At some point in your life, you may have wondered why manhole covers are round, and what the markings all over them mean.Why are manhole covers round?This question has been used as an interview question by Microsoft. While it doesn't have a definitive answer, there are a number of reasons why round manholes are preferred around the world. One reason is geometric. Circular manhole covers – designed to be slightly bigger than the lip that holds them in place – cannot fall down the manhole, no matter which way you turn them. Squares and rectangles, meanwhile, can be rotated and dropped inside diagonally. Being circular also makes them easier to transport, as you can roll them along their edge, and square manhole covers have a larger surface area when made to the same width as a circular manhole cover, making them less cost-effective. There are other practical concerns, too."Manholes are in essence man-made holes," Josh Nelson, an associate professor in the Department of Design at San Jose State University in California, told Live Science, "and these are typically made from rotational tools, which tend to make circular shapes. So, a circular shape covering the manhole would be the best fit in terms of functionality. Anything else would be more complicated and less economical." What do the markings on manhole covers mean?Some manhole covers can be surprisingly decorative or useful, with Seattle's containing – among other creations – city maps.     IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.Japan, meanwhile, has taken them to a whole other level.    Less decorative manhole covers vary from country to country, but generally display some sort of information about what they are for. In some places, such as Nashua, New Hampshire, triangular manhole covers are used to point in the direction of the subsurface water flow.The cross-hatch pattern, or other bumps, are there to reduce noise as vehicles drive over them, as well as slippage. Though it varies by country, they will usually indicate what utility lies beneath, and sometimes the word “adjustable” or “auto-adjustable” to let workers know how the manhole cover can be removed and replaced when necessary.All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.  

The first astronauts heading to Mars will venture further than any human before them, and should any of them encounter medical problems on their journey – perhaps “cosmic kidney disease” or a bacterial infection – they will be almost entirely alone to deal with them. Adding to those challenges, a new study has identified another problem; medications brought along on the mission will expire before the astronauts return to Earth. On the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts have access to a variety of medications that can be replenished by resupply missions if depleted or expired. However, a trip to Mars will take around nine months each way, with an extra three months spent on the Red Planet waiting for Earth and Mars to be in a suitable position for the return journey. That's 21 months in total, with no new supplies.NASA does not routinely disclose medication used on the ISS, but the new study's authors used a Freedom of Information Act Request to obtain a list, assuming that a Mars-bound mission would have a similar stock. The researchers, from the Duke University School of Medicine, then assessed how long each drug would be expected to last in its original packaging. This too raises a problem, as shelf-lives are based on the drugs being kept in their original packaging, but drugs sent to the ISS are repackaged before launch.On top of that, we don't know how long these drugs last in space. It's possible that they will degrade more quickly due to radiation.The good news is that the shortest shelf life (for an ophthalmic lubricant) is 18 months, posing a "minimal risk" for extended missions to the Moon – but for longer missions, astronauts could see their drugs become less effective."Using the maximum labeled shelf-life across all sources for each medication, we found that 14 medications will expire by 24 months: one ophthalmic lubricant, one advanced life support medication, one anaphylaxis treatment medication, one benzodiazepine, one antiangina medication, two corticosteroids, one local anesthetic, one topical urinary jelly, two antibiotics, one antipsychotic, one inhaler, and one ear wax removal medication," the team writes in their study. "Furthermore, over half [...] of the entire 2023 ISS formulary will expire by 36 months."Using more conservative estimates of efficacy based on each medication’s minimum labeled shelf-life, 97.8 percent of medications taken aboard the ISS expire within 36 months.Drug manufacturers assure the effectiveness of their medication up to the expiration date, but beyond that, they may become less effective. “It doesn’t necessarily mean the medicines won't work, but in the same way you shouldn’t take expired medications you have lying around at home, space exploration agencies will need to plan on expired medications being less effective,” Daniel Buckland, assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine and aerospace medicine researcher said in a statement."Ultimately, those responsible for the health of spaceflight crews will have to find ways to extend the expiration of medications to the complete mission duration," the team concluded, "or accept the elevated risk associated with administration of an expired medication."The study is published in the journal npj Microgravity.

