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Woodpeckers don't have built-in shock absorbers to protect their brain
- kayodelycaon 4y agoNeat! Turns out that woodpeckers don’t need extra shock-absorbers. They are small enough that the normal fluid around their brain provides the protection it needs.
- stevenjgarner 4y agoBegs the question what is the threshold of impact the cerebrospinal fluid around a human brain can absorb? How much protection does it provide?
- kayodelycaon 4y agoSmaller animals are less massive, which makes the forces operating on them significantly less. Our brains are too large and fragile and our fluid space is much thinner relative to our brains.
- dotancohen 4y agoIt's yet another application of the square-cube law. As the animal scales smaller, the frontal area of the brain goes down per the second power, while the mass goes down per the third power.
- VoidWhisperer 4y agoNot enough for some of the extremes humans manage to put it through. For example, the significant number of traumatic brain injuries in US Football
- stevenjgarner 4y agoExactly. What is not clear to me is whether the chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) from football, boxing etc, is just from the repeated blows to the head or if actual repeated/severe concussions are required. Is there a threshold of head trauma that will not cause CTE or is it all just a matter of degree such that we get a small amount of CTE even with minor blows to the head, and it just accumulates.
- LanceH 4y agoI'm trying to picture the double blind study on this one...
- stevenjgarner 4y agoWhen I finally got over laughing at your incredibly funny response, I got to thinking seriously - the volume, density etc of fluid in the skull is well known together with the physical characteristics of the cranium, brain, etc. It would at the very least be revealing from either real or digital modeling to see what mechanical shock if any the fluid provides.
- sethammons 4y agoCan't read the article; does anyone else get redirected to some "you are visitor N and a winner!" shit? Firefox on iPhone fwiw.
- wubbfindel 4y agoDoesn't a woodpecker's tongue also play a roll in protecting it? Or is the just a myth?
- flatiron 4y agoThey have a very long tongue that wraps around their brain. This article is stating that’s just to store the tongue and isn’t some sort of bumper for the brain.
- digdugdirk 4y agoSlightly incorrect - the researchers only looked at bone structure. This was an evaluation of a theory that woodpeckers had an energy dissipating section of bone that protected their brain. That would make for a safer brain, but a worse pecker. The tongue may still have an effect, but a different study methodology would be needed in order to test that theory.
- h2odragon 4y ago> a different study methodology would be needed Now I'm wondering how that's gonna work. De-tongue some woodpeckers and see if they get concussed? There's not any imaging that would work for this is there, where we could paint or inject their tongue with some dye and watch it flex inside their skull? that'd be a lovely video if it could be made.
- bevacqua 4y agoTurns out Leonardo was wrong after all What a coincidence, just finished reading Walter Isaacson's biography of Da Vinci yesterday
- thrwyoilarticle 4y ago>The term “spongy bone” doesn’t mean that the bone is soft or can compress, he says. Rather, it indicates that the bone is porous and lightweight So part of the misconception can be blamed on a connotation of a metaphor that doesn't apply. Very common in physics!
- rswerve 4y agoThere’s a great video by a different scientist that explains the importance of size, mass, and duration of deceleration very clearly. https://youtu.be/a87TTL_c8_0 https://youtu.be/a87TTL_c8_0
- winrid 4y agoHelps to not have your brain rest against cavities as sharp as knives, like humans.
- marcodiego 4y agoThat may explain the behavior of Woody Woodpecker.
- dennis_jeeves1 4y agoSure does explain the nutcase!
- owyn 4y agoPistol shrimp do though! Original article [0] and HN discussion from yesterday [1]. [0] https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/pistol-shrimp-sport-tiny-helmets-to-protect-selves-from-their-own-shock-waves/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/pistol-shrimp-sport-... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32080559 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32080559
- mythrwy 4y agoWoodpeckers are super cool but whow can they be a menace. There was one that would come knock my neighbors metal chimney years ago right at the crack of dawn. Poor guy could not sleep in. And the woodpecker kept coming back and doing it, presumably just to make a loud racket because there were no bugs obviously. Another guy I know who was quite wealthy had a carved wooden lintel made for the top of his door. It was made in Mexico and quite intricate (and expensive). He proudly showed it to me over the door. A week later woodpeckers had ruined it. They are still cool birds though.
- MiguelX413 4y agoSigma