the-science-llama reblogged
The #SpyintheWildPBS miniseries kicks off this Wednesday with Episode One: Love
Will be interesting to see considering that these monkeys grieved when their robot friend ‘died’
the-science-llama reblogged
This Is an Actual Insect. This Is Not a Joke
Treehoppers are without a doubt nature’s most bizarre insects, having evolved into a huge range of shapes: some with jutting, curling heads, others that look like they have ants on their backs, and still others that do a spot-on impression of a fungus that invades other insects and erupts from their bodies. What you’re seeing is a highly modified pronotum, the segment just behind an insect’s head. But the problem, at least for the time being, is scientists would have a hard time telling you definitively what purpose they serve.
Read more (via wired.com)
Source: Wired
A new study has raised cautious optimism that an effective vaccine might finally become available... The vaccine — called PfSPZ because it is made from sporozoites (SPZ), a stage in the life cycle of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) — uses a weakened form of the whole parasite to invoke an immune response... The trial now needs to be repeated and extended in regions where malaria is rampant to test whether it provides protection against different strains of the parasite.
How Brains See Movement Researchers mapped mouse and fly brains in so much detail that they were able to reconstruct the interconnections neurons were making and (in the fly-brain study) figured out how they were detecting movement. It turns out there are neurons to detect up,down,left and right for flies and the previous mapping of the brain showed how those signals were detected.
To create the mouse brain connectome, they sliced a small section of brain consisting of over 900 nerve cells (about 3x that of the fly brain) into super-thin images and reconstructed it with computers and some help from humans. As you can see it is very intricate and this is only a small portion of a brain which is many times smaller than a humans. Plus this is only 0.06% of the retina, so mapping entire human brains might be a while from now but we do have things like Eyewire where anyone can help map them.
Honeycombs end up hexagonal just from a bit of physics
According to research published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, bees initially make circular cells and use their body heat to turn the wax into a viscous liquid. Then the surface tension at the 3-point junctions pulls the wax into a hexagonal shape. Apparently Charles Darwin had come up with this idea before but didn't have enough evidence to prove it. Via Nature
the-science-llama reblogged
showslow-deactivated20180412
Aerial photographs (that seem like paintings) of Volcanic Iceland by Andre Ermolaev
Let me just add a few more here because they are magnificent
Animal Eye Close-Ups
Source: surenmanvelyan.com
the-science-llama reblogged
Stibnite, Sb2S3.
Stibnite gets its name from the old word for the element antimony, stibium. This is also where antimony’s curious Sb symbol comes from. For this confusion, we have Jöns Jacob Berzelius to thank.
Hmm I wonder who first discovered the element Stibium Looks like it was known to the ancients for a while
Source: Wikipedia
Hurricanes/Typhoons viewed from Space
Typhoon Nabi - September 3, 2005
Hurricane Emily - July 17, 2005
Hurricane Dean - August 18, 2007
Hurricane Ivan (APOD)- September 11, 2004
Hurricane Emilia - July 2012
Typhoon Yuri - November 1991
-- Click the photos for captions
Source: the-science-llama
the-science-llama reblogged
At up to 36ft in length, the oarfish is the largest bony fish known to science and is thought to be responsible for many sea serpent legends. Although it lives in tropical and temperate waters worldwide, the oarfish is rarely caught or seen alive. Little is known about its behavior.
This thing is creepy o_O What's up with the weird dorsal fin on its head? The fin makes it kinda glamorous actually, for such a strange fish.
the-science-llama reblogged
The Floral X-rays of Brendan Fitzpatrick are just breathtaking. Check out more at the link.
Nature is full of numerical and geometric patterns, some we can see from the outside and some require that we take on a new perspective (just look at how those rose petals are stacked!!). Some of those patterns are probably coincidental, but some of them are likely a result of nature’s inner workings.
Want to explore more? Take a ride with Vi Hart through the mathematical patterns of pinecones, pineapples and flowers. And then discover the multitudes of mathematical patterns in nature with Cristóbal Vila’s amazing video Nature by Numbers.
What do you think? Are these patterns coincidental or are they proof of some inherent design rules in biology and nature?
This one is easily my favorite
Source: brendanfitzpatrick.com
Scientists have confirmed that, the electric currents seen coming from the seabed, are from bacteria that form into membrane-insulated filaments that harvest electrical energy from decomposing material in the seabed.
The researchers noticed that electrical currents were always present when this type of bacteria was present as well and when they pulled these thin filaments out of the seabed, the current would stop. This indicates that the connection was broken, just like any normal wire and in fact the researchers say the structure of the living wire is very similar to cables we would make.
The living wires harvest energy from decomposing materials like sulfides which can donate electrons to the wires that branch out into the seabed. This current can then be used by the ends of the wires that are exposed to water to fuel metabolism.
The living wires are actually on the nanoscale but can bundle up and also be centimeters long and contain up to thousands of kilometers of cable in about 10 square feet or a square meter. Via io9.com
the-science-llama reblogged
A Perilous Turquoise Beauty
In Indonesia, a volcano called Kawah Ijen towers up 2,600 metres above East Java. At its peak is the world’s largest acidic crater lake, 200 metres deep and filled with the brilliant turquoise flames of burning molten sulfur. This sulfur comes from an active gaseous vent on the lakeshore, and it is capitalized on by local mining operations: the gases are capped by a network of manmade pipes so that the sulfur consenses into a molten red liquid, which then solidifies into pure, bright yellow sulfur. Under the light of the moon, pitifully-paid miners trek up the volcano and face the noxious fumes with barely any protection, quarrying the rich, solid sulfur deposits by breaking it into manageable chunks. They then carry sulfur-laden baskets (weighing up to 90 kg) out of the crater and several long kilometres down to the weighing station—not just once, but several times a day. The sulfur is used in a variety of industrial processes, including vulcanizing rubber and bleaching sugar. Miners extract approximately 14 tons a day, which, incredibly, is just 20 percent of the volcano’s awe-inspiring daily deposit.
the-science-llama reblogged
A Venus Flytrap captures a wasp. (Kingdom of Plants - Sky)