You can also join in the weirdness in our Facebook group and bedeck yourself in Weirdo merchandise (including face masks!) from our Threadless shop. If you like The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week, please subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts. You can learn more about the thriving wildlife of the Exclusion Zone in the latest issue of Popular Science. But based on what we’ve seen in the Chernobyl Exclusion zone, the removal of human activity and interference might be enough to balance out a wee bit of toxicity. Radiation is dangerous at high levels- and in parts of the Exclusion Zone, it could still kill you quite quickly. And now some animals actually seem to be better off in the Exclusion Zone than they would be in surrounding areas. So, it was generally assumed that the exclusion zone would devoid of life before too long.īut starting in the late 80s, researchers keeping tabs on local critters started to see them bounce back. If radiation that high doesn’t kill you outright, it can damage your DNA in a way that leads to all sorts of mutations in your offspring, not to mention all the cancers it can cause. In the immediate aftermath, a 19-mile radius surrounding the Chernobyl plant was roped off and evacuated, but the so-called Exclusion Zone would eventually be expanded to cover around 1,000 square miles of Ukraine, with some 350,000 people permanently relocated.Īnimals stuck in those highly contaminated areas obviously did not do well. While the accident itself only directly killed two people and led to the deaths of several dozen others due to acute radiation poisoning, the lowest existing estimates based on scientific models suggest that at least 9,000 people will ultimately die of conditions tied to radiation exposure due to the accident. FACT: Humans might be worse for wildlife than toxic radiation isĪlmost exactly 35 years ago, on April 26 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant became the site of the worst nuclear disaster the world had ever seen, or (thankfully) has seen since. And subsequent studies trying to see if the same nocturnal limbo happens in humans also tip just how little we know about what counts as a good night’s sleep either at home or in the wild. Trying to understand and map this ability to half clock out, also observed in some bird species, reveals the complex interplay happening in our noggins when we slumber. Called unihemispheric sleep, this wakeful rest is largely a survival tool, one that allows the animals to surface to breathe, keep an eye on their pods, and maintain lookout for potential threats. That inaction upended what we thought we knew about how many marine mammals rest as far as scientists had known thus far, some species of dolphins, whales, and seals literally sleep with one eye open. Though their posture was odd-noses pointed straight up as their bodies bobbed lazily like corks-that wasn’t what surprised the crew.Īs their crafts approached, the cetaceans remained stock still. In 2007, a group of researchers studying the movements and habits of sperm whales off the coast of Chile happened upon a pod of the ocean giants snoozing. FACT: Some animals really do sleep with one eye open Just don’t chug a can of ginger ale-your stomach will have a tough time breaking down the sugars, and you’ll probably end up blowing chunks anyway. Modern medicine has also given us histamine-fighting solutions like dramamine and scopoline, but you can also try vetted prophylactics like soup crackers and apple slices. Today we know that the best way to fight the churn is to just get used to the turbulence, whether it be in hyper-realistic video games or on a birding boat trip. Others used poisonous plants like hellebore to clear out the stomach, and even drank pee from young children. Some would rub wormwood, wine vinegar, olive oil, and mint on their noses, or drink raindrops off the end of bamboo shoots. With ta daaaa #fyp #foru #foryou #xyzbca #xyzcba #stitch #viral #seashanty ♬ Wellerman – Sea Shanty – Nathan Evansīecause ancient people didn’t understand the cause of motion sickness, they used some pretty out-there remedies to try and cure it.
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