Login

A Boy and His Atom

Published on Apr 30, 2013

"You're about to see the movie that holds the Guinness World Records™ record for the World's Smallest Stop-Motion Film. The ability to move single atoms...is crucial to IBM's research in the field of atomic memory...IBM researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules (two atoms stacked on top of each other), all in pursuit of making a movie so small it can be seen only when you magnify it 100 million times."

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted 24 days ago

HELLO KITTY IN SPACE

"NASA doesn’t have a lock on space exploration anymore. Just ask Lauren Rojas, a seventh grader in Antioch, Calif., who recently launched a balloon to 93,625 feet* using a do-it-yourself balloon kit from High Altitude Science. In addition to an altimeter, thermometer, satellite tracker and a host of cameras, Rojas added a decorative rocket ship piloted by a Hello Kitty doll her dad got her on a business trip in Tokyo. The video climaxes at the 2:15 mark, when the balloon, having expanded to 53 times its original size in the low-pressure environment of the upper atmosphere, explodes as planned, starting the kit’s descent to Earth:

The project is a terrific illustration of just how accessible the near-space environment has become. High Altitude Science was founded two years ago by Joseph Maydell, a flight controller for the International Space Station at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who wanted everyone to experience the beautiful views of the planet that he got to see in the course of his work. And in the coming years, private space companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic will start regularly flying rockets higher than the best weather balloons can fly. The benefit to space research—and to cheeky exploration videos—should be immense.

*: Yes, 93,625 feet is well short of the 62-mile-high Kármán line, the official boundary of space as recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). That shouldn’t diminish the excitement of the event."

via blogs.scientificamerican.com

via youtube.com

 

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted 3 months ago

9 Images, Videos and Games that Turn Science into Art

First Place Photograph: Biomineral CrystalsPupa U. P. A. Gilbert and Christopher E. Killian; University of Wisconsin, Madison 

"These beautiful structures are the microscopic crystals that make up a sea urchin's tooth. Each shade of blue, aqua, green, and purple--superimposed on a scanning electron micrograph using Photoshop--highlights an individual crystal of calcite, the abundant carbonate mineral found in limestone, marble, and shells.  

Instead of flat sides and sharp edges, the sea urchin produces complex, intertwined curved plates and fibers that interlock and fill space in the tooth as they grow, according to the National Science Foundation. Though made of a substance normally as soft as chalk, the teeth are hard enough to grind rock, and sea urchins use them to gnaw holes where they can take shelter from rough seas and predators."

via popsci.com


Tags
0 responses   //   Posted 4 months ago

8 Stunning Science Visualizations

the Tycho supernova remnant

"Images are fundamental to science. Biologists use X-rays to study the fine structure of plants, and astronomers take pictures with the Chandra telescope to probe the dynamics inside of exploding stars. When it comes to places where no camera can look, scientists create images from the information available: geologists use seismic data to build charts, diagrams and simulations of the deep Earth churning.

As a nod to the importance of images in science--both those taken with cameras and those constructed from data--the National Science Foundation holds a competition every year for the best visualization in science. The entries never disappoint."

via popsci.com


Tags
0 responses   //   Posted 6 months ago

Drops on Drops on Drops

via youtube.com

When falling onto another liquid layer, water droplets typically bounce then coalesce. If the surface is vibrating, however, the droplets will continue bouncing.

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted 7 months ago

Why Not To Keep Your Liquid Nitrogen In A Sealed Container

A dramatic video from a physics professor uses 1,500 ping-pong balls to teach an important lesson.
By Paul Adams

Roy Lowry, a professor at Plymouth University (a fantastic professor, as far as we can tell), has created a video that demonstrates one of the dangers of good old LN. Put it in a confined space, and it tends to find its way out, rather energetically. Here, ping pong balls are the only victims of the explosion:

The last time I saw this many ping-pong balls they were in zero gravity.

via popsci.com

 

What a great teacher. This is why I love science !

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted 8 months ago

Single-atom transistor is 'perfect'

In a remarkable feat of micro-engineering, UNSW physicists have created a working transistor consisting of a single atom placed precisely in a silicon crystal.

 


This is a single-atom transistor: 3D perspective scanning tunnelling microscope image of a hydrogenated silicon surface. Phosphorus will incorporate in the red shaded regions selectively desorbed with a STM tip to form electrical leads for a single phosphorus atom patterned precisely in the center. Credit: ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication, at UNSW.

via physorg.com

 

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted about 1 year ago

Powers of Minus Ten Walkthrough

Powers of Minus Ten  

"See what human skin looks at the molecular level! Zoom into the hand, discovering the skin at the organ, tissue, cellular and molecular level. Learn basic concepts in biology, exploring the parts of the cell and the different stages of the cell cycle! Also explore DNA replication, transcription and translation and how they relate to the cell cycle."

via vimeo.com

 

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted about 1 year ago

10-year-old Clara Lazen Discovers a New Explosive : Tetranitratoxycarbon

"For Clara Lazen, 10, a classroom assignment turned into a scientific finding. As Humbolt State University Chemistry Professor Robert Zoellner confirmed, the fifth-grader's curiosity led to a new molecule, and her first mention in a scientific journal."
via now.humboldt.edu

 

Tags
0 responses   //   Posted over 1 year ago

Brainwaves into Speech

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words.

The technique may one day make it possible to communicate with patients who are unable to talk.

Read More at Science decodes 'internal voices' 

via bbc.co.uk


Tags
0 responses   //   Posted over 1 year ago