5 interesting things - episode 3

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1 - you can cut ice with a blunt diamond because it is such a good conductor of heat
2 - The filament in an old fashioned incandescent light bulb is a helix of a helix - a meta helix!
3 - Some vampire bats mimic chicks so they can snuggle up to a hen's brood patch and drink her blood.
4 - The word "second", as in the length of time comes from the fact that it is the second time we subdivide the hour into smaller units. The first time being minutes. So why aren't minutes called firsts?
5 - Most owls have asymmetrical ears. It helps them to figure out the direction of its prey by sound. The asymmetry causes an interaural intensity difference that the owl can use to figure out the origin of sound in the vertical plane.
Here's Bill Schutt's articles about vampire bat behaviour: www.naturalhistorymag.com/feat...
Thanks to Dr. Kelly Williams for her photograph of the inside of an owl's ear (at 8:12).
Thanks to Dr. James Duncan at Discover Owls for this image: www.owlpages.com/owls/article...
Other image credits:
Batfossil - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:...
Oasalehm - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Sandstein - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De...
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[@SteveMould]

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[@benbarberian1701]

Suggest some good books

[@ihascleverness]

It shows 1sm.com/a on the video, which takes you to a casino website

[@SteveMould]

Oh damn

[@__Ben]

Steve at the end you show 1sm.com/a on screen. This links to a weird Chinese website.....

[@sauravsumughan]

You say it properly too, just typed incorrectly

[@gabrielepetrazzo6701]

in Italy we use the word "primi" as a misure of time meanning "minute" but it also mean "first" so here it is

[@SteveMould]

That's awesome! I should have known that and said that in the video!

[@Mobin92]

That's not common though. "Minuti" is the normal one you use for time. "Primi" is sometimes used for angular minutes, so it doesn't sound like you are talking about time.

[@KaliTakumi]

@@Mobin92 what's an angular minute?

[@karellen00]

@@Mobin92 exactly, sometimes if someone wants to be pompous calls minutes "minuti primi" and seconds "minuti secondi". Anyway generally we call them minuti if it's time related, and primi if it's angle related. I would have discovered earlier that hours, minutes and seconds have the same exact structure as degrees, minutes and seconds, because being aware of that makes it really easy to calculations involving time with a scientific calculator!

[@Rakkumun]

@@KaliTakumi It's the subdivision of the 360° of an circle. So 1/60th of a degree is an arc minute, another 1/60th of that minute is an arc second. It's mostly used in nautical an aerial measurements of the earth. The nautical mile is 1/60th of longitude (one arc minute).

[@ilangated]

The moment I learned about the brood patch is the moment I wished that I didn't know about the brood patch.

[@NA-yq4pe]

You need to see what owls legs look like under their feathers, I wish I could unsee that

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

I have an opposite brood patch, where there are feathers coming out

[@biggo4637]

to be honest, i want to forget the entire video other than the diamond-cut-ice "thing"

[@rzrx1337]

Chicken boobies.

[@Rabbit-the-One]

Yeah, I suppose that's fair.

[@MrKelsomatic]

6:00 This also means that minute (unit of time) and minute (very small) have the same origin! So glad to know this.

[@metametodo]

Etimology is one of the wildest and most pleasant rides.

[@PackerFanGamer]

Who else pronounced that correctly?

[@mailliw94]

sorry, but...... duh. like, DUH.

[@trashtrash2169]

Duh? Minute and minute are pronounced differently, have different meanings (One means small and one is on the smaller side of time measurement, but how often do we name something small just because it's kind of small? Minutes aren't even close to the smallest measurement of time), and other words that share the same spelling don't always have the same root meaning. Don't be an ass, there's almost always a decent reason for not knowing something, and stroking your ego makes you look arrogant and, frankly, dumb.

[@macronencer]

Once you know the derivation of "minute" and "second" , it suddenly seems far less crazy that they're also used for angles.

[@frankmurphy5]

This just made my life slightly less stressful.

