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kidsneedscience: The word embryo comes into English in the mid...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:15:21 -0400

The word embryo comes into English in the mid 14th century fully formed from the Ancient Greek word embryon (εμβρυον) meaning a young one. In earlier Greek (specifically Homer) embryon meant a young animal and acquired the poetic use of fruit of the womb, a compound word composed of the prefix en and the root bryein (βρυειν) meaning to swell or be full.

Image of an embryo courtesy lunar caustic, used with permission under a creative commons 3.0 license.

deconversionmovement: Hearing changes could be ancient in the...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:13:00 -0400

deconversionmovement:

Hearing changes could be ancient in the human line

Comparison between hominins suggests modern middle-ear bones evolved early.

A study of two ancient hominins from South Africa suggests that changes in the shape and size of the middle ear occurred early in our evolution. Such alterations could have profoundly changed what our ancestors could hear — and perhaps how they could communicate.

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stellar-indulgence: N44C Nebula Resembling the hair in...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:11:57 -0400

stellar-indulgence:

N44C Nebula

Resembling the hair in Botticelli’s famous portrait of the birth of Venus, an image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured softly glowing filaments streaming from hot young stars in a nearby nebula.

The image, presented by the Hubble Heritage Project, was taken in 1996 by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, designed and built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The image is available online at http://heritage.stsci.edu/2002/12/index.html or http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2002/12/image/a/.

(Refer to original image) On the top right of the image is a source of its artistic likeness, a network of nebulous filaments surrounding the Wolf-Rayet star. This type of rare star is characterized by an exceptionally vigorous “wind” of charged particles. The shock of the wind colliding with the surrounding gas causes the gas to glow.

The Wolf-Rayet star is part of N44C, a nebula of glowing hydrogen gas surrounding young stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Visible from the Southern Hemisphere, the Large Magellanic Cloud is a small companion galaxy to the Milky Way.

What makes N44C peculiar is the temperature of the star that illuminates it. The most massive stars — those that are 10 to 50 times more massive than the Sun — have maximum temperatures of 30,000 to 50,000 degrees Celsius (54,000 to 90,000 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature of this star is about 75,000 degrees Celsius (135,000 degrees Fahrenheit). This unusually high temperature may be due to a neutron star or black hole that occasionally produces X-rays but is now inactive.

N44C is part of a larger complex that includes young, hot, massive stars, nebulae, and a “superbubble” blown out by multiple supernova explosions. Part of the superbubble is seen in red at the very bottom left of the Hubble image.

The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.

Image credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: D. Garnett (University of Arizona)

thescienceofreality: Have you ever seen the skeleton of a...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:33:52 -0400

thescienceofreality:

Have you ever seen the skeleton of a turtle? Via Biologia-Vida

“The shell of a turtle, composed of carapace (top) and plastron (bottom), is formed by bones and covered by a layer made of the protein keratin (the same substance present in our nails and hair). Contrary to what most people believe, the turtle does not outgrow its shell, because these keratin layers, called scutellum, sheds several times during the year to allow the shell to grow along with the animal. That’s why turtles rub themselves in stone and stay in the sun, to dry the scutellum and facilitate the shed, and warmth, since they are cold blooded animals and cannot maintain constant heat in the body.”

theolduvaigorge: Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidrón...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:33:22 -0400

theolduvaigorge:

Handedness in Neandertals from the El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain): Evidence from Instrumental Striations with Ontogenetic Inferences

by Almudena Estalrrich and Antonio Rosas

“The developed cognitive capabilities for Homo sapiens seems to be the result of a specialized and lateralized brain, and as a result of this, humans display the highest degree of manual specialization or handedness among the primates. Studies regarding its emergence and distribution within the genus Homo show that handedness is present very early. The mode in which it was articulated and spread across the different species during the course of human evolution could provide information about our own cognitive capacities. Here we report the manual laterality attributed to eleven 49,000 old Neandertal individuals from El Sidrón cave (Spain), through the study of instrumental or cultural striations on the anterior dentition. Our results show a predominant pattern addressed to right-handers. These results fit within the modern human handedness distribution pattern and provide indirect evidence for behavior and brain lateralization on Neandertals. They support the early establishment of handedness in our genus. Moreover, the individual identified as Juvenile 1 (6–8 years old at death), displays the same striation pattern as the adult Neandertals from the sample, and thereby the ontogenic development of manual laterality in that Neandertal population seems to be similar to that of living modern humans” (read more/open access).

***About to read this.

(Open access source: PLoS ONE 8(5): e62797)

astronomy-to-zoology: Opabinia (Opabinia regalis) another...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:32:55 -0400

astronomy-to-zoology:

Opabinia (Opabinia regalis) another unique arthropod from the Cambrian period, noted for its five eyes and proboscis.

From David Attenbrough’s First Life watch it like right now!

