Musings in the Cosmos

scienceisbeauty: Luminol solution into a narrow glass tube over...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:40:01 +0100

Luminol solution into a narrow glass tube over a 15-second exposure.

Credit: Kat Andonucci

Source: Lights, Camera - Science! (Keuka College)

scienceisbeauty: Luminol solution into a narrow glass tube over...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 09:20:00 +0100

scienceisbeauty:

Luminol solution into a narrow glass tube over a 15-second exposure.

Credit: Kat Andonucci

Source: Lights, Camera - Science! (Keuka College)

astronomy-to-zoology: Spiny Pipehorse (Solegnathus...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:40:17 +0100

astronomy-to-zoology:

Spiny Pipehorse (Solegnathus spinosissimus)

…is a species of pipefish endemic to the southwestern Pacific ocean. Like most pipefish the spiny pipehorse is found in coral or rocky reefs where it feeds on the sea floor for small invertebrates. They are often found attached to sponges, corals and plants holding onto them with their tails. Like seahorses the male pipehorse takes care of the females eggs which are deposited on a spongy area of the males tail.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Chordata-Actinopterygii-Syngnathiformes-Sygnathidae-Solegnathus-spionosissimus

Image Source(s)

n-a-s-a: Crescent Neptune and Triton Image Credit: Voyager 2,...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:20:16 +0100

n-a-s-a:

Crescent Neptune and Triton

Image Credit: Voyager 2, NASA

Fireball over the Grand Canyon

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:40:27 +0100

Fireball over the Grand Canyon

crookedindifference: Comet Lovejoy and the International Space...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:20:29 +0100

crookedindifference:

Comet Lovejoy and the International Space Station

Photo

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:00:17 +0100

n-a-s-a: The only planet that rotates on its side like a barrel...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:40:00 +0100

n-a-s-a:

The only planet that rotates on its side like a barrel is Uranus.

Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory

electricspacekoolaid: One Marine Animal Could Be Next...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:20:26 +0100

electricspacekoolaid:

One Marine Animal Could Be Next Biofuel

Scientists are looking to the ocean for the next big thing in renewable sources of biofuel for your eco-car.

Five researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) and Uni Research say they found the marine animal tunicatecould be used as a renewable source of biofuel. These marine animals serve as bacteria eaters and as a foodstuff in Korea and Japan right now, but the cellulose, the protein and the Omega-3 fatty acids in tunicate are the cause for its many uses.

“Its mantle consists of cellulose, which is a collection of sugars. When cellulose is cleaved, one can obtain ethanol. And ethanol can be used for biofuel in cars. The animal’s body consists of large amounts of protein and Omega-3. This can be used for fish feed,” says Professor Eric Thompson at UiB’s Department of Biology.

The researchers say they have already acquired a patent for biofuel and have a patent application pending for the cultivation of tunicate as fish feed.

Dr. Sc. Christofer Troedsson of Uni Research’s Molecular Ecology Group and head of the research at UiB’s Marine Development Biology and the tunicate research project said the bioethanol used today is unsustainable, as it comes from foods already used for human consumption.

“That is why there has been a move towards using cellulose from the timber industry to produce bioethanol,” Troedsson said. “However, it is quite complicated to break down the cellulose in trees and convert it into ethanol. This is because the wood contains a substance called lignin, which is hard to separate from the cellulose. Tunicates contain no lignin. Their cellulose is also low in crystals and is more efficiently converted into ethanol.”

He said using tunicate rather than trees is more environmentally friendly because it does not occupy large tracts of land that could be used for other purposes.

Read

jtotheizzoe: “We’re gonna need a bigger boat … exactly twice as...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:40:27 +0100

jtotheizzoe:

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat … exactly twice as big, actually.”

Check out this amazing newly discovered case of bicephaly in a shark! This is more commonly known as “having two heads”. It is the first time bicephaly been seen in a bull shark, although a two-headed blue shark has been found previously.

If you’re brave enough to look at more pictures of polycephaly in the animal kingdom, check out the Wikipedia page. And for the truly bold, here’s a two-headed milk snake eating a mouse (srsly, not for the faint of heart).

Why does this occur? Two-headedness, in any species, usually occurs when a fertilized embryo begins to split (like it would in the case of monozygotic twins), but fails to completely separate. Most of these failed splits are fatal before birth, but some of them can be carried to term (this shark was removed from a pregnant female in the Gulf of Mexico and died soon after). If you’d like to dig deeper, read about it in the Journal of Fish Biology.

We’re only a handful of heads short of a shark hydra! Get with it, evolution!

(via MSUToday)

itfeelsfeynman: An analemma is the figure “8″ loop that results...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:20:26 +0100

Mars

itfeelsfeynman:

An analemma is the figure “8″ loop that results when one observes the position of the sun at the same time during the day over the course of a year. Due to the earth’s tilt about its axis (23.45°) and its elliptical orbit about the sun, the location of the sun is not constant from day to day when observed at the same time on each day over the course of a full year. Furthermore, this loop will be inclined at different angles depending on one’s geographical latitude.

sagansense: Coral Reefs: Nature’s Underwater PharmaciesWhat’s...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:40:03 +0100

sagansense:

Coral Reefs: Nature’s Underwater Pharmacies

What’s the Latest Development?
Biologists have begun to discover just what a treasure trove the oceans’ coral reefs are in terms of finding potential cures to some of humanity’s worst diseases. Tens of thousands of chemicals have already been identified and, of those thousands, hundreds are currently under medical investigation. “Sponges are particularly rich sources of chemicals,” said professor Callum Roberts, a marine conservation biologist at the University of York, “particularly anti-cancer chemicals. Many have been shown to be tumor suppresents and one has already been licensed for use in the treatment of leukemia.”

What’s the Big Idea?
Coral reefs naturally represent nature’s largest pharmacy thanks to evolutionary processes which have endowed a wide variety of species with vastly different and highly complex chemical makeups in their intense competition for a limited amount of underwater real-estate. Currently, however, coral reefs are under pressure from a variety of man-made hazards including pollution, over-fishing and climate change. “To lose those possible treatments through the destruction of coral reefs would be an unparalleled act of folly,” said Roberts.

Watch: Coral Reefs | Underwater Pharmacies via BBC

approachingsignificance: Embryonic Bat Skeleton 1st...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:20:00 +0100

approachingsignificance:

Embryonic Bat Skeleton

1st image: Image (still needs credit)

2nd image: Scott Weatherbee, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Waterfalls, Auroras, Comet: Iceland The above image, capturing...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:40:17 +0100

Waterfalls, Auroras, Comet: Iceland

The above image, capturing multiple terrestrial and celestial wonders in a single shot, was taken last week in southwest Iceland.

The popular Gullfoss waterfalls are pictured under brilliant auroras that followed a M1-class solar flare and powerful Coronal Mass Ejection two days earlier.

Give up on locating the comet? Comet PANSTARRS is faintly visible as a light blip just above the horizon toward the left of the above image. The comet remains more directly visible to northern observers with binoculars looking toward the western sky just after sunset.