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AstroCamp

Applied -

Have you ever wanted to #build your own #vacuum? Now you can do this #athomescience in only four easy steps! Learn more about how this works on our website. #AstroCamp

Build Your Own Vacuum in Four Steps - Astrocamp School

astrocampschool.org

Build your own vacuum in four steps! All you need is a glass, a plate, a candle, water, a match, and a bit of caution, because we are dealing with fire.

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Kevin Clift

Popular Science -

EDIT: The article I meant to finally link to was the press release from Stanford: https://goo.gl/PMzEDW

Kevin Clift originally shared:

Frugal Design

In case you missed it in the news, Manu Prakesh, assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University, and Saad Bhamla, a postdoctoral research fellow in his lab, with the help of Stanford and MIT engineers, has developed yet another potentially useful device based on the Frugal Design paradigm.

This time it is a functional medical centrifuge developed from a homemade toy you may have played with as a child. Perhaps you remember, as I do, that such a toy consists of a large coat button with symmetrically placed holes, threaded onto a suitable piece of say button thread tied in a long loop in such a way that the button, when positioned in the middle of the loop, and the thread twisted, can be constantly unwound and rewound at speed, by pulling on the twisted loop and then relaxing it, allowing the thread to twist-up in opposite directions under the conservation of angular momentum of the button.

Centrifuges’ many uses include the separation of medical samples (of blood, urine, sputum and stool) for analysis. Tests to spot HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, in particular, require samples to be spun to clear them of cellular debris. Commercial centrifuges, however, are heavy and require power to run. That makes them impractical for general use by health-care workers in poor countries, who may need to carry out diagnostic tests in the field without access to electricity. They also cost hundreds—often thousands—of dollars.

Dr Prakash’s device, which he calls a “paperfuge”, costs 20 cents and weighs just two grams. The standard version (pictured) consists of two cardboard discs, each 10cm across. One of the discs has two 4cm-long pieces of drinking straw glued to it, along opposing radii. These straws, which have had their outer ends sealed with glue, act as receptacles for small tubes that contain the blood to be centrifuged.

Once the straws have been loaded, the two discs are attached face to face with Velcro, sandwiching the tubes between them. For string, Dr Prakash uses lengths of fishing line, tied at each end around wooden or plastic handles that the spinner holds.

More here (article): https://goo.gl/kpEDZ0

🎬
Inspired by a whirligig toy, Stanford bioengineers have developed an ultra-low-cost, human-powered blood centrifuge. With rotational speeds of up to 125,000 revolutions per minute, the device separates blood plasma from red cells in 1.5 minutes, no electricity required. A centrifuge is critical for detecting diseases such as malaria, African sleeping sickness, HIV and tuberculosis. This low-cost version will enable precise diagnosis and treatment in the poor, off-the-grid regions where these diseases are most prevalent.

Video (YT ~3 mins.): https://goo.gl/Yi7yNC

Image: https://goo.gl/J5OXwU

Kevin Clift's photos

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Kevin Clift

Popular Science -

Kevin Clift originally shared:

Cold War

There is what one might call a Cold War taking place at the South Pole, but the battle is being fought with Antarctic architecture which, as a result, is becoming increasingly exotic, like something from Science Fiction.

The Belgian contribution shown in the video is designed to produce zero emissions unlike the British base which still relies on fossil fuels. The American base is Atomic Powered!

What is the explanation for this architectural flamboyance?

"Antarctic stations have become the equivalent of embassies on the ice," says Prof Anne-Marie Brady, editor-in-chief of the Polar Journal and author of China as a Polar Great Power.

"They are showcases for a nation's interests in Antarctica - status symbols."

Those interests could be purely scientific. But a moratorium on mineral prospecting runs out in just over 40 years' time, and every Antarctic player also wants to be ready to take advantage, should it not be extended.

Planting a dramatic building on the ice has become the modern equivalent of explorers of old planting a flag.

