Sunday 31 August 2014

Sunblock poses potential hazard to sea life

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The sweet and salty aroma of sunscreen and seawater signals a relaxing trip to the shore. But scientists are now reporting that the idyllic beach vacation comes with an environmental hitch. When certain sunblock ingredients wash off skin and into the sea, they can become toxic to some of the ocean’s tiniest inhabitants, which are the main course for many other marine animals. Their study appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology. Antonio Tovar-Sanchez and David Sánchez-Quiles point out that other than staying indoors, slathering on sunscreen is currently the best way to protect skin from the sun’s harmful rays. But when sunbathers splash into the ocean to cool off, some of their lotions and creams get rinsed into the water. The problem is that titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles, which are common ingredients in sunblock, can react with ultraviolet light from the sun and form new compounds, such as hydrogen peroxide, that could be toxic. High amounts of hydrogen peroxide can harm phytoplankton, the microscopic algae that feed everything from small fish to shrimp to whales. The scientists wanted to figure out just how serious of an impact beachgoers could be having on life in coastal waters.

The post Sunblock poses potential hazard to sea life has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Intense Exercise during Long Space Flights Helps Astronauts Protect Aerobic Capacity

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Many astronauts experience a dip in aerobic capacity during long space flights, which can impair their ability to perform complex and demanding routine tasks. In a new article, NASA researchers find that regular, intense in-flight exercise helps preserve cardiovascular stamina.

via Science Daily

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In the Shadow of Saturn Poster

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: shadow, saturn, nasa, outer, space, universe, galaxy, astronomy, solar, system, eclipse, sun, cassini, ring, new, rings, earth, color

In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn and slightly scattering sunlight, in the above exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the above image. Visible in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus, and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, visible on the image left just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth. Credit: CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA

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Which came last—The supernova or the red giant?

Science Focus

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A red giant star really is quite gigantic compared to our Sun.

Radioactive decay is a powerful tool. The predictable decay of radioactive isotopes can be used for far more than just dating old rocks. Scientists have used radioactive isotopes to determine the age of the Earth and the age of the Solar System itself. Now, a team of scientists has used radioactive dating to study the pre-history of the Solar System more accurately than before, in the process reconciling data that had seemed to be contradictory.

The contradiction came in the form of data from two different isotopes. The radioactive elements iodine-129 and hafnium-182 are found throughout meteoroids in the Solar System. The abundance of those elements, in relation to the abundance of their non-radioactive counterparts, should give estimates of the time when those elements were produced. The problem is that the date calculated from the iodine (~72 million years prior to the Sun’s formation) does not match the date from the hafnium (~15 million years). Since the two elements should have been produced in the same event (typically a supernova), this was quite a problem.

Both these isotopes are produced via a neutron-capture process. Under certain conditions, an atomic nucleus can pick up a loose neutron. While it remains the same element, it ends up being a different isotope with a different atomic weight. There are two known types of neutron-capture processes: the s-process and the r-process.

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 » see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/6BTfLBHGvLs/
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Laser makes microscopes way cooler

Science Focus

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Laser physicists have found a way to make atomic-force microscope probes 20 times more sensitive and capable of detecting forces as small as the weight of an individual virus. The technique, developed by researchers in the Quantum Optics Group of the Research School of Physics and Engineering in Australian National University, hinges on using laser beams to cool a nanowire probe to minus 265 degrees Celsius. “The level of sensitivity achieved after cooling is accurate enough for us to sense the weight of a large virus that is 100 billion times lighter than a mosquito,” said Professor Ping Koy Lam, the leader of the Quantum Optics Group. The development could be used to improve the resolution of atomic-force microscopes, which are the state-of-the-art tool for measuring nanoscopic structures and the tiny forces between molecules. Atomic force microscopes achieve extraordinarily sensitivity measurements of microscopic features by scanning a wire probe over a surface. However, the probes, around 500 times finer than a human hair, are prone to vibration. “At room temperature the probe vibrates, just because it is warm, and this can make your measurements noisy,” said Dr Ben Buchler,  a co-author of the research that is published in Nature Communications. “We

The post Laser makes microscopes way cooler has been published on Technology Org.