Photo

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:32:31 -0400

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=119-...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:17:00 -0400

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=119-852524543&id=P52612#

Slotted masses with wide slot for aluminum weight hangers. Available in different masses. Made of aluminum or brass. The opening of each slot is about 5.5mm. Accuracy > 99%

1 gram, 2 gram, 5 gram, 10 gram, 20 gram, 50 gram, Brass, 100 gram, 200 gram and 500 gram.

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=119-852524543&id=P52612#

thatscienceguy: A ‘few’ rock formations from around the world.

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:14:04 -0400

thatscienceguy:

A ‘few’ rock formations from around the world.

theolduvaigorge: Longstanding dental pathology in Neandertals...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:11:51 -0400

theolduvaigorge:

Longstanding dental pathology in Neandertals from El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain) with a probable familial basis

by M.C. Dean, A. Rosas, A. Estalrrich, A. García-Tabernero, R. Huguet, C. Lalueza-Fox, M. Bastir and M. de la Rasilla

“Two Neandertal specimens from El Sidrón, northern Spain, show evidence of retained left mandibular deciduous canines. These individuals share the same mitochondrial (mtDNA) haplotype, indicating they are maternally related and suggesting a potential heritable basis for these dental anomalies. Radiographs and medical CT scans provide evidence of further, more extensive dental pathology in one of these specimens. An anomalous deciduous canine crown morphology that developed before birth subsequently suffered a fracture of the crown exposing the pulp sometime after eruption into functional occlusion. This led to death of the tooth, periapical granuloma formation and arrested deciduous canine root growth at an estimated age of 2.5 years. At some point the underlying permanent canine tooth became horizontally displaced and came to lie low in the trabecular bone of the mandibular corpus. A dentigerous cyst then developed around the crown. Anterior growth displacement of the mandible continued around the stationary permanent canine, leaving it posteriorly positioned in the mandibular corpus by the end of the growth period beneath the third permanent molar roots, which, in turn, suggests a largely horizontal growth vector. Subsequent longstanding repeated infections of the expanding cyst cavity are evidenced by bouts of bone deposition and resorption of the boundary walls of the cyst cavity. This resulted in the establishment of two permanent bony drainage sinuses, one through the buccal plate of the alveolar bone anteriorly, immediately beneath the infected deciduous canine root, and the other through the buccal plate anterior to the mesial root of the first permanent molar. It is probable that this complicated temporal sequence of dental pathologies had an initial heritable trigger that progressed in an unusually complex way in one of these individuals. During life, this individual may have been largely unaware of this ongoing pathology” (read more/not open access).

(Source: Journal of Human Evolution, in press 2013)

smarterplanet: What’s In Your Gut? Ask Citizen Science |...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:11:36 -0400

smarterplanet:

What’s In Your Gut? Ask Citizen Science | Co.Exist

The American Gut Project is trying to create a better picture of the human “microbiome.” Give it some of your info, and they’ll tell you a lot about all the bugs that make up your digestive system and how they’re affecting your health.

howstuffworks: How Liquid Motion Lamps Work: The most common...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:11:26 -0400

howstuffworks:

How Liquid Motion Lamps Work:

The most common way to change the density of compounds is to change their temperature. Heating a compound activates the molecules so that they spread apart, making the compound less dense. If you have read How Thermometers Work, you know that heating water causes it to expand quite a bit. Cooling the compound down again increases the density.

If you look inside a motion lamp when it’s turned off, you’ll find a solid waxy compound on the bottom of the globe. This solid compound is only a little denser than the surrounding liquid compound. When you turn on the light at the base of the globe, here is what happens:

The solid quickly turns into a liquid and expands, giving it a lower density than the surrounding liquid.

A warm blob is now slightly less dense than the surrounding liquid, so it rises to the top of the globe.

Because it is farther away from the heat source, the blob cools slightly, becoming more dense than the surrounding liquid (it does not cool down enough to change back into a solid, however).

The blob sinks to the bottom of the globe, where it heats up enough to rise again.

This is a pretty simple idea, but it’s actually fairly complicated to balance all the elements — the compounds, the heat source and the size of the globe — so that the blobs are constantly moving around. In fact, the companies that produce commercial motion lamps guard their ingredients very closely, and motion lamp enthusiasts have had a very hard time reproducing the displays you see in commercial models.

Keep reading…

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=115-...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:40:19 -0400

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=115-1068304550&id=EARMOD#

5 X the actual human ear, this model of the human ear comes on a stand. It is made from indestructible polymer, comes hand painted with numbered parts and a keyed description. This model demonstrates the function of the human ear and will suit the needs for in depth study of this gentle human organ at home or office with your patients

Overall dimensions (w)14.5cm x (l)29cm x (h)13cm

This model displays the following parts:

Tympanic Membrane (ear drum) (DETACHABLE)
Semicircular Canal (DETACHABLE)
Helix
Antihelix
External Acoustic Meatus
Temporal Bone
Temproal Muscle
Malleus (hammer)
Incus (anvil)
Stapes (stirrup)
Auditory Nerve
Cochlea
Round Window
Auditory (eustachian tube)
Fat Layer

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=115-1068304550&id=EARMOD#

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=115-...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:36:00 -0400

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=115-1068304550&id=EYEMOD#

3 X the actual human eye, this plastic model of the human eye comes on a stand but can be removed for a closer observation and dissection. This model is dissectible in 6 numbered parts that come along with a keyed description. This detailed model is perfect for anatomical studies at home or the optometry office.