[@barttemolder3405]

We may even start referring to extremely small measures as 'quanta'...

[@trashtrash2169]

Minute should be Prime, or Prima.

[@desmo750f1]

If the fastest moving indicator on an old clock goes missing you might be able to replace it with a second hand second hand.

[@PhantomGato-v-]

Smart

[@michaelcherokee8906]

I already handed out my Comment Of The Day award for today, and already promised it to someone else for tomorrow, but you get it for Saturday. Also, this is the first time Ive had my Comment Of The Day booked out for the future.

[@rosebrigade]

If the second hand second hand goes missing you can replace the second hand second hand with a second second hand second hand.

[@vibaj16]

​@@michaelcherokee8906so on Saturday, this comment will officially be second to none

[@PaulPaulPaulson]

"Cutting eyes with diamonds" Wait what?! ... oh, ice. Nvm.

[@ronwesilen4536]

I thought he was goint to talk about eye surgery. Nowadays it is done with lasers but who knows

[@Rabbit-the-One]

Grapes are the new thing in surgeons. Get with time.

[@sgmikaelsson5213]

Just put it in an owls ear.

[@U014B]

Andalusian Dog II: Electric Boogagloo

[@vibaj16]

​@@Rabbit-the-One your reply is how I've just realized that these comments are 4 years old

[@n0klevrname]

Using the word "second" to describe seconds never seemed strange until you called minutes "firsts"

[@Michaelonyoutub]

thinking about it now, I feel like I could get used to calling minutes first.

[@scragar]

It comes from the Latin, so wouldn't we have to call it "primas"?

[@JNCressey]

@@scragar, or prima for singular and primae for plural.

[@Michaelonyoutub]

@@scragar well we don't call seconds secundae, so not necessarily

[@anothrto1045]

10'49"

[@nate882]

These are really cool facts that my brain will subsequently forget and will enjoy watching again a year from now.

[@bmac3933]

I eagerly await youtube's recommendation in a year's time too.

[@anarbatzoriganar]

so this is what is like to be a bodhisattva. brilliant attitude!

[@nate882]

@@anarbatzoriganar To understand consciousness is to understand thyself

[@zakirreshi6737]

That's why i kept it in my watch later playlist 😂😂

[@govindarajd3248]

That's exactly what I'm doing now... Rewatching and I remember only 25%. Yes.... I actually watched all the three episodes and calculated that to analyse myself lol

[@haniyasu8236]

6:24 omg he *actually* made the video 10 firsts and 49 seconds long....

[@oliversmall]

wizard

[@hadhamalnam]

Wait why not use the latin versions and call them primes and seconds

[@matthewstuckenbruck5834]

@@mahmoudelsharawy692 but that still increased the length further. My guess is that he did that, made a good guess, then sped up or slowed down the video by like 0.1% to make up for it

[@JNCressey]

@@matthewstuckenbruck5834, he could have already scheduled how long that shot would be.

[@nuancedhumour]

@@mahmoudelsharawy692 He went in after the video was shot and edited. If you look closely, his under shirt and hair are slightly different. And he hid it with a cutaway.

[@PiR2InTheUSA]

Too bad you didn’t make the “second” interesting thing second in this list.

[@NA-yq4pe]

For some reason seeing the ice cut like this is very satisfying

[@mrkrunch4340]

2:47 - can we just spend a minute contemplating the fact that this is a cockerel and a chicken sitting in a tree? I once saw a duck sitting in a tree.

[@Rabbit-the-One]

No you didn't. It was all an illusion.

[@maxximumb]

Chickens do have limited flight, they also like to roost off the ground, as it's safer. It's hard to fit trees into chicken sheds, so that's why we don't see many hens on trees.

[@mrkrunch4340]

@@maxximumb treehouses. Just saying.

[@JNCressey]

@@maxximumb, you mean hutches aren't their natural habitat?

