Infinity in a Used Prayer Book and Vampire-Like Sea Slugs
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about the earliest use of infinity we’ve found; and vampire-like sea slugs that absorb other organisms’ attributes.
The earliest mathematical use of infinity was found in a reused prayer book by Briana Brownell
- Reviel Netz. (2021). The Diagrams as Floating Bodies by Reviel Netz of Stanford University. Archimedespalimpsest.org. http://archimedespalimpsest.org/about/scholarship/method-infinity.php
- NOVA | Infinite Secrets | Working with Infinity | PBS. (2021). Pbs.org. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/archimedes/infinity.html
- Lloyd, R. (2009, February 17). Idea of Infinity Stretched Back to Third Century B.C. Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/3336-idea-infinity-stretched-century.html
- The Archimedes Palimpsest Project. (2021). About the Archimedes Palimpsest. Archimedespalimpsest.org. http://archimedespalimpsest.org/about/
Some species of nudibranchs can absorb other organisms' attributes like vampires by Grant Currin
- Jonny Thomson. (2021, July 9). Nudibranchs: psychedelic body snatchers of the deep. Big Think; Big Think. https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/nudibranchs-strange-body-snatchers-ocean
- Goodheart, J. (2018, May 9). How Sea Slugs Steal the Defenses of Their Prey. Si.edu. https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/how-sea-slugs-steal-defenses-their-prey
- Nudibranchs: psychedelic thieves of the sea. (2017). Nhm.ac.uk. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/nudibranchs-psychedelic-thieves-of-the-sea.html
- Nudibranchs (2016). National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/nudibranchs-1?loggedin=true
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.4 | I'm Cody Goff. |
| 0:07.4 | And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.4 | Today you learn about the surprising place researchers found the earliest mathematical use of infinity and how some |
| 0:15.0 | species of sea slug absorb the traits of other organisms like vampires. |
| 0:20.0 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:22.0 | Have you ever found something Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:27.0 | Have you ever found something important in an old possession? Well, it was probably nothing like what researchers found in a used prayer book. |
| 0:33.4 | Buckle up, because this is quite the story. |
| 0:36.5 | It starts back in 1906 when historian Johann Ludwig Vyberg |
| 0:40.8 | made a startling discovery. |
| 0:43.1 | As he was examining a Byzantine prayer book written in 1229, he noticed that several pages |
| 0:49.6 | contained writing underneath its current contents. |
| 0:53.0 | And as a historian, he recognized the text. |
| 0:56.0 | It was from an ancient manuscript by Archimedes |
| 1:00.0 | that was written around 225 b.C. |
| 1:03.2 | 1,000 years earlier. |
| 1:06.5 | Vyberg was examining the oldest surviving copy of the book. |
| 1:11.3 | See, back in the day, books were often reused. book. to take a knife and scrape off the old ink without damaging the book itself. |
| 1:25.0 | And that's exactly what had happened. |
| 1:27.7 | This strange book is now called the Archimedes Palimcede, and it contains a total seven books of the work of Archimedes. |
| 1:36.2 | And thanks to modern imaging technology, even more of its secrets have been revealed. |
... |
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