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Cool science stuff

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Thu 31 Dec , 2009 3:24 pm
The Grey Amaretto as Supermega-awesome Proud Heretic Girl
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:D Well, yeah, there's that aspect of it.

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Riverthalos
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Fri 01 Jan , 2010 12:52 am
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Pretty much the only time a scientist or engineer ever gets to be silly or subversive is when testing or demonstrating the capabilities of a cool new technique and those who aren't so insecure they must be Taken Seriously all the time will avail themselves of those oppurtunities. Three years ago, at a conference, I watched a professor at great length discuss how RNA structures can be broken down into basic units and reassembled at will into something new. He showed off some early test cases, involving angles and grids. And then he asked us, if you were going to show your RNA could be used as a form of written or drawn communication, what would you start with? My first thought, being a RNA person, was "flipping the bird". But he had a rosier view of our favorite molecule showed us a heart. You know, the sort that's all over everything at weddings and on Valentine's day. Made of RNA. Visualized by atomic force microscopy. Silly yes and of no use to anyone other than to prove a point, but completely unforgettable all the same.

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elfshadow
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Fri 01 Jan , 2010 2:20 am
Kill the headlights and put it in neutral
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I remember visiting a local company called Storage Tek on Career Day when I was in the fifth grade (this was 11 years ago now). They made hard drives. During the computer engineering demonstration, the programmer was showing us how to make virtual models of the hard drives they were creating. Being a cheeky ten-year-old, I asked if it was possible to make a virtual block of cheese. He spent the rest of the session doing just that. :LMAO:


Of course, this was the company who named the two streets leading up to the office complex "Disk Drive" and "Tape Drive." Oh engineers. :P


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yovargas
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Fri 01 Jan , 2010 1:40 pm
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Riverthalos wrote:
But he had a rosier view of our favorite molecule showed us a heart. You know, the sort that's all over everything at weddings and on Valentine's day. Made of RNA. Visualized by atomic force microscopy. Silly yes and of no use to anyone other than to prove a point, but completely unforgettable all the same.
That makes me wanna hug someone. But I'm already in a huggy mood. :)
(HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!! :grouphug: )


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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R*
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Fri 01 Jan , 2010 4:41 pm
I've cried a thousand oceans, and I would cry a thousand more if that's what it takes to sail you home.
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Well shit, now I need hugs. Soon as I read yov's post, I saw this music video: http://vimeo.com/8468426 *sniffles and hugs everyone, especially the sun cuz it made a quick appearance this morning*




*E*

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vison
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Fri 01 Jan , 2010 6:18 pm
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So sweet. Brings tears to my eyes.

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 19 Jan , 2010 3:45 pm
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The crystal cave

Check out the stunning pictures!

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nienna
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 19 Jan , 2010 3:49 pm
The best things in life are not things
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Wow!!! :Q Truly the Glittering Caves...

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 19 Jan , 2010 4:04 pm
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Oh, yes, the National Geographic article on this was stunning! Just wow!!!

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 19 Jan , 2010 4:51 pm
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50 C in there??? :shock:

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 19 Jan , 2010 5:48 pm
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Yep, it's crazy hot. But wow! I just hope they don't let it flood when they're done with the mine itself. :( What a shame to let that all disappear.

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Riverthalos
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 19 Jan , 2010 6:48 pm
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When the water returns the crystals will start growing again, so it's really not such a bad thing.

S and his caver buddies jabber about this thing the way mountaineers talk about the Himalayas, though there's a level of surrealness to the crystal cave that you don't find in mountains. It doesn't seem like it should be possible, and yet it is.

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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Sat 20 Feb , 2010 12:16 pm
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I saw that on a BBC TV programme about geology. The presenter had to wear an ice pack jacket or he would have died.

This appeared on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8516319.stm

I still have a hankering for the idea that life was seeded from space and this is a nudge in that direction. I was intrigued by the idea the rock was older than the Sun. How would they know?

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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Sat 20 Feb , 2010 10:34 pm
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And another thing I spotted today as well:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... ?full=true
I'm not certain I understand it but it's one of those fundamental theories of everything type of stories.

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 02 Mar , 2010 5:08 pm
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Quote:
Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.

The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.

The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).

The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).

The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth's mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth's north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters).

Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).

One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.

The Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, but its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location. Its epicenter was located in the Earth's mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.

The fault responsible for the 2010 Chile quake also slices through Earth at a steeper angle than the Sumatran quake's fault, NASA scientists said.

"This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth's figure axis," NASA officials said.

Gross said his findings are based on early data available on the Chile earthquake. As more information about its characteristics are revealed, his prediction of its effects will likely change.

The Chile earthquake has killed more than 700 people and caused widespread devastation in the South American country.

Several major telescopes in Chile's Atacama Desert have escaped damage, according to the European Southern Observatory managing them.

A salt-measuring NASA satellite instrument destined to be installed on an Argentinean satellite was also undamaged in the earthquake, JPL officials said.

The Aquarius instrument was in the city of Bariloche, Argentina, where it is being installed in the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D) satellite. The satellite integration facility is about 365 miles (588 km) from the Chile quake's epicenter.

The Aquarius instrument is designed to provide monthly global maps of the ocean's salt concentration in order to track current circulation and its role in climate change.
Woah. :Q

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Ara-anna
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 02 Mar , 2010 7:32 pm
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2012 here we come.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Tue 02 Mar , 2010 9:59 pm
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Quote:
One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.
Which winter and summer are they talking about? :scratch: Northern hemisphere or Southern?

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Lidless
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Wed 03 Mar , 2010 7:20 am
Als u het leven te ernstig neemt, mist u de betekenis.
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ToshoftheWuffingas wrote:
And another thing I spotted today as well:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... ?full=true
I'm not certain I understand it but it's one of those fundamental theories of everything type of stories.
Very, very cool. Shame the Conservation Of Information Principal doesn't apply to humans!

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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Thu 04 Mar , 2010 2:26 am
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If the shortening of the day story gets any more publicity the bastards will start to dock your wages. :(

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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: Cool science stuff
Posted: Sat 06 Mar , 2010 1:13 pm
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I do look at other sites than the BBC but they do scoop up some interesting stories. This is the latest one to blow me away:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8550614.stm

I mean, Zimbabwe is so far away! DNA studies are brilliant!

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