Monthly Archives: September 2016

Empathy might be biological

Neuro scientists have found an area in the brain where synapses fire when individuals see someone in pain and this is believed to be where empathy is generated. They have also found that some murderers do not have those synapses fire when they see the same thing.

(The Great Courses – Understanding the Brain)

Not a normally recommended forest clearing method

When the Portuguese landed in Madeira off the African coast in 1420 they began to clear the woods and they set a fire that lasted seven years. The potash left over was the perfect fertilizer for the grapes imported from Create and the result was the famous ‘Madeira’ wine.

(Book – The Discoverers : A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself – Daniel J. Boorstin)

The Mongols were the police

During the height of the Mongol rule of Asia they kept roads safe from Turkey to China which allowed trade and messages. Even the Pope had constant communication with China. After the Mongol empire fell safe travel was no longer possible which closed Europe to the east.

(Book – The Discoverers : A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself – Daniel J. Boorstin)

A sailing we will go

By the 5th century BCE mariners in the Mediterranean were making notes about landmarks and other coastal features. The documents were called a ‘periplus’  which means sailing around. The earliest of these to survive was made by Scylax in the survive of the Persian king Darius the Great  in the 6th century BCE. He describes sailing from the Nile to the Gates of Hercules (the strait of Gibraltar) and many other shorter routes. he describes how long it takes and problems with mud and shoals on some routes.

(Book – The Discoverers : A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself – Daniel J. Boorstin)

Pretty flexible brain areas

The brain has different areas which have been shown to process different input like hearing and vision. It has been shown that people who have been born blind have hearing synapses form in the area of the brain that is used for vision for non-blind individuals. So it is true that blind individuals really have more areas of the brain used for their other senses.

(The Great Courses – Understanding the Brain)

There are other explanations but I LIKE this one

Editors Note: I have actually tried to verify this on Google (the most trustworthy of sources) and I have not found any definitive Yes or No on this claim from this book.

Carthaginian coins have been found on the Azores which is one third of the way across the Atlantic. Roman coins have been found in Venezuela to suggest that Roman ships may have been blown off course and actually landed in North and South America….and probably never returned.

(Book – The Discoverers : A History of Ma’s Search to Know His World and Himself – Daniel J. Boorstin)

Anyone like fortune cookies?

When the Mongols ruled China they were very scared of a revolt from the native Chinese so they took many measures including forbidding Chinese to carry any weapons to prevent that from happening. However, they did not stop the Chinese custom of exchanging crescent moon shaped cookies during a full moon. These cookies carried messages which allowed them to organize an eventual revolt.

(Book – The Discoverers : A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself – Daniel J. Boorstin)