More here (pics and article): https://goo.gl/50APNd

📖
Under intense pressure from environmental groups, Australia and France decided not to sign CRAMRA in 1989. As the CRAMRA required ratification by all the Treaty nations, this meant that the agreement failed to come into force. By 1990, Australia and France had been joined by New Zealand, Italy and Belgium and together they proposed a comprehensive environmental protection convention for Antarctica. Others, including the UK, Japan and the USA argued against a permanent ban on mining.

More here (BAS Mining): https://goo.gl/uaMNhG

📖
1991/10/04
Climaxing a long campaign by environmental groups to turn the Antarctic into a "world park," 24 countries, including the United States, signed an agreement today to ban mineral and oil exploration in the continent for at least 50 years.

The agreement, which was hailed as historic by governments and environmental groups alike, also includes new regulations for wildlife protection, waste disposal, marine pollution and continued monitoring of the Antarctic, which covers nearly one-tenth of the world's land surface.

More here (article): https://goo.gl/7BhIx4

Video: https://goo.gl/YTF6oX

Construction

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Gianmario Scotti (Mario)

Popular Science -

Dr. Bloom briefly but methodically dissects why research on curcumin's medical effects has been almost entirely bunk. I won't quote from the article, only say that there does not seem to be any proof whatsoever that curcumin helps with arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, or cancer. No in vitro experiment translated to in vivo results.

By the way, this is the sort of popular science article that is worth sharing and reading. Not surprisingly, the author is an actual scientist.

http://www.acsh.org/news/2017/01/14/turmeric-new-superfood-oops-superfad-10732

Turmeric- The New Superfood. Oops. Superfad. | American Council on Science and Health

acsh.org

It never stops. As regularly as the earth rotates (and about as often too), there will be some shyster trying to sell you something that will take all of your troubles away. And they are doing quite well in the process of separating you from your money. They are super-good at this, but the products inevitably ...

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Kevin Clift

Popular Science -

Kevin Clift originally shared:

Predator-Prey

Access to a 500 frames per second Edgertonic high-speed video camera has allowed a team of researchers from San Diego State University and University of California Riverside, to study the sometimes fatal, and therefore highly evolved predator-prey ballet, that takes place in milliseconds, between a Mohave Rattlesnake, (Crotalus scutulatus) and a Merriam’s Kangaroo Rat, (Dipodomys merriami) in the wild rather than in a laboratory setting.

This study is the first to quantify the biomechanics of natural predator-prey interactions between rattlesnakes and their prey. In fact, studies that quantify the dynamics of prey capture by vertebrates in the wild are rare, often tracking the predator via accelerometers or animal-borne cameras (e.g. cheetahs, birds, and whales). Although these are extremely valuable approaches, they often cannot record the critical movements of the prey item during the interaction. Alternatively, some situations facilitate the recording of an event with a specified volume (e.g. fishes), although these often focus only on the predator or the prey, not both. Due to the predictability of the location of the predator strike, the sit-and-wait predation of rattlesnakes permits the tracking of both predator and prey within a specified volume.

Nature Paper (open): https://goo.gl/n2Xsoh

Rulon Clark SDSU: https://goo.gl/hdmzS8

Higham Lab UC Riverside: https://goo.gl/HCY1Qe

Video (YT 18 secs): https://goo.gl/QhJJy5 (YT 10 secs.): https://goo.gl/JlhAun

Image: https://goo.gl/yK20Qr

Kevin Clift's photos

142

22 comments

Kevin Clift

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You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed them.

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Popular Science -

An international team of scientists, using resources at the +Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at PNNL, developed a biogeochemical model that integrates data to explain key metabolic processes in oxygen-starved waters off the western coast of Canada. Read more at https://goo.gl/szOvBH.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)'s photos

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Kevin Clift

Popular Science -

Kevin Clift originally shared:

Mineral Eyes

These adjustable plates are from an armour-plated mollusc called a Chiton, in this case an Acanthopleura granulata. Chitons (not to be confused with the material Chitin) are a kind of aquatic woodlouse (pill bug) so-to-speak, and remarkably a Chiton (at least an Acanthopleura granulata) is not only able to roll into a hardened ball, if pried from its intertidal rocks by a hungry predator, but can actually see the threat coming with many hundreds of toughened, protected and replaceable mineral eyes embedded into its dorsal shell plates.