[@meflea3675]

THEY'RE SO FLOOFY

[@frankowalker4662]

That owls eye-ball made me feel a bit queesy. Thanks for that. LOL.

[@Eric14492]

"This video is 10 firsts and 49 seconds long" Huh? Steve decided exactly how long the video would be before he finished taping it? Notices the outro starts at 10:27 never mind

[@JonesP77]

I thought the same. Maybe he recorded this part at the last after he finished everything and edited it to this point in the middle of his video. Or he is a witch / demon. Both things sounds reasonable and are possible.

[@DowzerWTP72]

Undershirt. That's all I'll say

[@user-jp7tw3sd3x]

LiveOverflow has a video where he shows the video ID number inside the same video. It's a neat trick.

[@akshaytati]

@@JonesP77 or he streched the outro to match the timing he said

[@JonesP77]

@@akshaytati Thats basically impossible....

[@cas54926]

Great video, as always. You are exactly right about how our brains ignore the form of the word for the semantics. It's all about the context here. Just look at the phrase "a patient patient". It's crazy.

[@covodex516]

6:45 "What, my skull is asymmetrical?! I never knew that!"

[@vedantsinha7374]

😂i see what u mean...🤣🤣

[@alazrabed]

"I must tell my bois at once, brb"

[@zambo6453]

I'm having daydreams of a flat sheet of synthetic diamond you can lie down on intermittently on really hot days to avoid using A/C

[@hypock1]

I was just about to get some work done and then I pressed the refresh button.. Great video as usual!

[@wint3rsmith42]

hold on, at 6:29 how did he know how long the video was going to be once he'd edited it??

[@SteveMould]

That was the very last shot I filmed!

[@LaplacianFourier]

@@SteveMould genius

[@unvergebeneid]

6:25 for anyone else who wondered what the OP was referring to.

[@alazrabed]

What kind of black magic is that?

[@user-jp7tw3sd3x]

@@SteveMould, Do you know that there is a method that lets you show and even say the video URL inside the same video? Check the video "Self-aware Video: it knows its own KZbin Video ID?" on the "LiveOverflow" channel.

[@jcims]

DNA folds up into a 'meta helix' too, which is probably why the interference pattern matched.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

DNA takes it to even the next level, as it has to be extremely compact and ends up being twisted yet again to take up as little space as possible.

[@oldbootz]

@@JustWasted3HoursHere yep those histones be getting some serious bondage :P

[@maxximumb]

That's why he did a video on that topic.

[@nicoloalbanelli5220]

I always forget if diamond has a great thermal or electrical conductivity. Think I will remember from now on, thanks Steve

[@jeromeorji1057]

Diamond is made of just carbon, which is a non-metal. Non-metals in the vast majority of cases have low electrical conductivity. There are exceptions like graphite (which is also made of pure carbon) and some type of polymers.

[@Rabbit-the-One]

Gravitational conductivity. Dum-dum.

[@nicoloalbanelli5220]

@@jeromeorji1057 yes, in fact just thinking of the definition of a metal would be helpful. But this image of the diamond cutting ice as if it was butter will stick in my mind forever

[@raykent3211]

I'd have liked to see it with sheet copper, which has much better thermal conductivity than steel. Guess I'll have to get off my a**e and try myself.

[@lenaevess]

When you grow up in a language, those things like "second" are easy to miss. But if you have to learn the language then those things kinda hit your brain in a different way. My first grade teacher taught us the word butterfly by first quizzing us what we thought it was and only after us giving answers like olympic sport and weird foods etc. she told us what it was. My six year old brain exploded that day :D

[@HotelPapa100]

Destin (Smarter Every Day) has an interesting video on aural location. We do the same thing as owls, but not with asymmetric ears, but with frequency analysis on how the intricate shape of our outer ear modifies the arriving sound.

[@AJD...]

Wow. I didn't know diamond was a conductor of heat. It looks like glass crystal so my mind assumed it to be an insulator

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Carbon is pretty good at it. The termal conductivity of diamond is about 2.3-3.5x that of copper. Graphite is also really good.

