discoveries

[spiritwalker]

It always amazes me how things are discovered as i mentioned on another thread what was someone thinking when they first milked a cow. Anyways i was reading essential bushcraft by mears and in the text was a bit about prepping fungus for use as tinder. The process amongst other steps involved boiling it for 24hrs...now how the hell did someone come to discover that, why did they boil it at all to accidentally discover it or was there method in it and why go to that length when birch bark and other materials require less prep?

anyone want to bring any more profound discoveries to the table to ponder over....

 

[Harvestman]

I have a theory that a lot of these discoveries are accidents. "Oh hell, someone knocked the fungus into the hot water last night and now it's been boiled. We'll have to dry it out before we can use it now"

Sometime later... "Hey, this stuff is great! We should boil it next time as well".


That's probably how cooking was invented too.

 

[Karl82]

humans love to experiment and try new things simple rely. he/she that discovered it is the equivalent to our modern day scientists.

 

[hog]

Who decided that human urine could be used to set the dyes in material.
And I want to meet the man who found out that some fungi were only eddible when cooked.

 

[Gaudette]

I agree there are so many mysteries. I take the view that some things were discovered by accident , others were developed and improved over time. If you look at the great leaps of the last thirty years in computers imagine what improvements were made in say a stone tool over a hundred years. Forging metal always astounds me. Who came up with that one and how?
However, a mate of mine would say its the aliens birt!


--------------------------------------------
"If we had some bacon we could have bacon and eggs, if we had some eggs"

 

[HillBill]

How did they know that splitting an atom would cause such a massive explosion? It aint like they did it accidentally in a lab. We'd have known about that one. From where did theinfo come that there was so much power in an atom? For without splitting one, it couldn't be known. Yet the first one they split, was in a bomb.

 

[bushcraftmyway]

How did they know that splitting an atom would cause such a massive explosion? It aint like they did it accidentally in a lab. We'd have known about that one. From where did theinfo come that there was so much power in an atom? For without splitting one, it couldn't be known. Yet the first one they split, was in a bomb.

oh, but it could... actually splitting the atom only confirmed the theory.

i don't wonder upon how we came to catch fish with a baited hook&line, but i do wonder why we don't use the same to catch birds... (at least i never heard about?)

 

[HillBill]

But how could they possibly theorize how much power is contained in an atom? Its not like they had anything to go on as such, no previous experience of it.

 

[Mesquite]

i don't wonder upon how we came to catch fish with a baited hook&line, but i do wonder why we don't use the same to catch birds... (at least i never heard about?)

That's a common survival method... I've seen it mentioned in several survival books

tie some pieces of bait to a thin string, the bird comes along and each bit of bait ingesting the thread as well. When it comes to the end it can't fly off due to the string it's swallowed

You can also use hooks or gorges as well.

It's just not mentioned that much because it's regarded as being cruel

 

[pyrotech]

But how could they possibly theorize how much power is contained in an atom? Its not like they had anything to go on as such, no previous experience of it.

maybe it takes a genius E=mc2

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

I want to know just what some one was thinking when they found out some dung was flammable or what method of trial and error was involved.

 

[swright81076]

I've often wondered how the process of brain tanning came about. Was it some stroppy teenager taking dads prized hide, and decided to 'teach him a lesson' for having his yo yo taken away. Dunking the hide in a container with mashed up brains.

sent from my Jelly Bean'd galaxy nexus.

 

[Mesquite]

For myself I'd like to know how man learnt that rubbing 2 sticks together for long enough would produce an ember that could be blown into flames...

 

[Adze]

It's said that necessity is the mother of all invention, but I'm less and less inclined to believe that. Certainly there are times when desperation is the mother of invention - a starving person will eat more or less anything once hungry is an obvious example leading to "Hey, lichen and leather isn't so terrible afterall and you can survive on it for a while".

So too, I think, is abundance. Too many apples = too much apple juice = storing the apple juice longer than normal = cider? Too many hides = "Hey the ones we stored in that pit which we then used as a latrine and didn't take them out for a year turned out ok eh?" = Leather?

Modern experimental science is far less about mixing unknown chemical A with unknown solution B and FAWOOOMPPPHHhhhhhhhh "Woohoo! Look at him fly!" than it is attempts to prove or disprove that which has already been theorised - I'm pretty sure the Manhattan Project can be termed both Modern and Experimental!

 

[Skaukraft]

Humans are lazy by nature, we will always try to make life a bit easier. In the beginning it was about getting as many calories with as little effort as possible...

 

[DaveWL]

And to be fair the "scientific method" does go back a bit ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_scientific_method

 

[spiritwalker]

people who had a 24hr kettle going deserved the discovery then who maintains boiling water for 24hrs into which said fungus may have fell into?

QUOTE=Harvestman;1179533]I have a theory that a lot of these discoveries are accidents. "Oh hell, someone knocked the fungus into the hot water last night and now it's been boiled. We'll have to dry it out before we can use it now"

Sometime later... "Hey, this stuff is great! We should boil it next time as well".


That's probably how cooking was invented too.[/QUOTE]

 

[mountainm]

oh, but it could... actually splitting the atom only confirmed the theory.

i don't wonder upon how we came to catch fish with a baited hook&line, but i do wonder why we don't use the same to catch birds... (at least i never heard about?)

They do. Fishing for birds is even easier though. You can set up a glue trap. Throw stones wrapped in food into the air... Lots of different ways to fish for birds. All cruel though.