Unlike most eyes we know about, including ours, that are made of protein, Chiton eyes the first to be found that are made of a kind of calcium-carbonate called Aragonite in a crystalline form. It is proposed that given their intertidal habitat these eyes have evolved to resolve a threat equally through water and through air.

The researchers examined the microscopic structure of these aragonite eyes, comparing them with the surrounding armor structure. They also ran experiments and simulations to reveal that the eyes are more than just light-sensitive spots; they actually resolve images. From more than 6 feet away, chitons can see a blur representing a small fish. This gives them time to clamp down hard on the rock below so the potential predator can't dislodge them, Li said.

Sight has its costs, though. The researchers found that the aragonite eye structures are not as strong as the surrounding armor. Though the two are made of the same mineral, the aragonite in the eyes has a different crystalline structure. That different structure, along with a pore space beneath the eyes, makes them weaker. Thus, they fracture more easily.

More here: https://goo.gl/LhN2xn

Chiton (Wikip): https://goo.gl/yxsNVq
(see more pics)

Hundreds of ocelli are embedded in the dorsal shell plates of certain chitons [ 1 ]. These ocelli each contain a pigment layer, retina, and lens [ 2 ], but it is unknown whether they provide chitons with spatial vision [ 3 ]. It is also unclear whether chiton lenses are made from proteins, like nearly all biological lenses, or from some other material [ 4 ]. Electron probe X-ray microanalysis and X-ray diffraction revealed that the chiton Acanthopleura granulata has the first aragonite lenses ever discovered. We found that these lenses allow A. granulata's ocelli to function as small camera eyes with an angular resolution of about 9°–12°. Animals responded to the sudden appearance of black, overhead circles with an angular size of 9°, but not to equivalent, uniform decreases in the downwelling irradiance. Our behavioral estimates of angular resolution were consistent with estimates derived from focal length and receptor spacing within the A. granulata eye. Behavioral trials further indicated that A. granulata's eyes provide the same angular resolution in both air and water. We propose that one of the two refractive indices of the birefringent chiton lens places a focused image on the retina in air, whereas the other does so in water.

Paper (closed): https://goo.gl/H9PV8z

Image: Invertzoo https://goo.gl/pQIVxU

Kevin Clift's photos

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Otto Hunt

Life -

Here is a fascinating discussion on how multicellular critters came about. I have long known about the hypothesis that mitochondria were once independent life forms. Now it appears we are closer to peeking at the mitochondria-free bacterium.

Physics Forums originally shared to Advances in Medicine and Biology (Basic Biology):

Humans, other animals, plants, fungi and almost all other forms of complex, multi-cellular life are known as eukaryotes. How eukaryotes evolved from simpler prokaryotic organisms is a major question in evolutionary biology. The current view is that eukaryotes evolved from the fusion between a bacterium (which would eventually become the mitochondrion) and an archaeal host through a process called endosymbiosis. Until recently, the identity of the archaeal host had been mysterious.

New Findings on the Evolution of Complex Cellular Life

Physics Forums

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BBSRC

Life -

High-sugar diet programmes a short lifespan in flies

Flies with a history of eating a high sugar diet live shorter lives, even after their diet improves. This is because the unhealthy diet drives long-term reprogramming of gene expression, according to a UCL-led team of researchers.

The BBSRC-funded study, published in Cell Reports, discovered that the action of a gene called FOXO is inhibited in flies given a high sugar diet in early life, causing long-term effects. The FOXO gene is important for longevity in a wide variety of species, including yeast, flies, worms and humans.

See the full press release here:
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/health/2017/170111-pr-high-sugar-diet-programmes-a-short-lifespan-in-flies/

And the full paper
Nutritional Programming of Lifespan by FOXO Inhibition on Sugar-Rich Diets
http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(16)31719-3

11 January 2017 - High-sugar diet programmes a short lifespan in flies - BBSRC

bbsrc.ac.uk

Investing in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public.

