Clipmarks |

great Images of the Contemporary Mind

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:18:51 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: A beautiful collection of the works illustrators that make the articles of the time magazine so attractive to read
David Plunkert and Leigh Wells works

Clip Source: www.time.com

Illustration for TIME by David Plunkert

Clip Source: folioplanet.com

Clip Source: www.time.com

Illustration for TIME by Leigh Wells

Clip Source: www.theispot.com

parts of earliest genetic material may have come from the stars

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:47:08 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: physorg.com

Scientists confirm that parts of earliest genetic material may have come from the stars

Scientists have confirmed for the first time that an important component of early genetic material which has been found in meteorite fragments is extraterrestrial in origin, in a paper published on 15 June 2008.

The finding suggests that parts of the raw materials to make the first molecules of DNA and RNA may have come from the stars.

The scientists, from Europe and the USA, say that their research, published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, provides evidence that life's raw materials came from sources beyond the Earth.

The materials they have found include the molecules uracil and xanthine, which are precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA, and are known as nucleobases.

The team discovered the molecules in rock fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969.

Tags: genetics, meteors, stars

Thinking ahead: Bacteria anticipate coming changes in their environment

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:03:33 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: To test this idea, the researchers exposed a population of E. coli to different temperatures and oxygen changes, and measured the gene responses in each case. The results were striking: An increase in temperature had nearly the same effect on the bacterium's genes as a decrease in oxygen level. Indeed, upon transition to a higher temperature, many of the genes essential for aerobic respiration were practically turned off.

To prove that this is not just genetic coincidence, the researchers then grew the bacteria in a biologically flipped environment where oxygen levels rose following an increase in temperature. Remarkably, within a few hundred generations the bugs partially adapted to this new regime, and no longer turned off the genes for aerobic respiration when the temperature rose.

Clip Source: physorg.com

A new study by Princeton University researchers shows for the first time that bacteria don't just react to changes in their surroundings -- they anticipate and prepare for them.

The findings, reported in the June 6 issue of Science, challenge the prevailing notion that only organisms with complex nervous systems have this ability.

"What we have found is the first evidence that bacteria can use sensed cues from their environment to infer future events,"

The research team, which included biologists and engineers, used lab experiments to demonstrate this phenomenon in common bacteria. They also turned to computer simulations to explain how a microbe species' internal network of genes and proteins could evolve over time to produce such complex behavior.

Tags: biology

Your weekend awwwww....

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:23:05 GMT

clipped by: swampfoxz
clipper's remarks: Rabbit Rehab, Cindy Wilder, A Wild Heart

Clip Source: www.agpix.com

Rabbit Rehab, Cindy Wilder, A Wild Heart

Tags: awwwww

'Microscope on a chip' to give four times the detail

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:36:21 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: technology.newscientist.com

A planned electron microscope small enough to fit onto a fingertip will be four times more powerful than the best microscopes available today, say its designers. Other experts say they are on the right track, but are sceptical that the resolution gains will be so large.

Scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) focus a beam of electrons instead of light, and can capture stunning images of tiny structures with a 3D appearance, like the pollen grains pictured (right).

The very best can distinguish structures as small as 0.05 nanometres – roughly the distance between a hydrogen nucleus and its electron – but around 10 nm is more typical. The limit is imposed by imperfections in the electromagnets that act as lenses to focus the high-energy electron beam.

Tags: microscope, chip, technologu

Urban Ruins - An artist's perspective

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:21:05 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: A fascinating exploration. Visit the website for many more eerie yet beautiful place

Clip Source: www.opacity.us

Exploration and Urban Decay

Once a building no longer serves its purpose, and all of its functionality ceases to exist, it becomes truly fascinating. Each room is transforming into something new at its own rate, yielding to the forces of nature as it reclaims man's creation.

Each object left behind becomes more significant than it has ever been, hinting at the life prior to its disuse. Floors collapse and walls cave in without care; if you get hurt, no one is here to help you.

This site, started in 2002, is basically an account of the various abandonments I have explored and the photographs I have taken.

Yes, many of the places on here are not named to protect their integrity, and to prevent this web site from becoming a "shopping list" of places to explore or vandalize.

Clip Source: www.opacity.us

Tags: photography, art, urban ruins

Cloak of Silence: no more noisy neighbours

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:42:22 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Being woken in the dead of night by noisy neighbours blasting out music could soon be a thing of the past.

Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves.

