Landmark experiment on wave interference from the early 1800s is revisited using gold nanoparticles

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In the eighteenth century, scientists faced a conundrum: is light a wave or a particle? One of strongest pieces of evidence to support the 'wave view'—the landmark double-slit experiment—was reported in 1804 by the scientist Thomas Young. Young passed coherent light through two closely spaced slits and observed a set of interference fringes, a result that occurs with wave phenomena like sound or water. This observation became the basis for the modern wave theory of light.



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Microgravity research helping to understand the fungi within

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You may not recognize it by name, but if you have ever had a child with a diaper rash, that child was likely a host to Candida albicans (C. albicans). This unwelcome "guest" can be hard to control, as it can potentially lead to serious illness in humans with weakened immune systems. During an investigation dubbed "Microbe," using the unique microgravity environment aboard space shuttle Atlantis on an International Space Station mission, researchers gained a better understanding of these prevalent fungi. Their tendency to become more aggressive in microgravity helps scientists see what mechanisms control the behavior of these types of organisms, with the potential to develop ways to influence their behavior both in space and on Earth.

via Science Daily

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Northern Lights Or Aurora Borealis, Tilton Lake, S Posters

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

Northern Lights Or Aurora Borealis, Tilton Lake, S Posters

tagged with: above, astrology, astronomy, aurora, beauty, blue, canada, city, dawn, daydreaming, dusk, evening, forest, green, idyllic, inspiration, lake, leadership, light, looking, looking up, majestic, morning, mystery, natural sciences, natural world, night, nobody, north america, ontario, outdoors, outer space, perseverance, physical science, powerful, pseudoscience, public land, purity, sciences, spirituality, stars, strength, sudbury, trees, twilight, water, wilderness area, woodland

ImageID: 42-24118648 / Mike Grandmaison / All Canada Photos/Corbis / Northern Lights Or Aurora Borealis, Tilton Lake, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

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Listen to a quartet sing while you watch a close-up of their vocal cords

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The human voice box is a strange and amazing thing. In this video of a quartet singing, you can see the voice box in action via laryngoscope — a tiny camera on a flexible tube inserted through the nose and down the throat.

First, you see the camera enter the nostril and continue over the back of the tongue until you see the larynx. The opening in the center is the entrance to the airway. The whitish bands on either side of the opening are the vocal cords. When they are open, that means the singer is taking a breath. When they are closed, the air is being pushed through them, making them...

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Volcanic islands merge in Pacific

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A volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean has merged with its neighbour to form one landmass, the US space agency says.
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How to avoid getting sick

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Even though spring is officially here, not a day goes by where I don't see someone sniffling or coughing. Here are seven simple tips to keep in mind that will help prevent cold and flu.

1. Wash your hands.
This is something you should be doing a lot. Most of what we do every day involves touch. Consider my local coffee shop, at least two — and often three — people touch that cup before it even gets to me. I'm not a germaphobe, yet if you're only going to do one thing, do this.

2. Don't pick your nose, rub your eyes, or otherwise touch your face.
My mom told me "this is the way...

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Hubble Stretches Stellar Tape Measure 10 Times Farther into Space

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Astronomers continue refining the precision of distance measurement techniques to better understand the dimensions of the universe. Calculating the age of the universe, its expansion rate, and the nature of a mysterious repulsive force called dark energy all depend on the precise distance measurements to stars and galaxies. If the astronomical yardsticks are off, the astronomical interpretation may be flawed. The most reliable method for making astronomical distance measurements is to use straightforward geometry where the 186-million-mile diameter of Earth's orbit is used to construct a baseline of a triangle, much as a land surveyor would use. If a target star is close enough, it will appear to zigzag on the sky during the year as a reflection of Earth's orbit about the Sun. This technique is called parallax. The stars are so far away that the angle of this parallax shift is incredibly tiny. An innovative new observing technique has extended Hubble's yardstick 10 times farther into our galaxy, out to a distance of 7,500 light-years from Earth.

via HubbleSite NewsCenter -- Latest News Releases

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/23/

Mars, Ceres, Vesta

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That bright, ruddy star you've recently noticed rising just after sunset isn't a star at all. That's Mars, the Red Planet. Mars is now near its 2014 opposition (April 8) and closest approach (April 14), looping through the constellation Virgo opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. Clearly outshining bluish Spica, alpha star of Virgo, Mars is centered in this labeled skyview from early April, that includes two other solar system worlds approaching their opposition. On the left, small and faint asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres are seen near star Tau Virginis. But you'll just have to imagine NASA's Dawn spacecraft cruising between the small worlds. Having left Vesta in September of 2012, Dawn's ion engine has been steadily driving it to match orbits with Ceres, scheduled to arrive there in February 2015. Of course, you can also look near Mars for the Moon opposite the Sun in Earth's sky on the night of April 14/15 ... and see a total lunar eclipse.

