Explosion on the Moon!
Pock-marked with craters and splotched with long-cold beds of dark lava, our moon holds thousands of footprints from its violent past. But we don’t really think of it having a violent present.
Well, it still gets its fair share of action. On March 17, 2013, NASA astronomers captured video of a meteorite striking the moon. It made an explosion bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, like a temporary star drawn on the lunar surface. It turns out that these collisions are not that rare.
Most of the moon’s many meteor marks date from a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment. That, combined with a magma-riffic adolescence gave the moon the special look we know today. Of course, none of that is as violent as the moon’s birth.
Anyway, make sure to watch that video above and see the meteor strike live. You’ll never look at the moon the same way again.
These vegetated surfaces don’t just look pretty. They have other benefits as well, including cooling city blocks, reducing loud noises, and improving a building’s energy efficiency.What’s more, a recent modeling study shows that green walls can potentially reduce large amounts of air pollution in what’s called a “street canyon,” or the corridor between tall buildings.
For the study, Thomas Pugh, a biogeochemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, and his colleagues created a computer model of a green wall with generic vegetation in a Western European city. Then they recorded chemical reactions based on a variety of factors, such as wind speed and building placement.
The simulation revealed a clear pattern: A green wall in a street canyon trapped or absorbed large amounts of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter—both pollutants harmful to people, said Pugh. Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.Compared with reducing emissions from cars, little attention has been focused on how to trap or take up more of the pollutants, added Pugh, whose study was published last year in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
That’s why the green-wall study is “putting forward an alternative solution that might allow [governments] to improve air quality in these problem hot spots,” he said.
(via bubliya)
Science Summary of the Week
Last Week in Science via IFLSCancer genes: http://bit.ly/XkbFug
Magnetic charges of matter & antimatter: http://bit.ly/XBZbtN
Seven sex mating system: http://bit.ly/15ZOuVp
Down’s Syndrome: http://bit.ly/105Cznm
Gene therapy: http://bit.ly/160HEz6
Neanderthal hybrid: http://bit.ly/YJxbVl➤ Rapid Cancer Cure: http://is.gd/l0XR86
➤ Artificial Sperm Cells: http://is.gd/4V1uTE
➤ Two-Headed Shark: http://is.gd/k1fkmC
➤ Living Cells’ Computer: http://is.gd/y41US4
➤ New Type of Supernova: http://is.gd/M9jGpp
➤ Turning CO2 Into Fuel: http://is.gd/4s7jMNScientists’ Birthdays:
➤ March 25, 1786 - Italian scientist, Giovanni B Amia
➤ March 26, 1941 - English scientist, Richard Dawkins
➤ March 27, 1847 - German chemist, Otto Wallach
➤ March 29, 1883 - American chemist, Donald Van Slyke
➤ March 30, 1894 - Russian airplane builder, Sergey Ilyushin
➤ March 31, 1854 - Inventor Dugald Clerk
Enlarge This Graphic : http://is.gd/AItN4k
More Science Infographics on My Flickr Page : http://is.gd/q08fCv
(via thediscobelle)
diesel scirocco, take you all the way to morocco,
one filled with diesel, a 55 mpg-sel… (x)
Try and get THAT out of your head now!
(Source: dampervan, via makeitepic416)
Toast USB Hand Warmers
oh my goodness.
(Source: permanentprocrastination, via ivyarchive)
Desktop Jellyfish Tank
Small moon jellyfish delivered straight to your doorstep (USA only)
Available for $381.99 from ThinkGeek
(via beyourfuckingself)
MRI scan of a human subject from the cranium to the feet.
(Source: samstruecalling, via walkinphoenix)
Research reveals Huntington’s hope
Researchers in Scotland and Germany have discovered a molecular mechanism that shows promise for developing a cure for Huntington’s Disease (HD).
Scientists from the University of Dundee, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn, the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz have found a mechanism that specifically stirs and induces the synthesis of disease-making protein in HD patients.
Their data lead to the conclusion that a selective overproduction of aberrant Huntington protein in patients is a key step in the establishment of the disease, which affects 1 in 10,000 people in Western countries and is so far incurable.
“This is a very promising strategy to develop a small molecule drug therapy that is able to inhibit the production of disease-making protein,” said Professor Susann Schweiger of the University of Dundee and Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
“Theoretically, if you don’t have the disease-making protein then you don’t have the disease. Obviously we still have work to do to develop a drug to target these mechanisms and inhibit the production of this protein but we think this research is attractive to drug discovery and ongoing work in this area is being carried out.”
The gene responsible for causing Huntington’s Disease was first identified in 1993, leading to hopes that a specific therapy for HD would soon be on the market. However, cell biology and brain pathology of HD showed it to be more complicated than originally anticipated and only symptomatic treatments to slightly relieve the distress of single components of the disease are currently available.
The new discovery once again raises hopes that a curative therapy can be established. The scientists found that it was mainly three proteins - the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and Midline 1 (MID1) - that specifically drive the production of disease-making protein in HD patients.
As a result, more and more aberrant protein is produced with time, which leads to a protein overload in the cell. By interfering with the function of the three proteins it is possible to disrupt this circle and prevent the synthesis of aberrant protein in HD patients.
The Dundee-Germany research is published in the latest edition of the Nature Communications journal.
Particles that can ‘Recognise’ Viruses
The particles punch in at about 400 billionths of a metre across and are dotted with silica shells.
The shells were grown using actual viruses as a mold, leaving a perfect blueprint for experts around the world to use.
(via buttswana)
