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#1 Re: Exercises » Compute the solution: » Today 02:59:33

Hi,

The reason I don't reply late in the evening. I close down all work by 5 pm or 5.30 pm.

During daytime, I use Laptop and after 6 pm, I find very difficult I reply in mobile.

Please understand, am not healthy and fit, I am in the evening of my career.

I have some medical problems : Hyperglycemia, Diabetic Neuropathy, Epilepsy, and the biggest of the all: Wernicke Kosakoff Syndrome.

Happy Dussehra!

#2 Science HQ » Berkelium » Yesterday 21:42:43

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Berkelium

Gist

Berkelium (Bk) is a radioactive, synthetic chemical element with atomic number 97, discovered in 1949 at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and named after the city of Berkeley, California. It is a member of the actinide series and is produced artificially in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators. While not used for technological or biological purposes, berkelium's isotopes are used for basic scientific research and in the creation of heavier elements, though only very small quantities are available. 

Berkelium has no commercial or technological uses due to its extreme rarity, high radioactivity, and toxicity. Its primary and only use is as a target material in basic scientific research to synthesize superheavy elements, such as Tennessine, and for studying the chemistry of heavier transuranium elements. 

Summary

Berkelium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Bk and atomic number 97. It is a member of the actinide and transuranium element series. It is named after the city of Berkeley, California, the location of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (then the University of California Radiation Laboratory) where it was discovered in December 1949. Berkelium was the fifth transuranium element discovered after neptunium, plutonium, curium and americium.

The major isotope of berkelium, 249Bk, is synthesized in minute quantities in dedicated high-flux nuclear reactors, mainly at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, United States, and at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Russia. The longest-lived and second-most important isotope, 247Bk, can be synthesized via irradiation of 244Cm with high-energy alpha particles.

Just over one gram of berkelium has been produced in the United States since 1967. There is no practical application of berkelium outside scientific research which is mostly directed at the synthesis of heavier transuranium elements and superheavy elements. A 22-milligram batch of berkelium-249 was prepared during a 250-day irradiation period and then purified for a further 90 days at Oak Ridge in 2009. This sample was used to synthesize the new element tennessine for the first time in 2009 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russia, after it was bombarded with calcium-48 ions for 150 days. This was the culmination of the Russia–US collaboration on the synthesis of the heaviest elements on the periodic table.

Berkelium is a soft, silvery-white, radioactive metal. The berkelium-249 isotope emits low-energy beta particles and thus is relatively safe to handle. It decays with a half-life of 330 days to californium-249, which is a strong emitter of ionizing alpha particles. This gradual transmutation is an important consideration when studying the properties of elemental berkelium and its chemical compounds, since the formation of californium brings not only chemical contamination, but also free-radical effects and self-heating from the emitted alpha particles.

Details

Berkelium (Bk) is a synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic number 97. Not occurring in nature, berkelium (as the isotope berkelium-243) was discovered in December 1949 by American chemists Stanley G. Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn T. Seaborg at the University of California, Berkeley, as a product resulting from the helium-ion (alpha-particle) bombardment of americium-241 (atomic number 95) in a 152-cm (60-inch) cyclotron. The element was named after the city of Berkeley, where it was discovered.

All berkelium isotopes are radioactive; berkelium-247 is the longest-lived (1,380-year half-life). Berkelium-249 (330-day half-life) has been widely used in the chemical studies of the element because it can be produced in weighable amounts that are isotopically pure by nuclear reactions beginning with curium-244. The only use of berkelium has been in the synthesis of heavier elements such as tennessine. Metallic berkelium has been prepared; it is electropositive, reactive, and silver-coloured like the other actinoid metals, with a specific gravity of 14.8.

Tracer chemical investigations have shown that berkelium exists in aqueous solutions in the +3 and +4 oxidation states, presumably as Bk3+ and Bk4+ ions. The solubility properties of berkelium in its two oxidation states are entirely analogous to those of the other actinoids and to the lanthanoid elements (especially cerium) in the corresponding oxidation states. Solid compounds, including the oxides BkO2 and Bk2O3 and the trihalides such as the trichloride BkCl3, have been synthesized on the submicrogram scale.

Element Properties

atomic number  :  97
stablest isotope  :  247
oxidation states  :  +3, +4.

Additional Information:

Appearance

Berkelium is a radioactive, silvery metal.

Uses

Because it is so rare, berkelium has no commercial or technological use at present.

Biological role

Berkelium has no known biological role. It is toxic due to its radioactivity.

Natural abundance

Less than a gram of berkelium is made each year. It is made in nuclear reactors by the neutron bombardment of plutonium-239.

berkelium-bohr-model.jpg

#3 This is Cool » Benzyl Alcohol » Yesterday 19:38:12

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Benzyl Alcohol

Gist

Benzyl alcohol, or phenylmethanol (C6H5CH2OH), is a colorless liquid with a mild, aromatic odor, naturally occurring in plants and used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as a solvent, preservative, and viscosity-reducing agent. While it has low toxicity in small amounts and is approved for food contact plastics, high concentrations can cause skin and eye irritation. In neonates, however, it can lead to a severe and potentially fatal "gasping baby syndrome" if administered in high doses. 

Benzyl alcohol is a versatile chemical used as a preservative in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to prevent contamination, a solvent in paints and inks, a local anesthetic for pain relief, and an active ingredient in lice treatments by suffocating lice. It also functions as a flavoring agent in some foods and a precursor in industrial applications for creating ethers and esters.

Summary

Benzyl alcohol (also known as α-cresol) is an aromatic alcohol with the formula C6H5CH2OH. The benzyl group is often abbreviated "Bn" (not to be confused with "Bz" which is used for benzoyl), thus benzyl alcohol is denoted as BnOH. Benzyl alcohol is a colorless liquid with a mild pleasant aromatic odor. It is useful as a solvent for its polarity, low toxicity, and low vapor pressure. Benzyl alcohol has moderate solubility in water (4 g/100 mL) and is miscible in alcohols and diethyl ether. The anion produced by deprotonation of the alcohol group is known as benzylate or benzyloxide.

Natural occurrences

Benzyl alcohol is produced naturally by many plants and is commonly found in fruits and teas. It is also found in a variety of essential oils including jasmine, hyacinth and ylang-ylang. It is also found in castoreum from the castor sacs of beavers. Benzyl esters also occur naturally.

Preparation

Benzyl alcohol is produced industrially from toluene via benzyl chloride, which is hydrolyzed.

Another route entails hydrogenation of benzaldehyde, a by-product of the oxidation of toluene to benzoic acid.

For laboratory use, Grignard reaction of phenylmagnesium bromide (C6H5MgBr) with formaldehyde and the Cannizzaro reaction of benzaldehyde also give benzyl alcohol. The latter also gives benzoic acid, an example of an organic disproportionation reaction.

Details

Although available for some years as an over-the-counter health product, benzyl alcohol was approved in 2003 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a new prescription drug for the treatment of head lice. Unlike typical pediculicides such as permethrin and lindane which act through a neurotoxic mode of action, benzyl alcohol is thought to operate via a unique mechanism involving physical pulmonary asphyxiation. The presence of benzyl alcohol in such a wide range of consumer products is explained by its bacteriostatic and antiseptic properties in conjunction with its comparatively modest toxicity.

