From what sound would look like if it was visible to why you cannot walk straight while blindfolded,
the Planet Dolan team answers several of your most burning questions about life.
My name is Melissa, and I’ll be reading out the questions and answers.
I’m Danger Dolan and I’m here to tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. I’m honest like that. It’s funny how your honesty sounds
like a pack of lies. I speak facts the same
way fake news spreads conversation. Did you just call yourself “fake news”?
Absolutely. What I give is fake news, but it’s true. That’s what sets me apart.
Lies. Perspective.
1. Crafty Time - Did humans ever have long tailbones?
Sure, but it wasn’t because they had a tail like some people
think. It was a horn that went straight to the floor.
Prehistoric humans could use this to lean back and take a rest after chasing down their dinner
or to play their Game Boy Colour. Dolan, do you really expect people to
believe that prehistoric man existed at the same time as the Game Boy?
Ah you’re right... Game Boy Advance. Peak of culture.
Tailbones are thought to be a leftover of human evolution. Theorised to be a
remnant of our fish-like ancestors’ tails before they could walk upright on land,
and persisting for some time after. As human evolution progressed the fleshy tails were ditched
by human’s ape-like ancestors when the primates no longer needed them to maintain balance.
2. SpiralArc - If sound were visible, what would it look like?
Heavy smog. Imagine if every time a human opened their mouth, smog burst forth like
an exhaust pipe. Hundreds dead at rock concerts from lack of oxygen. The end of civilisation.
What if… instead of a deadly fume… it was more like a gentle sparkly mist?
Fake news! Don’t give the people hope. Suffocation is real. There’s no such thing as mist. The Earth…
Don’t say it. …is flat.
Sound itself is not visible. However if we use a technique called Schlieren Flow Visualization,
whereby light is focussed down to a single focal point, distorted using heat
and captured on camera, we are able to visualise changes in air density, including sound. If
I could compare it to something visually similar, imagine ripples on a water surface,
originating outwards from a source of sound.
3. GirlyLlama - If a Blackhole formed next to the Sun, would the Sun be swallowed up?
It would be like watching something go down the plughole in your sink.
The Sun would probably circle around the Blackhole several times
and then finally be pulled down. From there it would end up in the cosmic sewer, where it will
be carried to the cosmic sea, and swallowed up by a cosmic fish. As is the nature of the universe.
That’s absurd, Dolan. You can’t prove me wrong.
Black holes are so black they’re invisible. Checkmate. Myth busted. Too dark, too furious.
If the mass of the Black Hole was greater than that of our Sun, the Sun would be pulled into
the Black Hole. It would likely be that the Earth would also be torn apart and pulled into the Black
Hole too. However, if our Sun were to be replaced with an equally large Black Hole, then the Earth
would stay in place. Although, life would not be sustainable without the Sun’s light and heat.
4. Zach_ - Does one person really die every second while two people are born every minute?
Don’t be concerned with the amount of people that are born or die. Be concerned about the amount
of people that return to life. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend of people becoming undead around
here. I just can’t get behind it. Cancel me if you must but I stand behind my views on necromancy.
“Zombies are real”? If it sounds that fake, it must be true.
Roughly 1.8 people die every second while 4.2 people are born. That means, at an estimate,
80 million people are born each year while 56 million die. At this current rate,
the population of the world will double every 35 years.
Jeez, that’s terrifying. Where’s everyone going to live?
You’re not all staying at my house, that’s for sure. I barely have enough room for my clothes!
5. Buchi2005 - What were the featheriest dinosaurs?
Little known fact, the closest living thing to a T-Rex today is the chicken,
and the featheriest dinosaur was the Chickenous-Rex.
This thing was huge! If you could get a deep fried leg of this monster at a fast food place,
you’d get like a - hundreth - of the way through before going “Nah that’s it, I’m stuffed.”
People talking about eating large birds always makes me a little uncomfortable.
Oh? Are you vegetarian? Yeah. That’s why.
The largest known feathered dinosaur was the Yutyrannus Huali,
a distant cousin of the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex. The Yutyrannus was only one fifth the size
of a T-Rex but still measured about 9 metres long and weighed 1.5 tons. Its entire body
was covered in fuzzy feathers, if you can imagine such a thing. Being too large to fly
experts believe the feathers were mainly to keep itself and its nest eggs warm.
