What I Learnt For The Week 13: "AlterEgo" headset, Pupula Duplex, Telephonophobia, Fish Odour Syndrome, Sea Cucumber Regenerates

Hello buddies! Welcome again to another episode of "What I Learnt For The Week", and I'm still very grateful to @mobbs for the continued privileges.

Over the course of the week (9th-13th April), I made some amazing discoveries, of which I will select some random five to represent the lessons learnt for each day of the week.

Okay buddies, let's go to the lessons learnt. This episode promises to be educative and exciting.

Monday: "AlterEgo" Headset reads your thoughts

Without an exception to this episode, it has always been my custom to begin an episode with lessons learnt from emerging technology on "Robotics and Machines".

It has been one of the earnest desires of man to be telepathic, or at least have some levels of telepathic abilities. But here, we will be looking at it in a rather different way. Have you ever used a computer system that is operated with voice commands? I know many of us have; at least; used the Google voice prompt.

But do you know that talking to your computer system monotonously can look so weird, not to mention "tiring"? Have you ever imagined your computer being able to sense your thoughts and acting in line with the commands emanating from your thoughts alone? Now, that's the idea presented here. A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have designed a headset, which they codenamed AlterEgo, which is capable of giving commands to your computer without you saying a single word. The traditional "voice command prompt" could be fast going into oblivion.

Dynamics of AlterEgo

The device, which is recognized as a form of Intelligent Augmentation (IA), is worn over the face/jaw with 4 neuromuscular electrodes resting directly on the face and jaw. The work of these electrodes is to detect neuromuscler signals as they are being produced (as the person thinks), and transmitting them to a computer.

This works in a similar way with the Subvocalization Technology, in which a person communicates by means of "internal speech" or subvocalizations with the help of an Electromyography (EMG) machine that detects movement in form of electrical impulse. The AlterEgo detects thoughts in form of neuromuscular signals. Also, the device has an earpiece connected into the ear, which allows the wearer to also "hear" the responses being made by the computer. Now, is this not what we call "human-machine telepathy"?

Pheeww!! Too much talk. Look, I found a video of this device from YouTube; let's see how it looks like.

With an advancement in this, typing of commands with the keyboard, and even the voice command could be replaced by AlterEgo. This can also be used to send classified data from person to person and to system without passing through a compromiseable intervening medium.

Wanna know more about AlterEgo, click here.

Tuesday: Pupula Duplex

Humans are born with just one pupil on each eye right? Okay, I've been thinking lately; is it possible to be born with more than one pupil? Well, I hardly believe in impossibilities, so I had to do a few studies and what I discovered was amazing. This condition even has a name; Pupula Duplex.

[Image Source: Pixabay. CC0 licensed. Edited by me @samminator]

Pupula duplex is an extremely rare medical condition (or I should say; oddity) that is depicted by a person having two pupils in one eye against the natural one pupil. Before now, it has been believed that this condition was non-existent or rather mythical, but it has been recently uncovered that an ancient Chinese literature made mention of a particular Chinese Minister; Liu Ch'ung, who lived around 10th century AD having two pupils in one eye. Though they didn't call it pupula duplex, but it could go to prove that the condition is not entirely non-existence after all; but sincerely, I hope it is. How would he even see people?.

There is also a recorded case of Robert Ripley (the man behind the idea of Ripley's "believe it or not") meeting a double-pupiled man in the year 1931. Though this condition has been so much kept off the medical radar, or maybe they want us to believe it doesnt exist, or maybe because of the limited knowledge they have about it.

To know more about this weird condition, click here.

Wednesday: Telephonophobia (fear of telephone conversation)

This era has been characterized by massive technological advancements, of which some part of it are evident in the mobile communication sector, which has allowed us to communicate with people on phones and/or VoIP (Voice over internet protocol). But do you know that there are some people that are very afraid of talking on phone? Yes! This is an actual fear, and it is called "Telephonophobia".

