Dovi’s Digest Volume 39
A weekly newsletter for all your intellectual, spiritual and physical needs
Hello everyone, and welcome to Volume 39 of Dovi’s Digest.
Something big is happening this week, something that has been five years and seven months in the making. Although I’d like to say I was teasing it, I specifically mentioned a month or so ago that the NASA’s Mars rover “Perseverance” would soon be landing on Martian soil. That momentous day is this coming Thursday and, all going well, Perseverance will softly touch down instead of crashing into the red planet as a fireball moving many times the speed of sound.
This week is also Valentine’s Day, so for all of you who have forgotten about it, it’s on Sunday, so take a deep breath, don’t panic and accept that it may already be too late.
There was one correct answer to last week’s riddle, well done to Myer Brom. There was also finally a correct answer to the riddle posited in Digest 35!! Well done to Zev Gluckmann!!! Zev actually sent me the correct answer last week, but I had to verify the result with the judging panel, and as a result the final decision was delayed. This week’s riddle is below.
This week there is a special honourable mention to Elliott Djebreel, who is not only a serial contributor, but this week sent me an article that explained a phenomenon that I was genuinely interested in and wondered about. I am of course talking about wombat poo and its cubic nature.
You’ll also find out about the honey mafia, the sinister history of “Mars Jars”, and whether Elon Musk is actually the messiah. I hope you enjoy them. Finally, if you enjoyed the article about how Perseverance is planning on landing safely, I highly recommend going down the Google rabbit hole of all the things that have to happen correctly for this mission to be a success.
Keep those articles (and everything else) coming,
All the best
Dovi
And now, the articles:
7 Minutes of Terror
Here’s how NASA’s Perseverance rover will land on Mars.
Stefanos Tsitsipas' Family Bond and the Day He Nearly Drowned
When Stefanos Tsitsipas arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open, among his luggage was a much-loved link to the past.
Box Seat: Scientists Solve the Mystery of Why Wombats Have Cube-Shaped Poo
(Courtesy of Elliot Djebreel)
Unique physiology allows the Australian marsupial to produce square-shaped faeces that may aid communication.
Why Facts Are Overrated
When taken out of context, either deliberately or through ignorance, facts can nudge a person towards a less accurate conclusion than they would have come to in their absence.
The Honey Detectives Are Closing in On China’s Shady Syrup Swindlers
(Courtesy of Eli Berkow)
Detecting honey laced with sugar syrup is notoriously tricky, but a new test could provide the evidence needed to make fake honey prosecutions stick.
Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow
Inside the inventor’s world-changing plans to inhabit outer space, revolutionise high-speed transportation, reinvent cars – and hopefully find love along the way.
The Doctor from Nazi Germany and the Search for Life on Mars
Astrobiologists have used Mars Jars for decades. Many didn’t know about the controversial Air Force scientist who started them.
Quote of the Week:
“Winning has a price. And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn’t want to be challenged. And I earned that right … Once you join the team you live at a certain standard that I play the game (at) and I wasn’t going to take anything less … I wanted to win but I wanted them to be a part of it as well.” – Michael Jordan
Facts of the Week:
After Apollo 11 landed, the Moon’s temperature rose by 2°C.
NASA’s “clean rooms” are infested by microbes that resist heat, desiccation and radiation, and eat the cleaning products.
The tallest known mountain in our solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars, is 16 miles high. That’s roughly three times the height of Mount Everest.
At Mars’ equator, the temperature is around 20°C in summer. But it its poles, Mars can get as cold as -125°C.
Perseverance has a small remote control helicopter on board, which will be come the first human man object to fly on mars (hopefully!) More on that here.
The Martian atmostphere is so thin that flying at the surface is equivalent to flying three times higher than a commercial jet on earth.
Persevrance will cost ±$2.7 billion. To put that in context, the total cost of the Perseverance rover is equivalent to...
One year of spending on the Space Launch System rocket
The amount of money Google makes in six days
The amount of money Americans spend on their pets every 10 days
Disney’s global box office revenue for Avengers: Endgame
However, it costs $300m less than Curiosity, its predecessor.
Tweet of the Week:
Cartoon of the Week:
Brainteaser of the Week:
Try to solve this Word Pyramid.
How it works: Take the letters of the word “pea” and rearrange them into a word that starts with “h.” Do the same for each of the new words you create until you get to the bottom.
pea
h _ _ _
s _ _ _ _
_ _ r _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ n
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ l
Last week’s Brainteaser and answer:
You have 12 balls identical in size and appearance but one is either heavier or lighter than all the others.
You have only 3 chances to find which ball is the odd one and if it's heavier or lighter than the rest.
How do you do it?
Answer:
Number the balls 1, 2, 3, ... 10, 11, 12
Start off with them in 3 groups: [1, 2, 3 and 4], [5, 6, 7 and 8] and [9,10,11 and 12]
Weigh 1, 2, 3 and 4 vs 5, 6, 7 and 8 with 3 possible outcomes:
1. If they balance then 9,10,11,12 have the odd ball, so weigh 6,7,8 vs 9,10,11 with 3 possible outcomes:
1a: If 6,7,8 vs 9,10,11 balances, 12 is the odd ball. Weigh it against any other ball to determine if heavy or light.
1b: If 9,10,11 is heavy then they contain a heavy ball. Weigh 9 vs 10, if balanced then 11 is the odd heavy ball, else the heavier of 9 or 10 is the odd heavy ball.
1c: If 9,10,11 is light then they contain a light ball. Weigh 9 vs 10, if balanced then 11 is the odd light ball, else the lighter of 9 or 10 is the odd light ball.
2. If 5,6,7,8 > 1,2,3,4 then either 5,6,7,8 contains a heavy ball or 1,2,3,4 contains a light ball so weigh 1,2,5 vs 3,6,12 with 3 possible outcomes:
2a: If 1,2,5 vs 3,6,12 balances, then either 4 is the odd light ball or 7 or 8 is the odd heavy ball. Weigh 7 vs 8, if they balance then 4 is the odd light ball, or the heaviest of 7 vs 8 is the odd heavy ball.
2b: If 3,6,12 is heavy then either 6 is the odd heavy ball or 1 or 2 is the odd light ball. Weigh 1 vs 2, if balanced then 6 is the odd heavy ball, or the lightest of 1 vs 2 is the odd light ball.
2c: If 3,6,12 is light then either 3 is light or 5 is heavy. Weigh 3 against any other ball, if balanced then 5 is the odd heavy ball else 3 is the odd light ball.
3. If 1,2,3,4 > 5,6,7,8 then either 1,2,3,4 contains a heavy ball or 5,6,7,8 contains a light ball so weigh 5,6,1 vs 7,2,12 with 3 possible outcomes:
3a: If 5,6,1 vs 7,2,12 balances, then either 8 is the odd light ball or 3 or 4 is the odd heavy ball. Weigh 3 vs 4, if they balance then 8 is the odd light ball, or the heaviest of 3 vs 4 is the odd heavy ball.
3b: If 7,2,12 is heavy then either 2 is the odd heavy ball or 5 or 6 is the odd light ball. Weigh 5 vs 6, if balanced then 2 is the odd heavy ball, or the lightest of 5 vs 6 is the odd light ball.
3c: If 7,2,12 is light then either 7 is light or 1 is heavy. Weigh 7 against any other ball, if balanced then 1 is the odd heavy ball else 7 is the odd light ball.
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