Category Ask the Psychologist

The company that makes the famous snap-together bricks took its name from the Danish phrase leg godt, which translates to “play well.” Approximately 20 billion LEGO elements (bricks) are made every year in the LEGO factory in Billund – equivalent to approximately 2 million elements an hour or 35,000 a minute. The moulds used in production are accurate to within two-thousandth of a millimeter (0.002 mm), and the accuracy of the moulding process means that only 18 elements in every million produced fail to meet the company’s high quality standard. A professor of mathematics calculated that there are over 915 million ways to combine six LEGO bricks. Laid end to end, the number of LEGO bricks sold in a year would reach more than five times round the world. There are about 2,350 different elements in the LEGO range – plus 52 different LEGO colours. Each element may be sold in a wide variety of different colours and decorations, bringing the total number of active combinations to more than 7,000.

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NASA intended to name its first shuttle, built in the 1970s as a test craft for atmospheric flights, the Constitution. But after a letter-writing campaign by fans of the sci-fi show Star Trek, President Gerald Ford asked NASA to name the shuttle Enterprise (the starship from the show). Ford never admitted that h was influenced by the Star Trek show or campaign, however. Regardless, Star Trek fans were thrilled – even though this real-life Enterprise never launched into space.

Enterprise was the culmination of decades of research in “lifting bodies.” Between 1963 and 1975, the Air Force and NASA researched methods of flying winged vehicles back from space and landing them like an aircraft. Six different prototypes were manufactured and flown in 223 glide tests, providing a set of information that was used for the shuttle and similar concepts developed by NASA.

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Researchers have found that between 65 and 80 percent of all conversations could be considered gossip – idle chatter and rumors about people’s private lives. Surprised? Don’t pretend you’ve never dished some dirt yourself! But gossip isn’t all bad, and it does serve a purpose. According to one study, about 5 percent of it is mean-spirited. The rest is considered crucial to making people feel connected and establishing the rules for a functional society.

As a general rule, people associate the concept of gossip with unnecessary, not very relevant information. And sometimes, it’s exactly like that. Think about the rumors we hear about famous people who don’t actually affect our lives.

But other times, gossip can be useful from an individual point of view. Asking a lot of questions can get you valuable information, which can then open up new opportunities to you. However, this type of behavior could be labeled as opportunistic. On top of that, it can also hurt your reputation.

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It’s the price of fame. When movie stars, pro athletes, politicians, and other famous folks are out and about, crews of camera-wielding paparazzi tag along hoping to capture the celebs not looking their best. Paparazzi stalk stars because the perfect unflattering photo can be worth a fortune – sometimes in the millions of dollars – to gossip magazines, TV shows, and websites. Celebrities, meanwhile, are striking back by releasing their own pics on photo-sharing sites before the paparazzi can get their cameras ready.

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Honey mushroom is the largest living thing. Just feet below the floor of Malheur National Forest in Oregon, U.S.A., sprawls the world’s largest living organism: the honey mushroom. For more than 2,500 years, it has spread its fungal filaments through the soil and grown to the size of 1,600 football fields. Now that’s one humongous fungus!

Different types of honey fungus are found all over the world. They fruit nearly year round in warmer ecosystems, and in the late summer to fall in North America. The most well known species is probably Armillaria mellea. The majority of honey fungus species have “rhizomorphs” or “mycelial cords”. These rhizomorphs are black, stringy tendrils that are made up of fungus cells. Their purpose is to channel nutrients and spread the infection of the fungus. Many other types of mushrooms have these as well, but they’re smaller and white.

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Goliath Birdeater is the largest spider. The size of a catcher’s mitt and sprouting inch-long fangs, this relative of the tarantula feeds on rodents and even birds that wander into its burrow. The giant huntsman spider of Southeast Asia has longer legs, but the Goliath birdeater beats it in body size.  The Goliath can reach up to 1-foot in body length and has 1-inch long fangs. The Goliath has tiny hairs on its body that it shoots at whoever or whatever is threatening it. Its bite isn’t deadly to humans (unless you’re allergic), but if you get bit by one, expect to experience severe pain, nausea and profuse sweating.

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