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AstroCamp

Earth -

Have you ever wanted to move the rain indoors, or wondered how rain is made? The answers to your questions (as well as a fun at-home experiment) are in our newest AstroCamp blog! http://astrocampschool.org/diy-rain/

DIY: Rain in a Bottle - Astrocamp School

astrocampschool.org

Try this easy 3 step process to create your our rain in a bottle!

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Science on Google+

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Science on Google+ is a community moderated by scientists, for all people interested in science, both professionals and the general public. The primary goal of this community is to bring real scientists to the public, for science outreach. A secondary and long-term goal is to create an environment that fosters interdisciplinary collaborations; thus, enabling and promoting cloud collaboration between scientists. See Guidelines and Rules section for additional details.

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Brian Weir

Physical -

This was our big challenge for the first semester. Take 6 groups each with a different part of a Rube Goldberg machine and then combine them together. The video has three sections, Videos spliced to show what we were hoping for, videos spliced but in slow motion, and finally the actual try, which by the way actually performed the task of flipping a water bottle, as that is the current trend going around at our school at least. After multiple trials we were not able to get all 36 parts to work on a single try. Somewhere, some part would always fail, but all parts worked multiple times. It was entertaining to say the least. Kids were excited.

Rube Goldberg Machine Physical Science Class 2016

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Popular Science -

Identifying the right algae species for biofuel production can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Now, researchers at PNNL are leading a new project to develop a streamlined process to pare down numerous algae species to just a few – those that hold the most promise for #biofuel production. Learn more at https://goo.gl/QvRZSN.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)'s photos

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

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1
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Diversifying our energy portfolio is certainly a benefit, Mike!

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Anton Ilango

Popular Science -

Savannah chimps make spears to hunt Bushbabies
Genus: Pan
Species: P. troglodytes
Subspecies: P. t. verus

Though humans used the spears to hunt animals, can you imagine an animal using a spear to hunt another vertebrate. Despite our notion of human uniqueness, scientists now discovered Savannah chimps (Pan troglodytes verus) living in Fongoli area of south-east Senegal, are capable of hunting with the spear they make. The step by step process of making spears (~ 63 cm) involves from locating the approximate branch, breaking and trimming its tip to the point. Scientists were able to recover and analyse 12 of 26 different types of pointed spears they made for aggressive hunting?.
They used these pointed spears to hunt one of the cutest primates called Bushbabies (Galago senegalensis), which are nocturnal species. Hunting occurs during the daytime, when Bushbabies sleeps in their hollows in trees. They exert full force when inserting the pointed spears into the hollows and make multiple downward stabs. After the hunt, the hunter eats first, and the rest is sometimes shared.

Study links: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(07)00801-9
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/2/4/140507

Photos by J. D. Pruetz , P. Bertolani , K. Boyer Ontl , S. Lindshield , M. Shelley , E. G. Wessling [CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Anton Ilango's photos

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Massimo Luciani

Popular Science -

An article published in the journal "Nature" - it's paywalled, you can read U of T's press release at https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-undergrad-leads-team-paleontologists-classifying-mysterious-ancient-cone-shaped-sea - describes a research on Haplophrentis carinatus and in general of the group of hyoliths, animals that lived during the Cambrian period, starting from about 530 million years ago. A team of researchers from the University of Toronto found evidence that these animals are related to the brachiopods (phylum Brachiopoda), marine invertebrates that existed at the time of which some species still exist today.

A classification for hyoliths

english.netmassimo.com

A blog about technologies, science, books and other stuff, especially science fiction

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Srishty MnGuttae

Ask the Community -

What is dark matter?
Where is it found?