Outside of its natural occurrence in foods (apricots, cranberries, and cocoa), manufactured benzyl alcohol is used as a flavor-enhancing solvent, and can be used in baked goods, liqueurs and wines. In commercially manufactured cosmetics and skin products, benzyl alcohol is frequently used as a preservative due to its ability to kill microbes – especially parasites. In 1998, the FDA reported benzyl alcohol to be present in 322 cosmetic formulations belonging to 43 cosmetic-product categories.

Additionally, benzyl alcohol is used in photographic development. Aside from developing color movie films, as a solvent, benzyl alcohol is a component of inks, paints and epoxy resin coatings. It is an indirect food additive for use as a component of resinous and polymeric coatings.

Additional Information

Benzyl alcohol is an organic compound, of molecular formula C6H5CH2OH, that occurs combined with carboxylic acids (as esters) in balsams and oils of jasmine and other flowers. Several of its natural and synthetic esters have long been used in perfumery; the alcohol itself has become important in the second half of the 20th century as a developer booster in the processing of colour motion-picture film and as a dyeing assistant for filament nylons. Benzyl alcohol is manufactured by the hydrolysis of benzyl chloride in the presence of soda ash.

benzyl-alcohol-molecular-weight-calculation.jpg

#5 Re: Dark Discussions at Cafe Infinity » crème de la crème » Yesterday 17:28:52

2352) Nikolaas Tinbergen

Gist:

Work

Some animal and human patterns of behavior are innate. Examples of such behavioral patterns in animals can be seen in how they convey information to one another, how they behave when mating and how they care for their young. Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen made pioneering contributions within ethology by studying animal behavior. Nikolaas Tinbergen used dummies in his experiments. One of his discoveries at the end of the 1930s was that birds preferred to brood eggs with exaggerated markings in the form of size, spots and color.

Summary

Nikolaas Tinbergen (born April 15, 1907, The Hague, Neth.—died Dec. 21, 1988, Oxford, Eng.) was a Dutch-born British zoologist and ethologist (specialist in animal behaviour) who, with Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1973.

Tinbergen was the brother of the economist Jan Tinbergen. After receiving a Ph.D. degree (1932) from the University of Leiden, he taught there until 1949. He then served on the faculty of the University of Oxford (1949–74), where he organized a research department of animal behaviour. He became a British citizen in 1955.

With Lorenz and Frisch, Tinbergen is credited with revitalizing the science of ethology. Their emphasis was on field observations of animals under natural conditions. Tinbergen emphasized the importance of both instinctive and learned behaviour to survival and used animal behaviour as a basis for speculations about the nature of human violence and aggression. He is especially well known for his long-term observations of sea gulls, which led to important generalizations on courtship and mating behaviour.

Among his more important writings are The Herring Gull’s World (1953; rev. ed. 1961), Social Behavior in Animals (1953), and Animal Behavior (1965). Perhaps his most influential work is The Study of Instinct (1951), which explores the work of the European ethological school up to that time and attempts a synthesis with American ethology. In the 1970s Tinbergen devoted his time to the study of autism in children.

Details

Nikolaas Tinbergen (15 April 1907 – 21 December 1988) was a Dutch biologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning the organization and elicitation of individual and social behavior patterns in animals. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior.

In 1951, he published The Study of Instinct, an influential book on animal behaviour. In the 1960s, he collaborated with filmmaker Hugh Falkus on a series of wildlife films, including The Riddle of the Rook (1972) and Signals for Survival (1969), which won the Italia prize in that year and the American blue ribbon in 1971.

Early life and education

Born in The Hague, Netherlands, he was one of five children of Dirk Cornelis Tinbergen and his wife Jeannette van Eek. His brother, Jan Tinbergen, won the first Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 1969. They are the only siblings to each win a Nobel Prize. Another brother, Luuk Tinbergen, was also a noted biologist.

Tinbergen's interest in nature manifested itself when he was young. He studied biology at Leiden University and was a prisoner of war during World War II in Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel. Tinbergen's experience as a prisoner of the Nazis led to some friction with longtime intellectual collaborator Konrad Lorenz, and it was several years before the two reconciled.

After the war, Tinbergen moved to England, where he taught at the University of Oxford and was a fellow first at Merton College, Oxford, and later at Wolfson College, Oxford. Several of his graduate students went on to become prominent biologists including Richard Dawkins, Marian Dawkins, Desmond Morris, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, and Tony Sinclair.

tinbergen-13249-portrait-medium.jpg

#6 Re: Dark Discussions at Cafe Infinity » Greatest Mathematicians from 1 CE ... » Yesterday 17:13:24

23) Gerolamo Cardano

Gerolamo Cardano (also Girolamo or Geronimo:  24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, astronomer, philosopher, music theorist, writer, and gambler. He became one of the most influential mathematicians of the Renaissance and one of the key figures in the foundation of probability; he introduced the binomial coefficients and the binomial theorem in the Western world. He wrote more than 200 works on science.

Cardano partially invented and described several mechanical devices including the combination lock, the gimbal consisting of three concentric rings allowing a supported compass or gyroscope to rotate freely, and the Cardan shaft with universal joints, which allows the transmission of rotary motion at various angles and is used in vehicles to this day. He made significant contributions to hypocycloids - published in De proportionibus, in 1570. The generating circles of these hypocycloids, later named "Cardano circles" or "cardanic circles", were used for the construction of the first high-speed printing presses.

Today, Cardano is well known for his achievements in algebra. In his 1545 book Ars Magna he made the first systematic use of negative numbers in Europe, published (with attribution) the solutions of other mathematicians for cubic and quartic equations, and acknowledged the existence of imaginary numbers.

#7 Dark Discussions at Cafe Infinity » Clothes Quotes - I » Yesterday 17:06:50

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Clothes Quotes - I

1. Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. - Mark Twain

2. Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night. - Napoleon Bonaparte

3. Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. The expression a woman wears on her face is far more important than the clothes she wears on her back. - Dale Carnegie

5. Sometimes I put on a ski mask and dress in old clothes, go out on the streets and beg for quarters. - Mike Tyson

6. The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair. - Audrey Hepburn

7. I am a collection of thoughts and memories and likes and dislikes. I am the things that have happened to me and the sum of everything I've ever done. I am the clothes I wear on my back. I am every place and every person and every object I have ever come across. I am a bag of bones stuck to a very large rock spinning a thousand miles an hour. - Macaulay Culkin

8. Death means change our clothes. Clothes become old, then time to come change. So this body become old, and then time come, take young body. - Dalai Lama.

#8 Re: This is Cool » Miscellany » Yesterday 16:41:50

2404) Cerebral Atrophy

Gist

Cerebral atrophy is the progressive loss of neurons (brain cells) and their connections, resulting in a reduced brain volume or shrinkage. While some atrophy is normal with aging, it can also be a symptom of serious neurological conditions like dementia, stroke, or Huntington's disease, leading to cognitive, motor, and functional impairments. Diagnosis involves imaging tests like MRI, and treatment focuses on managing the underlying condition.

