Monday, June 30, 2008

Women & Science




Science, Technology & Women



I love science, I love technology, I love men, but boy do I have stories to tell about how much they've "loved" me back! There are quite a few people out there that should be very afraid of the book version of my stories! ;-) Very afraid!

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.




Women have to blend in to survive in sci-tech world, but they'll never be as good at it as this gecko. Believe you me, I and many others have tried but to no avail. Women in sci-tech world and this gecko have one thing in common though: short lives! With a few exceptions of course. :-)








Article and photo stumbled my way by the wise woman.

Molecule Mining




Molecules in Space



Where Else?
:-)


Comet Catcher




SOHO - The Comet Catcher




Credit: SOHO, ESA, NASA

"Comet Bradfield passed through the SOHO C3 coronagraph's field of view from April 16 through April 20, 2004. It created quite a sensation with its bright head and long white tail trailing behind it. A mask in the coronagraph (dark disk in center) blocks out the sun's intense light to allow us to see faint objects in the corona, the sun's tenuous outer atmosphere. The white circle on the coronagraph disk represents the size of the sun."


SOHO was built to study the Sun and turns out to be the best comet catcher ever as well. 1500 comets have been discovered by this fabulous instrument.






Tunguska




Impact Tunguska




The impact we see evidence from at Tunguska in Siberia, Russia, is enormous. We still keep on researching in order to find out what actually happened. Most likely it was an asteroid or meteorite. Scientist have many different angles to attack this phenomena and it is still intriguing after 100 years.




Bees




Bee Sickness

Photobucket

Or The Bee Blues, if you like. :-)




Science Art




Tunguska Psychedelic



It's 100 years since an heavenly object hit Tunguska in Siberia. Scientists still try to figure out what happened. This is an animation of an impact that is super cool. It is a bit heavy, but well worth a watch.

Science Is Art







Blown Away in Siberia

maps, science

Tunguska Imapct 100 Years




Svarbard




Svalbard

Photobucket

Photo: Christian Morel




Earth




Earth - Clouds



Credit: NASA.

The cloud distribution is represented during the phenomenon known as "El NiƱo" (1997-98) and shows anomalies in sea surface temperatures.



No cloud dynamics = No Life

We can find out a few things about other remote planets by just looking at its brightness and variations. Cloud dynamics indicate the existence of water, which is required for life as we know it.



Brain




Got the Blues?



Credit: St. Judes Medical

Libra Deep Brain Stimulation System




Implant Neurostimulators!




Physics of Traffic




Physics of Traffic



Traffic provided by the science loving poet

I have a driving strategy based on the laws of physics. It is quite self evident that in order to reduce the risk of collision in cross sections, you should stay there as little as possible. The only logical behavior is to speed through any crossing the fastest you can.

Traffic Laws to follow laws of physics?

:-)


Applied Nuclear Physics

In physics a cross section is used to express the likelihood of interaction between particles. Cars are nothing more than particles in the big picture.






One lane simulator





Sunday, June 29, 2008

Mushrooms




Immune with Shiitake



Photo by Keith Weller

If you want to improve your immune system have some sleep - and Shiitake mushrooms! I have been totally fascinated by ancient Chinese medicine. Not because I believed in it, but because it was so wonderfully different from modern western medicine. Before I visited China for the first time, Chinese medicine, Mao and firecrackers were China to me. Nothing else. Boy, have I a different view on that country now. I get all worked up with enthusiasm when I think about Chinese culture, both ancient and modern. One of the things I find extremely interesting in China today, is how serious the Chinese take their health and well-being. It seems to be independent of social class.

It turns out that this Chinese mushroom is better for your health if you grow it the natural way. What do you know! :-)


china

Photo: Bente Lilja Bye

Chinese pharmacy, Wuhan, China


All these people were engaged in finding the best medicine to cure my cold when I was in Wuhan. I obediently took the medicine without any clue whatsoever of what it contained. Interestingly, the modern pharmacies in China carry both modern and ancient remedies. I think I got some of that good old stuff. Maybe with some obscure unknown Chinese mushroom in it. I still have it, because it helped!




