“You don’t learn for the exam, you learn for life!” - How often have you heard this sentence and could not help but roll your eyes? Here are 5 unexpected things about science that are totally awesome and will bring you back that spark of joy you might need to light your scientific-love-fire up again!

1 The Fibonacci Sequence is everywhere!

A lot of people struggle with numbers and math and in my personal uni experience, it’s been the numbers that tended to scare me off every now and then too. However, when you look at it closely, it’s less about calculation and more about sequences and orders. Take the Fibonacci Sequence for example: This beautiful sequence of numbers looks like this

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ….

What happens here is basically two numbers next to each being added and then equating to the next number in the sequence. Hence, 0+1 = 1, 1+1 = 2, 2+3 = 5,.. and so forth. The crazy part about this rather simple formula is that you can find it anywhere. By anywhere, I mean anywhere! In music, in the shape of the most famous paintings, in the spiral of a seashell, in the number of petals on a flower. This is definitely worth a deep-dive on youtube and you’ll be flabbergasted at how everything around us can be calculated. Art and music have a mathematical structure behind it and a lot of it is rooted in the Fibonacci Sequence! (You might be more familiar with the term “Golden Ratio”. They are closely related and: They make sense!)

Ready for your deep-dive? Then check out the following links!

• Writing music with the Golden Ratio/Fibonacci  - Paul Davids
• Places you won’t believe the Golden Ratio/ FIbonacci Sequence appears
• The Fibonacci Sequence: Nature’s Code
  
  

2 Speaking Multiple Languages Decreases Your Chance to Get Dementia

This is a heads-up to all the language-nerds above you - and a great incentive for everyone for starting to learn new languages. A study from 2019 found that speaking four or more languages can actually decrease your chances of getting dementia. If you look a little closer at the study, you will find that written linguistic ability had the strongest effect. I’m not telling you that you must learn 3 or more languages now, but it will definitely not hurt! 

Why not check youtube, Duolingo or Babbel right away? Or have a walk around the Campus - You will definitely find people willing to teach you their language. And maybe you could teach them yours.

3 Octopuses. Everything About Them

Did you know that octopuses (yes this is the right plural, I looked it up) think with their arms? Literally. These fascinating creatures have a good amount of neurons spread over each of their tentacles. When an arm gets removed, it will continue to move around. This sounds sad, yes, but octopuses can grow a next arm in the place of the one they lost. So, as you might have guessed, octupuses are very intelligent. Not only can they use all the neurons in their arms to think with their arm, but apart from that they are able to change their appearance, blind their predators with their ink and they are one of the oldest creatures on this planet. Check out this article for more interesting facts. I can also recommend the beautiful documentation ‘My Octopus Teacher’ on Netflix!

4 Fungi Could Save The World

Sustainability is in many ways a very prominent and important topic, especially for our Campus. Therefore, the following information might be of particular interest to those of you who are about to change the world for the better in terms of sustainability. Did you know that Fungi could save the world? Yes indeed, mushrooms. But not necessarily the gewy-top part. The underground branches of mushrooms, also known as mycelium, have a lot of potential that is being used already, but that could be even more helpful in future. Especially when we are talking about sustainable materials and getting rid of all the rubbish we produce. How does this work? What sounds a bit abstract is relatively easy to get behind: Fungi need water, air and food. So why not feed it with our rubbish, like with textiles or industrial waste? If you need more material for your next novel or short story, take this: We could actually grow clothes or even buildings! 

Anyway, Fungi are amazing. That’s the keynote.

5 Blue Garlic

Have you ever seen your garlic turn blue? What might look a little weird or even dangerous to eat is actually pretty safe and the science behind it makes total sense! 

As soon as you combine garlic with vinegar, or any other acid, the allicin (a compound of crushed garlic) reacts with the amino acids in the garlic which leads to the production of pyrroles (carbon-nitrogen rings). Combined pyrolles make polypyrroles which again are responsible for the colour. Four clustered pyrroles equal green, as in the chlorophyll or plants, and three of them make blue! 

Garlic will have a similar reaction if it is exposed to minerals of certain metals.

I hope this little, and maybe a bit random, science excursion was a fun read to you. Perhaps you even learned something or have new information to add in your next conversation!