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Carmen Drahl

Popular Science -

Meet the world's tightest molecular knot, reported by chemists today. Its complex braided structure could someday be the basis for advanced materials. http://www.forbes.com/sites/carmendrahl/2017/01/13/chemists-have-braided-molecules-to-make-the-tightest-knot-ever/#5f5d9f693bf7

Chemists Have 'Braided' Molecules To Make The Tightest Knot Ever

Forbes

And you thought square knots were tough to tie. Here's why scientists are excited about a tiny new knot, the most complex we've seen yet.

105

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BBSRC

Life -

Scientists develop new antibiotic for gonorrhoea

Scientists at the University of York have harnessed the therapeutic effects of carbon monoxide-releasing molecules to develop a new antibiotic which could be used to treat the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea.

The infection, caused by the bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae, has developed a highly drug-resistant strain in recent years, and there are concerns that the second most common sexually transmitted infection in England is becoming untreatable.

Read the full release here:
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/health/2017/170111-pr-scientists-develop-new-antibiotic-for-gonorrhoea/

And the paper:
Toxicity of tryptophan manganese(I) carbonyl (Trypto-CORM), against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/md/c6md00603e#!divAbstract

11 January 2017 - Scientists develop new antibiotic for gonorrhoea - BBSRC

bbsrc.ac.uk

Investing in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public.

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Kevin Clift

Popular Science -

Kevin Clift originally shared:

Harriet Mead

Heavy metal artist, Harriet Mead, turns steel and sometimes scrap metal combined with other found objects into vibrant wildlife art that looks like it's about to spring back into life. This year she is the president of The Society of Wildlife Artists.

I have worked hard to get 8 pieces made for the exhibition, amongst them is ‘Funnel’ a cuckoo chick being fed by a reed warbler. This sculpture was inspired by a visit to a private nature reserve specifically to observe cuckoo young in warbler nests as part of the SWLA/BTO Flight Lines project. This project looks at the story of our summer migrants. Selected artists spent time with researchers and field biologists from the British Trust for Ornithology and the resulting work will culminate in a book to be published next year.

More here: https://goo.gl/kwt3fH

I use steel to create my sculptures as it enables me to capture the movement of the subject and balance the pieces in a way that would be impossible if I were using a more traditional material. I try very hard to capture the essence of the animal without sentimentality and use the steel in a sympathetic way to outline the strength and muscle structure of the subject. I want to capture something of the quiet presence of an animal and not necessarily the drama. I use scrap steel as the rust creates a wonderful organic surface sympathetic to the subject.

Most of my larger work is made using sheet steel with scrap pieces incorporated for details. These sculptures are often life sized and are sometimes mistaken for bronzes or even the real thing. I also make ‘found object’ sculptures that are made entirely of scrap tools and discarded metal items. I love making these pieces as the work is a quirky combination of other people’s junk and my love of the subject. I sometimes say that I make natural history out of agricultural history. The found object work is often inspired by one item that then takes me on a journey to the finished creature. The Secateur Billed Vulture was one such piece that started with a pair of seized pruners and ended up with a life sized vulture.

More here (about): https://goo.gl/6dJ5ui

The Society of Wildlife Artists: https://goo.gl/QjOsqE

Image: https://goo.gl/4sKg2G
Cuckoo chick being fed by a Reed Warbler by Harriet Mead.

Kevin Clift's photos

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Kevin Clift

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I think you may be referring to this news: Biologists discover how viruses hijack cell's machinery https://goo.gl/GugbSf

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Bitesz. com

Popular Science -

Bitesz. com originally shared:

Now available - YouTube edition of SpaceTime with Stuart Gary S20E03

Strange Rare Galaxy Discovered - SpaceTime with Stuart Gary S20E03

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Washington State University

Life -

BIOLOGY: Unique Microbial Photosynthesis Discovered
A new type of cooperative photosynthesis that could be used in engineering microbial communities for waste treatment and bioenergy production has been discovered by Washington State University researchers, as reported in "Nature Communications." See WSU News at https://lnkd.in/gJeAJnR

#bioengineering #chemicalengineering #biology #chemistry #photosynthesis #PNNL #DOE #WSU #GoCougs #SouthernIllinoisUniversity #SIU

Washington State University's photos

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