Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Nose Knows

ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

I would just like to say to Erin and Diana, "Suck It".

You see, the entire time that we were in Munich and Prague, I told them that I always knew where magnetic North was due to a large build up of Iron in the tip of my nose. I have always had a decent enough sense of North and while there we got lost a couple of times but I could always find North. They didn't believe me when I told them that scientists have found that there are traces of Iron in noses and that my nose had more than most. I mean, come on. Have you seen this thing. It's huge.

They kept telling me I was full of shit and that I was lying but I am now owed an apology. While I was wrong about Iron, it is apparently a substance called Magnetite, I finally found the article about it and the fact is I was ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you hear that Erin? You called me a liar but you were WRONG!!! I like the sound of that. Let's say it again. "WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!" Oh, and Diana. You and Erin need matching shirts that say, "I was WRONG and Trinity was RIGHT" because you doubted your loving husband and for that I am hurt.



So, read this article and tell me I am full of shit now. It is below too.

Some years ago scientists at CALTECH (California Institute of Technology in Pasadena) discovered that humans possess a tiny, shiny crystal of magnetite in the ethmoid bone, located between your eyes, just behind the nose.
Magnetite is a magnetic mineral also possessed by homing pigeons, migratory salmon, dolphins, honeybees, and bats. Indeed, some bacteria even contain strands of magnetite that function, according to Dr Charles Walcott of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, "as tiny compass needles, allowing them [the bacteria] to orient themselves in the earth's magnetic field and swim down to their happy home in the mud".

It seems that magnetite helps direction finding in animals and helps migratory species migrate successfully by allowing them to draw upon the earth's magnetic fields. But scientists are not sure how they do this.

In any case, when it comes to humans, according to some experts, magnetite makes the ethmoid bone sensitive to the earth's magnetic field and helps your sense of direction.

Some, such as Dr Dennis J Walmsley and W Epps from the Department of Human Geography of the Australian National University in Canberra writing in Perceptual and Motor Skills as far back as in 1987, have even suggested that this "compass" was helpful in human evolution as it made migration and hunting easier.

Following this fascinating factoid, science journalist Marc McCutcheon entitled a book The Compass in Your Nose and Other Astonishing Facts.

Did you see that? He even wrote a book about it. People really shouldn't doubt me.

That is all,

Newt

8 Ripples in the pond:

Addy's Daddy said...

Aren't you the one that had to get a compass in your truck when you moved to Dallas because you were always getting lost?

Trinity said...

Yes but that didn't have anything to do with North so much as I needed a constant to be able to tell when I drove down 49 different streets that wind every which way. It takes me a second to align as well so it's not like I just always keep my nose pointing North. I have to align with the Earth. Duh Thomas.

Erin said...

While you didn't need to prove your point quite so vehemently, let me say that I stand corrected. I'll just remember to give you sufficient time to align with the Earth.

If you make that shirt, I'll wear it. Although I might add "once" in a place or two.

Crazy North nose.

Diana said...

First of all, you were not "absolulatey" right because you were wrong about it being iron. It was not iron in your nose at all. Your whole point was that the iron in your nose told you which way was north. WRONG!!!!

Second, what additional help is a compass if you always know where north is??? If your nose could really help you find north at any time, you should have been able to tell which way you were going, even when you were going down 49 different streets that wind every which way.

Erin said...

I retract my "stand corrected" comment and completely agree with Diana. Good job, wife #1.

Trinity said...

I would like to correct my correction from before and confirm that magnetite is a iron oxide therefore I was completely right. 100%. That means absolutely. So, that addresses point one.

Point two, dear wife of mine, is already addressed in the post but when driving, I can't immediately find North and FYI, knowing North isn't helpful on the Dallas streets because they don't care what direction anything goes. It just jumps back and forth. You know that better than anyone.

Schooled. MooYAH!!!

Addy's Daddy said...

Mmmmmm..... Chick-fil-a......

Also, thanks for the Photoshop help on my blog background. I should have never left my old job - I messed with Ps all freaking day! Oh wait, that place sucked... oh well!

Girl Interrupted said...

lol you're a 12 year old boy stuck in a 20 something's body!

Ps: Geek! :P