Archive | Journal of Unsolved Questions

Questions of the Week

Do Ball Lightnings Exist?
Sometimes they come and go with a bang, sometimes they are silent. They glow bright as a lightning in white, yellow, red or blue. They fly freely through the room and some of them even permeate solid matter. They all have in common that they appear mostly during stormy weather, are somewhat spherically shaped and have a lifetime of several seconds.[1] For many centuries people report about observations of lightning balls as depicted in figure 1. Clearly, ball lightnings cannot be the same phenomenon as a strong electric discharge like a bolt lightning since their effect is not as dramatic. A full scientific explanation is not yet found. Do they […]
Why do raw and cooked eggs rotate differently?
Put a raw egg on a flat table, and give it a good spin with two fingers. The egg spins, however, rather slowly because the liquid inside poorly exchanges momentum with the outside shell. Thus, when you spin the egg by applying force to the shell, most of the inside resists the motion and the friction forces between the inside (immobile) and the shell (mobile) will be slowing down the egg’s speed. But if you consider a cooked egg, proteins contained inside the egg are now forming a solid phase that is tightly joint to the shell. In that case, there are no friction forces in the “egg system” and […]
How normal glass can be (nearly) indestructible – The secret of the Prince Rupert’s Drop
Ordinary glass as it is used for windows can exhibit exceptional behaviors and even shred a rifle bullet to pieces, furthermore it can help to make car windows safer and to understand the inner processes in volcanos. Key to all these fascinating properties are the so-called Prince Rupert’s Drops. These structures are solidified drops of glass, which are produced by letting a drop of molten glass fall into a bucket of water. The sudden shock caused by the massive temperature drop on the surface of the glass basically locks in the outer shape of the drop, preserving main body and tail. (Fig. 1) [1,2,3]. This object has now very unique […]
Why Does Alcohol Burn in Wounds ?
Have you ever wondered why rubbing alcohol, i.e. isopropyl alcohol, which is used to disinfect cuts burns so much when applied to the wound? As my mother always said: “As long as it burns, it helps”. This didn’t help me much as a kid, anyway. But why does it burn in the first place? Do you feel the bacteria die? Do some of your cells get killed, too, and you feel that? In fact, neither is true. Interestingly, the pain you feel is due to a heat reaction. But wait, doesn’t alcohol usually give you a cool sensation when applied to the skin? True, but when the alcohol is able […]
Will It Ever Be Possible To Successfully Transplant Heads ?
According to media reports, the Italian neurosurgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero will attempt the first transplant of a human head (cephalosomatic anastomosis) in the end of 2017.[1] Valery Spiridonow is volunteering for this project since he suffers from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and believes the surgery will offer a chance to escape from this fatal disease.[2] Similar experiments have already been performed more or less successfully on animals. In some cases, the animals survived but they remained paraplegic and their cardiovascular and respiratory systems had to be supported. Also they did not survive quite long after the surgery.[3,4] In fact, many experts are strongly doubting the success of this highly expensive […]

A Question of Mediation

Archive, News and Commentaries, Vol. 5, Issue 2, Jul 2015 No Responses »

Jul 162015

Dr. Andreas Fischer
Helmholtz Association

JUnQ, 5, 2, XXIII–XXIV, 2015

Science is not always clear. Take for example the robust climate change debate: “A big threat for humankind” says the one side, “Complete nonsense” says the other. How many meters is the sea level actually rising? And what about the extreme weather events, are they becoming more frequent or not? These are all questions both experts and laypeople are arguing about. After all, scientists agree about the existence of climate change itself, whereas its impact still splits the scientific community. But when even science has no clear opinion, how is the broader populace supposed to have one? Over time, doubts creep into both public perception and our trust in science.

Read the full article here: A Question of Mediation

Mary Symmetrical and Mary Nonsymmetrical – A Hitherto Undetected Difference in the Iconography of the Two Most Important Women in the New Testament?

Archive, Articles, Vol. 4, Issue 2, July 2014 No Responses »

Jul 312014

W. Seuntjens

Dutch Academy of ‘Pataphysics, Amsterdam

Received 25.03.2014, accepted 18.06.2014 published 31.07.2014

JUnQ, 4, 2, Article – Rapid Communication, 18-27, 2014

Symmetry is an esthetic quality both in art and in life. Symmetry is generally associated with beauty, evolutionary fitness, and perfection whereas asymmetry is associated with the lack of beauty, diminished evolutionary fitness, and imperfection. The physical aspect of praying behavior is almost exclusively bilaterally symmetrical. In the Christian tradition, praying with hands held together can be done in three ways: symmetrically, quasi-symmetrically, and asymmetrically. In the history of Christian art the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene are undoubtedly the two most frequently depicted women. Contrary to expectation, the praying postures in which the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene are depicted are not random. The Virgin Mary prays most often symmetrically whereas Mary Magdalene prays predominantly nonsymmetrically (first rule). Moreover, both Marys pray mainly symmetrically in depictions of pre- and post-Passion scenes whereas they pray mostly nonsymmetrically in Passion scenes (second rule). The exception to the second rule is the theme of The Penitent Mary Magdalene, in which Mary Magdalene is depicted mostly praying nonsymmetrically (third rule). As a tentative explanation of these differences it is proposed that: (1) The Virgin Mary is for the most part depicted symmetrically because she is the epitome of serene perfection whereas the more often nonsymmetrically depicted Mary Magdalene is the embodiment of emotional perfectability. (2) In Passion scenes both Marys are shown mainly in nonsymmetrical praying postures because of the extreme emotionality whereas in pre- and post-Passion scenes they both display the more beatific symmetrical praying postures. (3) The Penitent Mary Magdalene is generally depicted in the emotional nonsymmetrical praying posture because in that particular part of the post-Passion period Mary Magdalene’s sainthood was still in the balance.

Mary Symmetrical and Mary Nonsymmetrical