The Spanish team who conducted the new work believe the key to a practical device are so-called "sonic crystals".

These artificial composites - also known as "meta-materials" - can be engineered to produce specific acoustical effects.

Sound waves are channelled around an object by sonic crystals

"Unlike ordinary materials, their acoustic properties are determined by their internal structure," explained Professor Pendry.

These would be used to channel any sound around an object, like water flowing around a rock in a stream.

Tags: acoustic cloak, soundproofing

Man Bleeds To Death While Cops Check For Warrants

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:24:36 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Whatever happened to "To Protect & Serve"?

Clip Source: www.sun-sentinel.com

A Pompano Beach woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale, claiming officers refused to help her husband as he bled to death in the back of an SUV.

Chad Randall was heading to the hospital after a stray bullet struck him at a Fort Lauderdale barbecue on Oct. 29, 2006, when the driver pulled over after spotting police in the 1000 block of North Federal Highway, according to suit filed by Marie Anderson, 27. Someone got out of the car and flagged the officers down, she said.

Instead of helping, the officers patted down the vehicle's occupants and checked for outstanding warrants, Anderson claims in the suit filed May 20. Randall's brother told the officers that there was a man bleeding in the back of the vehicle, Anderson said.

the four or five men who sat by helplessly watching Randall die estimate they were delayed between one and two hours before help arrived, attorney Douglas Bates said.

3-D Viewing without Goofy Glasses

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:52:19 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: As with earlier techniques, the illusion requires specially-created content to start with. In this case, a digital movie file effectively has two frames for each ordinary movie frame. The first is an ordinary color image, identical to what would be seen on a two-dimensional screen. A second frame, rather than showing a second offset view, encodes information about how viewers should perceive depth in the first frame. It appears as a grayscale version of the first, with white indicating foreground objects, black denoting deep background, and shades of gray indicating points in between.

Clip Source: www.kurzweilai.net

Philips' WOWvx displays--which allow viewers to perceive high-quality 3-D images without the need for special glasses--are now beginning to appear in shopping malls, movie-theater lobbies, and theme parks worldwide.

The technology uses image-processing software, plus display hardware that includes sheets of tiny lenses atop LCD screens. The lenses project slightly different images to viewers' left and right eyes, which the brain translates into a perception of depth.

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

a combination of advances in computer image processing and industrial optics has allowed companies like Philips to develop their glasses-free technique.

Tags: 3d displays

Amazing Antarctica

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:59:53 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.aad.gov.au

Australia has collected data on ice flow, ice thickness and other ice sheet characteristics in East Antarctica for over 50 years. These data allow researchers to calibrate and validate new satellite measurements of the ice sheet and to develop models used to project the ice sheet's response to climate change.

Clip Source: images.aad.gov.au

Clip Source: www.aad.gov.au

The intense cold of the Antarctic ice sheet affects the global climate system through changes in surface energy and moisture, clouds, precipitation, and atmospheric and ocean circulation. If the Antarctic ice sheet melted, it would raise global sea level by nearly 60 metres. However, the response of the ice sheet to global warming is the largest unknown in projecting future sea level over the next 100-1000 years.

Clip Source: images.aad.gov.au

Clip Source: www.aad.gov.au

Clip Source: images.aad.gov.au

NASA Plans to Visit the Sun

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:19:23 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The two mysteries prompting this mission are the high temperature of the sun's corona and the puzzling acceleration of the solar wind:

Mystery #1—the corona: If you stuck a thermometer in the surface of the sun, it would read about 6000o C. Intuition says the temperature should drop as you back away; instead, it rises. The sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, registers more than a million degrees Celsius, hundreds of times hotter than the star below. This high temperature remains a mystery more than 60 years after it was first measured.

Mystery #2—the solar wind: The sun spews a hot, million mph wind of charged particles throughout the solar system. Planets, comets, asteroids—they all feel it. Curiously, there is no organized wind close to the sun's surface, yet out among the planets there blows a veritable gale. Somewhere in between, some unknown agent gives the solar wind its great velocity. The question is, what?

Clip Source: physorg.com

For more than 400 years, astronomers have studied the sun from afar. Now NASA has decided to go there. "We are going to visit a living, breathing star for the first time," says program scientist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA Headquarters. "This is an unexplored region of the solar system and the possibilities for discovery are off the charts."

