• Rayspekt@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I like that the part of the story that happens current-day and is easily checked is the part that starts with “It is said”.

  • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I think something like this was used but only as a pregnancy test. Where do people get these extra wild ideas from?

  • UmeU@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    A lot of cultures have a lot of weird superstitions and myths related to childbirth.

    I had a Nepalese friend who once told me that if you conceive on a weekend you would have a girl but if you conceive on a weekday you would have a boy.

    I pointed out that it must just be a coincidence then that our species has nearly an equal number of men and women, and he agreed that it was a great coincidence.

    I then asked him how often that superstition was correct and how often it got it working, he said about 50/50.

    • RattlerSix@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I am reminded of that scene in Hunt For Red October where Sean Connery turns to his sonarman and says “Give me a pee, Vasili. One pee only.”

  • Contramuffin@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Not insane. This is true. Iirc, there’s some hormonal changes in the urine that causes the wheat/barley to grow first, depending on the sex of the fetus.

    The accuracy of this method is overexaggerated, though. Iirc, when tested, it was found to be something like 75% accurate. For what it’s worth, that’s pretty accurate for the ancient world

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      You can think the concept of ancient Egyptian sonar isn’t insane if you like, but the Egyptians didn’t have sonar because it was developed in 1915 and you don’t use sonar to look at a baby in the womb, you use ultrasound. Sonar uses sound within the range of human hearing.

      Also, it isn’t true.

      So is there any science behind the ancient test? According to the National Institutes of Health, in 1963 researchers decided to try out the method. In a study published in the journal Medical History they found that wheat and barley watered with urine from men and non-pregnant women kept the grains from sprouting. But in about 70 percent of the cases, the urine from pregnant women did cause the grain to sprout. The test, however, did not accurately predict the sex of the children. It’s possible that increased estrogen levels in the urine could have helped stimulate the seeds.

      https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/egyptian-papyrus-reveals-old-wives-tale-very-very-old-indeed-180970066/