Symptoms of brain atrophy include memory problems, difficulty with problem-solving and decision-making, changes in mood and personality, speech and language difficulties, and impaired motor skills such as coordination and balance. The specific symptoms depend on the affected areas of the brain, and some symptoms like sudden confusion or severe memory loss warrant immediate medical attention.

Summary

Cerebral atrophy is a common feature of many of the diseases that affect the brain. Atrophy of any tissue means a decrement in the size of the cell, which can be due to progressive loss of cytoplasmic proteins. In brain tissue, atrophy describes a loss of neurons and the connections between them. Brain atrophy can be classified into two main categories: generalized and focal atrophy. Generalized atrophy occurs across the entire brain whereas focal atrophy affects cells in a specific location. If the cerebral hemispheres (the two lobes of the brain that form the cerebrum) are affected, conscious thought and voluntary processes may be impaired.

Some degree of cerebral shrinkage occurs naturally with the dynamic process of aging. Structural changes continue during adulthood as brain shrinkage commences after the age of 35, at a rate of 0.2% per year. The rate of decline is accelerated when individuals reach 70 years old. By the age of 90, the human brain will have experienced a 15% loss of its initial peak weight. Besides brain atrophy, aging has also been associated with cerebral microbleeds.

Details

Brain atrophy refers to a loss of brain cells, or a loss in the number of connections between brain cells. It can occur as a result of the natural aging process, injury, infection, or certain health conditions.

There are two main types of brain atrophy: focal atrophy, which occurs in specific brain regions, and generalized atrophy, which occurs across the brain.

People who experience brain atrophy typically develop lower cognitive functioning as a result of this type of brain damage.

This article describes the symptoms and causes of brain atrophy.

Symptoms of brain atrophy

The symptoms of brain atrophy will vary depending on the location of the atrophy and its severity. They may include:

Seizures

A seizure is a sudden spike of electrical activity in the brain. There are two main types of seizure: partial seizures, which affects just one part of the brain, and generalized seizures, which affects both sides of the brain.

The symptoms of a seizure depend on which part of the brain it affects. Some people may not experience any noticeable symptoms, whereas others may experience one or more of the following:

* behavioral changes
* jerking eye movements
* a bitter or metallic taste in the mouth
* drooling or frothing at the mouth
* teeth clenching
* grunting and snorting
* muscle spasms
* convulsions
* loss of consciousness

Aphasia

Aphasia refers to a group of symptoms that affect a person’s ability to communicate. Some types of aphasia can affect a person’s ability to produce or understand speech. Others can affect a person’s ability to read or write.

According to the National Aphasia Association, there are eight different types of aphasia. The type of aphasia a person experiences depends on the part or parts of the brain that sustain damage.

Some cases of aphasia are relatively mild, whereas others may severely impair a person’s ability to communicate.

Dementia

Dementia refers to a continuing decline in brain function. The symptoms may include:

* memory loss
* difficulty with reasoning or judgment
* difficulty with language or communication
* problems with movement and coordination
* mood or personality changes
* hallucinations
* difficulty carrying out daily activities

There are several different types of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common.

A person’s risk of dementia increases with age. However, it is not a natural part of the aging process.

Causes of brain atrophy

Brain atrophy can occur as a result of injury, either from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a stroke. It may also occur as a result of one of infections, such as HIV or those that cause brain inflammation (encephalitis).

In some cases, brain atrophy may occur as a result of a chronic condition, such as:

* multiple sclerosis (MS)
* Huntington’s disease
* Alzheimer’s disease
* Parkinson’s disease
* cerebral palsy
* leukodystrophies, which are a group of rare genetic conditions affecting the nervous system

Diagnosis

When diagnosing brain atrophy, a doctor may begin by taking a full medical history and asking about a person’s symptoms. This may include asking questions about when the symptoms began and if there was an event that triggered them.

The doctor may also carry out language or memory tests or other specific tests of brain function.

If they suspect that a person has brain atrophy, they will need to locate the brain damage and assess its severity. This will require an MRI or CT scan.

Additional Information

Brain atrophy (cerebral atrophy) is a loss of neurons and connections between neurons. Different conditions cause brain atrophy, including cerebral palsy, dementia and infectious diseases. Symptoms and severity of brain atrophy depend on the specific disease and location of damage. Treatment involves managing the underlying disorder.

What is brain atrophy?

People with brain atrophy, also called cerebral atrophy, lose brain cells (neurons), and connections between their brain cells and brain volume often decreases. This loss can lead to problems with thinking, memory and performing everyday tasks. The greater the loss, the more impairment someone has.

There are two types of brain atrophy:

* Focal: Damage occurs in one area of your brain.
* Generalized: Damage expands to your entire brain.

Is brain atrophy a normal part of aging?

People lose some brain cells as they get older, and brain volume decreases as well, but healthcare providers use the term “brain atrophy” when a person has more brain changes than expected for age. Here, the damage happens faster than the typical aging process.

Who is at risk for brain atrophy?

Some factors may increase your chances of developing brain atrophy, such as:

* Advanced age.
* Family history of genetic disorders, such as Huntington’s disease.
* Family history of neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
* Head or brain injury.
* Heavy drinking (alcohol use disorder).
* Smoking.

Does brain atrophy lead to dementia?

There’s a connection between brain atrophy and dementia. Specifically, dementia causes extreme brain atrophy. Dementia is a general term that describes severe thinking problems that interfere with daily life.

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease.

Does brain atrophy cause aphasia?

People with aphasia (speaking and language problems) as part of an underlying neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s disease often have brain atrophy as well. Here, damage occurs in areas responsible for producing and processing language. This disorder ranges in severity. Some people have trouble recalling the correct name for people, places and things. Others are completely unable to communicate.

Symptoms and Causes:

What causes brain atrophy?

Many different disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, infectious diseases and severe injuries can cause brain atrophy, including:

* Cerebral palsy.
* Encephalitis.
* HIV and AIDS.
* Huntington’s disease.
* Leukodystrophies.
* Multiple sclerosis.
* Stroke.
* Syphilis.
* Traumatic brain injury.
* Alzheimer’s disease.

What are the symptoms of brain atrophy?

Symptoms of brain atrophy vary depending on which specific part of your brain is damaged. Symptoms also range from mild to severe.

In general, brain atrophy happens with various conditions, and symptoms can vary to include:

Aphasia

* Difficulty speaking.
* Difficulty writing.
* Inability to understand the meaning of words.

Dementia

* Hallucinations.
* Loss of language.
* Memory problems.
* Mood and personality changes.
* Poor judgment.

Seizures

* Bitter or metallic taste.
* Convulsions.
* Loss of consciousness.
* Spasms.
* Teeth clenching.

3-s2.0-B978012738761150016X-f15-01-9780127387611.jpg

#9 Re: Jai Ganesh's Puzzles » General Quiz » Yesterday 15:27:27

Hi,

#10585. What does the term in Biology Cytology mean?

#10586. What does the term in Biology Cytoplasm mean?

#10 Re: Jai Ganesh's Puzzles » English language puzzles » Yesterday 14:59:13

Hi,

#5781. What does the noun cliché mean?

