Clipmarks | pokkets's 'light' clips

Glow worms turn on to a rhythm

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:49:29 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

An Australian researcher has foudn that glow worms switch their prey-catching light on and off to a daily rhythm.

Glow worms hang beads of mucus from an overhang to snare their prey (Source: Anthony O'Toole/UQ)

Dr David Merritt of the University of Queensland reports his findings in the current issue of the journal Biological Rhythms.

"A biological rhythm in the animal determines when they will turn on and when they will turn off," says Merritt.

Glow worms, not to be confused with fire flies, are larvae of a particular type of fly that only lives in Australia and New Zealand.

Special cells in the rear end of the animal produce light that is used to attract prey.

The larvae use strings of silk, beaded with sticky drops of mucus, to snare their victims that are attracted to the light.

"It's like a spider with its web," says Merritt.

"In the rainforest, the daylight causes them to switch off. They only turn on at night and turn off around dawn," he says.

Nanomaterial cleans up flourescent bulbs

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:41:55 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Household energy saving bulbs are a concern because of the mercury they contain, and the number that are starting to be used today, but another example was the long fluorescent bulbs, which may not burn out or break too often, but are often shipped in bulk to recyclers after a renovation, or demolition.
The compact fluorescent bulb use less mercury than incandescent bulbs running on electricity from coal, which releases mercury when burned.
The mercury from the CFL bulbs can be recovered.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Jessica Marshall

A new nanomaterial promises to clean up potentially nasty mercury spills that result from broken fluorescent light bulbs.

The mercury in a compact fluorescent light bulb takes several days to vapourise

The technology is timely as people are encouraged to switch from incandescent light globes to the energy-saving fluorescent form of lighting.

Research led by Professor Robert Hurt of Brown University has created a product that absorbs mercury 70 times better than the best available technology.

The results were presented at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society.

You are not supposed to vacuum it up. You can distribute the mercury around the house

It's very hard to imaging poisoning an adult with a CFL [compact fluorescent light bulb

the greatest release happens immediately

where it is associated with a solid powder

the risk would be greater

in a child's room or if several bulbs were to break at once

perhaps at a recycling location

Telescope spots monster galactic cluster

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:08:22 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: They theorize that the fact that it's 7.7 billion light years away (as far as they know) meant that it was before the acceleration due to dark energy made it impossible for galactic clusters that large to hold together.
It reminded me of a poem by Hughes Mearns.
'Antigonish'
As I was going up the stair,
I saw a star that wasn’t there.
It wasn’t there again today,
I wish, that star would stay away.
(I thought I'd adjust it to cover Light years, and dark matter.)

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A massive cluster of galaxies in deep space imaged spotted by an orbiting observatory can only be explained by the exotic phenomenon known as dark energy, say astronomers.

The huge galactic cluster, which appears as a blue cloud in this image, may help confirm the existence of dark energy

The observation was made by a team led by Georg Lamer of the Potsdam Astrophysics Institute, Germany, using the European Space Agency's (ESA) orbiting x-ray telescope XMM-Newton.

Their findings will appear in

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Intrigued by the indicators of scorching gases spewed out by x-ray sources, the team followed up by obtaining a deep exposure image of the region from a large binocular telescope in the Arizona desert.

Known by its catalogue number of 2XMM J083026+524133, the cluster's mass is about 1000 times that of our own galaxy and lies 7.7 billion light years from earth

in more recent times, massive galaxy clusters have lacked the gravitational glue to be able to form

Alex Jones: They're Censoring your reality

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:50:39 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: A lot of people criticize Alex Jones, because he has found evidence that shoots down the official line. I clipped one comment because it because it Summarized the video in a Sentence.

Everything in the darkness will be brought out into the light.
Vampires hate sunlight.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

YOU GOTTA BE FUCKIN KIDDING ME, 15 PAGES OF COMMENTS AND ONLY 229 VIEWS??????????????? RIIIIGHT (smh).....

