Posts tagged science
Kepler Discovers a Planet with Two Suns
NASA Science:
The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. NASA’s Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet — a planet orbiting two stars — 200 light-years from Earth.
Mobile app diagnoses malaria from a single drop of blood
The virtual ink had barely dried on our story about the Skin Scan app for diagnosing melanoma when we received word of another, equally compelling mobile diagnostic tool. Focusing this time on the millions of people at risk from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world, Lifelens is a project that has created a smartphone app to diagnose the insidious, mosquito-borne disease. READ MORE…
More mobile apps like this, please!
17 Egyptian Pyramids Discovered Using Infra-Red Satellite Images
A satellite survey of Egypt has uncovered lost treasures including 17 pyramids and more than 1,000 tombs.
Three thousand ancient settlements have also been located by scientists who studied infrared images which allowed them to see underground buildings.
Astounded researchers on the ground have already confirmed that two of the pyramids exist - and they believe there are thousands more unknown sites in the region.
Ever seen a comet crash into the sun? Thanks to NASA, you have now.
(Via NASA/SOHO)
As awesome as this looks, NASA points out that the “explosion” was not caused by the comet:
Scientists, however, have yet to find a convincing physical connection between sun-grazing comets and coronal mass ejections. In fact, analysis of this CME using images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows that the CME erupted before the comet came close enough to the solar surface to interact with strong magnetic fields.
Who fakes a giant jellyfish photograph? HONESTLY.
We still love the holy heck out of the pic, though.
Who reblogs without thinking and doing research? Not only is the photo obviously fake, the measurements in the post making the rounds on Tumblr are grossly exaggerated. According to Wikipedia, the largest recorded specimen of a Lion’s mane jellyfish had a diameter of 2.29m and tentacles 37m long, not 6m and 50m respectively.
An oldie but goodie from Krulwich Wonders… on NPR, in which German and Swiss scientists attempt to prove that desert ants count their steps. This story aired in November 2009, but the original companion video was just posted to NPR’s Vimeo account two weeks ago. Hat tip to Maria Popova for picking up on that and reviving the story, which made the rounds on Twitter. However, she erroneously described the study as new.
The pedometer theory actually dates back to 1904, but it remained untested until 2006, which is when Matthias Wittlinger and Harald Wolf, the subjects of NPR’s story, published their research in the June 30 edition of Science. NPR also covered this in Morning Edition on July 3, 2006.
Get your cameras ready for the biggest full moon in 18 years on March 19!
NASA Science on tomorrow’s Super Full Moon:
Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It’s a super “perigee moon”—the biggest in almost 20 years.
“The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. “I’d say it’s worth a look.”
[…]
The best time to look is when the Moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects.
The Science of Baseball
I don’t follow baseball, yet I found this excerpt from Perfection Point by John Brenkus very captivating. It explains scientifically what it takes to hit a major-league pitch, and what it would take to hit the longest home run possible.
(via MetaFilter)
The New York Times has an interesting article about the effect technology has on our ability to focus and engage with one another. Scientists claim “our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.” Accompanying the article is an interactive test that measures your focus and how fast you juggle tasks. On my first try, I got a perfect score on the focus test, and performed faster than average on the tasks test. Given how often I’m plugged in, I was expecting a lower score, so I would take these research findings with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, it’s a fun test. What was your score?
Digging In The Crates is a fantastic interactive installation developed by Roland Loesslein, aka We Ain’t Plastic, for his diploma thesis while studying at the University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg, Germany. What was I saying about Germans and music?
Here’s how it works:
- Choose one of 50 records from the 70s and 80s.
- Place the record on the turntable. A projection onto the record itself shows included samples as shaded areas.
- Choose between play mode or analyze mode.
- In analyze mode, this modified turntable acts as a tangible interface used to navigate and analyze each single sample on the launched record.
This project reminds me of my “Do You Know Who Built Your House?” series where I present the original records that were sampled by various House Music artists.
(via Creative Applications, one of my favorite recent blog discoveries)