[Image Source: Pixabay.CC0 licensed]

Telephonophobia is an irrational and unconditional fear of speaking on the telephone. It is not uncommon to find people choosing to send a chat or text instead of having a voice telephone conversation. And some others also believe their voice "suck" on phone, but this could be a manifestation of telephonophobia.

In an extreme case of telephonophobia, the sufferer may have a gross dislike for mobile phones, that he would not even bother buying one (I'm not saying that anyone that doesn't have a mobile phone is telephonophobic. But I mean, why would someone choose not to have a mobile phone in this era of ICT?).

Causes of telephonophobia

For someone that may have been tricked or pranked (maybe repeatedly) in the past via a telephone conversation, it would not be unnormal for him/her to pick up this kind of phobia. And like you may have known, phobias can grow.

Also, people with speech defect (and people who stutter heavily) could be scared that the caller would laugh at them while speaking, so they could grow with the fear of making phone calls and rather choose to do some textual chats instead.

Also, some people may have been misled into believing that answering of telephone is harmful to the health (maybe it is, but not as it appears). They may also believe; maybe from reports; that telephones emit strong electromagnetic waves that can cause cancer. Now this can make someone to pick up a gross dislike for mobile phones. But guys; telephones are not bad after all, and I'm sure many of us can't even stay a day without our mobile phones.

Wanna know more about telephonophobia, click here.

Thursday: Fish Odour Syndrome

Have you ever been to fish pond before? If you have, you would agree with me that there is a strong characteristic weird and offensive smell that often comes out from such places. Well, I know about this because I had run a fish pond before. Now, can you imagine someone (who is not a fish) having this kind of offensive odour? I know someone would say "God forbid", but this is a medical condition, and it is called "Fish Odour Syndrome".

[Image Source: Pixabay. CC0 licensed]

The fish odour syndrome (Trimethylaminuria), though extremely rare, is a condition that makes an individual to exude a foul smell that looks like a fish odour. This causes the release of large amount of Trimethylamine from the body; hence the name "Trimethylaminuria". This odour can be exuded from the sweat pores (through perspiration), from the urine, and in some extreme cases, even the breath of the sufferer can have the fish odour (this is really scary).

According to some documentaries, this condition has been mostly recorded in women than men. And apart from the exuding of fish odour, this condition is physically asymptomatic (presenting without symptoms). This condition is actually not entirely new, as the first recorded case of this was made in the 1970s, but even before that, it has been noted that people had suffered from this before then.

Does this have a cure, and how can it be managed? To get more info, click here.

Friday: Sea Cucumber Regenerates

We all know that there are some creatures which can regenerate a body part if cut. We have seen creatures like the starfish and the flatworms, but clearly, these are not the only creatures with this ability of regeneration. Here we will be looking at another cool creature; the sea cucumber.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Szilas. Public Domain licensed]

Here are some quick bonus tips for you before I continue: forget about the name "cucumber", sea cucumber is an animal, not a vegetable. They can divide into two and regrow to maturity. They have over 2000 tiny feet. Some species of sea cucumber can alter their sex in the course of their lifetime. They can regrow body part when cut.

So how does the sea cucumber regrow when cut? Just like in the case of starfish, when a part of sea cucumber is cut, the surrounding region will send some form of signals from the CNS (Central Nervous System), and this signal will activate the stemcells. Now the stemcells have the ability to grow into any kind of organs. When these stemcells are triggered or activated by the signals from CNS, it would start to regrow tissue over the cut region. Now that's awesome.

It is also worthy to note that the regenerative abilities of sea cucumbers vary from specie to specie and there are over 377 recognized species (according to IUCN; International Union of Conservation of Nature).

To know more about this incredible creature, click here.

Okay buddies, this is the summary of some of the lessons I learnt for the week. And until I come your way again, don't stop learning. @samminator says so.

Thanks for reading

References for reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5, Ref6, Ref7, Ref8, Ref9, Ref10

All images are CC0/Public Domain licensed and are linked to their sources

gif by @foundation