› added 7 years ago

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You probably know that your visual perception of the world is a bit different than your pets’. Dogs see things with less color than humans, snakes can see infrared, and if you have a pet bull, it lives in a world where red and green are the same color. This brings up a good question. Why do you have a pet bull? You should get a cat instead, and when you do, it is important to know that your new friend can’t focus on objects farther than 20 feet away. The point is, animals have evolved to see in a variety of ways. But how can we see things through their eyes? Marine biologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer David Gruber collaborated with a research team to develop lights and camera filters that allowed him to do just that, underwater. Through their work, the team discovered biofluorescence in an abundance of aquatic species. This “glowing” trait has to do with how an organism absorbs and emits light. Research has indicated that this radiance is possibly used for communication and camouflage. One caveat: You need a certain species of eyes (or David’s camera) to see it. Swell sharks (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) have fluorescent proteins inside their skin, which are triggered by the ocean’s blue light, becoming visible to other swell sharks. David’s camera has special yellow filters that allow the simulation of a swell shark’s vision. It turns out there is a massive rave going on 500 meters below the ocean’s surface, and one of the glowing guests is a type of cat shark!

MenDb TIL that Dan Grimaldi, who is best known for playing Patsy Parisi on "The Sopranos", teaches in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Kingsborough Community College, as he has degrees in mathematics, operations research and data processing
Lgl9 TIL Nikola Tesla was in favor of sterilising criminals and mentally unstable and believed that by 2100 no one who is not a desirable parent should be permitted to produce progeny
4kn5o TIL that when Gallup conducted a survey in 1944 asking Americans "What do you think we should do with Japan after the war?" 13% favored "Killing off" all the Japanese, 33% thought it should be split up or destroyed while the rest favored either supervision or rehabilitation.
nePQB TIL that in 2015 two new species of Peacock spiders were discovered named Sparklemuffin and Skeletorus. Skeletorus has white markings on a black background that looks like a skeleton, and Sparklemuffin is a vibrant red and blue. Both are known for their flashy mating dances.
d875d TIL there is only one publicly known operator who served both DEVGRU (US Navy Seal Team 6) and US Army Delta Force