[@AJD...]

@@HappyBeezerStudios I didn't know that. Thanks!

[@JNCressey]

4:05 "it only works because..." me: "...because chickens are dumb"

[@spiralpython1989]

JNCressey Not at all. They are incredibly complex beings with equally complex social structures. And they have a high level of curiosity which translates into a range of behavioural changes depend upon the circumstances and their environment. Further, each of the hens in my backyard flock of 8 knows her name and comes when called. (And no, they don’t all come when I call out one name... nor do any of the chickens come when I call out a random word)

[@JNCressey]

@@spiralpython1989, counter to that: they don't know the difference between a bat and a chick. Also, drawing a line on the floor totally breaks them.

[@JNCressey]

@Thu Nell Ⓥ, cats are pretty dumb tho.

[@CorneliusQuiring]

I love learning from you. Your sneaky the way you use your calming voice to pack in a lot of information :)

[@knifeninja200000]

Really underestimated how interesting these facts would be. Watching your channel gives me too many things to dwell on at once! Love it and all the work you do

[@johnnyregs2378]

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite science channels. I love the way Steve explains things. Its soothing and reminds me of Brian Cox.

[@Clubboomers]

I literally can’t thank you enough for making the videos you do, Steve. The amount of time and effort you put into them are unfathomable. While at the same time delivering bite-sized information for us all to take in. You have taught me and probably hundreds of thousands of other people about mind-blowing, interesting concepts and things in such an understandable way. Thank you, from the all of us!

[@grandexandi]

In Portuguese, the word for 'cousin' is 'primo', which also comes from the Latin 'primus', as it is the first cousin. But get this: It is also the word for 'prime', as in 'prime number', and there is a subset of primes called 'cousin primes'. Now, I don't really know what cousin primes are called in Portuguese, but I would have to guess that it's 'primos primos', and I kind of love it.

[@eekee6034]

I remember a lightbulb advertised as a new innovation because it had a metahelical fillament. At the time, you could still see some bulbs without a helix at all. They were very old for the most part.

[@mortenrollsen271]

I've been waiting for the next one of these for a really long time. I still have hope they'll become a more regular thing in the future.

[@brianwgDK]

7:22 the op and down distinction for humans is the form of the ears, Dustin from smarter every day , made a cool video on this :-D

[@InspMorse85]

Seriously, where did you get that diamond? I've never wanted anything as much as I want an off shape sliver of diamond it seems!

[@Piemanding]

Leaving this here just in case.

[@skylineuk1485]

Me too, I would love some of that too!

[@BrianFedirko]

yeah, me too. where do i get a broken sheet of diamond?

[@InspMorse85]

@@BrianFedirko it's been a year and my desire hasn't waned at all...

[@MrTrickBrick]

@@InspMorse85 How about now?

[@Protegit]

Cool episode. Didnt watch it yet tho.

[@SteveMould]

That's the spirit!

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

Hahaha I appreciate your honesty here

[@Freizeitflugsphaere]

Love this series!!!!!

[@straight-outta-jutta]

I enjoy your videos so much, I hope your channel soon gets the attention it really deserves! Keep up the great work

[@RaindropsBleeding]

as a fan of etymology, interesting thing #4 blew my mind and is now my favorite thing today

[@Shadow81989]

I had already figured out the "second" part on my own, but had no idea where exactly it came from, or whether it was even correct! Until now. Thank you so much! :-)

[@eldattackkrossa9886]

love this format!

[@AL_O0]

In some old Italian sports commentaries athletes' times were often announced in “primi” and “secondi” instead of “minuti” and “secondi”

[@gratefulpianist8640]

The fact 3 really scares me as a hen

[@PnlBtr]

These 5 interesting thing videos are a great series.

[@larssjodahl7660]

@Steve Mould , I'd love to see a video on how they make a meta-helix filament (out of superhard Tungsten to make things more difficult) so it doesn't short with itself anywhere along the length.