#5782. What does the noun clientele mean?

#11 Re: Jai Ganesh's Puzzles » Doc, Doc! » Yesterday 14:46:08

Hi,

#2483. What does the medical term TNM staging system mean?

#15 Jokes » Marriage Jokes - II » Yesterday 13:41:25

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Q: What's the cure for marriage?
Answer: Alcoholism.
* * *
Q: What's the difference between love and marriage?
A: Love is blind and marriage is an eye-opener!
* * *
Son: How much does it cost to get married, Dad?
Father: I don't know son, I'm still paying for it.
* * *
Q: Who is the perfect husband?
A: One who keeps his mouth shut and his checkbook open!
* * *
Q: Why is marriage like a nice suit?
A: At first it's a perfect fit, but after a while you need alterations.
* * *

#16 Re: Help Me ! » calculus » Yesterday 13:33:59

Hi Frithwyn,

Welcome to the forum!

See the links: Introduction to Calculus.

#17 Re: This is Cool » Miscellany » 2025-09-30 22:36:39

2403) Bronchospasm

Gist

Bronchospasm is the sudden tightening of muscles in the airways of the lungs, which constricts the air passages and makes breathing difficult. It is often a symptom of asthma, but can also be triggered by allergens, infections, exercise, or irritants, causing wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. While it can be a mild inconvenience, it can also become a severe, life-threatening condition, so proper diagnosis and treatment are crucial.

Bronchospasm is caused by irritants, allergens, infections, and underlying conditions like asthma. Common triggers include cigarette smoke, dust mites, pollen, pet dander, cold air, chemical fumes, and viral infections. Exercise, certain medications (beta-blockers, NSAIDs), and general anesthesia can also induce bronchospasm.  (Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug).

Summary

Bronchospasm or a bronchial spasm is a sudden constriction of the muscles in the walls of the bronchioles. It is caused by the release (degranulation) of substances from mast cells or basophils under the influence of anaphylatoxins. It causes difficulty in breathing which ranges from mild to severe.

Bronchospasms occur in asthma, chronic bronchitis and anaphylaxis. Bronchospasms are a possible side effect of some drugs: pilocarpine, beta blockers (used to treat hypertension), a paradoxical result of using LABA drugs (to treat COPD), and other drugs. Bronchospasms can present as a sign of giardiasis.

Some factors that contribute to bronchospasm include consuming certain foods, taking certain medicines, allergic responses to insects, and fluctuating hormone levels, particularly in women. Bronchospasms are one of several conditions associated with cold housing.

The overactivity of the bronchioles' muscle is a result of exposure to a stimulus which under normal circumstances would cause little or no response. The resulting constriction and inflammation causes a narrowing of the airways and an increase in mucus production; this reduces the amount of oxygen that is available to the individual causing breathlessness, coughing and hypoxia.

Bronchospasms are a serious potential complication of placing a breathing tube during general anesthesia. When the airways spasm or constrict in response to the irritating stimulus of the breathing tube, it is difficult to maintain the airway and the patient can become apneic. During general anesthesia, signs of bronchospasm include wheezing, high peak inspiratory pressures, increased intrinsic PEEP, decreased expiratory tidal volumes, and an upsloping capnograph (obstructive pattern).  In severe cases, there may be complete inability to ventilate and loss of ETCO2 as well as hypoxia and desaturation.

LABA: Long-acting beta-adrenoceptor agonist.
COPD: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
PEEP: Positive end-expiratory pressure.
ETCO2: ETCO2, or end-tidal carbon dioxide, is the concentration of carbon dioxide in the last part of an exhaled breath.

Details

Bronchospasms happen when the muscles that line the airways in your lungs tighten. It causes wheezing, coughing and other symptoms. Many things cause bronchospasm, including asthma. Medications can usually manage bronchospasm.

What Is a Bronchospasm?:

With bronchospasm, the muscles that line your bronchi tighten and make it harder for air to pass through your airways.

A bronchospasm (pronounced “BRONG-kuh-spaz-uhm”) is when the muscles that line your bronchi tighten. Your bronchi are the tubes that air travels through to get to your lungs. They connect your windpipe (trachea) to your lungs. If the muscles in your bronchi tighten or squeeze, your airways narrow. This limits how much oxygen your body receives. Bronchospasms can occur alongside many different lung conditions, including:

* Asthma
* Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
* Emphysema
* Lung infections
* Allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis

They can be scary because it feels like you can’t get enough air to breathe. Go to the nearest emergency room if you have sudden or severe breathing problems.

Symptoms and Causes:

What are the symptoms of bronchospasm?

The main symptom of bronchospasm is the feeling that you can’t catch your breath. Other bronchospasm symptoms include:

* Wheezing
* Chest pain or chest tightness
* Coughing
* Shortness of breath
* Dizziness
* Fatigue

What is the cause of bronchospasm?

Asthma is the most common cause of bronchospasm. But many other things can also cause irritation and swelling in your airways. Irritation and swelling can cause bronchospasm. These include:

* Allergens, like dust, pollen and pet dander
* Bacterial, fungal or viral infections in your lungs or airways
* Chemical fumes or other irritants, like perfume or cologne
* Cold or hot/humid temperatures
* Exercise (exercise-induced bronchospasm)
* General anesthesia
* Smoking or vaping
* Poor air quality

Just because you have a condition or are around a trigger, it doesn’t mean you’ll have a bronchospasm. In rare cases, bronchospasm medications like albuterol can actually make your symptoms worse. This is a paradoxical bronchospasm. If this happens, stop using your bronchodilator immediately and tell your healthcare provider. They’ll work with you to find a different treatment.

Is it contagious?

No, bronchospasms aren’t contagious. But some bronchospasm causes are contagious, like bacterial or viral infections.

Diagnosis and Tests:

How doctors diagnose bronchospasm

A healthcare provider can diagnose bronchospasm. They’ll review your medical history, ask about your symptoms and perform a physical exam. During the exam, they may listen to your lungs with a stethoscope. If they think you’re having bronchospasms, they may refer you to a pulmonologist or allergist.

What does it sound like?

Healthcare providers listen to your lungs with a stethoscope. Stethoscopes pick up very quiet sounds. When they use one, they listen for high-pitched whistling sounds.

Tests that are used

Your healthcare provider may recommend pulmonary (lung) function tests to see how well your lungs work. These may include:

* Spirometry: You use a spirometer that measures the force of air as you breathe in and out.
* Lung diffusion capacity: You breathe into a tube to determine how well oxygen transfers or diffuses between your lungs and blood.
* Lung volume assessment: This tells your provider how much air your lungs can hold.
* Pulse oximetry: Your provider places a device on your finger or ear to measure how much oxygen is in your blood.

Depending on your history, your provider may also recommend:

* Methacholine challenge or provocation tests: These test for the presence of asthma. They measure how your lungs respond to methacholine. Methacholine is a medication that can induce bronchospasm.
* Imaging tests: Chest X-rays and CT scans can help your provider see infections or other lung problems.
* Arterial blood gas: This test measures the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. It also measures the levels of acids and bases (alkaline) in your blood (pH level).
* Eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation: This test checks for exercise-induced bronchospasm. You breathe in a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The mixture mimics breathing during exercise.
You likely have exercise-induced bronchospasm if the mixture negatively affects your lungs.