 
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 » see original post http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechnologyOrgPhysicsNews/~3/H62tj4Rr1M0/
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A sheepdog's 'two rules' for success

Science Focus

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Scientists produce a simple mathematical model that explains how a single sheepdog can herd a large number of sheep. 
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 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28936251#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Monogram Trifid Nebula, Messier 16 Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: breathtaking astronomy images, star forming nebulae, trfdnbl, star nurseries, galaxies, nebulae, star factory, trifid nebula, initials, initialled, star clusters, factories for stars, heavens, eso, vista, european southern observatory, monogram, monogrammed, monograms

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A fantastic picture from our universe featuring the massive star factory known as the Trifid Nebula.

It was captured in all its glory with the Wide-Field Imager camera attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in northern Chile.
So named for the dark dust bands that trisect its glowing heart, the Trifid Nebula is a rare combination of three nebulae types that reveal the fury of freshly formed stars and point to more star birth in the future. The field of view of the image is approximately 13 x 17 arcminutes.
It's an awe-inspiring, breathtaking image that reveals some of the wonder that is our universe.

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image code: trfdnbl

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Space Shuttle and Space Station Photographed Together

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Planetary Nebula Wall Decal

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: nebula, black, space, hole, turquoise, blue, green, stars, astronomy, awesome, clouds, gaseous, window, light

Awesome turquoise color gaseous clouds and stars in this nebula wall decal

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Tarantula Nebula Star Forming Gas Cloud Sculpture iPad Mini Cases

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: billowing interstellar gas clouds, awesome hubble images, star forming activity, star nurseries, tarantula nebula, triggering star formation, large magellanic cloud, hrbstslr tnlmcsfr, cosmological, galaxies, young hot stars

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series An awesome mobile phone shell featuring the Tarantula Nebula of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way, our galactic home. This Hubble image shows old stars from the distant past and rich, interstellar gas clouds feeding the formation of new ones. The most massive and hottest stars are intense, high-energy radiation sources and this pushes away what remains of the gas and dust, compressing and sculpting it. As the whorls and eddies clump and stretch it, gravity takes over and the birth of the next generation of new stars is triggered.
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image code: tnlmcsfr

Image credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA

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Chemical vapor detection using insect olfactory receptor complex

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Professor Shoji Takeuchi and former Project Lecturer Koji Sato at the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, have developed a bioinspired electrophysiology technique to record the vapor olfactory response of three-dimensional cell spheroids expressing insect olfactory receptor complexes. Hedonic scale of odor is one of the standard indexes used to evaluate Quality of life (QOL). Olfaction also has important biological roles in insect pathogen vectors throughout their life history. Thus, evaluation of odorants in the environment are important aspects of social life and public health. The olfactory receptors (OR) in the noses of dogs and other animals are sophisticated sensor elements for chemical vapors. Considerable effort has been expended to develop OR-based olfactory sensors. However, the detection of chemical vapors by reconstituted OR proteins has not yet been reported. In this study, the research group expressed insect OR complexes in cell spheroids and arranged them in a hydrogel microchamber array. The spheroids showed olfactory responses to their ligand, which diffused from chemical vapors through the thin surface aqueous layer. Using the same technique, the olfactory responsiveness of a malaria vector mosquito OR were examined. The difference between in vivo and in vitro ligand response suggests that certain compounds

The post Chemical vapor detection using insect olfactory receptor complex has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Whirlpool Galaxy M51 Posters

Here's a great poster featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: nasa, space, astronomy, prints, posters, photographs, hubble, telescope, beautiful, photography, pictures, picture, print, galaxy, galaxies, stars, star, gifts, gift, fantasy, science fiction

