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- Richard Feynman
(Source: richardfeynman)
Minimal Posters - Six Women Who Changed Science. And The World.
- Neuroscientist Christof Koch, on reconciling atheism with meaning in the universe. (via theatlantic)
![motherjones:
In the name of science, here is a hairless mouse without a immune system. And 7 other weird mice you’ll find in research labs including “bad hair day,” human sphincter-fied, and a tumor for every hair follicle.
[Image via Armin Kübelbeck]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m980o11Wbg1qat9xfo1_500.jpg)
In the name of science, here is a hairless mouse without a immune system. And 7 other weird mice you’ll find in research labs including “bad hair day,” human sphincter-fied, and a tumor for every hair follicle.
[Image via Armin Kübelbeck]
Looking Into Einstein’s Face: Mind-Bending Illusion!!
This illusion just gives me the creeps. What an amazing example of how powerful some of the hard-wired tendencies of the brain are. No matter how hard you try, Einstein’s face will always appear to be coming out at you.
As Stephen Fry mentions, our vision system is specially trained to pick out human faces. We start doing this at such an early age that our neural circuitry is actually predisposed to do it. You literally can’t overpower your synapses on this one.
Can you?
My cortex hurts.
(via Bad Astronomy)
blua:
Asobi by Yasutoki Kariya
“Asobi” was created by art student Yasutoki Kariya for his senior thesis exhibition. Meaning “play,” the installation is comprised of 11 computer-programmed incandescent light bulbs hung from strings. They playfully re-enact Newton’s Cradle, visualizing the transfer of kinetic energy in the form of light. (via Spoon & Tamago)
(Source: experimentsinmotion)
Science and Photography
The Wellcome Trust — a London-based medical research charity — has just announced the winners of its 2012 image competition, and they are positively stunning.
1. Moth fly (Psychodidae)
This false-coloured scanning electron micrograph shows a moth fly (Psychodidae), also known as a drain fly. As its name suggests, the fly’s larvae commonly live and grow in domestic drains; the adult fly emerges near sinks, baths and lavatories. The moth flies’ bodies and wings are covered in hairs, which gives them a ‘fuzzy’, moth-like appearance. The fly is 4-5 mm long, and each eye is approximately 100 microns wide.
2. Lavender leaf
This false-coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) shows a lavender leaf (Lavandula) imaged at 200 microns. Lavender, which is native to the Mediterranean region, is an evergreen shrub that grows to about three feet high and has small blue or purple flowers and narrow grey leaves. Lavender yields an essential oil with sweet overtones, which can be used in balms, salves, perfumes, cosmetics and topical applications. It is also used to aid sleep, to relax and to alleviate anxiety.
3. Xenopus laevis oocytes
This confocal micrograph shows stage V-VI oocytes (800-1000 micron diameter) of an African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), a model organism used in cell and developmental biology research. Each oocyte is surrounded by thousands of follicle cells, shown in the image by staining DNA blue. Blood vessels, which provide oxygen to the oocyte and follicle cells, are shown in red. The ovary of each adult female Xenopus laevis contains up to 20 000 oocytes. Mature oocytes are approximately 1.2 mm in diameter, much larger than the eggs of many other species.
4. Caffeine crystals
This false-coloured scanning electron micrograph shows caffeine crystals. Caffeine is a bitter, crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. In plants, caffeine functions as a defence mechanism. Found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves and fruit of some plants, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide that paralyses and kills certain insects feeding on the plant. The main crystals of caffeine were 400-500 microns long; however, this crystal group formed on the end of the larger crystal and measures around 40 microns in length.
Bose didn’t get the Nobel prize; nor did his contemporary and namesake, J C Bose, whose contribution to radio waves and the fashioning of the wireless predates Marconi’s. The only Indian scientist to get a Nobel prize is the physicist C V Raman, for his work on light at Kolkata University, called the Raman effect. Other Indians have had to become Americans to get the award.
Conditions have always been inimical to science in India, from colonial times to the present day; and despite that, its contributions have occasionally been huge. Yet non-western science (an ugly label engendered by the exclusive nature of western popular imagination) is yet to find its Rosalind Franklin, its symbol of paradoxical success. Unlike Franklin, however, these scientists were never in a race that they lost; they simply came from another planet.
- Amit Chaudhuri | Western science is overlooking India’s contribution to the discovery
“The day that changed the world.”
Jorge Cham of PhD Comics turned an explanation by the physicist Daniel Whiteson into an animated feature (the cartoon starts 37 seconds in)
Two More Elements Added to The Periodic Table
You can now greet by name two new residents of the period table of elements: Flerovium and Livermorium.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially approved names for the elements — which sit at slot 114 and 116, respectively — on 31 May. They have until now gone by the temporary monikers ununquadium and ununhexium.