Ayers Rock




Ayers Rock Rock



Credits: Vic & Jen Winter (ICSTARS Astronomy)

The Leonids!


Especially at Night! :-)

Moon




Spooky Moon



"Halo" around Apollo 15 landing site


The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) reported on the "halo" generated by the Apollo 15* lunar module engine exhaust plume that was detected in the data from Terrain Camera (TC) image.

This was an image processed by the SELENE mission instrument team from the observation data of the Apollo 15 landing site on the moon (the foot of the Apennine Mountains encircling the Mare Imbrium close to Hadley Rille). This is the world's first report on the detection of the "halo" through observations after the end of the Apollo program.




Topographic map of the Apollo 15 landing site.







Saturday, June 28, 2008

Enceladus




Blue Enceladus



I LOVE this image!


The Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and its moons has done what it was asked to, and still have capacity to do more for us. One of the most fantastic discoveries done by Cassini-Huygens is Enceladus, one of Saturns moons, geysirs as shown on one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE ASTRO IMAGES! :-)

I'll post it again. Be warned.




Mars - Wet Chemistry




Wet Chemistry on Mars




Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute

It is so many "first time ever"s for the Phoenix Lander on Mars I am getting all dizzy. It is an amazing success already, and the results are just keeping on coming. Now, for the first time we are performing wet chemistry on another planet. And for the first time baking soil at extremely high temperatures on another planet.

The results from these record holding activities are overwhelming too. We have identified several known chemicals, confirming evidence of water...




Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University






Blue Flower




Blue








Flower Power provided by MBMC

Femtosecond Laser




Fabulous Femtosecond Laser



Bringing real-time to a whole other dimension...


Take a moment, a minute (or so), to reflect on what is real-time for you. When is now now? Depending on what we are applying the timescale for, we talk about real-time data. In case of the Indian Ocean tsunami, data collected every 10-15 min would be sufficient for issuing a warning, whereas for a tsunami warning in the Mediterranean we need data every 1-3 min. Then it is called real-time. But this is far from real if we look at the requirement for GPS data where sub-seconds is what we need to produce the quality of satellite navigation we want.

Now, dwell a few seconds on femtosecond, and feel free to simulateously think about what a nanometer is. This is then the real-time of a Fabulous Femtosecond Laser. No less - or should I say - No More...





(A femtosecond is one billionth of one millionth of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second as a second is to about 32 million years.)

Friday, June 27, 2008

Interstellar Dust




interStellar Dust



Site of dust's birth around a supernova observed by AKARI

Composite image of supernova 2006jc about a half year after the explosion - and the mother galaxy UGC4904 photographed by AKARI. Color of general stars is blue while the supernova 2006jc shines in red at almost the same level as the galaxy. Thermal radiation from dust born around the dying supernova is observed.

Did you do as I told you? Memorize this. Then there is no need to look up what a supernova is...:-)


Week-end dusting

Finally week-end. I don't know about you, but in this country and some times in this house, we like to do a little dusting just before the week-end so we can enjoy a few moments of zen during a couple of peaceful days.

Maybe we should reconsider that dusting activity. I mean, we could be cleaning out life itself. Or preventing the creation of new life. Right now I am considering analysis of my domestic dust to check if it contains some of that interstellar dust. It could be it does...


Polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbon

Polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbon is believed to be an important substance that may have a close relation with organic matter such as amino acid (via several chemical processes). Understanding the evolution of polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbon in outer space is important because it bridges interstellar chemistry and exobiology. We should count on AKARI for that job, right?





Stellar Development




Stellar[e] Evolution



Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

In order to fully appreciate Stellare, please memorize this poster! :-)




Mars




Mars' Two Faces






Solar Sail




Sail Away - In Space



Cool!




lacross













drops




Bubbles



Because I like'em!