Additional Information:

Definition

Bronchospasm is an abnormal contraction of the smooth muscle of the bronchi, resulting in an acute narrowing and obstruction of the respiratory airway. A cough with generalized wheezing usually indicates this condition.

Bronchospasm is a chief characteristic of asthma and bronchitis.

Description

Bronchospasm is a temporary narrowing of the bronchi (airways into the lungs) caused by contraction of the muscles in the lung walls, by inflammation of the lung lining, or by a combination of both.

This contraction and relaxation is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Contraction may also be caused by the release of substances during an allergic reaction.

The most common cause of bronchospasm is asthma, though other causes include respiratory infection, chronic lung disease (including emphysema and chronic bronchitis), anaphylactic shock, or an allergic reaction to chemicals.

The bronchial muscle goes into a state of tight contraction (bronchospasm), which narrows the diameter of the bronchus. The mucosa becomes swollen and inflamed which further reduces the bronchial diameter.

In addition, bronchial glands produce excessive amounts of very sticky mucus which is difficult to cough out and which may form plugs in the bronchus, further obstructing the flow of air.

When bronchi become obstructed, greater pressures are needed to push air through them in order to meet the body's requirement for oxygen. This requires greatly increased muscular effort. Breathing during bronchospasm requires more effort than normal breathing.

The excessive amounts of sticky mucus caught in the bronchi are highly irritating, and often trigger coughing.

Causes

Excessive bronchial irritability is the root of asthma. Asthmatic attacks in children can be caused by a number of triggers:

* Allergy

When foreign substances such as bacteria, viruses or toxic substances enter the body, one of the natural defenses is the formation of antibodies - molecules which combine with the foreign substances so as to render them harmless. This process is called immunity. Allergic children form protective antibodies just as do normal children. However, the allergic child forms other kinds of antibodies - which, rather than being protective, may actually do harm.

The ones that commonly cause problems are animal dander, pollen, dusts, molds and foods. Inhalation of an allergen triggers bronchoconstriction.

* Exercise

This is a very common trigger for the symptoms in asthmatic children. This may take the form of obvious wheezing after exercise, or simply coughing.

* Emotions

Psychological stress may trigger symptoms but asthma is not a psychosomatic disease.

* Upper Respiratory Infections

When an asthmatic child has an upper respiratory infection, asthma may be triggered. Viral respiratory infections can provoke and alter asthmatic responses. Viral respiratory illnesses may produce their effect by causing epithelial damage, producing specific Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies directed against respiratory viral antigens and enhancing mediator release. Antibiotics are not usually helpful -- either in clearing up the infection or in preventing bronchospasm. The best treatment of a cold is prevention through frequent handwashing.

* Irritants

There is a wide variety of substances which irritate the nose, throat or bronchi. Cigarette smoke is one of the most common, but dust, aerosol sprays, and strong odors may serve as irritants.

Symptoms

Cough is a major symptom, and may be a more important symptom than wheezing in some asthmatic children, especially infants and toddlers. Wheezing and tightness in the chest are also very common.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is based upon the clinical exam in which wheezing, poor air flow and generalized signs of an asthma attack may be found. Chest x-ray may show little if any change from normal.

Treatment

Beta2-agonists relax airway smooth muscle and may modulate mediator release from mast cells and basophils. Beta-agonist inhalers (bronchodilators) act to ease symptoms of asthma by relaxing muscles surrounding the walls of the bronchial tubes. Most beta-agonist drugs are prescription medications. Those sold in the U.S. include albuterol (Proventil, Ventolin), bitolterol (Tornalate), isoetharine (Bronkometer), metaproterenol (Alupent), pirbuterol (Maxair), and terbutaline (Brethaire).

While anti-inflammatory drugs, such as inhaled corticosteroids or cromolyn sodium, treat the underlying inflammation that causes the airways to react and narrow, beta-agonists only treat symptoms.

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#18 This is Cool » Sulfuric Acid » 2025-09-30 21:36:14

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Sulfuric Acid

Gist

Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is a highly corrosive, colorless, strong mineral acid used in major industrial applications like fertilizer, battery, and chemical manufacturing. It's known for its dehydrating and oxidizing properties, especially at high concentrations. Due to its dangerous nature, it can cause severe burns and irritation upon contact with skin, eyes, and respiratory systems, so it must be handled with extreme caution.

Sulfuric acid's primary use, accounting for a large portion of its production, is in the manufacturing of fertilizers to enrich soil. It is also crucial for producing other chemicals, including acids, detergents, dyes, and pigments, and serves as a vital component in lead-acid batteries. Other significant industrial applications involve petroleum refining, metal processing (like steel pickling), rayon production, and as a powerful drain cleaner for home and industrial use.

Summary

Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen, with the molecular formula H2SO4. It is a colorless, odorless, and viscous liquid that is miscible with water.

Pure sulfuric acid does not occur naturally due to its strong affinity to water vapor; it is hygroscopic and readily absorbs water vapor from the air. Concentrated sulfuric acid is a strong oxidant with powerful dehydrating properties, making it highly corrosive towards other materials, from rocks to metals. Phosphorus pentoxide is a notable exception in that it is not dehydrated by sulfuric acid but, to the contrary, dehydrates sulfuric acid to sulfur trioxide. Upon addition of sulfuric acid to water, a considerable amount of heat is released; thus, the reverse procedure of adding water to the acid is generally avoided since the heat released may boil the solution, spraying droplets of hot acid during the process. Upon contact with body tissue, sulfuric acid can cause severe acidic chemical burns and secondary thermal burns due to dehydration. Dilute sulfuric acid is substantially less hazardous without the oxidative and dehydrating properties; though, it is handled with care for its acidity.

Many methods for its production are known, including the contact process, the wet sulfuric acid process, and the lead chamber process. Sulfuric acid is also a key substance in the chemical industry. It is most commonly used in fertilizer manufacture but is also important in mineral processing, oil refining, wastewater treating, and chemical synthesis. It has a wide range of end applications, including in domestic acidic drain cleaners, as an electrolyte in lead-acid batteries, as a dehydrating compound, and in various cleaning agents. Sulfuric acid can be obtained by dissolving sulfur trioxide in water.

Details

Sulfuric acid is a dense, colourless, oily, corrosive liquid; one of the most commercially important of all chemicals. Sulfuric acid is prepared industrially by the reaction of water with sulfur trioxide (see sulfur oxide), which in turn is made by chemical combination of sulfur dioxide and oxygen either by the contact process or the chamber process. In various concentrations the acid is used in the manufacture of fertilizers, pigments, dyes, drugs, explosives, detergents, and inorganic salts and acids, as well as in petroleum refining and metallurgical processes. In one of its most familiar applications, sulfuric acid serves as the electrolyte in lead–acid storage batteries.

