You know NOTHING about rat whiskers! You have eyes & hands to explore, but rats have an army of sensors on their face. Whiskers are a rat's superpower. Here's how rats sense what you can't:
Sensors at the tips Each whisker is like an antenna, picking up curves, pressure, and air changes. Rats sense a sly cat plotting an ambush before it pounces.
Hydraulic mechanics? You bet. At the base of each whisker is a blood sinus. When a whisker moves, the fluid pressure instantly triggers brain activity. Genius, right?
Brain barrels In the rat's brain cortex, there are "barrels," neural areas dedicated to each whisker.
Why is this cool? Rats detect stimuli, assess textures, and identify objects without touching them. A quick whisker wave gives them all the info. Superfast: rats process signals in milliseconds. While you're thinking, "What's that?", they already know if it's edible.
Bonus: if scientists tickle the right "barrel" with electricity, they feel like their whisker touched something real. It's like telepathy for sensors.
You know NOTHING about rat whiskers! You have eyes & hands to explore, but rats have an army of sensors on their face. Whiskers are a rat's superpower. Here's how rats sense what you can't:
Sensors at the tips Each whisker is like an antenna, picking up curves, pressure, and air changes. Rats sense a sly cat plotting an ambush before it pounces.
Hydraulic mechanics? You bet. At the base of each whisker is a blood sinus. When a whisker moves, the fluid pressure instantly triggers brain activity. Genius, right?
Brain barrels In the rat's brain cortex, there are "barrels," neural areas dedicated to each whisker.
Why is this cool? Rats detect stimuli, assess textures, and identify objects without touching them. A quick whisker wave gives them all the info. Superfast: rats process signals in milliseconds. While you're thinking, "What's that?", they already know if it's edible.
Bonus: if scientists tickle the right "barrel" with electricity, they feel like their whisker touched something real. It's like telepathy for sensors.
If you initiate a Secret Chat, however, then these communications are end-to-end encrypted and are tied to the device you are using. That means it’s less convenient to access them across multiple platforms, but you are at far less risk of snooping. Back in the day, Secret Chats received some praise from the EFF, but the fact that its standard system isn’t as secure earned it some criticism. If you’re looking for something that is considered more reliable by privacy advocates, then Signal is the EFF’s preferred platform, although that too is not without some caveats. But Kliuchnikov, the Ukranian now in France, said he will use Signal or WhatsApp for sensitive conversations, but questions around privacy on Telegram do not give him pause when it comes to sharing information about the war. Telegram, which does little policing of its content, has also became a hub for Russian propaganda and misinformation. Many pro-Kremlin channels have become popular, alongside accounts of journalists and other independent observers. At its heart, Telegram is little more than a messaging app like WhatsApp or Signal. But it also offers open channels that enable a single user, or a group of users, to communicate with large numbers in a method similar to a Twitter account. This has proven to be both a blessing and a curse for Telegram and its users, since these channels can be used for both good and ill. Right now, as Wired reports, the app is a key way for Ukrainians to receive updates from the government during the invasion. Update March 8, 2022: EFF has clarified that Channels and Groups are not fully encrypted, end-to-end, updated our post to link to Telegram’s FAQ for Cloud and Secret chats, updated to clarify that auto-delete is available for group and channel admins, and added some additional links.
from ar
