In a move that is sure to separate the vampire community right down the middle, researchers at the University of Edinburgh have successfully made oxygen-carrying red blood cells. This is really great. Keith Richards can have as many as he wants, now. In movies, forget corn syrup! Why not get the real thing? And like I said: vampires will now be faced with a moral dilemma. My guess is them sticking with a live human neck.
via Inhabitat
A scientist has confirmed the occurrence of a mythical phenomenon, called tertiary rainbows – three rainbows arcing through the sky at once – with real photographs of the events.
Few people have ever claimed having seen the rare phenomena.
In fact, scientific reports of these phenomena, were so rare—only five in 250 years—that until now many scientists believed sightings were as fanciful as Leprechaun’s gold at a rainbow’s end.
These legendary optical rarities, caused by three reflections of each light ray within a raindrop, have finally been confirmed, thanks to photographic perseverance and a new meteorological model that provides the scientific underpinnings to find them.
In addition to the confirmed photo of a tertiary rainbow, the optical treasure hunt went one step further, as revealed in another photo that shows the shimmering trace of a fourth (quaternary) rainbow.
Michael Grossman and Michael Theusner have snapped photos of tertiary rainbows since last year. Continue reading
A mission launched in “search of habitable planets” by NASA has predicted that one-third of “sun-like” stars may have planets similar to Earth.
Analysis of the first 136 days of data of the mission launched by the Kepler orbiting observatory has already begun and scientists are scrutinizing the scans of 150,000 stars and evidence of 1,235 potential planets.
One of the analysis has predicted that one-third of “sun-like” stars with classification F, G or K will have planets similar to the earth.
“About one-third of FGK stars are predicted to have at least one terrestrial, habitable-zone planet,” the Daily Mail quoted Wesley Traub, Chief Scientist with NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program as saying.
F, G and K stars, which are classified according to the characteristics of their spectrum are “sun-like” stars, and the candidates usually targeted by the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence in scans for signals from space. Continue reading
Scientists have warned that there’s another more dangerous one coming to smash our planet by the end of next month.
Experts believe a defunct German space telescope may collide with Earth less than five weeks after US satellite UARS hits the planet, the Telegraph reported.
The 2.4-ton Rontgensatellite, or ROSAT, has been spinning aimlessly through space for 12 years after it was switched off in 1999 after its guidance system broke.
With its orbit bringing it inexorably closer to Earth, the authorities initially thought it would burn up entirely on re-entry.
However, it is now believed that pieces of space junk weighing up to 400kg could smash into the planet’s surface as early as the end of October.
They say ROSAT’s pieces are almost three times heavier than the biggest chunk of UARS.
NASA experts have calculated that ROSAT is more than 50pc more likely to cause death, injury or property damage on Earth than UARS, although the chance is still 2,000 to one.
UARS is heading for Earth in a potentially deadly shower of 26 pieces but there are estimated to be 30 chunks in the second strike next month.
A spokesman for German firm DLR, which built the space telescope, said the telescope’s huge mirrors were the objects most likely to survive re-entry.
“ROSAT has a large mirror structure that survives high re-entry temperatures,” Heiner Klinkrad, the head of the space debris office at the European Space Agency, told New Scientist magazine.
And experts also warned that ROSAT would not be the last to hit because solar activity next year is likely to damage far more ageing spacecraft and send them plummeting to Earth.
1. Purple Starfish:
Starfish is an amazing animal in the world. It varies in different colors like blue, green, violet and purple. It looks purple on the land and much elusive under the water.
It is also known as Ochre Sea Star. You can find it easily in sunny areas of the reef and reef fringe. It has bright blue body with purplish spots. It shows a great and amazing look to its viewers.
What a terrific collection of purple animals of the world? You should see enjoy beautiful gift of Nature.
King Louis XIV lived and ruled so long (72 yrs) that he is not only the longest ruling ruler of Europe but his successor, Louis XV, was neither his son nor his grandson but his great-grandson.
A small, one milliamp current (not enough to be felt) to the parietal lobe of the brain is enough to significantly improve the performance of test subjects on mathematical puzzles for up to 6 months. Oxford scientists looking for a way to treat dyscalculia (like dyslexia, but with numbers) performed these experiments and reported their findings to Current Biology.
Oddly enough, while a current traveling from right to left across the parietal lobe caused improved performance, the same current going left to right reduced test subjects’ skills at math (or “maths” since this is Oxford) to the abilities of a 6-year-old.
Scientists have located a taste receptor that determines how well people can tolerate bitter-tasting vegetables. Broccoli, turnips, rutabaga, and other bitter vegetables possess compounds called glucosinolates. The taste receptor hTAS2R38 reacts to glucosinolates, and a person’s genes determine how sensitive their hTAS2R38 receptors are to those compounds. Certain people find glucosinolates to be more bitter than others.
There’s a genetic advantage to disliking broccoli. In parts of the world with inadequate levels of iodine, glucosinolates can exacerbate the problems of thyroid disease. In those circumstances, too much broccoli can cause sexual dysfunction and mental retardation. In that case, a genetic predisposition to hate broccoli can be advantageous for survival.