Pure sulfuric acid has a specific gravity of 1.830 at 25 °C (77 °F); it freezes at 10.37 °C (50.7 °F). When heated, the pure acid partially decomposes into water and sulfur trioxide; the latter escapes as a vapour until the concentration of the acid falls to 98.3 percent. This mixture of sulfuric acid and water boils at a constant temperature of 338 °C (640 °F) at one atmosphere pressure. Sulfuric acid is commonly supplied at concentrations of 78, 93, or 98 percent.

Due to its affinity for water, pure anhydrous sulfuric acid does not exist in nature. Volcanic activity can result in the production of sulfuric acid, depending on the emissions associated with specific volcanoes, and sulfuric acid aerosols from an eruption can persist in the stratosphere for many years. These aerosols can then reform into sulfur dioxide (SO2), a constituent of acid rain, though volcanic activity is a relatively minor contributor to acid rainfall.

Sulfuric acid is a very strong acid; in aqueous solutions it ionizes completely to form hydronium ions (H3O+) and hydrogen sulfate ions (HSO4−). In dilute solutions the hydrogen sulfate ions also dissociate, forming more hydronium ions and sulfate ions. In addition to being an oxidizing agent, reacting readily at high temperatures with many metals, carbon, sulfur, and other substances, concentrated sulfuric acid is also a strong dehydrating agent, combining violently with water; in this capacity, it chars many organic materials, such as wood, paper, or sugar, leaving a carbonaceous residue.

The term fuming sulfuric acid, or oleum, is applied to solutions of sulfur trioxide in 100 percent sulfuric acid; these solutions, commonly containing 20, 40, or 65 percent sulfur trioxide, are used for the preparation of organic chemicals.

Additional Information

Sulfuric acid is one of the most important compounds made by the chemical industry.  It is used to make, literally, hundreds of compounds needed by almost every industry.

Uses of sulfuric acid

By far the largest amount of sulfuric acid is used to make phosphoric acid, used, in turn, to make the phosphate fertilizers, calcium dihydrogenphosphate and the ammonium phosphates. It is also used to make ammonium sulfate, which is a particularly important fertilizer in sulfur-deficient.

It is widely used in metal processing for example in the manufacture of copper and the manufacture of zinc and in cleaning the surface of steel sheet, known as 'pickling', prior to it being covered in a thin layer of tin, used to make cans for food.

It is also used to make caprolactam, which is converted into polyamide 6 and in the manufacture of titanium dioxide, used, for example, as a pigment.

Amongst its many other uses is in the manufacture of hydrofluoric acid and phenol with propanone all of which are used in many industries.

Manufacture of sulfuric acid

The process for producing sulfuric acid has four stages:
a) extraction of sulfur
b) conversion of sulfur to sulfur dioxide
c) conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide
d) conversion of sulfur trioxide to sulfuric acid

(a) Extraction of sulfur
Easily the most important source of sulfur is its recovery from natural gas and oil.  These contain sulfur compounds, both organic and hydrogen sulfide both of which must be removed before they are used as fuels or chemical feedstock.

Another important source of sulfur is as sulfur dioxide from metal refining. Many metal ores occur as sulfides and are roasted to form an oxide and sulfur dioxide, for example, in the manufacture of lead:

Other metals manufactured from their sulfide ores include copper, nickel and zinc.

Worldwide about 35% of the sulfur is obtained as sulfur dioxide from sulfide ore roasting and this is increasing, as plants which traditionally passed the sulfur dioxide to atmosphere are recovering it as sulfuric acid. In particular, China makes most of its sulfuric acid from pyrites, an iron sulfide ore.

Sulfuric acid is also obtained from ammonium sulfate, a by-product in the manufacture of poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate) and also recovered from 'spent' (i.e. used) sulfuric acid.

(b) Conversion of sulfur to sulfur dioxide

If sulfur is the feedstock, it must first be converted to sulfur dioxide. Molten sulfur is sprayed into a furnace and burnt in a blast of dry air at about 1300 K.  The sulfur burns with a characteristic blue flame.

As excess air is used the emerging gas contains about 10-12% sulfur dioxide and 10% oxygen, by volume.  The gases are very hot and so are passed through heat exchangers (waste heat boilers).

The gases are cooled to about 700 K and the water in the surrounding boiler pipes is converted into steam. In manufacturing one tonne of sulfuric acid, one tonne of high pressure steam is also produced.

(c) Conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide (The Contact Process)

A typical plant contains one cylindrical vessel which acts as a fixed bed reactor with four separate beds of catalyst, known as a converter, heated to 700 K, through which the sulfur dioxide and air pass.

The catalyst, vanadium(V) oxide on silica, is generally in the form of small pellets, to which caesium sulfate has been added as a promoter (Figure 2). The function of the promoter is to lower the melting point of vanadium(V) oxide so that it is molten at 700 K.

(d) Conversion of sulfur trioxide to sulfuric acid

The sulfur trioxide formed from the third bed (and the small amount from the fourth bed) are now converted to sulfuric acid.

However, water itself cannot be used for absorption as there is a large temperature rise, and a sulfuric acid mist is formed, which is difficult to handle.  Instead, sulfuric acid of about 98% concentration is used.  This is kept at this concentration by addition of water and removal of acid at that concentration.

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#19 Dark Discussions at Cafe Infinity » Closing Quotes » 2025-09-30 20:40:23

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Closing Quotes

1. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh, freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people. - Donald Trump

2. At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent. - Barbara Bush

3. Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open. - Alexander Graham Bell

4. One does not leave a convivial party before closing time. - Winston Churchill

5. To conclude that women are unfitted to the task of our historic society seems to me the equivalent of closing male eyes to female facts. - Lyndon B. Johnson

6. I am the kind of person who does not like to carry baggage. In fact, I don't go back and listen to my own music. I believe in closing chapters and moving forward. That's what gives me peace. - A. R. Rahman

7. There's a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps. What's the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it's exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That's really cool. That's the biggest signifier of closing the gaps. - Matthew McConaughey

8. For an adult, the world is constantly trying to clamp down on itself. Routine, responsibility, decay of institutions, corruption: this is all the world closing in. - Bruce Springsteen.

#20 Re: Dark Discussions at Cafe Infinity » crème de la crème » 2025-09-30 20:13:50

2351) Konrad Lorenz

Gist:

Work

Some animal and human patterns of behavior are innate. Examples of such behavioral patterns in animals can be seen in how they convey information to one another, how they behave when mating and how they care for their young. Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen made pioneering contributions within ethnology by studying animal behavior. Among other things, Konrad Lorenz revealed in the 1930s that birds hatched in an incubator without the presence of their parents follow whatever they first catch sight of. For example, they can become fixated on a person.

Summary

Konrad Lorenz (born Nov. 7, 1903, Vienna, Austria—died Feb. 27, 1989, Altenburg) was an Austrian zoologist and the founder of modern ethology, the study of animal behaviour by means of comparative zoological methods. His ideas contributed to an understanding of how behavioral patterns may be traced to an evolutionary past, and he was also known for his work on the roots of aggression. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1973 with the animal behaviourists Karl von Frisch and Nikolaas Tinbergen.