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by Frank Bergman, Slay News: A new study has identified another form of heart damage that is causing sudden deaths to surge among people who have been injected with Covid mRNA shots. Top Japanese scientists uncovered evidence linking Pfizer’s mRNA shot to severely weakened hearts. The team of researchers at the Narita-Tomisato Tokushukai Hospital in […]

There are tons of ways to bond with our pets. One particularly sweet way to do so while enjoying a coffee treat is by giving your dog one of their own! Their treat, of course, doesn’t include any coffee. Instead, there are tons of dogs who are obsessed with what is often called a pup cup! This treat is super simple — it’s just a cup with whipped cream inside. But for our animal friends, this simple treat is an incredible indulgence. In fact, Charlie the golden retriever is so set on getting his own pup cup, he doesn’t even wait for his parents! This precious moment takes place while Charlie and his humans, which includes Haley Dwyer, are taking a nice stroll. As luck would have it, they pass by his favorite coffee truck. Without hesitating, Charlie pitter-patters his way over to the truck and sits. Then, he barks — in other words, he order his pup cup. Watch this adorable moment in the video below! @haleydwyer_ Charlie Revival Coffee and Ice Cream #goldenretriever #goldensoftiktok #dogsoftiktok #pupcup #goldenretrieverlife #goldenretrieversoftiktok ♬ original sound – Haley Dwyer “I love how his tail was wagging until he ordered and then it was strictly business,” the popular weratedogs account shares in the comments, with another person adding, “That was a nice woof, not to loud yet very firm and telling. 10/10 would highly recommend.” Golden Retriever Enjoys His Pup Cup Some viewers expressed their disappointment over not getting the chance to see Charlie enjoy his much deserved pup cup. Luckily, Haley was more than happy to share a follow up video showing just that! And yes, it’s just as cute as you’re imagining. @haleydwyer_ Replying to @Blue skies ♬ L-O-V-E – Nat King Cole “Why did I think he was gonna grab it and walk away,” someone admits, with another sharing, “If a dog is happy, I’m happy.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post “When Your Golden Retriever Sits In Line And Politely Orders A Pup Cup” appeared first on InspireMore.

During my vast research into the paranormal and unexplained, I often come across cases that truly stand out, and which I had never heard of. Some of these raise an eyebrow, some are truly perplex, some are obvious hokum, yet there are others I am not quite sure what to do with or make of. Recently I came across a very odd case involving a creepy abandoned shed, a discarded notebook full of mysterious rantings, a series of bizarre disappearances, and all manner of weird occurences in an apparently haunted forest. As a disclaimer, I am not sure how true any of this is, or how much of it actually happened, but it is all a truly disturbing story that is worth looking at nevertheless. Is any of it true? Read on and decide for yourself. 

Animals hunting in groups is an amazing example of both intelligence and communication between individuals, from orcas teaming up to sink yachts to prides of lions and packs of wolves taking down prey often much larger than themselves. While these are fairly common examples, taking a trip below the waves reveals that even tiny sea slugs are capable of working together to get the ultimate meal.The nudibranch mollusk Berghia stephanieae only eats a sea anemone species called Exaiptasia diaphana, however research has now revealed that the nudibranchs are feeding on these anemones in packs. E. diaphana is dangerous prey – the anemone contains nematocysts and acontia, similar kind of stinging cells to those found on a jellyfish. The anemones are also capable of killing and eating their predators. Therefore, the team believe that much like a lion pride would hunt in a group to take down a dangerous buffalo, the nudibranchs are teaming up to reduce the likelihood of possible injury.The team conducted a series of experiments in the lab to explore how B. stephanieae would react to different feeding situations. First, they placed one anemone for every nudibranch inside the tank but rather than eat alone, results showed that the nudibranchs fed socially. The feeding together was not influenced by how hungry the nudibranchs were in tests where they weren’t fed for seven or three days. In a different experiment, the team placed two anemones inside the tank but found that the nudibranchs did not distribute themselves evenly between the pair. The researchers also thought that the sea slugs could be following slime trails left by the others in the tank, which could influence which anemone they chose to feed on. By placing a nudibranch in the tank to leave trails, but then removing it before it could feed on any of the anemones, the team found that the rest of the anemones did not choose to feed on the anemone with the slime trail leading to it any more than chance.This kind of feeding behavior is known as aggregation, where the individuals behave independently but come together to feed. The team think that having multiple individuals feeding on the anemone reduces the risk of injury for the feeding nudibranchs but have yet to work out the mechanisms that trigger this. The paper is published on the preprint server bioRxiv and has not yet undergone peer review. 

Science can’t be sexist, we hear you cry, it’s methodical, rational. And yet science is carried out by humans who are often a product of the time and place they operate in, struggling to overcome intrinsic biases and outside influence.Host Katy Evans is joined by zoologist and presenter Lucy Cooke, author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal, to discuss how these biases have affected – and sometimes prevented – what we know about animal biology in some truly eye-opening ways, and hopefully debunk some myths along the way.You can listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast on all your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Podbean, Amazon Music, and more. A transcript of the conversation is available here.