What are the chances of detecting extraterrestrial radio signals? ● The temperature of the human body has been falling for the last 160 years ● In Britain, bee-safe bricks will be introduced

What are the chances of detecting extraterrestrial radio signals?

Although the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program has been operating for nearly 60 years, it has not been able to identify a single extraterrestrial radio signal. And here we mean exclusively radio signals coming from some such civilization.

Why this did not happen earlier and what are the chances of detecting at least one radio signal from intelligent aliens, well, Dr. Claudio Grimaldi, a Swiss researcher at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, decided to answer these questions. In his study published in the Astronomical Journal, Dr. Grimaldi argues that we face several scenarios.

In the first of them, these signals abound in the galaxy. All we have to do is persevere. We’ll find them eventually, just don’t chase them. The second states that intelligent life forms are so rare in the Milky Way that possible radio signals are virtually non-existent. In this case, we campaign for absolutely nothing. A third possibility suggests that while there are civilizations and radio signals in the galaxy, we are in a slightly more isolated spot, and 60 years later there is no pretense of quick results.

Analyzing the third scenario, the researcher claims that you need to arm yourself with patience. How much patience? About 100,000 years ago. In such a situation, there is a 95% probability that a smart radio signal will reach us. If you don’t want to wait that long, it’s good to know that there’s a 50% chance we’ll find one between 60 and 1,800 years. Only a 20% chance of spotting anything in the next 240 years.

As it turns out, you’d have to be beyond optimistic to think you can find anything in 60 years. In short, we should probably turn to other methods of detecting intelligent aliens. Sure, but we may evolve into another species by the time we meet them.

Human body temperature has been falling for the past 160 years

From 37 degrees, people’s body temperature has been decreasing for over a century and a half by 0.3-0.4 degrees. The problem was that there was no explanation that would clarify why this phenomenon occurs.

More precisely, in 1851, the German physician Karl Reinhold August Wunderlich analyzed about 25,000 patients from Leipzig and postulated that the average temperature of the human body is 37 degrees Celsius. 27 modern studies of 35,000 people in the UK and the US showed that the average temperature fell to 36.6 degrees.

We sidestep the fact that there may have been differences between the methods of 1851 and today, and turn to a recent study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which also offers a possible explanation. More specifically, it would be about the gut flora and the antibiotics we use.

Microbiologists from the University of Michigan who co-authored the study say they analyzed 116 patients with various infections and disease stages, noting that there is a correlation between variations in gut microbial diversity and body temperature.

True, they conducted all kinds of experiments on guinea pigs and got the same result. Specifically, mice with low diversity or mice given antibiotics had lower body temperatures. What’s even more interesting is that the same bacteria in both humans and mice seem to be responsible for temperature regulation.

So it was! Antibiotics make us sick. SR!

Bee-safe bricks will be introduced in Great Britain

As the global bee population has been in rapid decline for decades, several British biologists from the universities of Falmouth and Exeter have found a solution to ensure the survival of those that remain.

In a study recently published in the International Journal of Sustainable Design, boys and girls from England say that using friendly bricks would be an opportunity to save something more. What kind of brick is this? They are bricks with special holes in which single bees can sleep.

As clarified, the decision takes into account solitary bees, since the rest, those who live in groups, do not dare to live separately from the colony. But even single ones are about 9 out of ten species known in England, so there is someone to live in those bricks.

To do this with quality and to satisfy all environmentalists, the bricks will be made from recycled materials, therefore cheaper and also more sustainable than traditional ones. In conclusion, if you are planning to build a house, a high-rise building, something like that, pay attention to these new building materials! You will have a shelter not only for you, but also for lonely bees, who will thus refuse to wander.

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