Amateur spies gassy 'cosmic ghost'

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:10:35 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Some people get to name an object. Even fewer get to name a new class of object. Now we'll have people scanning the skies for Voorwerps. One day we might even discover what they are. I wonder if they come in different colours?

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A Dutch primary school teacher has discovered what some are calling a 'cosmic ghost', a strange, gaseous object with a hole in the middle that may represent a new class of astronomical object.

The green blob of gas, now known as Hanny's Voorwerp, is believed to be a 'light echo' from the bright, stormy centre of a distant galaxy that has now gone dim

Amateur astronomer Hanny van Arkel discovered the object while volunteering in the Galaxy Zoo project, which enlists the help of members of the public to classify galaxies online.

"At first, we had no idea what it was. It could have been in our solar system, or at the edge of the universe," says Galaxy Zoo co-founder and Yale University astrophysicist Dr Kevin Schawinski.

"What we saw was really a mystery

The Voorwerp didn't contain any stars."

Made entirely of very hot gas, the eerie green object is illuminated by remnant light from the nearby galaxy IC 2497.

Researchers will soon use the Hubble Space Telescope to get a closer look.

Surfing faster than the speed of light

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:06:23 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: I wonder how easy it will be to navigate with these drives. Will the passage of a vehicle through space-time in a bubble leave an imprint?
they could start some rifts around bottlenecks like docking stations.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Eric Bland

Future generations could be travelling across the universe faster than the speed of light, without breaking any astronomical road rules, by manipulating extra dimensions of space and time, according to two US physicists.

"We think we can create an effective warp drive, based on general relatively and string theory," says Dr Gerald Cleaver from Baylor University in the US, a coauthor of a paper that recently appeared on ArXiv.org.

The warp engine is based on a design first proposed in 1994 by Dr Michael Alcubierre.

The Alcubierre drive, as it's known, involves expanding the fabric of space behind a ship into a bubble and shrinking space-time in front of the ship. The ship would rest in between the expanding and shrinking space-time, essentially surfing down the side of the bubble.

The tricky part is that the ship wouldn't actually move; space itself would move underneath the stationary spacecraft.

The fabric of space has moved faster than light before

right after the Big Bang

Study puts urine in the spotlight

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:17:21 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: A light that can show signs of urinary tract infections These infections are easily treated, but first must be detected. This light can be part of an instant or even home analysis kit without the need to wait 24hours (usually in a queue) and two visits to the doctor or hospital. Of course if they are expensive, they can become part of the 'Neighborhood Watch' program, but how much can it cost to switch on a light globe?
Every chemical has a unique signature. It is also hoped this technique can be used to detect other diseases , such as cancer, each of which have flags in the urine, due to the kidneys ability, and tendency to eliminate toxins from the system.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Dani Cooper

Australian researchers are developing a simple fluorescent light test that could provide an almost instantaneous diagnosis for urinary tract infections.

The Macquarie University researchers presented their preliminary findings at the recent 21st Congress of the International Commission for Optics held in Sydney.

Researcher Professor Ewa Goldys, of the university's Department of Physics, says the research could lead to a home diagnosis kit that uses simple technology now available.

And they say the fluorescence test may also help provide early detection for the other disorders and diseases including cancer.

UTIs are the cause of about 60 in 1000 patient consultations annually and are estimated to account for 30% to 40% of all hospital-acquired infections.

She says although urinary tract infections can be easily treated with antibiotics it is important to have a rapid and inexpensive form of diagnosis to stop any worsening of the condition.

Origin of Vision discovered

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:32:10 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: Very cool stuff.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

You are reading these words right now because 600 million years ago, an aquatic animal called a Hydra developed light-receptive genes—the origin of animal vision.

It wasn't exactly 20-20 vision back then though.

Hydras, a genus of freshwater animals that are kin to corals and jellyfish, measure only a few millimeters in diameter and have been around for hundreds of millions of years.

Though they don't have eyes or any specific light-receptive organs, researchers think that the light-sensing proteins concentrated in the mouth area of the Hydras help them to use light sensitivity to search out prey.

