Dolphins haveIrish the last laugh
QUESTION Is it true that rats can laugh? Can any other animals do this?
IN 1999, neuroscientists Jaak Panksepp and Jeffrey Burgdorf demonstrated that tickling rats causes them to emit a series of high-pitched giggles, similar to those they make during play. They concluded this was a rudimentary form of laughter.
Humans can hear noise in the 20khz to 40khz range. Rats make long calls at 22khz when they are scared or angry, but make short ultrasonic screeches at 50 khz, out of the range of human hearing, when they interact or are given food to eat.
This response is dramatically increased by tickling, especially their neck.
The behaviour is so similar to human laughter that it likely results from the same mechanisms in the brain.
Rats are not the only laughing creatures.
Marine researchers in Sweden believe they have recorded laughter in bottlenose dolphins. When play fighting, dolphins emit a specific noise that indicate their intentions are non-threatening.
This occurs only during playful interactions and not during actual fights, leading researchers to believe it is a sort of chuckle that signals knockabout fun.
The great apes are our closest living relatives and share many similarities. Just like people, chimpanzees and bonobos are ticklish. When tickled in the armpits, neck or feet, they emit a shallow grunting sound that is believed to be a form of laughter.
Socialisation and play are important for these animals and laughter may help them discover personal boundaries.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION Were the Dublin Dart trains originally built for Japan’s railway system?
THE first train sets on the Dart system were made in Germany but subsequent ones have been made in Japan; they weren’t first made for the Japanese railway system but their design was much influenced by Japan’s experience in building trains for the country’s vast commuter rail network.
When the Dart system started, in 1984, the trains used were made by a German firm, Linke Hofman Busch, and these 42 two-car units were refurbished in 2005 to 2007 by Siemens, in Leipzig, also in Germany.
But subsequent purchases of electric trains were made in Japan. Three classes of trains were designed and made in Japan for the Dart system by the Tokyu Car Corporation, based in Yokohama, which subsequently became the Japan Transport Engineering Company. Mitsui was the lead contractor. These three classes were the 8500-20, the 8510 and the 8500 and all contained EMUs (Electrical Multiple Units), as opposed to the DMUs, the Diesel Multiple Units, used outside the Dart system.
The 8500 class trains were delivered from Japan in 2000, the 8510 in 2001 and the 8520 came to Ireland in 2003/4. When these new trains arrived from Japan, they represented a ‘first’ for Japan; it was the first time that these EMUs, made in Japan, had been exported to Europe.
So a substantial part of the fleet of trains used on the Dart system are Japanese made.
In morning and evening peak periods, during the working week, six or eight car sets are usually used, while in off-peak times, two or four car sets are used.
The Japanese-made trains were due to be replaced, but this didn’t happen.
Iarnród Éireann/Irish Rail, which has been operating the Dart system since the company was set up as a CIÉ subsidiary in 1987, announced, in October, 2008, that it was going to order just over 400 EMUs for the Dart system, for delivery in 2011 and 2012.
If this order had gone ahead, it would have meant a complete replacement of the Dart fleet. It’s quite likely that the order would have gone to Japan, as the Japanese trains used on the Dart have proved very reliable and efficient.
But the announcement of the new order coincided with the big economic crash, so the order was put on hold and never happened.
But at the end of 2017, Iarnród Éireann announced plans for a new fleet of bi-mode trains that can extend Dart services beyond the present electrified network.
It’s planned that these new diesel/electric Darts will be used on services to Drogheda, Maynooth and Celbridge.
A further 200 new EMUs are also planned to replace some of the existing Dart fleet. They will also service the planned extension of Dart services, from Heuston station to Cabra, Glasnevin and the Docklands.
While all the Japanese-made trainsets used on the Dart weren’t originally designed for commuter rail traffic in Japan, their design was heavily influenced by the Japanese expertise in making trains for commuter rail use.
Japan has one of the most highly developed commuter rail networks in the world. In the greater Tokyo area alone, a dozen different commuter systems, some privately run, others state run, carry around 40million passengers a day. Apart from Tokyo, eight other cities in Japan also have extensive commuter rail services. So when what was the Tokyu Car Corporation started making trains for Dublin’s Dart system, it already had a huge amount of design and manufacturing expertise to call on, ensuring the reliability of the Dart system.
Sam Gaynor, Ennis, Co. Clare.
QUESTION Is it true that when he was a child, comedian Bob Mortimer burnt his home down?
THIS is true. Bob revealed the story in a joking fashion on the BBC panel show Would I Lie To You in 2017.
He gave much more detail in his moving appearance on Desert Island Discs last February when he highlighted the difficult situation it left his family in.
Mortimer was raised with his three brothers in the Linthorpe area of Middlesbrough. When he was seven, his father was killed in a car crash.
It took him years to understand the effect this had on him.
For most of his life, he suffered from crippling shyness and an over-eagerness to please, which he believes stemmed from a fear of being abandoned.
He described how he was his mother’s little helper and spent much of his youth vacuum-cleaning the house.
Speaking to Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, he described that he was counting sparklers when he misinterpreted the warning on the packet that they were not suitable for indoor use and decided to set them alight in the house.
‘The sparklers lit the box of fireworks and I ran the box through to the kitchen and let them go off,’ he said.
‘I then spent about an hour trying to get rid of all the marks out of the lino and off cabinets. I walked back into the living room and it was fully ablaze.
‘I walked round to the two old ladies who lived next door and I said: “My house is on fire!” And they said:, “You know, we thought it was.” ’
The family had to live apart and was crippled financially after the fire yet they did not hold a grudge. Bob remained close to his brothers and spoke movingly about his mother, who worked for the British Ministry of Food. Brian Ash, Stoke-on-Trent.