Whirlpool Galaxy M51 Poster.The graceful, winding arms of the majestic spiral galaxy M51 (NGC 5194) appear like a grand spiral staircase sweeping through space. They are actually long lanes of stars and gas laced with dust.
This sharpest-ever image of the Whirlpool Galaxy, taken in January 2005 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, illustrates a spiral galaxy's grand design, from its curving spiral arms, where young stars reside, to its yellowish central core, a home of older stars. The galaxy is nicknamed the Whirlpool because of its swirling structure.
The Whirlpool's most striking feature is its two curving arms, a of so-called grand-design spiral galaxies. Many spiral galaxies possess numerous, loosely shaped arms which make their spiral structure less pronounced. These arms serve an important purpose in spiral galaxies. They are star-formation factories, compressing hydrogen gas and creating clusters of new stars. In the Whirlpool, the assembly line begins with the dark clouds of gas on the inner edge, then moves to bright pink star-forming regions, and ends with the brilliant blue star clusters along the outer edge.
Some astronomers believe that the Whirlpool's arms are so prominent because of the effects of a close encounter with NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy at the outermost tip of one of the Whirlpool's arms. At first glance, the compact galaxy appears to be tugging on the arm. Hubble's clear view, however, shows that NGC 5195 is passing behind the Whirlpool. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years.
As NGC 5195 drifts by, its gravitational muscle pumps up waves within the Whirlpool's pancake-shaped disk. The waves are like ripples in a pond generated when a rock is thrown in the water. When the waves pass through orbiting gas clouds within the disk, they squeeze the gaseous material along each arm's inner edge. The dark dusty material looks like gathering storm clouds. These dense clouds collapse, creating a wake of star birth, as seen in the bright pink star-forming regions. The largest stars eventually sweep away the dusty cocoons with a torrent of radiation, hurricane-like stellar winds, and shock waves from supernova blasts. Bright blue star clusters emerge from the mayhem, illuminating the Whirlpool's arms like city streetlights.
The Whirlpool is one of astronomy's galactic darlings. Located 31 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs), the Whirlpool's beautiful face-on view and closeness to Earth allow astronomers to study a classic spiral galaxy's structure and star-forming processes. Courtesy: NASA.

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Monogram Carina Nebula - Breathtaking Universe Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: stlrnrsry, star clusters, galaxies, stars, starfields, awesome astronomy pictures, constellation puppis, the stern, monogram, monograms, star nurseries, nebulae, european southern observatory, eso, vista, initials, initialled, monogrammed

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

A gorgeous set of oval stickers showing the area surrounding the stellar cluster NGC 2467, located in the southern constellation of Puppis ("The Stern"). With an age of a few million years at most, it is a very active stellar nursery, where new stars are born continuously from large clouds of dust and gas.

The image, looking like a colourful cosmic ghost or a gigantic celestial Mandrill, contains the open clusters Haffner 18 (centre) and Haffner 19 (middle right: it is located inside the smaller pink region - the lower eye of the Mandrill), as well as vast areas of ionised gas.

The bright star at the centre of the largest pink region on the bottom of the image is HD 64315, a massive young star that is helping shaping the structure of the whole nebular region.

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Image code: stlrnrsry

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Orion Nebula Wall Decal

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: space, nebula, colors, stars, gas, plume, black, astronomy, hubble, colorful, wall, decal, decor, decorations

Gas plume near the edge of the Orion Nebula as seen through the Hubble telescope

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Desiderata Poem, Constellation Cygnus, The Swan iPad Mini Cases

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: full desiderata, desiderata poem, noise and haste, go placidly, awesome hubble images, star forming activity, constellation cygnus, the swan, hrbstslr cygsb, cosmological, new star s106ir, star nurseries, young hot stars, interstellar gas clouds, star birth, glowing hydrogen, turbulence

Inspirational Guidance series

A gorgeous iPad Mini case featuring the full Desiderata by Max Ehrmann: Go placidly amidst the noise and haste... with an image of a star forming region in Constellation Cygnus (The Swan). This Hubble picture shows a dust-rich, interstellar gas cloud with a new-born star in the centre of the hour-glass shape.

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Image code: cygsb

Image credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA

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