Category Archives:Science

bright-moon-explosion
May. 18.

Bright Explosion on the Moon Visible to the Naked Eye (If You Were Looking)

By rebecca | Posted in Astronomy & Physics |

NASA researchers monitoring the moon for meteoroid impacts have detected the brightest explosion in the history of their program. A meteorite crashed on the moon’s surface last March 17 and if you were gazing at the moon that time (looking for the man on the moon, perhaps), you would have witnessed it because the explosion was so bright it was visible to the naked eye. The meteorite slammed into the moon’s surface at the speed of 56,000 mph creating an explosion as powerful as 5 tons of TNT. Meteors were also observed to have rained on Earth at that same time, but while our planet has an atmosphere that shields it from serious impacts, the moon has none. 

ScienceCasts: Bright Explosion on the Moon (via SPACE.com)

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flowers-in-a-beaker
May. 17.

Delicate “Flowers” Self-Assemble In A Beaker

By rebecca | Posted in Biotechnology |

flowers-in-a-beaker
These false-color SEM images reveal microscopic flower structures created by manipulating a chemical gradient to control crystalline self-assembly. (Image courtesy of Wim L. Noorduin.)

From the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences:

“Spring is like a perhaps hand,” wrote the poet E. E. Cummings: “carefully / moving a perhaps / fraction of flower here placing / an inch of air there… / without breaking anything.”

With the hand of nature trained on a beaker of chemical fluid, the most delicate flower structures have been formed in a Harvard laboratory—and not at the scale of inches, but microns.

These minuscule sculptures, curved and delicate, don’t resemble the cubic or jagged forms normally associated with crystals, though that’s what they are. Rather, fields of carnations and marigolds seem to bloom from the surface of a submerged glass slide, assembling themselves a molecule at a time.

By simply manipulating chemical gradients in a beaker of fluid, Wim L. Noorduin, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and lead author of a paper appearing on the cover of the May 17 issue of Science, has found that he can control the growth behavior of these crystals to create precisely tailored structures.

Read the rest at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences: Beautiful “flowers” self-assemble in a beaker

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what-your-body-does-in-30-seconds
May. 16.

What Your Body Does in 30 Seconds

By rebecca | Posted in Health & Medicine |

Amazing feat. When someone accuses you of being lazy, you know how to defend yourself, err, your body.

BuzzFeedVideo (via Blame It On The Voices)

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circadian-depression-diagram
May. 14.

Brain Study Shows Body Clocks are Altered at Cell Level in Depression

By rebecca | Posted in Health & Medicine |
circadian-depression-diagram
The researchers used gene expression patterns to try to predict the time of death for each person in the study (inner circles), and then compared it with the actual time of death (outer circles). The two matched closely in healthy people, as shown by the short lines between the two points in the left diagram. But in depressed people, the two were out of sync, as seen with the longer lines at right.(Credit: University of Michigan Health System)
Every cell in our bodies runs on a 24-hour clock, tuned to the night-day, light-dark cycles that have ruled us since the dawn of humanity. The brain acts as timekeeper, keeping the cellular clock in sync with the outside world so that it can govern our appetites, sleep, moods and much more.

But new research shows that the clock may be broken in the brains of people with depression — even at the level of the gene activity inside their brain cells.

It’s the first direct evidence of altered circadian rhythms in the brain of people with depression, and shows that they operate out of sync with the usual ingrained daily cycle. The findings, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, come from scientists from the University of Michigan Medical School and other institutions.

Read the rest at University of Michigan Health System: Out of sync with the world: Brain study shows body clocks of depressed people are altered at cell level

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coffee-propaganda
May. 10.

By rebecca | Posted in Animation, Health & Medicine |


Coffee Propaganda from HYUNJI AJ BAE on Vimeo.

An excellent coffee propaganda. Gotta start storing some coffee beans now. Great colors and graphics.

(via Laughing Squid)

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Sniffing-Kooky-Robots
May. 09.

Got bad breath or stinky feet? These sniffing robots will let you know, rudely.

By rebecca | Posted in Health & Medicine, Robotiics, Technology |

Sniffing-Kooky-Robots

 

Developed by  CrazyLabo and the Kitakyushu National College of Technology in Japan, these sniffing robots will rudely make you aware of your bad smelling breath and feet. When you breathe into Kaori-chan’s face, the humanoid, she will analyze your breath and tell you straight up how she can’t stand it. Shuntaro-kun, on the other hand, will sniff your feet and lose consciousness if the stink is extremely bad. 

(via Oh Gizmo!)

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DNA-extracting-device
May. 08.

New DNA Extracting Device Provides Full Genetic Data in Minutes

By rebecca | Posted in Biotechnology, Health & Medicine |


(video from uwhuskies)

Take a swab of saliva from your mouth and within minutes your DNA could be ready for analysis and genome sequencing with the help of a new device.

University of Washington engineers and NanoFacture, a Bellevue, Wash., company, have created a device that can extract human DNA from fluid samples in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendly way than conventional methods.

The device will give hospitals and research labs a much easier way to separate DNA from human fluid samples, which will help with genome sequencing, disease diagnosis and forensic investigations.

Rad the rest at University of Washington: New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes, by Michelle Ma

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dark-matter
May. 07.

Dark Matter: The Matter We Can’t See

By rebecca | Posted in Astronomy & Physics |

The Greeks had a simple and elegant formula for the universe: just earth, fire, wind, and water. Turns out there’s more to it than that — a lot more. Visible matter (and that goes beyond the four Greek elements) comprises only 4% of the universe. CERN scientist James Gillies tells us what accounts for the remaining 96% (dark matter and dark energy) and how we might go about detecting it.

Dark matter: The matter we can’t see – James Gillies

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3-D-printed-bionic-ear
May. 05.

Scientists 3-D Print Bionic Ear With Superhuman Hearing Capability

By rebecca | Posted in Biotechnology |

3-D-printed-bionic-ear
(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Scientists at Princeton University used off-the-shelf printing tools to create a functional ear that can “hear” radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.

The researchers’ primary purpose was to explore an efficient and versatile means to merge electronics with tissue. The scientists used 3D printing of cells and nanoparticles followed by cell culture to combine a small coil antenna with cartilage, creating what they term a bionic ear.

Read the rest at EurekAlert.org: Printable ‘bionic’ ear melds electronics and biology

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saturn-hurricane-rose-1
Apr. 30.

Like a Rose: Saturn’s North Polar Storm

By rebecca | Posted in Astronomy & Physics |

saturn-hurricane-rose-1

saturn-hurricane-rose-2The spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second). 

This image is among the first sunlit views of Saturn’s north pole captured by Cassini’s imaging cameras. When the spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, it was northern winter and the north pole was in darkness. Saturn’s north pole was last imaged under sunlight by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1981; however, the observation geometry did not allow for detailed views of the poles. Consequently, it is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar hurricane has been active.

 

The Rose, NASA

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

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