How The Sci-Fi Generation Saved The World!
Posts by Daryle
Exactly two years ago, NASA launched an $850 million spacecraft, called the Solar Dynamics Observatory, on a five-year long mission to record high-definition videos of the sun, which should help astronomers better understand its weather cycle and how it might effect life on earth. To celebrate SDO’s 2nd anniversary, NASA has released a stunning video featuring tornado-like formations swirling across the surface.
Cuttlefish Boast Most Accurate Vision of Any Animal
Cuttlefish have the most acute polarization vision yet found in any animal, researchers at the Univ. of Bristol have discovered by showing them movies on a modified LCD computer screen to test their eyesight. Cuttlefish and their colorblind cousins, squid and octopus, see aspects of light – including polarized light – that are invisible to humans, giving them a covert communication channel. The Bristol study, published in Current Biology found that cuttlefish were much more sensitive to polarization than previously thought.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Researchers-Use-LCD-Screens-to-Test-Cuttlefish-Vision-022112.aspx
Sheep in Wolf-Rayet’s Clothing: New Image of Planetary Nebula Hen 3-1333
A new image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows planetary nebula Hen 3-1333. Planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets — they actually represent the death throes of mid-sized stars like the sun. As they puff out their outer layers, large, irregular globes of glowing gas expand around them, which appeared planet-like through the small telescopes that were used by their first discoverers. The star at the heart of Hen 3-1333 is thought to have a mass of around 60% that of the sun, but unlike the sun, its apparent brightness varies substantially over time. Astronomers believe this variability is caused by a disc of dust which lies almost edge-on when viewed from Earth, which periodically obscures the star… [Read the full article here]
