PHOTOS: NASA, KOBAL COLLECTION, ISTOCKWhy do humans
feel disgust?
When psychologists ask people
around the world what they
find most disgusting, the
same things usually crop up.
Mostly these are bodily
fluids that have the potential
to spread disease, such as
vomit, mucus, excrement
and blood. The
implication, which
makes a lot of
intuitive sense, is
that we’ve evolved
the disgust reaction
as a behavioural
defence against
contamination.
What’s particularly
intriguing is that this
system seems to have
been adopted by our
moral instinct, which is
newer in evolutionary
terms. For example, many
people say they’d refuse to
wear a jumper owned by
Hitler, as if they could
somehow be
contaminated by his
evil. CJ
Why do we never see
video footage from Mars?
Video footage requires much higher data
transmission rates than still images, and it can
take several hours for NASA to receive just one
high-resolution colour image from Mars. Engineers
are looking at switching from radio to infrared
communication, because the much shorter
wavelength offers far higher data rates. The next
generation of Mars landers may then send back
HD video imagery direct from the Red Planet. RM
Why don’t living things rot?
They do, we just call it an infection. All living things are under
continual attack from bacteria and fungi but they are mostly
able to repel these invaders through a combination of the
physical barrier of their skin and the cells of the immune
system that attack anything that gets inside. If a
microorganism manages to gain a foothold somewhere, cells
die and the body begins to decompose. It doesn’t look quite
the same as a rotting corpse because the living cells of the
body are constantly battling to repair the damage. Dead
things don’t resist the invaders. LV“It’s the Kardashians!
Turn it off, turn it off!”We can get brilliant images
of Mars, but no video... yet