Hello folks who wonder if the ultimate test of plant-based meat would be to see if a mountain lion would eat it,
Sometimes when I go to sleep, I wonder why is the world the way it is? Why do people see the world for what it should be instead of looking at things for what they are?
Ooohh Karan, enough already. Stop with your midlife crisis!
No seriously, why do we give Nobel prizes to random people who write some dense mumbo jumbo, roam around in lab coats all day (which are not stylish btw) and do experiments for years that no one literally cares about. Shouldn't we instead be felicitating people who post motivational quotes on Instagram or people who post daily pictures of their pets or food on social media. Even people who find the parking spot closest to the gym door or the ones cutting everyone off on the freeway since they know we have limited time on earth and they don't want to waste it. These are the people that are literally inspiring others and helping the Earth become a better place.
What's the point you are trying to make? All I am saying is why do we have to constantly burst people's bubbles to show them the reality.
Take for example, if you ask random people walking the street "Why are leaves green?" What do you think they will answer?
"Excuse me.. Please double mask before you talk to me"
"Because it is not fall yet?"
"I donno..something to do with science...like photosynthesis..."
"That's simple. Because if they were red or yellow, the flowers wouldn't stand out as much"
"I already finished high school. I am not supposed to remember that."
All of these answers are cute but as we will see the truth is a little more nefarious. We know that plants use a secret ingredient called chlorophyll to make their food using sunlight. The ingredients of this recipe are Carbon Dioxide and Water in equal quantities along with sunlight. The end result of this reaction is a simple sugar called Glucose and Oxygen. This process is called photosynthesis.
That magic ingredient chlorophyll is key to giving the green color to the leaves. Here is what happens, the light from sunlight is not just plain white light but an assortment of different colors like the one you see on the rainbow.
Think about it this way, if the sunlight was a chocolate instead of one type of chocolate it is actually an assortment of chocolates. But like all assorted chocolates in the box, most are great like peanut butter and roasted nuts while some are just trash like the molasses and maple cream ones and that is where they are supposed to end up in. And that is what the chlorophyll does. It keeps all the other colors it needs like red and blue but throws away the green color. And that is why the leaves look green.
So, now we know that any color you see on anything, is the color it reflects, NOT the color it absorbs. Take a minute to let that sink. I'll wait. In the meantime I can catch up on what Britney is up to these days.
Ok, now have you ever stared at a Praying Mantis and peered into its eyes and felt a connection? Maybe, maybe not, who am I to judge. One thing you would see is that unlike other insects like ants or spiders, it seems they are looking at you.
Those black dots in those big round eyes that resemble pupils will follow you around as you move from back to front. They are also commonly found on Damselflies.
In reality those are not pupils at all, those are called pseudopupils and it's not an actual thing, it's an optical effect just like people thinking celebrities actually like you because they retweeted your dumb tweet. So, if three people are looking at the eye at the same time, one from the side, one from the front and one from the back, all of them will think the pupil is looking at them.
Here is what is happening. The part that appears black only happens when you are looking at it at 12 o'clock or a 90° angle. At any other angle, they will appear the color that the eye traditionally reflects. But when you view it at 12 o'clock, that area of the eye that is at the same angle absorbs all incoming light coming from that direction and hence appears black. Since these eyes are not flat but curved, only a tiny area can be in that "just right" (read 90°) spot. Sometimes I feel life is so much simpler just following the Kardashians and Britney around.
that's what I said.
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