BRAIN DUMP
What are ‘the bends’?
Howard Salazar
■ Not nice, that’s for sure! Although it’s the oxygen in the air we need to live, air is mostly nitrogen. Normally nitrogen dissolves in our blood. When scuba divers come back to the water’s surface too fast, dissolved nitrogen can form bubbles. These bubbles block blood vessels, causing decompression sickness. One symptom, painful muscle spasms, is known as ‘the bends’. The blocked blood vessels also make it hard to breathe, which is known as ‘the chokes’. AE
What is the Boötes void?
Patrick Butler
■ Just as stars clump into galaxies and galaxies into clusters, so clusters of galaxies congregate into even larger superclusters, hundreds of millions of light years across. Between these superclusters are equally enormous voids, containing almost no matter at all. One of the largest of these cosmic voids, 360 million light years in size, is half a
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days