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The Kidney That Was In 3 People - And Other Amazing Science Things

2013-12-27 · Hank, Michael Aranda · watch on YouTube · Science & nature · curiosity idea

Hank spends his post-Christmas free time answering science questions on Tumblr and shares favourite things he learned: a kidney that was in three people, sperm whale dives, the slow blink, a graying-reversal drug, Jupiter's core, and the 1%-nacho question.

What is said

00:00:00 — Free time between Christmas and New Year; wanting to go back to work; sledding

  • ★★ Hank's description says any curiosity is good curiosity, and people who expect everyone to know everything are the real idiots. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says in the week between Christmas and New Year he has nothing he must do and kind of wants to go back to work; maybe he is a workaholic or just has a great job. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:07 · Hank Green

00:00:31 — Answering science questions on Tumblr is one of his favourite things

  • ★★ Hank says he is spending the time sledding, playing video games, eating fried egg sandwiches and cuddling, but mostly answering science questions on Tumblr, one of his favourite things. — 00:00:31 · Tumblr

00:00:49 — A kidney that has been in three people, and who decides what happens to it

  • ★★★ Hank says a kidney has been in three people: a woman donated it to her brother, it did not work for him, and he chose to have it given to someone else. — 00:00:49
  • ★★ Hank finds it fascinating that once the kidney entered the brother it was his to decide about, not his sister's or the medical establishment's. (hedged) — 00:01:07

00:01:27 — Sperm whales survive huge pressure changes by collapsing their lungs

  • ★★★ Hank says sperm whales dive from the surface to about 2,000 feet, roughly 200 atmospheres of pressure difference, though deep-sea fish explode when raised and surface fish get crushed. — 00:01:27
    • number check: 200 atmospheres — doubtful
  • ★★ Hank says diving sperm whales collapse their own lungs to avoid nitrogen problems and store the oxygen they need in blood hemoglobin and special muscle proteins. — 00:01:52

00:02:05 — The blink of an eye is actually slow

  • ★★ Hank says a blink takes only about 300 milliseconds, but the eyelid moves only about an inch, so it is actually slow, about a fifth of a mile per hour. — 00:02:05

00:02:18 — A drug that reverses graying hair but has severe side effects and treats leukemia

  • ★★ Hank says a drug that reverses graying hair causes diarrhea, nausea and occasionally death, but treats leukemia and costs about $90,000 a year, so hair dye it is. (playful) — 00:02:18

00:02:35 — Jupiter's core; a bigger Jupiter would be a star

  • ★★★ Hank says no one knows whether Jupiter's very hot, high-pressure core is liquid or solid, and that if Jupiter were ten times bigger it would sustain fusion and we would live in a binary star system. — 00:02:35
    • number check: ten times — doubtful

00:02:51 — Favourite question: am I 1% nacho? Maybe a SciShow episode

  • ★★ Hank says his favourite Tumblr question, whether eating one pound of nachos at 99 pounds makes you 1% nacho, is too complicated to answer here; SciShow may do a whole episode on it. (hedged) — 00:02:51 · SciShow, Tumblr

00:03:08 — Thanks to Tumblr askers; he cannot answer all asks; Reddit AMA now

  • ★★ Hank says he loves the world and weird, exciting, interesting questions about it, thanks Tumblr askers, and warns he probably cannot answer the flood of asks. — 00:03:08 · Tumblr
  • ★★ Hank says he is going on Reddit right now to do an AMA and invites viewers to join and ask him anything. — 00:03:26 · Reddit

00:03:38 — John's week with his kids; sign-off; sledding end tag with Michael Aranda

  • ★ Hank supposes John, having kids, is probably spending his free week doing whatever they want, which sounds like less fun. (playful) (hedged) — 00:03:38 · John Green

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