"We now have a time frame for the evolution of animal light sensitivity," said study leader David Plachetzki, a UC Santa Barbara graduate student. "We know its precursors existed roughly 600 million years ago.

These findings, detailed in a recent issue of the online journal PLoS ONE, counter arguments by anti-evolutionists that evolution can only eliminate traits and cannot produce new features

Tags: origin, vision, sight, eyes, biology, evolution

Atom laser to keep spacecraft on track.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:39:33 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Models predict that the atom laser will be 11 orders of magnitude more sensitive than light laser gyroscopes, offering measurements that could be 100 billion times more precise.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

A laser beam that emits a continuous stream of atoms may one day help ultra-precise navigation of space craft, say Australian experts.

Travelling far from Earth, a space craft needs an independent way of knowing its location

Physicists Dr Nick Robins and colleagues from the Australian National University in Canberra report their progress on developing the first gyroscope of its kind, in the journal Nature Physics.

While atom lasers have been made before, research team member Associate Professor John Closesays the team has overcome a major barrier to developing a laser that pumps atoms continuously.

"It carries the promise of measuring at enormously increased precision," he says.

He says one application for this could be in a space craft that is too far away from earth to use a global positioning system.

Current gyroscopes often use light lasers to precisely measure rotation.

But Close says that atom lasers could provide much more accurate measurements by using "matter waves".

Australians set shining standard

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:47:02 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: They originally described the candela as the amount of light emitted by the average? candle. Since the definition has become more precise, but measurement is still improving. Here's the exact definition (for anyone that cares-don't ask me what a steradian is) from wikki:
Since the 16th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1979, the candela has been defined as:
The luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540×1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Errol Atkinson and colleagues from the National Measurement Institute have refined the measurement of the candela, the basic unit of brightness, to eliminate all but 0.1% of uncertainty.

They set the standard by measuring the light from a mercury-xenon lamp shone through a set of filters, and finally through a small 5 millimetre aperture in a piece of metal.

"These light sources have a very consistent light output," says Atkinson. It was using them that allowed the institute to reduce the potential error in its standards to 0.1%.

The candela plays an important role in defining international lighting standards, and is used for a wide range of applications from household light bulbs, through to techniques to identify faults in the manufacture of jet engine components.

Atkinson says that because the amount of light coming out of a substance is also closely linked to its temperature, the advance could lead to a change in the way the SI standard for temperature is defined.

Ridiculously Useful Websites

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:07:59 GMT

clipped by: TwilaMarie

Clip Source: www.webupon.com

15 Ridiculously Useful Websites

Web MD

Provides a reference for anyone looking to diagnose his or her symptoms or research medical issues. It is a good place to visit before making that, oh so expensive, trip to the doctor.

E-How

A reference site for just about everything else. Want to k now how to wax snow skis? Make pizza dough? Install a bathtub? This is the place.

Bartleby

One of the better academic research websites I've come across.

How Stuff Works

A very cool website that contains explanations of those mysteries in life that you just can't figure out. A few examples are Murphy's Law, Pickpockets, and Light Sabers (Yes, light sabers).

Musicovery

Seriously, the coolest music-related site I've seen. You choose the mood, intensity, and genres of the music you would like to hear and the site will provide you with a virtual web of music to explore. The web evolves with each choice you make. You can click on any song in the web at anytime.

Tags: useful, websites

Astronomers Select Top Ten Most Amazing Pictures Taken by Hubble Space Telescope in Last 16 Years

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 05:52:29 GMT

clipped by: venushugstress
clipper's remarks: These are so awesome, I wish I could have been there to take the pictures myself!

Clip Source: treebeard31.wordpress.com

Hubble telescope’s top ten greatest space photographs

The Sombrero Galaxy - 28 million light years from Earth

The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles

In third place is Nebula NGC 2392, called Eskimo because it looks like a face

face surrounded by a furry hood.

