North

Snakes with a “sixth” sense

Most snakes use their sense of smell and sight to find prey. But a group of snakes known as pit vipers have another sense with which they hunt: they can detect heat.

Heat seekers

Pit vipers have a unique organ located between the eyes and nostril on either side of their head: an opening (or pit) lined with heat-sensing cells that allows them to detect extremely small variations in temperatures. This organ helps the snakes, including many of the venomous snake species in North America such as copperheads, water moccasins, and rattlesnakes, to perceive the heat released by their mammalian prey: mice, voles, groundhogs, squirrels, rabbits and hares.

A shot in the dark

Incredibly, the snakes can hunt in complete darkness using only their heat pits, granting them the fantastic ability to sneak up on their prey. Having two heat pits on either side of the head also allows them to judge the distance of their prey and accurately strike them with venom. This unbelievable adaptation makes these snakes deadly predators. Prey have little chance escaping once these snakes have found them using their heat-seeking abilities.

- Brought to you by Bruce Doran (M.Sc.), a Staff Scientist at Science North

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Bizarre Buying Bazaar

suzanne — Fri, 31 May 2013 15:36:09 +0000

Ripley’s Presents: Bizarre Buying Bazaar

Ripley’s will be touring the land searching for the next best bizarre items. Visit one of our Odditoriums to receive an ‘Odd’praisal. If we like it, we will make a deal! So search your attics, homes, garages, cars, and collections to see if you have a hidden treasure!

Join Edward Meyer VP Exhibits & Archives at the Bizarre Bazaar tent at the Ripley’s Odditorium in Orlando on June 7-8 for the FIRST EVER Bizarre Buying Bazaar and help us kick off the summer tour!

Orlando Odditorium is located at: 8201 International Dr. Orlando, FL 32819

When is it?

Summer of 2013

Where is it?

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditoriums are hosting the events. The tour begins in Orlando, Florida! Dates and locations will continue to be added throughout the season, so please check back!

Summer 2013 Tour Schedule:

Orlando, FL: June 7 – June 8, from 10:00am – 6:00pm
Sudbury Science North: August 16 – August 18
More locations to come, stay tuned!

Man Carries Home On His back for 5 Years

suzanne — Thu, 30 May 2013 21:55:54 +0000

Human Snail

About 20 years ago, Liu Lingchao left his small hometown of Guangxi for big city dreams in Guangzhou and Shenzhenof.

Liu Lingchao

About 5 years ago Liu decided to go back home. Instead of taking modern transportation, he opted to trek the entire 450 miles on foot. Oh, and did I mention he has carried his home on his back the entire time!

Moving at a snail’s pace

To put that in perspective, walking from Shenzhen to Guangxi is 450 miles, equivalent to walking from New York to North Carolina. Sure a long distance, but I’ve heard of people walking 3,000 miles coast-to-coast across the USA in a year, so why has it taken Liu 5 years to go about 1/6th the distance? Perhaps it’s the 132 lbs, 5-ft x 7-ft home strapped to his back?

No handouts here

Liu inside his travel home

Liu is 100% self-sufficient. He literally carries his home on his back, and he recycles discarded bottles he finds on the road for cash.

Everything he needs he has packed in his carry hut. He travels with his bedding, food, and other necessities.

So far he has worn out three of these travel homes. However, Liu is only 20 miles away from ending his journey and returning home to Guangxi.

Source: ChinaSmack

The Science of Breath

suzanne — Tue, 28 May 2013 16:47:57 +0000

Ripley’s & Science North

Your Breath is as unique as your fingerprint

What makes our bodies unique? Our fingerprints and our DNA can help us distinguish one another. But now, as researchers have discovered, we can also identify ourselves by breath. Our “breathprints” are as unique as our fingerprints.

More than just hot air

The air that we breathe out isn’t the same as the air that we first breathe in: along with carbon dioxide gas, we also breathe out metabolites. Metabolites are small molecules that are created by chemical reactions happening in our body, such as when we digest food. These molecules are small enough to pass from the blood into the alveoli, tiny air sacs in our lungs. Metabolites are present in our breath, albeit in tiny amounts, so researchers use sensitive machinery to detect as little as one molecule of a metabolite in one billion molecules of air.

The study of breath starts with breathing into a mass spectrometer, a machine that instantly splits breath samples into their individual molecular components and measures them. Your unique breathprint is one of infinite combinations of these molecules. It might change slightly throughout the day, but not enough to really differ from your “signature” breath.

Why it’s important:

Since the metabolites found in your breath are a reflection of the chemical processes happening inside your body, understanding your breathprint can also reveal information about your health. Researchers are currently analyzing breath samples from a wide range of people in order to identify how different diets, health conditions, and medical treatments affect the types of metabolites found in breath. And since the samples can be analyzed instantly, this can lead to faster diagnoses of diseases and more personalized treatments. All that from a puff of air!

- Brought to you by Nina Nesseth, B.Sc., a Science Communicator at Science North.