6. Brian Leinius - Why do certain sounds scare us?
Smog. If everyone on the planet all made noise at the same time, the smog would cover everything and
the armies of the undead would be able to walk in darkness as they have no love for the sun and sky-
You’re thinking of orcs from Lord of the Rings. The undead AND orcs. The fun never ends.
Our brains have evolved to alert us to danger in several ways. One way is to quickly process
non-linear sounds. These are sounds that are not persistent in your environment and will jump in
frequency, or to put it simply, an abnormality in the sound you can hear at any moment.
Sounds like screams, growls, roars or buzzing alert us to danger that may be nearby.
7. Thisismygamertag1 - Do cats and dogs get headaches?
Cats definitely get headaches, you know they have a hard day scratching up the furniture,
coughing up hairballs on recently cleaned floor and bringing home usually dead critters,
it’s a tough day and it can get to them. Poor things,
I really feel for them. Well at least they’re cute, right buddy?
Why did I even get a cat? I paid for this. Cash money. I paid for pain and dismemberment.
Headaches, particularly migraines, are easy to diagnose in humans as we have
the ability to communicate our discomfort. With animals it’s not so easy and cats lack
any official clarification as to whether they suffer from tension headaches or migraines.
Cats and Dogs do however experience headaches when associated with other health concerns,
such as head trauma, infections and dental problems just to name a few.
So if your lovable pet is acting a little off, take him or her for a check up!
Sadly, we can’t take Dolan to the vet’s. Ah! Melissa! Don’t do me like this. Argh.
8. Tehsnek - Why can’t we walk in a straight line while blindfolded?
Because blindfolds make it so we can’t see. I find people wear blindfolds around their
mouths these days anyway – they’re not dumb enough to blind themselves.
Those are masks for a pandemic. Why would you wear a flu mask
as a blindfold? That’s just stupid.
No - you wear a blindfold to blind yourself. That’s worse! Between the blindfold and mask,
I’m surprised you can function, let alone walk in a straight line.
The skill that gives people the ability to move around their environment efficiently
is called Spatial Orientation. Sight over one’s local environment is extremely important for
this skill to work, without it the brain is unable to effectively process where we are or
what direction we are going in, which causes us to walk in circles. This can happen when blindfolded
but has also been observed in other situations, like being lost in a fog.
9. RaptorDoggo - What would happen if the earth started rotating 2x faster?
You know the thrill of riding a rollercoaster? Imagine that but it’s 24/7 – getting out of bed,
taking a shower, pouring yourself a coffee – all with the endless adrenaline-pumping
thrills of being completely out of control and moments from death.
Sounds terrible. It is. Good thing it’s fake news,
right? Wrong.
Days would go by twice as quick but besides that, the Earth’s water would be drawn
towards the equator in vast amounts, enough to flood all but the tallest mountain peaks.
These regions would also then experience a huge increase in rainfall,
to the point of it being nearly constant. If that wasn’t enough, the increased speed would
also result in more severe hurricanes. All in all, it wouldn’t be a positive.
10. MATAM - Where does the term ‘last, but not least’ originate?
The previous phrase was “last, because you’re bad”, which was somewhat better than
“last, because you smell”. But it’s all way, way better than the first term
“last, also you’re ugly and stupid, and you never had a chance, also why were you born”.
Did you just uncover some childhood trauma about yourself?
No way. I know exactly why I was born. To spread my gospel. The Dolan word. News:
“fake, but not totally fake”.
The exact origin of the term is unknown, a similar phrase
did appear in the Bible when Jesus spoke on those who would inherit eternal life:
“Many who are first shall be last, and many who are last shall be first” meaning, those who are
powerful may not be the greatest in the eyes of God. The more common phrase became popular during
theatre performances when it was customary for the main star to be introduced onto the stage last.
Ladies and gentlemen, lastly and by no means least, allow me to introduce you
all to the new member of Planet Dolan! Look, times are tough, okay? There’s a
virus that’s got the world on lockdown, this is the best we can do right now.