Indian Man Immune to Electrocution
“Do you hate getting electrically shocked during the winter? Too bad you’re not Rajmohan Nair, an Indian man who is literally immune to electrocution.
Dubbed the ‘Electro Man’ on the History Channel’s premier reality series, “Stan Lee’s Superhumans,” Rajmohan has the superhuman ability to conduct large currents of electricity without suffering any bodily harm whatsoever.
Just watch below as exposed wires are wrapped around him and then powered. The electricity flows from the plug, through Rajmohan, and to a lightbulb and, later on, a hotplate.
Note that when he’s in the process of conducting, he for some odd reason cannot see—as his eyes become glazed over.
Please do not try any of this at home. Rajmohan is a rarity, as most humans cannot safely conduct such high levels of electricity. If you were to do this at home, you would most likely die. In fact, according to host Daniel Smith, Rajmohan is approximately 10-times more resistant to electricity than the average human.”
Read more at Weird Asia News
Sailor crashes boat for 13th time
“A hapless sailor named ‘Captain Calamity’ has destroyed his catamaran after flipping it for the 13th time while attempting to ride Britain’s biggest wave. Glenn Crawley, 55, has repeatedly flipped his catamaran ‘Mischief’ and cost the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) £30,000 in a string of rescues. The retired electrician and engineer began sailing the boat in 2003 and was forced to dial 999 three times in the first year alone. Since then RNLI crews have been called out on a further nine occasions after Mr Crawley’s catamaran turned over, at a cost of at least £2,500 per rescue. Officials have pleaded with him to give up sailing, with local coastguards calling him ‘Captain Calamity’.
Mr Crawley’s seafaring antics now look over after he crashed his boat for the 13th time in seven years. The 18ft boat has been left in pieces after he attempted to ride Britain’s biggest wave, known as the Cribbar, at Fistral Beach in Newquay. Mr Crawley tried to sail along the wave, dubbed ‘The Widow Maker’, but his vessel was hit by a giant wall of water and flipped over. Despite admitting that Mischief is gone, Mr Crawley warned he could soon be back at sea, he still insists he is a ”man of the water” and says his ”extreme sailing” is pushing the boundaries of maritime adventure.
Mr Crawley said: ”People race cars or climb mountains but no one gets on their case. ”I’m the first one to admit I make the occasional mistake but you have to put it in context. People are so keen to criticise, they need to look at the big picture. I’m out there taking risks. I’m pushing the limits and seeing what can be done. ”I do what no one else is doing. So I’d appreciate it if people would get off my case and give me some support. ”If you don’t capsize, you’re not trying hard enough. Go hard or go home, that’s my motto. I’m always going hard. The sea by its very nature is unpredictable. I’m going through a never-ending learning curve. ”Anyway I’ll have a new boat after Christmas. They’re not that expensive. We’re not talking about the Titanic here.””
Read more at The Telegraph
Do Physicists believe in God and other such questions
Nottingham isn’t just a great town – it’s university is excellent and has a rather fantastic site about the symbols of physics and astronomy called Sixty Symbols. In this episode they ask questions about God and astronomical features, but they have a huge array of others covering short videos showing polarisation to explanations about Schrodinger’s cat (from a scientist with a truly awe inspiring haircut).
Be sure to check out more of the videos on you tube and their excellent little website here. Highly recommended.
Biological immortality
There is a Jellyfish whose biology allows it to go from a fully mature Medusa, to its polyp stage and back again indefinitely. The Turritopsis nutricula is a small jellyfish with an ability so far unique in the animal kingdom. It is the only known jellyfish to have developed the ability to return to a polyp state. Or basically, reverse its life cycle, then grow up again. This process allows the jellyfish to bypass death. In fact, there may be no natural limit to its life span. The process is called transdifferentiation.
Read more at The Daily Leopard
This is a blog post about a news article we didn’t write
Here’s where a quote or a few paragraphs that we took from the article to introduce to the readers the basic idea and hopefully give enough of an oversight of the article to stimulate debate about the subject.
We then maybe take another paragraph later on with some stats or findings – or isolate a quote to help illustrate the previous point. For example:
“In this paragraph I will state the main claim that the research makes, making appropriate use of “scare quotes” to ensure that it’s clear that I have no opinion about this research whatsoever.”
We then add a link at the bottom for further reading in to the subject, unfortunately some people miss this and only read our parts and miss the entire point. Then then leave a comment like “what’s that all about then?” which is why it’s so important that we:
John Sweeney revisits the Church of Scientology
“In 2007, while investigating the Church of Scientology for Panorama, reporter John Sweeney had a dramatic on-camera confrontation with a church spokesman named Tommy Davis. The church was accusing the reporter of bias and it attempted to stop the documentary from being broadcast – a campaign backed by Scientology A-lister John Travolta. Sweeney has returned to investigate the church again.
I never meant to shout. Strangers had been on my tail. Scientologist Tommy Davis and his colleague Mike Rinder – my handlers – had been on my case, day in and day out.
They had taken me to an exhibit called ‘Psychiatry: Industry of Death’ on Hollywood Boulevard, where a Scientologist told me psychiatrists set up the Holocaust. I feared I was being brain-washed. And then I lost it – big time.
The Church of Scientology put out my impression of an exploding tomato onto the internet which millions had a laugh at courtesy of YouTube. It was no way for me to behave. I apologised then and I apologise now. Shortly after that programme, Scientology & Me, aired in 2007, I received a tip-off that Mike Rinder had left the church. Three years on and my old adversary came to me to shed some light on what had been going on behind the scenes in the days leading up to my infamous meltdown and screaming session in Los Angeles.
Now an independent Scientologist, Mike is critical of the church and of its leader David Miscavige, who was actor Tom Cruise’s best man at his wedding to Katie Holmes.
Mike, 55, wanted to meet and talk about his life in the church, which he was a part of from the age of six.”
Read more at BBC News
The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion
“Dr Thomas Dixon takes us on a journey through Horizon programs and presents a retrospective of the conflict between science and belief. We see familiar faces again such as Ken Miller, Richard Dawkins and Colin Blakemore.
Broadcasted on September 21, 2010 on BBC Four.”
Patients to be frozen into state of suspended animation for surgery
“Surgeons are pioneering a method of inducing extreme hypothermia in trauma patients so that their bodies shut down entirely during major surgery, giving doctors more time to perform operations. The technique helps to reduce the damage done to the brain and other organs while the patient’s heart is not beating. It also reduces the need for anaesthetic and life support machines.
Researchers are now set to begin the first human trials of the technique, which involves replacing a patient’s blood with a cold solution to rapidly chill body temperatures. The cold treatment, which is being developed at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and is featured in a BBC Two Horizon documentary, will see patient’s bodies being cooled to as low as 10 degrees C.
The normal human body temperature is 37 degrees C and usually humans quickly die if the core body temperature drops below 22 degrees C. Dr Hasan Alam, the surgeon who is leading the research at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that often emergency patients suffering from gunshot wounds, stabbings and car accidents are on the brink of death anyway so by cooling their bodies so extensively it can protect their brain and organs from damage. Dr Alam said trials of the technique in animals had shown it to be hugely successful. He said: “If you drop the body’s core temperature and brain temperature down to 15 degrees C or 10 degrees C you are talking about 60 minutes and even 190 minutes of protection. “By cooling rapidly in this fashion we can convert almost certain death into a 90 per cent survival rate.”"
Read more at The Telegraph
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