The name of the mission is Solar Probe+ (pronounced "Solar Probe plus"). It's a heat-resistant spacecraft designed to plunge deep into the sun's atmosphere where it can sample solar wind and magnetism first hand. Launch could happen as early as 2015

At closest approach, Solar Probe+ will be 7 million km or 9 solar radii from the sun.

There, the spacecraft's carbon-composite heat shield must withstand temperatures greater than 1400o C and survive blasts of radiation at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft.

Tags: space, astrophysics, sun

Tiger Pictures

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:11:07 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Siberian tigers are among the world's most endangered species. They are estimated to number less than 500 in the wild. In about 100 years only a dozen white tigers have been seen in the wild in India.
Other Photos at the website include:

A 26-day-old endangered Sumatran tiger cub cuddles up to a 5-month-old female orangutan

One of Australia's only two 'tigons,' a man-made hybrid created by crossing a male tiger with a lioness, licks its lips at the National Zoo. Bearing the stripes of a tiger and the physique of a lioness, tigons are usually infertile.

An Indian Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris) walks in a pool at a zoo

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

A Sumatran tiger cub from Indonesia

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

ndian white Bengal tigers play in a water pond

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Most carnivores have eyes pointing forward on their head, which help when hunting their prey

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Three baby tigers are presented to the public at the zoo in Hoyerswerda

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Less than 100 white Bengal tigers are thought to exist

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Usually two or three cubs are born after a gestation period of about 100 days

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Aragorn is the first snow-white tiger to be born in Germany

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

This Sumatran tiger, Duma, lays with one of her three cubs

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

A five-year-old White Bengal Tiger dives into the water for a piece of meat

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Tigers range in length from about 5 feet to more than 9 feet, excluding a 2-3 foot tail

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Tony, a Siberian Tiger, yawns as he walks through his renovated big cat grotto

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

The zoo offers the tigers fake preys to trigger their natural behavior

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

A Sumatran tiger takes an interest in the public through the viewing glass of his new home

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

Tigers spend between 16 and 20 hours resting each day

Clip Source: animals.howstuffworks.com

One of four newly born Siberian tiger cubs in Denmark

Tags: sumatran, white bengal, siberian

Google Tools Will Tell You If Your ISP Is Slowing Down Your Connection

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:53:04 GMT

clipped by: Beholder

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

Its senior policy director, Richard Whitt, says that they're cooking up software that'll tell you if your ISP is screwing with or slowing down your connection because you're hogging too much bandwidth, and what exactly they're doing to it. (There's already some available, BTW, since Whitt didn't mention a release date.) But it's not necessarily because they believe willy nilly in net neutrality.

Google just thinks that you have a right to know what your ISP is doing. If your ISP won't tell you, you should have the tools to figure out. In fact, according to one article cited by Hot Hardware, when net neutrality first started becoming an issue, at first Google considered just going along with ISPs: "We would come out fine—a non-neutral world would be a good world for us." Do no evil, eh?

Tags: net neutrality, google

Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway,

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:26:57 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.creativegraymatter.com

What do you get when you combine the innovation of MagLev technology with solar power, hydrogen fuel, and a futuristic aesthetic?

The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway, or the Traveler- a ground-breaking solar powered, hydrogen-fueled, zero emission mass transit system that would carry everything from people to cars in sustainable style and carbon neutral function. The construction is set to begin this year, and would connect Ann Arbor and Detroit.

The highway is made up of a slew of systems called the rail conduit cluster and will provide a comprehensive integrated system of the public/private transit system and municipal infrastructure network. It would serve as public transport system AND distribute electricity, potable water, liquid waste, fiber optics, hydrogen, oxygen, and fuels.

Before the beginning of the universe

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:39:51 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Alan Guth of MIT, who first proposed the inflation theory nearly three decades ago, says he suspects “the reported lopsidedness will more likely turn out to be a fluke.” However, he adds, “the concept of inflation is really only the framework of a theory, and so far experiment has given us very little guidance in trying to fill in the details.

Clip Source: www.kurzweilai.net

Caltech scientists have developed new models of the universe that account for the recent finding that temperature variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation over half the sky appear to be about 10 percent greater than the variations in the other half.

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

In one scenario, the universe existed before inflation — the short-lived but enormous growth spurt associated with the Big Bang. In the other scenario, the universe is but a tiny part of a primordial structure now grown so big it exceeds the horizon of the observable universe.

Either way, the explanations suggest “that something outside our observable universe or before the period of inflation left a relic, left some imprint on what we can observe today,” says Carroll, of Caltech.

Tags: cosmology