Lorenz was the son of an orthopedic surgeon. He showed an interest in animals at an early age, and he kept animals of various species—fish, birds, monkeys, dogs, cats, and rabbits—many of which he brought home from his boyhood excursions. While still young, he provided nursing care for sick animals from the nearby Schönbrunner Zoo. He also kept detailed records of bird behaviour in the form of diaries.

In 1922, after graduating from secondary school, he followed his father’s wishes that he study medicine and spent two semesters at Columbia University, in New York City. He then returned to Vienna to study.

During his medical studies Lorenz continued to make detailed observations of animal behaviour; a diary about a jackdaw that he kept was published in 1927 in the prestigious Journal für Ornithologie. He received an M.D. degree at the University of Vienna in 1928 and was awarded a Ph.D. in zoology in 1933. Encouraged by the positive response to his scientific work, Lorenz established colonies of birds, such as the jackdaw and greylag goose, published a series of research papers on his observations of them, and soon gained an international reputation.

In 1935 Lorenz described learning behaviour in young ducklings and goslings. He observed that at a certain critical stage soon after hatching, they learn to follow real or foster parents. The process, which is called imprinting, involves visual and auditory stimuli from the parent object; these elicit a following response in the young that affects their subsequent adult behaviour. Lorenz demonstrated the phenomenon by appearing before newly hatched mallard ducklings and imitating a mother duck’s quacking sounds, upon which the young birds regarded him as their mother and followed him accordingly.

In 1936 the German Society for Animal Psychology was founded. The following year Lorenz became coeditor in chief of the new Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, which became a leading journal for ethology. Also in 1937, he was appointed lecturer in comparative anatomy and animal psychology at the University of Vienna. From 1940 to 1942 he was professor and head of the department of general psychology at the Albertus University at Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia).

From 1942 to 1944 he served as a physician in the German army and was captured as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. He was returned to Austria in 1948 and headed the Institute of Comparative Ethology at Altenberg from 1949 to 1951. In 1950 he established a comparative ethology department in the Max Planck Institute of Buldern, Westphalia, becoming codirector of the Institute in 1954. From 1961 to 1973 he served as director of the Max Planck Institute for Behaviour Physiology, in Seewiesen. In 1973 Lorenz, together with Frisch and Tinbergen, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning animal behavioral patterns. In the same year, Lorenz became director of the department of animal sociology at the Institute for Comparative Ethology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Altenberg.

Lorenz’s early scientific contributions dealt with the nature of instinctive behavioral acts, particularly how such acts come about and the source of nervous energy for their performance. He also investigated how behaviour may result from two or more basic drives that are activated simultaneously in an animal. Working with Nikolaas Tinbergen of the Netherlands, Lorenz showed that different forms of behaviour are harmonized in a single action sequence.

Lorenz’s concepts advanced the modern scientific understanding of how behavioral patterns evolve in a species, particularly with respect to the role played by ecological factors and the adaptive value of behaviour for species survival. He proposed that animal species are genetically constructed so as to learn specific kinds of information that are important for the survival of the species. His ideas have also cast light on how behavioral patterns develop and mature during the life of an individual organism.

In the latter part of his career, Lorenz applied his ideas to the behaviour of humans as members of a social species, an application with controversial philosophical and sociological implications. In a popular book, Das sogenannte Böse (1963; On Aggression), he argued that fighting and warlike behaviour in man have an inborn basis but can be environmentally modified by the proper understanding and provision for the basic instinctual needs of human beings. Fighting in lower animals has a positive survival function, he observed, such as the dispersion of competitors and the maintenance of territory. Warlike tendencies in humans may likewise be ritualized into socially useful behaviour patterns. In another work, Die Rückseite des Spiegels: Versuch einer Naturgeschichte menschlichen Erkennens (1973; Behind the Mirror: A Search for a Natural History of Human Knowledge), Lorenz examined the nature of human thought and intelligence and attributed the problems of modern civilization largely to the limitations his study revealed.

Details

Konrad Zacharias Lorenz (7 November 1903 – 27 February 1989) was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior. He developed an approach that began with an earlier generation, including his teacher Oskar Heinroth.

Lorenz studied instinctive behavior in animals, especially in greylag geese and jackdaws. Working with geese, he investigated the principle of imprinting, the process by which some nidifugous birds (i.e. birds that leave their nest early) bond instinctively with the first moving object that they see within the first hours of hatching. Although Lorenz did not discover the topic, he became widely known for his descriptions of imprinting as an instinctive bond. In 1936, he met Tinbergen, and the two collaborated in developing ethology as a separate sub-discipline of biology. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Lorenz the 65th most cited scholar of the 20th century in the technical psychology journals, introductory psychology textbooks, and survey responses.

Lorenz's work was interrupted by the onset of World War II and in 1941 he was recruited into the German Army as a medic. In 1944, he was sent to the Eastern Front where he was captured by the Soviet Red Army and spent four years as a German prisoner of war in Soviet Armenia. After the war, he regretted his membership in the Nazi Party.

Lorenz wrote numerous books, some of which, such as King Solomon's Ring, On Aggression, and Man Meets Dog, became popular reading. His last work Here I Am – Where Are You? is a summary of his life's work and focuses on his famous studies of greylag geese.

Biography

Lorenz was the son of Adolf Lorenz, a wealthy and distinguished surgeon, and his wife Emma (née Lecher), a physician who had been her husband's assistant. The family lived on a large estate at Altenberg, and had a city apartment in Vienna. He was educated at the Public Schottengymnasium of the Benedictine monks in Vienna.

In his autobiographical essay, published in 1973 in Les Prix Nobel (winners of the prizes are requested to provide such essays), Lorenz credits his career to his parents, who "were supremely tolerant of my inordinate love for animals", and to his childhood encounter with Selma Lagerlöf's The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, which filled him with a great enthusiasm about wild geese."

At the request of his father, Adolf Lorenz, he began a premedical curriculum in 1922 at Columbia University, but he returned to Vienna in 1923 to continue his studies at the University of Vienna. He graduated as Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1928 and became an assistant professor at the Institute of Anatomy until 1935. He finished his zoological studies in 1933 and received his second doctorate (PhD).

While still a student, Lorenz began developing what would become a large menagerie, ranging from domestic to exotic animals. In his popular book King Solomon's Ring, Lorenz recounts that while studying at the University of Vienna he kept a variety of animals at his parents' apartment, ranging from fish to a capuchin monkey named Gloria.

In 1936, at an international scientific symposium on instinct, Lorenz met his great friend and colleague Nikolaas Tinbergen. Together they studied geese—wild, domestic, and hybrid. One result of these studies was that Lorenz "realized that an overpowering increase in the drives of feeding as well as of copulation and a waning of more differentiated social instincts is characteristic of very many domestic animals". Lorenz began to suspect and fear "that analogous processes of deterioration may be at work with civilized humanity." This observation of bird hybrids caused Lorenz to believe that domestication resulting from urbanisation in humans might also cause dysgenic effects, and to argue in two papers that the Nazi eugenics policies against this were therefore scientifically justified.