[@ee5142]

Hen: let’s the bat touch it’s brood patch Bat:Fool You fell for it! Thunder cross split attack!

[@DangerDaiman]

Please make more of these!!!

[@JohnnyAngel8]

Those were awesome. Thanks.

[@vex8499]

This guy could teach me about anything and I wouldn't be bored

[@uberfuzzy]

I'd love to see that opening ice being cut shot via a FLIR camera to watch how fast the cold spreads across the diamond shard

[@iamdave84]

Yes, that'd be great! It'd be especially cool to see the heat leaving his fingers too

[@jsytac]

Aaahh, that beautifully explains Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds, too.

[@skulpturlamm294]

Humans use the interaural level difference and the head related transfer function (hrtf) for localizing sounds as well. The pinna alone has a pretty amazing directional properties.

[@321tryagain]

Steve Mould you are a delight and I love your videos

[@DaxxterDreams]

i love the "5 interesting things" series

[@oleksiifurdylo7930]

About sound source height direction: there is good smarter every day video about it. our specific shape of ear does figures out direction(height) of sound source. Because of shape sound enters in ear with different angles

[@laborral]

Great video as usual. Please do more on how carbon (at least in the form of diamond) conducts heat so well.

[@SnakeSolidPL]

Every one of these episodes blows my mind somehow.

[@Gunbudder]

the second thing is awesome. i remember trying to figure out the minute/minute second/second thing in elementary school, and just not figuring it out. i hadn't really thought about it again until now, but it makes sense that both minute and second share the same latin source as minute and second. super interesting

[@dhellebaut]

I really like these videos, I love learning new, fun facts. Just Awesome, thank you.

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

I did not know about the thermal conductivity of diamond, very interesting. Most people don't use diamond for much of anything because of the cost lol

[@vioariton8510]

That was fun. See you next year guys!

[@jaredgray7872]

Ha! Tech Ingredients just posted a video in a thermal conductive epoxy they're making and he talked about the thermal properties of diamond.. as soon as you stated cutting through the ice I thought, ah ha! Thermal conductivity. Very nice video Steve, I really enjoy these interesting thing videos

[@ambulocetusnatans]

I was about to mention that myself. Both channels are among the best things on youtube.

[@RestWithin]

I woke at 5am this morning unusually and whilst dozing wondered about the name for the second hand of the clock. 50 minutes later I’m watching this video and I’m discovering the mysteries of Latin with Steven. By his eyelids I suspect he also is woken from his slumber with brilliant ideas and questions about the universe. There’s nothing like the present second for awe!

[@oliverolover]

nd simular to the owl yet inverse, i listened to the dialog through my eye lol. thanks steve.

[@matthewbartsh9167]

Thanks for another amazingly good video Mr. Mould. I don't have any nitpicks this time.

[@pulli23]

Graphene is even better/more smooth/gives more satisfaction when cutting ice!

[@amadexi]

For the second/minute part, it is also why they are represented with < ' > and < '' >, like in coordinates too, and that in math, < ' > is called "prime". Same for first derivative < f' > and second derivative < f'' >

[@tbarkalial_saafy2594]

Thanks for the video 👍👍👍

[@ysquaredyobozo]

so, ive been deaf in my left ear for as long as i can remember, not since birth, just since i was little, and it always fascinated me that people could locate the source of a noise almost as easily as hearing it

[@TimTom]

I'd be really interested to see the ice cutting diamond compared to a similarly shaped piece of copper.

[@ambulocetusnatans]

Copper's better than steel, but the diamond still wins by a long way.

[@AliKhan-mg3mj]

hey timathy my i also have a name we are common!!

[@rderbez4900]

you should do more of these!

[@unvergebeneid]

8:13 holy shit that's so freaky! 😨

[@timlockwood_]

I just found that really interesting video format And now I'm mad I watched all of it at once...