Picked up at ashnight01

Telescopes




Spooky Telescopes

astronomy

Credit: Rachael Beaton and George Privon




Vikings




1001 Nights in Scandinavia





As I write this particular post I have 1001 fans registered on Stellare, and I feel like commenting on that with an observation. In Scandinavia we are fond of fairy tales and 1001 Nights is the Scandinavian name on Arabian Nights, world known fairy tales.

Researches in Denmark just discovered a grave with what must have been a human from Arabian decent, indicating that there were a lot more exchange of culture and traveling than we earlier anticipated, even in the Iron Age. People were doing what we are doing now, only without our modern times technology.

Very close to my home, there is an old settlement from Iron Age reconstructed in the same fashion they did back then.




HRINGARIKI - Veien Cultural Heritage Park


Veien has been an important meeting-place for 3000 years. The grave area is one of the largest in the Nordic region, containing rich archaeological finds from the Early Iron Age, and a large number of graves and traces of settlements dating from the period around 900 BC to 1000 AD.







Science




.anything?



Illustration brought to Stellare by the ultimate theory provider.


ICANN - messing it all up!




Mars Reconnaissance




Reconnaissance



Orbiting Mars pre-Phoenix.




Europa




Tough Living



Jupiter's moon Europa is thought to harbour an ocean under its icy crust. Any life in the ocean would have to survive temperatures of -90 °C





Thursday, June 26, 2008

Comet Holmes




Heavenly Holmes



Comet 17P Holmes




Prehistoric Alligators




See You Later, Alligator!



Credit: Philip Renne/courtesy Nature

NOT!




Crab nebula




Smooth Operator

astronomy

Credit: NASA/ESA/ASU/J.Hester & A.Loll


Pulsar in the Crab Nebula




Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dragon Fly




Blue Bug



Blue Corporal, Libellula deplanata.

Dragonfly


If we were discussing bugs back in the days, the prehistoric days that is, I admit we could hardly call this beautiful insect a bug - or a critter for that matter.



Meganeura--a prehistoric dragonfly

Back in the prehistoric (Carboniferous Era) days you could encounter dragonflies with two-foot wingspan!



So, as much as I hate to differ on this matter, I must however most respectfully reject the lessons provided by Xineann. In an astronomical perspective, todays dragonflies are simply small BUGS!




Butterflies





Giant Butterflies







Ancient Maps




Celestial Map

celestial map

Cartographer: 17th-century Dutch-German cartographer Andreas Cellarius

Harmonia Macrocosmica is a beautiful star atlas.






For a true lover of celestial art.

Barbed Wire




Barbed Wire



Nobody can pronounce "barbed wire" the charming way they do in Amarillo, Texas!

Must be experienced!

bob-war y'all




Say it with science

For a romantic girl.



Romancing on Mars 2020



The Real Thing

Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

Springtime




Underneath Phoenix video via clicking on the image above





We should really be careful not ending up polluting the place! :-) We've been all over already.









Warning: The video from Mars (1:25 min) is CUTE! :-)

Thanks for sending the cute video, Steiner62

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Ocean




Know Your Ocean



I couldn't agree more!





Say it with science




White Holes (Not whores...)



The tremendous gravity impels this wormhole both to elongate along its length, and to shrink about its middle. Watch two white holes merge, form a wormhole, then fall apart into two black holes.

The yellow arrows indicate the directionality of the horizons. A person (or signal) can pass through a horizon only in the direction of the arrow, not the other way.

Real science beats science fiction, always! ;-)



Oh, yeah! I almost forgot.


White hole

White hole is something which probably (cannot) exist in the real universe. A white hole will turn up in your mathematics if you explore the space-time around a black hole without including the star which made the black hole (ie. there is absolutely no matter in the solution). Once you add any matter to the space-time, the part which included a white hole disappears.

And remember, a black hole is nothing more than a singularity in a mathematical equation.





This is a post in the Say It With Science series. Brought to you by Stellare; this post as a gift to b-bear.

Theory




Theory



Illustration: Marian Bantjes


For Ever


Model does NOT equal theory! Some times I wonder if I am the only one who knows modal logic. And Etheoreal of course.

Petabyte size data will improve our models. That's it.