The parts displayed are the following

Conjunctive
Cornea
Iris
Pupil
Lens
Eye Muscle
Sclerotic
Choroid
Retina
Optic Nerve
Vitreous Humour

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=115-1068304550&id=EYEMOD#

theolduvaigorge: Facial Reconstruction of Homo georgicus, Skull...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:33:03 -0400

theolduvaigorge:

Facial Reconstruction of Homo georgicus, Skull nº D2700 from Dmanisi Republic of Georgia (~1.8 Mya)

Reconstruction by Philippe Froesch

This reconstruction is rather different than those seen in the previous post. The nose is much narrower and the nostrils are much less flared. The supraorbital torus is less prominent, the eyes are light and the skin much fairer too. It also seems less prognathic but it’s hard to tell from these angles. You don’t often see a reconstruction of any hominid dating to ~1.8 Mya that looks this modern human caucasian-like. However, Homo erectus was all over the shop and certainly variability existed. Here are some examples of other reconstructions, this one (Dmanisi), this one (Dmanisi), this one (Homo erectus) and this one (Homo erectus). See also this image for comparisons of different reconstructions of the Dmanisi specimens. I wonder about variability both in artistic but scientifically informed representation and on a geographic basis in fossil specimens. And I’m aware that I’m conflating taxa here because as today’s guest post noted, there is no consensus as to the taxon of the Dmanisi fossils.

(Source: Visualforensic)

spaceplasma: Keep An Eye Out For Thursday’s ‘Pink Moon’ If you...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:30:40 -0400

spaceplasma:

Keep An Eye Out For Thursday’s ‘Pink Moon’

If you glance up in the sky on Thursday, keep and eye out for the pink moon.

Named for the brilliant pink phlox that once signaled the arrival of Spring, the moon will be at its fullest at 3:57 p.m. EDT April 25.

First of all: No, it’s not pink

The spoiler is, Pink Moons are not really pink. It is simply the name for full moon that happens during the month of April — similar to February’s snow moon.

UPI.com reports that the moon might actually be slightly pink this year because of the lunar eclipse that’s set to happen in the afternoon.

So, why the name?

The “pink moon” name is part of a naming tradition traceable to Native American tribes. Full moons during different times of the year signaled changes in the seasons and other important dates (Farmer’s Almanac offers a handy breakdown).

Full Corn moon meant it was time to pick corn, Full Buck Moon shone at around the time of year deer bucks were sprouting antlers, and Full Sturgeon Moon probably coincided with sturgeon-fishing season.

Pink moon is so named because it occurred at around the time the plant wild ground phlox begins to blossom. Indigenous Americans took this as a sign that Spring had arrived.

But there will be a lunar eclipse, right?

Eh, sort of.

Some say that the Pink Moon may be especially worth stealing a glance this year, owing to the fact that it will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse. Those who live in Europe, parts of Asia or Africa will see the eclipse, says Space.com’s Joe Rao. North Americans, though are out of luck.

It is only a partial eclipse — people in Europe will see notice only a slight dark spot on the edge of the moon. You can watch the eclipse live stream at the Slooh Space Camera website.

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=112-...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:48:06 -0400

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=112-639362281&CatID=50&id=TT16150_1

Clear Borosilicate glass test tubes can be used for chemical experiments as well as experiments related to density and other physical properties of liquids. Size: 16mm x 150 mm Quantity in pack: 20

http://sciencematerial.com/navigation/detail.asp?MySessionID=112-639362281&CatID=50&id=TT16150_1

digg: Chris Hadfield wrings out a washcloth in space, proving...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:45:42 -0400

digg:

Chris Hadfield wrings out a washcloth in space, proving once again that every single thing you do is 100x cooler in space.

thescienceofreality: This Week in Science - April 15 - 21,...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:44:48 -0400

thescienceofreality:

This Week in Science - April 15 - 21, 2013:

CO2 build up here.

Colour-changing hare here.

Nano-sponges and toxins here.

Bioengineered kidney here.

Fins to feet here.

Interactive exoplanet tally here.

Dinosaur egg study here.

Infants being carried here.

MIT solar cell here.

Chimps and communication here.

HPV vaccine in Australia here.

Depression study here.

birdandmoon: Happy spring, nature lovers! Here’s this comic on...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:43:41 -0400

birdandmoon:

Happy spring, nature lovers! Here’s this comic on my site.

Edit: lots of discussion on my Facebook Page about whether actinomycetes are fungi or bacteria. Actinomycetes are now classified as gram-positive bacteria, though they have fungus-like characteristics. I highly recommend this book for the budding (or zoosporulating?) bacteriophile!