TedEd: A brief history of toilets

A TedEd by Francis de los Reyes

In the days of the Roman Empire, people would go to communal bathrooms in order to talk and do their business. The waste would then drop down below into water pipelines. Though bathrooms today are a bit different, it is still an important invention. Most ancient texts describe some sort of advice about keeping waste away from water and shelter, and waste management began to take a more tangible form as early as 3000 BCE. As humans advanced, they formed squatting latrines in streets that connected to sewage, while houses in other areas each had their own toilets. These developments are key because untreated sewage is a breeding ground for a variety of diseases. During the Roman era, more sophisticated management systems were created that took sewage outside of city walls. In China, similar systems fed pigs and were sold as fertilizer. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe went through a dark age not only in general but of sanitization. People dumped waste into the streets and disease ran wild. But toward the end of the Middle Ages, conditions improved and most families had commode stools, or wooden boxes with lids, to do their business. In England, Sir John Harrington created the first modern flush toilet for Queen Elizabeth, and it largely follows the same mechanism we use today. In 1775, Alexander Cumming created an S-shaped bend in the pipes to retain water and keep out the smell, which was later improved to a U-bend by Thomas Crapper. Today, we also have wastewater management sites to ensure that the water released from toilets is clean and sanitary. But more than 4 billion people worldwide still lack a toilet or waste management.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

By Oliver Sacks

My thoughts: It was interesting that almost everyone with a disability had a different ability, often one that replaces their original capacities. Those who couldn't talk, drew. The woman with a low IQ could express herself eloquently. Another interesting thing is that even though Thompson and Jimmie were impacted similarly by their diseases, they had two very different coping mechanisms.

    Oliver Sacks, a neurologist details several odd cases that he has come across during his career. In Part 1, he begins by discussing the subject of neurological disorders. They have become rather sidelined in the medical field, as some sort of deficit that causes impairment. But he claims that this is not quite accurate, because patients often make up for deficits with enhancements in other parts of their brain. The patients he presents all have diseases that would be debilitating but are not because they have found workarounds with Dr. Sacks. For instance, Dr. P had become unable to distinguish faces from other objects; at one consultation with Dr. Sacks, he mistook his own wife for a hat. Jimmie G, who is stuck in the post-war era, unable to move on due to Korsakov's syndrome, and yet he has perfect recollection of everything he does remember. Christina, who loses her proprioception, or the innate ability almost everyone has to be able to tell where their body parts are. Similarly, the other patients had all lost some vital neural component that makes us, us, and most people take for granted. 

    Part 2 discusses patients with Tourette's Syndrome, which is a little-understood disease among doctors. However, Sacks has found that it is much more common than it seems, and attributes this to the excessively clinical diagnostics used to identify Tourette's. The syndrome creates an excess of a certain mental process, which can be different for every person. He describes several different impacts, including those who try to equalize their altered minds and those who have "visions". William Thompson, for instance, loses his memory like Jimmie. However, instead of staying stuck in the past, he constantly makes up a new past to match the present, stuck in a permanent catch-up game. It can also produce tics, or moments when the afflicted person feels especially lively. One man, a gifted musician, found that these tics, if they occurred while he was playing, could give him bouts of musical genius.

    Part Three discusses neurological conditions that can give people "visions". There were also two women, who, as a result of temporal lobe seizures, heard music. However, they had two very different effects. One enjoyed the music, for it provided a window into her childhood years, and opted to continue hearing it until it naturally went away. The other found the repetitive nature of the music annoying and chose anti-convulsants. A young Indian girl developed a tumor which also caused her to have seizures combined with illusions, and Sacks shows how calmly she took in her new life.

    In the final section, he talks about the subject of intellectual disabilities. These people often have a different grasp of the world than most, and it stems from abilities that become enhanced in order to make up for the lack of others. For instance, one girl was able to express herself best through poetry and abstract thought, Martin A, who loved music and Bach in spite of his low IQ, and most shockingly, "The Twins". They had the ability to "see" numbers, even though they lacked a basic understanding of arithmetic. They loved numbers, and it was their one tie to the world. Sadly, this ability went away after they were separated. In the final chapter, Dr. Sacks leaves us with the story of José, who couldn't speak a single coherent word but had a remarkable creative ability with art. He was so good that he was refashioned into an artist of sorts, with a use in the world, rather than being considered a burden.

National Geographic: Humpback whales can’t swallow a human. Here’s why.

By Melissa Hobson

    On Friday, a lobster diver in Cape Cod was reportedly swallowed by a humpback whale while diving. He said he was in the animal's mouth for around 30 seconds before it spat him out. However, while a humpback could technically fit a human in its massive mouth, it is scientifically impossible for it to swallow one, as its throat is much too small, usually around the size of a human fist. There have been other reports of people being swallowed and spit out before, but all these people were likely simply temporarily "engulfed" in the whale's mouth as it was trying to feed. The only whale with a throat big enough to swallow humans (and larger organisms) is the sperm whale, but this organism generally lives down in the depths of the ocean, below where most humans are ever able to go.

    Whales generally fall into two categories in terms of what they eat. Toothed whales sperm whales can eat animals like fish and squid, while baleen whales have teeth-like baleen which helps them filter small organisms like krill out of the water. So there is no reason to be afraid of whales, especially because most people will never get close enough to one to be "swallowed". In fact, whales need more help from us. A variety of human activities has led to a population decline, with everything from hunting to boats causing problems.