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.
Like a stock, you can buy and hold Bitcoin as an investment. You can even now do so in special retirement accounts called Bitcoin IRAs. No matter where you choose to hold your Bitcoin, people’s philosophies on how to invest it vary: Some buy and hold long term, some buy and aim to sell after a price rally, and others bet on its price decreasing. Bitcoin’s price over time has experienced big price swings, going as low as $5,165 and as high as $28,990 in 2020 alone. “I think in some places, people might be using Bitcoin to pay for things, but the truth is that it’s an asset that looks like it’s going to be increasing in value relatively quickly for some time,” Marquez says. “So why would you sell something that’s going to be worth so much more next year than it is today? The majority of people that hold it are long-term investors.”
How to Buy Bitcoin?
Most people buy Bitcoin via exchanges, such as Coinbase. Exchanges allow you to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency, and setting up an account is similar to opening a brokerage account—you’ll need to verify your identity and provide some kind of funding source, such as a bank account or debit card. Major exchanges include Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini. You can also buy Bitcoin at a broker like Robinhood. Regardless of where you buy your Bitcoin, you’ll need a digital wallet in which to store it. This might be what’s called a hot wallet or a cold wallet. A hot wallet (also called an online wallet) is stored by an exchange or a provider in the cloud. Providers of online wallets include Exodus, Electrum and Mycelium. A cold wallet (or mobile wallet) is an offline device used to store Bitcoin and is not connected to the Internet. Some mobile wallet options include Trezor and Ledger.