In 1940 he became a professor of psychology at the University of Königsberg. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1941. He sought to be a motorcycle mechanic, but instead he was assigned as a military psychologist, conducting racial studies on humans in occupied Poznań under Rudolf Hippius. The objective was to study the biological characteristics of "German-Polish half-breeds" to determine whether they 'benefited' from the same work ethics as 'pure' Germans. The degree to which Lorenz participated in the project is unknown, but the project director Hippius referred a couple of times to Lorenz as an "examining psychologist".

Lorenz later described that he once saw transports of concentration camp inmates at Fort VII near Poznań, which made him "fully realize the complete inhumanity of the Nazis".

He was sent to the Russian front in 1944 where he quickly became a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1948. In captivity in Soviet Armenia, he continued to work as a medic and "became tolerably fluent in Russian and got quite friendly with some Russians, mostly doctors." When he was repatriated, he was allowed to keep the manuscript of a book he had been writing and his pet starling. He arrived back in Altenberg (his family home, near Vienna) both "with manuscript and bird intact." The manuscript became his 1973 book Behind the Mirror.

The Max Planck Society established the Lorenz Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Buldern, Germany, in 1950. In his memoirs, Lorenz described the chronology of his war years differently from what historians have been able to document after his death. He himself claimed that he was captured in 1942, where in reality he was only sent to the front and captured in 1944, leaving out entirely his involvement with the Poznań project.

In 1958, Lorenz transferred to the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discoveries in individual and social behavior patterns" with two other important early ethologists, Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. In 1969, he became the first recipient of the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca. He was a friend and student of renowned biologist Sir Julian Huxley (grandson of "Darwin's bulldog", Thomas Henry Huxley). Famed psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson and Sir Peter Scott were good friends. Lorenz and Karl Popper were childhood friends; many years after they met, during the celebration of Popper's 80 years, they wrote together a book entitled Die Zukunft ist offen.

He retired from the Max Planck Institute in 1973 but continued to research and publish from Altenberg and Grünau im Almtal in Austria. He died on 27 February 1989 in Altenberg.

Personal life

Lorenz wed his childhood companion, Margarethe Gebhardt, a gynaecologist and the daughter of a local market gardener.; the couple had three children, one son and two daughters. He resided on the Lorenz family estate, notable for its "fantastical neo-baroque mansion", formally belonging to his father.

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#21 Science HQ » Curium » 2025-09-30 19:46:41

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Curium

Gist

Curium (Cm) is a synthetic, radioactive actinide element with atomic number 96, discovered in 1944 by Glenn Seaborg and his colleagues. Named after Marie and Pierre Curie, it's primarily used as a power source in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) for spacecraft and in X-ray spectrometers for analysis. Curium is harmful if inhaled and can cause liver and gastrointestinal problems if ingested. 

Curium is used for its radioactive properties, serving as a power source in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) for deep space probes and remote scientific instruments, and as an alpha emitter in alpha particle X-ray spectrometers (APXS) to analyze the chemical composition of rocks on other planets, particularly in space applications. It also has limited uses in scientific research to produce heavier elements and for studying the effects of intense radiation. 

Summary

Curium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This transuranic actinide element was named after eminent scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, both known for their research on radioactivity. Curium was first intentionally made by the team of Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944, using the cyclotron at Berkeley. They bombarded the newly discovered element plutonium (the isotope 239Pu) with alpha particles. This was then sent to the Metallurgical Laboratory at University of Chicago where a tiny sample of curium was eventually separated and identified. The discovery was kept secret until after the end of World War II. The news was released to the public in November 1947. Most curium is produced by bombarding uranium or plutonium with neutrons in nuclear reactors – one tonne of spent nuclear fuel contains ~20 grams of curium.

Curium is a hard, dense, silvery metal with a high melting and boiling point for an actinide. It is paramagnetic at ambient conditions, but becomes antiferromagnetic upon cooling, and other magnetic transitions are also seen in many curium compounds. In compounds, curium usually has valence +3 and sometimes +4; the +3 valence is predominant in solutions. Curium readily oxidizes, and its oxides are a dominant form of this element. It forms strongly fluorescent complexes with various organic compounds. If it gets into the human body, curium accumulates in bones, lungs, and liver, where it promotes cancer.

All known isotopes of curium are radioactive and have small critical mass for a nuclear chain reaction. The most stable isotope, 247Cm, has a half-life of 15.6 million years; the longest-lived curium isotopes predominantly emit alpha particles. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators can use the heat from this process, but this is hindered by the rarity and high cost of curium. Curium is used in making heavier actinides and the 238Pu radionuclide for power sources in artificial cardiac pacemakers and RTGs for spacecraft. It served as the α-source in the alpha particle X-ray spectrometers of several space probes, including the Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rovers and the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, to analyze the composition and structure of the surface.

Details

Curium (Cm) is a synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic number 96. Unknown in nature, curium (as the isotope curium-242) was discovered (summer 1944) at the University of Chicago by American chemists Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in a sample of a plutonium isotope, plutonium-239, that had been bombarded by helium ions (alpha particles) in the 152-cm (60-inch) cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. It was the third transuranium element to be discovered. The element was named after French physicists Pierre and Marie Curie.

Curium is a silvery metal. All of its isotopes are radioactive. For chemical research, curium-242 (163-day half-life) has been supplanted by curium-244 (18.1-year half-life) and the still longer-lived isotope curium-248, which are built up from plutonium-239 by neutron irradiation. Curium exhibits its common +3 oxidation state as the very faint yellow Cm3+ ion in aqueous solution, as the sesquioxide Cm2O3, and as the trihalides; it is chemically similar to the other tripositive actinoid elements and to the lanthanoid elements. The +4 oxidation state appears in the black dioxide CmO2 and as the Cm4+ ion complexed with the fluoride ion.

Element Properties

atomic number :  96
stablest isotop  :  247
melting point  :  about 1,340 °C (2,444 °F)
specific gravity  :  about 13.51
oxidation states  :   +3, +4.

Additional Information:

Appearance

A radioactive metal that is silver in colour. It tarnishes rapidly in air.

Uses

Curium has been used to provide power to electrical equipment used on space missions.

Biological role

Curium has no known biological role. It is toxic due to its radioactivity.

Natural abundance

Curium can be made in very small amounts by the neutron bombardment of plutonium in a nuclear reactor. Minute amounts may exist in natural deposits of uranium. Only a few grams are produced each year.

curium-bohr-model.jpg

#22 Re: Jai Ganesh's Puzzles » English language puzzles » 2025-09-30 18:38:12

Hi,

#5779. What does the noun doorway mean?

#5780. What does the noun dopiaza mean?

#25 Jokes » Marriage Jokes - I » 2025-09-30 14:31:36

Jai Ganesh
Replies: 0

Q: Whats the difference between love and marriage?
A: Love is one long sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock.
* * *
Q: What kind of institution is Marriage?
A: One where a man loses his Bachelor's Degree and the woman gets her Masters.
* * *
Q: What does marriage do?
A: Puts a ring on a woman's finger and two under the man's eyes.
* * *
Q: What kind of rings do men need for marriage?
A1: Engagement Ring.
A2: Wedding Ring.
A3: Suffe-Ring.
A4: Endu-Ring.
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Q: What's the definition of a happy marriage?
A: One where the husband gives and the wife takes.
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