[HN Gopher] Why birds can fly over Mount Everest (2020)
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       Why birds can fly over Mount Everest (2020)
        
       Author : Phithagoras
       Score  : 81 points
       Date   : 2021-10-12 20:48 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nautil.us)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nautil.us)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | One past thread:
       | 
       |  _Why Birds Can Fly over Mount Everest_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23639294 - June 2020 (96
       | comments)
        
       | dmd wrote:
       | If you remove the word 'can' from the title, you get another
       | interesting question, and some scientists think the answer is
       | that the bar-headed geese have been doing it since before there
       | was a mountain range there!
        
         | jhgb wrote:
         | > bar-headed geese have been doing it since before there was a
         | mountain range there
         | 
         | The Himalayas formed fifty millions years ago. Geese apparently
         | appeared ten million years ago. How would this be possible?
        
         | pvg wrote:
         | If that's true they've also been pigheaded since before there
         | were pigs which probably explains the name.
        
       | aspectmin wrote:
       | I love reading both Nautilus and Quanta. Great articles.
        
       | smegcicle wrote:
       | tldr bird respiratory system is very effective, they breathe in
       | one end of their lungs and out the other, always with either a
       | full breath in their lungs or two breaths in their air sacs (one
       | fresh, one ready to be exhaled)
       | 
       | http://www.lslbo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bird-lungs.j...
        
         | Mountain_Skies wrote:
         | We already have artificial continuous flow hearts, next up:
         | continuous flow lungs.
        
           | plantain wrote:
           | Some people have (kinda) learnt to -
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_breathing
        
           | polishdude20 wrote:
           | Like a literal jet engine. Continuous flow of air
        
           | soylentnewsorg wrote:
           | Well this seems interesting... So from my knowledge of high
           | school honors bio, blood vessels have these long slow muscles
           | that also help pump blood. If a heart pumps continuously,
           | wouldn't that create back pressure on the vein/artery
           | muscles, which would in turn increase your blood pressure
           | whenever the vessel muscles contract to pump? And if you got
           | an artificial heart, I'd think higher blood pressure is a bad
           | thing?
           | 
           | From my quick research just now, it seems continuous flow
           | hearts are not better because they pump differently. That's
           | just a side effect with no benefit that's noted in studies. A
           | continuous pump is much smaller, and for long-term total
           | heart replacement, is the only thing that can be small enough
           | to fit in the body. In fact, it's noted in a case study that
           | they're not sure about the long term effects of not having
           | pulses, and that's something that will need to be studied.
           | 
           | Now as far as the lungs - I think that would be a bad idea
           | too. We'd need separate flow-through pathways to inhale and
           | exhale. So two necks, or an exit hole in the chest. That
           | takes up space and is another vector for infection. In
           | addition, exhaling moisturizes the tissue, so you'd need much
           | harsher intake tubes, and your exhale tubes would be
           | constantly dripping water. All that extra space has to come
           | from somewhere - meaning you now have less space for actual
           | oxygenating tissue, resulting in worse oxygen capture. Now
           | the diaphragm has to pump harder, because you're not
           | extracting as much oxygen from your air intake.
           | 
           | Anywise, you had a funny comment, which I hopefully made
           | funnier by responding to it seriously. We're a good team.
           | Team Heart & Lungs they call us.
        
             | dorfsmay wrote:
             | Yes, Medlife Crisis talks about the issue of continuous
             | flow artifixcal heart and mentioned that work is happening
             | on one than mimmics the heart better in one of his videos.
        
       | einpoklum wrote:
       | Wow, that story is amazing well-written. I would definitely tell
       | it to my kids (if and when I have them).
        
       | ARandomerDude wrote:
       | It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question
       | of weight ratios! A five-ounce bird could not carry a one-pound
       | coconut.
        
         | icelancer wrote:
         | African swallows are non-migratory, man.
        
       | simorley wrote:
       | So that's what dinosaur tastes like.
        
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