Lets Talk About Things Science Cannot Explain

[Stewart Hotston]

@Stephen Palmer maybe. The choice of words was because it is a quantum effect at the macro-level. i.e. while still far away from an actual cat in a box, they are effects that are genuinely macroscale (in the sense that they aren't microscale effects that can't be observed to have an impact at scales larger than we would commonly say was the barrier at which quantum effects are drowned by noise).

@LordOfWizards - see here for a layman's explanation of how QM is involved in something as basic as smell:

How do you smell? | Latest Features | physics.org

for birds, this isn't a layman's paper but there you go: https://arxiv.org/pdf/0906.3725.pdf

 

[Stephen Palmer]

You can see quantum effects on the macroscopic scale, but at temperatures slightly above absolute zero.

 

[Stewart Hotston]

true enough

 

[LordOfWizards]

@LordOfWizards - see here for a layman's explanation of how QM is involved in something as basic as smell:

How do you smell? | Latest Features | physics.org

for birds, this isn't a layman's paper but there you go: https://arxiv.org/pdf/0906.3725.pdf

I don't necessarily need "layman's" papers. I have taken several post graduate level Physics classes, but thank you. The "How do you smell" article was quite adequate. Really, what it appears like to me, is that Quantum Science is involved in each of these cases. In the Olfactory category, it has to do with electron tunneling and the ability of molecular frequencies to alter the path of the "normal" tunneling that goes on. Essentially turning the olfactory mechanism into a "spectroscope" (good explanation).

In the case of the birds, we are talking about a kind of "Magnetoreception" that your link suggests the bird's "receptors" are managing to maintain a quantum coherence by a "Radical Pair" (spatially-separated pair of electron spins) which then allows them to detect relatively minute magnetic field lines such as are found in Earth's atmosphere. Interesting. What the paper did not say, which I found in another place was "According to one model, cryptochrome, (an animal protein molecule that is light sensitive) when exposed to blue light, becomes activated to form a pair of radicals (molecules with a single unpaired electron) where the spins of the two unpaired electrons are correlated". So, it seems (perhaps not in all cases) that the mechanism is located very near the bird's eye, and is stimulated by light of a specific frequency.

Note: I was not in the least offended by anything either Stephen or Stewart has said. Perhaps I should not have quoted your post Stephen, as I actually meant to speak with Stewart. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[Stewart Hotston]

No worries about the layman stuff - never quite sure of people's technical background

 

[Stephen Palmer]

The new research on magneto-reception and bird migration, foxes abilities to hunt (they nearly always pounce in a N-S direction iirc) etc is fascinating. Recommended even if you're not researching a novel.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I just want to know why wet carpets smell SO AWFUL! How can something wet and at floor level stink out a whole room? There has to be research grant in this...

 

[BAYLOR]

I just want to know why wet carpets smell SO AWFUL! How can something wet and at floor level stink out a whole room? There has to be research grant in this...

I agree , a scientific study of why wet carpets smell is worthy of a research grant.

 

[Parson]

Just count me out of actually nosing into the research.

 

[Dave]

Wet dogs smell worse than carpets!

As an answer, maybe the chemicals that cause the smells need to be in a hydrated form to be detected.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Wet dogs smell worse than carpets!

As an answer, maybe the chemicals that cause the smells need to be in a hydrated form to be detected.

Wet carpets are usually cold. A hot cup of coffee will fill the room with coffee smell. A cold cup of coffee doesn't. So why does cold wet carpet's noxious punge become so pervasive? so quickly?

I'd hate to think what a hot wet carpet smells like.

 

[LordOfWizards]

Wet carpets are usually cold. A hot cup of coffee will fill the room with coffee smell. A cold cup of coffee doesn't. So why does cold wet carpet's noxious punge become so pervasive? so quickly?

I'd hate to think what a hot wet carpet smells like.

JM, I think you've solved the mystery of dark matter. A carpet in space has no smell, but it can take on mass from all of the smelly gases out there. So this is where all of the rotational inertia within galaxies comes from. There are trillions of wet carpets out there, and because they are cold, we can't detect them with our radio telescopes. Viola! Eureka! Long live the law of conversation!

 

[JunkMonkey]

Actually (in the interests of science) I have found out what a hot wet carpet smells like after I dragged the offending article into my drying room turned up the heat, put the dehumidifier to maximum, and locked the door.

The smell can only be described as 'Worse'.

But luckily with a short half life.

 

[LordOfWizards]

The new research on magneto-reception and bird migration, foxes abilities to hunt (they nearly always pounce in a N-S direction iirc) etc is fascinating. Recommended even if you're not researching a novel.

Hey Stephen, I was thinking about this a bit (the fox part), and I'm wondering if there could be a 'macroscopic' explanation, such as the fox has found to have more luck by pouncing in this way because his shadow does not betray his presence to the prey when it aligns itself with the N-S direction? Just a thought.

 

[LordOfWizards]

Actually (in the interests of science) I have found out what a hot wet carpet smells like after I dragged the offending article into my drying room turned up the heat, put the dehumidifier to maximum, and locked the door.

The smell can only be described as 'Worse'.

Perhaps you could try soaking the carpet in hot Coffee??

 

[Cathbad]

Perhaps you could try soaking the carpet in hot Coffee??

I do that quite regularly!

 

[Mirannan]

You can see quantum effects on the macroscopic scale, but at temperatures slightly above absolute zero.

I disagree about the second part of your statement. Superconductivity is a quantum effect, and the record temperature for that is currently 258K. Which is occasionally experienced outdoors in the UK, and is certainly achievable in a domestic freezer.

Web reference:

A Short-Lived Superconductivity Record of 258K

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Hey Stephen, I was thinking about this a bit (the fox part), and I'm wondering if there could be a 'macroscopic' explanation, such as the fox has found to have more luck by pouncing in this way because his shadow does not betray his presence to the prey when it aligns itself with the N-S direction? Just a thought.

mmm… not sure that would work in the morning or evening. The film I saw was of foxes finding prey beneath snow. But anyway, the magneto-reception explanation is a hypothesis, and not yet proven. Fascinating area though.

 

[JunkMonkey]

mmm… not sure that would work in the morning or evening.

It would if their prey had terrible peripheral vision but (in the Northern Hemisphere) it would be a disadvantage to sneak up behind something from the south in winter. The sun would be behind you, and at a high latitudes in winter, very long. Sneaking from the north however would reduce the risk of your shadow giving the game away as your shadow would be behind you and less likely to spook the meal.

Even up here (half way up Scotland) the days get short in winter. Anything that increases the chances of maximising daytime hunting would, I suspect, bestow a very rapidly spread evolutionary advantage.

 

[mosaix]

It would if their prey had terrible peripheral vision but (in the Northern Hemisphere) it would be a disadvantage to sneak up behind something from the south in winter. The sun would be behind you, and at a high latitudes in winter, very long. Sneaking from the north however would reduce the risk of your shadow giving the game away as your shadow would be behind you and less likely to spook the meal.

Even up here (half way up Scotland) the days get short in winter. Anything that increases the chances of maximising daytime hunting would, I suspect, bestow a very rapidly spread evolutionary advantage.

Every example I've seen of this shows the fox seeking prey that is hidden under deep snow.