At four is the Cat’s Eye Nebula

The Hourglass Nebula, 8,000 light years away

In sixth place is the Cone Nebula. The part pictured here is 2.5 light years in

years in length (the equivalent of 23 million return trips to the Moon)

The Perfect Storm, a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years away

Starry Night, so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh painting.

The glowering eyes from 114 million light years away are the swirling cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207

The Trifid Nebula. A ’stellar nursery’, 9,000 light years from here, it is where new stars are being born.

Tags: fascinating, art

Orion twins show not all are identical

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 07:46:33 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The fact that the twins are different means the study of their eclipses, can shed more light on the formation of stars, and they are one of the yardsticks astronomers can use to test their theories on star formation. The information gained can help revise some theories that exist at the moment, including the ages of star types.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Irene Klotz

A pair of stars in the Orion nebula have shown astronomers that stars born at the same time, in the same parent cloud, don't necessarily have the same physical attributes.

The twins, known as Par 1802, reveal one is developmentally delayed compared to its partner

Par 1802 provides direct evidence that birth order in 'identical twin' stars can manifest itself as observable physical difference

says Vanderbilt University

Professor Keivan Stassun in the journal Nature

The discovery is more than a curiosity: Par 1802 is an eclipsing binary star system, meaning the twins periodically orbit in front of one another, relative to earth, temporarily and regularly blocking its partner's light.

Such phenomena are yardsticks for measuring stars' basic physical properties and for testing theories about stellar evolution.

The finding may mean that thousands of young stars may need to have their ages readjusted by as much as 20% for average-sized stars and 50% for low-mass stars like brown dwarfs.

New Research On Octopuses Sheds Light On Memory

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:39:13 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: It is not completely understood how these two systems are interconnected, if at all. However, the organization in the octopus demonstrates a sophistication that was not described yet in other animals. In the octopus, the short-term and long-term systems are working in parallel, but not independently. This is so because the long-term memory area -- in addition to its capacity to store long-term memories -- also regulates the rate at which the short-term memory system acquires short-term memories. This regulatory mechanism is probably useful in cases where faster learning is significant for the octopus' survival in emergency or risky situations.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Research on octopuses has shed new light on how our brains store and recall memory,

Why octopuses?

Octopuses and other related creatures, known as cephalopods, are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrates because they have relatively large brains and they can be trained for various learning and memory tasks, says Dr. Hochner.

Their behavior repertoire and learning and memory abilities are even comparable in their complexity to those of advanced vertebrates. However, they are still invertebrate mollusks with brains that contain a much fewer number of nerve cells and much simpler anatomical organization than that of vertebrate brains. This unique constellation was utilized to tackle one of the most interesting questions in modern neuroscience, which is how the brain stores and recalls memories

Tags: octopuse, memory

Experimenting in a galaxy far far away

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:49:52 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: While the readings confirm the laws of physics apply across the known universe,
if it had been any other way, it would not only have been a surprise, but physics textbooks would have to be rewritten.
Of course, the search has only just begun. The Radio Telescope is only a recent development, and much of what we know about the Universe, has been learned since the Hubble telescope became operational.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Stephen Pincock

Light from a distant galaxy is helping scientists confirm that the laws of physics here on earth also hold true in the far reaches of time and space.

Astrophysicist Dr Michael Murphy from Swinburne University in Melbourne, along with colleagues in Sydney, Taiwan and Germany, made their finding using radio-waves emitted by a quasar some 7.5 billion light years away.

Their results appear in the latest issue of the journal Science.

Quasars are thought to be super-massive black holes at the centres of some galaxies.

On its long journey to earth, the radiation from the quasar B0218+357 passes through a galaxy approximately 6 billion light years away, where it was partially absorbed by a cloud of ammonia.

The ammonia absorbs the radiation at very specific wavelengths

researchers used the measured radiation to

determine the molecule's unique 'bar code'.

"If the proton-electron mass ratio were different in the distant galaxy then we would see that in the bar-code."