Word of the Day!

mer·cap·tan [mər-kāp'tān']:
origin: (1834) mɛθeɪnˈθaɪɒl; Medieval Latin; later German; mercurium = mercury + capere = to seize.



noun
You know how sometimes you may pull up to refill gas in your car, or if there is a leak in your home, and you'd be prone to state, "I smell gas"...

Well, you don't, you smell mercaptan, which is pronounced like a mermaid sea-captain, but is actually the substance used in the process of replacing the oxygen of an alcohol with sulfur = thereby imparting it with a distinct odor, described as rotten eggs, garlic, cabbage, or smelly socks. Also known as thiol & methanethiol.

Gas actually has no smell to the human nose.

You'd easily suffocate to death and be none the wiser.

However, it's also an organic substance (organosulfur), which means that it can be found even in the human body. You'd have experienced this via flatulence, bad breath, and peeing after eating asparagus!

Less than one part per million is all it takes to make a person go, "Ew."

Unless you have a rare mutation in your genes, making you immune to the odor, as testified to here by a Mr. Niels Hoven: Specific anosmia, or why I can’t smell farts.

son·o·lu·mi·ne·scence [sŏn'ə-lo͞o'mə-nĕsʹəns]:
origin: [1934] Latin; sonare= resound + luminescere= shine.

noun
"Star in a jar." - Prof. Seth Putterman, PhD in physics.

A currently somewhat inexplicable reaction, made when a sound wave is passed through a bubble suspended in liquid, causing the bubble to expand, then collapse (cavitation), then burst into a bright light; bubble fusion!

Watch and see for yourself.

Last Week's Word: Dacha & Zoopraxiscope

cat·kin [ˈkatkən]:
origin: [1570s] Dutch; katteken= "kitten"

noun
Botanical. Have you ever seen a pussy willow branch? Those fluffy, fur-like blossoms are referred to as "catkins"; oblong & cylindric growths occur in many plant families, usually have no visible petals, and contain only one sex on their branch, although not all of them are downy.

Other examples: hazel, oak, birch, mulberry.





won·der·wall [ˈwəndərˈwôl]:
origin: [1968] British; slang, invented, likely from a film directed by Richard Balducci (not a 1995 Oasis song).

adjective
1. Infatuation; someone who preoccupies all your thoughts or is your everything -- based off the song "Wonderwall", by the British band Oasis. However, Noel Matthews, guitarist & songwriter, states that to him the meaning was: "It’s a song about an imaginary friend who’s gonna come and save you from yourself.”

2. According to Urban Dictionary: A barrier that divides reality & the fantastical, ideally with at least one peep hole that allows the viewer to see through to the other side (to your dreams or obsession).

3. There is also a film & soundtrack with the same name, circa: 1968; alas, strangely, this did not spring up initially during research, although it clearly influenced the second definition -- as the plot revolves around a hermit-like scientist (Oscar Collins) obsessed with peeping on a couple next door, as he's become infatuated with & endlessly daydreams about the female who models.

That actually adds a rather creepy notion to the word!

o·phio·cor·dy·ceps u·ni·lat·er·al·is [ōfē-ˈkɔrdəsɛps/ ˈyo͞onəˈlatrəˈralˈi-z]:
origin: (1849) Ancient Greek; óphis= snake, Latin; cord, club; ceps= head, uni= of one, or combining form,

noun
The so-called "zombie fungus", one from the genus of cordyceps (or parasitic fungi), infects its host through spores that attach to the outside of the insect. As ants famously do not spend a lot of time bathing, let alone in cleansing chemicals, the fungus is free to grow and develop enzymes and pressure necessary to break through the exoskeleton.

Once inside the body of its host, Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis (or O. Unilateralis to its homies), the ant will lose control of its ability to function, tissues are replaced with fungus that mimics -- presumably (science isn't yet sure) -- the chemical language necessary to trigger muscle responses, then dramatically altering its behavior. Eventually the ant will be made to climb high up a tree and attatch itself to the underside of a leaf, via the bizarre growth, sticking out from its skull like a unicorn horn; for this is the ideal level of moisture and temperature that the fungus requires to release spores.

The fresh spores, having exploded from the ant's brain, hope to attach themselves to new hosts, ergo, allowing the entire life cycle to repeat! Leaving behind eerie, ethereal skeletons, reticent of something from Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This is how parasitic creatures survive and reproduce, by utilizing a host for a function they themselves haven't adapted to do alone; no matter the inconvenience or destruction caused for the sake of their own survival.

But...what keeps these creepy fungi in check, why aren't they taking over the world, you ask?

Well, there is such a thing as a hyperparasite, which simply is a parasite that only invades other parasites (perhaps you'd prefer the term "Inception parasite") and O. Unilateralis is not immune. Actually, very few of the spores ever manage to perfectly reproduce through this horrifying and manipulative technique.

Oh yes, my little ones, truth is stranger than fiction!

Sir David Attenborough elegantly describes "zombie fungus", your life is complete.