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30 Doradus Nebula Wall Graphic

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

30 Doradus Nebula Wall Graphic

tagged with: le0030, nasa, etoiles, les etoiles, astronomy, science, hubble, space, nebula, scientific, outer space, deep space, sky, nebulae, emission, star, stars, star cluster, hst, hubble telescope, doradus, tarantula, hubble space telescope, rust, brown, turquoise, green, celestial, cool

"NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped a panoramic portrait of a vast, sculpted landscape of gas and dust where thousands of stars are being born. This fertile star-forming region, called the 30 Doradus Nebula, has a sparkling stellar centerpiece: the most spectacular cluster of massive stars in our cosmic neighborhood of about 25 galaxies."

(qtd. from HubbleSite.org NewsCenter release STScI-2001-21)

Credit: NASA, N. Walborn and J. Maíz-Apellániz (STScI, Baltimore, MD), R. Barbá (La Plata Observatory, La Plata, Argentina)

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galaxy and stars iPad mini case

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!

galaxy and stars iPad mini case

tagged with: nasa, planets, space, galaxy, photo, hubble, telescope, stars

stars and planets photographed by the hubble telescope, for nasa,

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Beauty from chaos

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Beautiful streamlined islands and narrow gorges were carved by fast-flowing water pounding through a small, plateau region near the southeastern margin of the vast Vallis Marineris canyon system.

via ESA Space Science

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Beauty_from_chaos

Researchers develop technique to measure quantity, risks of engineered nanomaterials delivered to cells

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Thousands of consumer products containing engineered nanoparticles — microscopic particles found in everyday items from cosmetics and clothing to building materials — enter the market every year. Concerns about possible environmental health and safety issues with these nano-enabled products continue to grow, with scientists struggling to come up with fast, cheap, and easy-to-use cellular screening systems to identify possible hazards of vast libraries of engineered nanomaterials. However, determining how much exposure to engineered nanoparticles could be unsafe for humans requires precise knowledge of the amount (or dose) of nanomaterials interacting with cells and tissues such as lungs and skin. This is easy to determine with chemicals, but the challenge presented by nanoparticles suspended in physiological media is not trivial. Engineered nanoparticles in biological media interact with serum proteins and form larger agglomerates, which alter both their so-called effective density and active surface area, and ultimately define their delivery to cell dose and bio-interactions. This behavior has tremendous implications not only in measuring the exact amount of nanomaterials interacting with cells and tissue, but also in defining hazard rankings of various engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). As a result, thousands of published cellular screening assays are difficult to interpret and use for risk

The post Researchers develop technique to measure quantity, risks of engineered nanomaterials delivered to cells has been published on Technology Org.

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1. New tests for determining health and environmental effects of nanomaterials
2. U.S. National Study of Nanomaterial Toxicity Sets Stage for Policies to Address Health Risks
3. Nanomaterials inventory improved to help consumers, scientists track products

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You don't want to be beamed by these jets

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You don't want to be beamed by these jets
No such thing as 'lightly seared' if your galaxy is in it's path...

  #chandra #forwidersharing  

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NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory originally shared:

Chandra Flashback of the Day – 4C+29.30: Black Hole Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2013/4c2930/

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Earth Rising Over Moon Surface Poster

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

Earth Rising Over Moon Surface Poster

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ImageID: 42-17734567 / Bloomimage / Corbis / Earth Rising Over Moon Surface /

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Stellar Nursery R136 in the Tarantula Nebula Rectangle Sticker

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

Stellar Nursery R136 in the Tarantula Nebula Rectangle Sticker

tagged with: galaxies, dorneblmc, stellar nursery, 30 doradus nebula, large magellanic cloud, amazing hubble images, tarantula nebula, r136, star cluster, astronomy pictures, massive stars

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series Hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds in appear in this the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.
The movement of the LMC around the Milky Way may have triggered the massive cluster's formation in several ways. The gravitational tug of the Milky Way and the companion Small Magellanic Cloud may have compressed gas in the LMC. Also, the pressure resulting from the LMC plowing through the Milky Way's halo may have compressed gas in the satellite. The cluster is a rare, nearby example of the many super star clusters that formed in the distant, early universe, when star birth and galaxy interactions were more frequent.
The LMC is located 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.

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Image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3

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Crab Nebula Room Stickers

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

Crab Nebula Room Stickers

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"The Crab Nebula is the shattered remnant of a massive star that ended its life in a massive supernova explosion. Nearly a thousand years old, the supernova was noted in the constellation of Taurus by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054 AD.

"This view of the supernova remnant obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope shows the infrared view of this complex object. The blue-white region traces the cloud of energetic electrons trapped within the star's magnetic field, emitting so-called "synchrotron" radiation. The red features follow the well-known filamentary structures that permeate this nebula."

Read more at the JPL/Spitzer website.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Gehrz (University of Minnesota)

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Mars: Gusev Crater once held a lake after all, scientist says

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Evidence for an ancient 'Lake Gusev' on Mars has come and gone several times. That lake is looking pretty good today, thanks to new research. New research suggests floodwaters entered the crater through the huge valley that breaches Gusev's southern rim. These floods appear to have ponded long enough to alter the tephra, producing briny solutions. When the brines evaporated, they left behind residues of carbonate minerals. As the lake filled and dried, perhaps many times in succession, it loaded Comanche and its neighbor rocks with carbonates.

via Science Daily

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