[@oliverbecquart8048]

Saw you at maths fest 2020, your talk was great.

[@blitzkreg335]

I really love these episodes

[@kristyanne719]

As a complete and utter nerd, I have to say I really enjoy your interesting and informative videos. Keep up the good (great) work dude! :)

[@RoryOConnor]

Maybe the wings also act like an extended acoustic cup , like a dome mirror /concave skylight/lens for light focusing sound into a point!

[@jorehir]

In Italian, the old fashioned way to express minutes is indeed "primi". Still used in motor racing, sometimes, for some reason.

[@raamv15]

Awesome video, Steve👍

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The diamond ice reminds me of ice skates, which work similar. But in that case, it's the pressure from bodyweigth being concentrated on such a small surface.

[@madimadisofian]

10:04 **brit accent intensified**

[@Rabbit-the-One]

How do I get a diamond chip like that? I've seen plenty of diamond coated tools and tips and whatever, but not a full diamond disc.

[@Wardropulous]

I would like to know the same thing. Seems like just an incredibly handy and interesting thing to have.

[@raykent3211]

I don't know, but sheets of artificial sapphire and ruby are made for viewing windows in scientific experiments, if that helps.

[@Wardropulous]

CVD diamonds seem to be the thing to search for. Alibaba has heaps. Even a photo of a bit 90mm sheet of it on Wikipedia

[@Kaxlon]

There is another use of second in sports and military. In Swedish we have a "Sekond" meaning 2nd in command which is XO in english, Executive Officer. Maybe not a primary use of seconds but hey, good to know. =)

[@feralbluee]

thanks ! now i get the owl ear thing. and my head went, well, like duh! :) 🦉 and the ear sound mechanism evolved 3 different times so there are 3 different ways they work. must look that up :)

[@kendokaaa]

1:35 Steve channeling Linus Drop Tips

[@SangheiliSpecOp]

Hohohohoho

[@DowzerWTP72]

6:20 I see how you did that length of video trick, took me a couple rewinds to see it but well done on not even smirking or anything. Just keeping totally nonchalant!

[@skyranger9743]

I hope you make more of these

[@bowfinger26]

Thing #4: I absolutely second that ;-)

[@lank_asif]

0:49 It could be a great segue into how lasers work by focusing light power into a very tiny spot. There seems to be a lovely relationship between these incredible ways in which energy is focused/diffused.

[@RGD2k]

Minutes / Seconds - also used to subdivide degrees; as in 'minute of arc' and 'arcseconds'. The former being used in marksmanship, the latter, astronomy.

[@OhSoUnicornly]

Another interesting thing about vampire bats: they often drink so much blood that they are too heavy to fly. So they run around on the ground, weeing out the excess liquid and flapping their wings, until they're light enough to take off. I really want to see this some day.

[@panakon366]

In greek we sometimes use the words first and second minute to tell the time. Also, we use them for the subdivisions of an angle.

[@themrflibbleuk]

Today I was astonished that read and read are about the same thing, but in context we (English speaking natives) know how to say them. I read a book yesterday. I am going to read. Remarkable.

[@lordgoofy2001]

Love you Steve

[@Mickeycuatropatas]

The bat pierces the skin with an analgesic and anticoagulant then drinks the blood as you mentioned with capillary action and in the hen's case with gravity assistance.

[@SwGuru]

I was hoping to find more interesting things on your website, sadly I did not. I like these, not only are they interesting, they are also funny and easy to digest.

[@timelsen2236]

I also never noticed double meaning of the second. Your videos are fantastic to me. Sublime curiosity stream #1.

[@vcokltfre]

And minuta is like minute - small... It all makes so much more sense now...

[@DaveCurran]

"So, the first hand is the hour hand, the second hand is the minute hand and the third hand is the second hand." - Dave Allen.

[@sanjayg6842]

So it's not a coincidence that minute (meaning small) and minute (the time) have the same spelling! Also seconds! MIND BLOWN! Don't ever stop this series!