Monthly Archives: May 2017

Water is essential for life. When searching for life in the universe, the first thing researchers do is “follow the water”. Mars is no exception. Finding evidence of water on Mars could put scientists one step closer to finding out if there is or was life on the red planet. Patterns on the surface of Mars similar to deltas on Earth caused by flowing water. Image By NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Some exploration and reconnaissance missions sent by NASA to Mars, as old as Mariner 9 and the Viking Mission in the 70’s, have already collected evidence of water flowing on the surface, which can be observed by the formation of soil patterns (pictured to the left). On Earth, these processes are caused by rainfall and the activity of rivers and lakes, where the action of running water causes soil erosion and eventually forms valleys.…

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It turns out that algae, the green fuzzy stuff that covers rocks, coats shorelines, and thrives in swampy areas, might be the renewable fuel source we’ve been searching for. Algae and microalgae are photosynthetic organisms (they generate energy from sunlight and CO2) naturally found in freshwater ecosystems. Researchers in Cuba and Belgium have assembled a review of 17 studies documenting findings from using algae as a biofuel in diesel engines. Biofuels are fuels made from plants. Corn, for example, can be processed to produce the E85 ethanol fuel option at gas stations. The other options at the gas station — regular, mid-grade, premium, or diesel — are produced using fossil fuels. These ancient fuels are created from extracting and processing decayed organic materials (such as plants) that have been buried for millions of years. Unfortunately, the refinement process for fossil fuels isn’t exactly energy-efficient, and there are human health and environmental issues…

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It turns out that algae, the green fuzzy stuff that covers rocks, coats shorelines, and thrives in swampy areas, might be the renewable fuel source we’ve been searching for. Algae and microalgae are photosynthetic organisms (they generate energy from sunlight and CO2) naturally found in freshwater ecosystems. Researchers in Cuba and Belgium have assembled a review of 17 studies documenting findings from using algae as a biofuel in diesel engines. Biofuels are fuels made from plants. Corn, for example, can be processed to produce the E85 ethanol fuel option at gas stations. The other options at the gas station — regular, mid-grade, premium, or diesel — are produced using fossil fuels. These ancient fuels are created from extracting and processing decayed organic materials (such as plants) that have been buried for millions of years. Unfortunately, the refinement process for fossil fuels isn’t exactly energy-efficient, and there are human health and environmental issues…

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Nature, for all its genius, is inherently lazy. Living organisms appear to have two priorities — survive long enough to reproduce and spend as little energy as possible doing so.  Over generations, a species will make small tweaks to better adjust itself to survive to its environment. There are analogies to this in our human-scale world, like the way a business cuts costs to stay lean, or how we engineer tools to make us as productive as possible for the least human cost.   These small tweaks have ultimately lead to some pretty ingenious, nature-based solutions to the problem of reducing energy use. The living world has solved problems we struggle with, like harnessing the energy of the sun (photosynthesis), self-healing (wounds), flying, etc.. There is a lot we can learn from nature’s feats of engineering. So much so, that there is a scientific discipline for it. Biomimicry is the…

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You’re out for a run on your favorite trail, and you hear something rustle in the bushes. You immediately jump to attention, eyeing a snake. Your body’s automatic reaction to the snake can be attributed to your amygdala. The amygdala is a region of the brain where our fear response takes place. For example, if we need to run from a dangerous threat, this part of the brain tells our bodies to take action. This is known widely as the fight or flight response. In prey animals, such as mice, this response also includes “freezing” behavior, where the animal spends a longer time than usual in a crouching position and experiences changes in its blood pressure. Anxiety is a type of chronic low-level fear that is also associated with the amygdala. Anxiety disorders are common, affecting approximately 18% of the population of the United States and are usually treated with…

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Chess is often a metaphor for life, love, and sports. This popular board game has found favor among all education levels, ages, and backgrounds. Now, there may be room for it in the mathematics classroom as a strategy for increasing student engagement. Math anxiety and poor math performance among young students is common, and science and math educators are always looking for ways to improve both math test scores and student engagement in the classroom. Chess has been proposed as a way of improving math abilities, despite the fact that math and chess do not have as much in common as people think. Previous studies suggest that playing chess might benefit students indirectly, say researchers in Denmark who put chess lessons to the test in five different elementary schools. Their paper entitled “Your Move: The Effect of Chess on Mathematics Test Scores” was published in the journal PLOS One in…

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Wearable electronics are the new fashion statement. Fitness trackers, smart watches, electronic skins….the possibilities are endless. We don’t lug around our gadgets anymore, we wear them. But every story has its villain. Drop that smart bracelet, and your device won’t be covered by warranty. There’s always fine print at the back of the box that reads ‘Handle gently’ and a fat pamphlet listing out all damages the warranty won’t cover. That’s because most wearable electronics aren’t designed to tackle accidents and abnormal strain. These devices incorporate semiconducting materials that can transmit information from your body to the device. Most of these materials are complex molecules called polymers that crack under excessive stretching and degrade with long term usage, raising questions about their functionality and reliability. Polymers that are durable usually don’t perform well electronically, and vice versa. Conjugated polymers, also known as intrinsically conducting polymers, are a popular choice for…

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La nave espacial Cassini orbitando alrededor de Saturno realizó un asombroso descubrimiento en la luna Encélado. En una serie de sobrevuelos cercanos a un chorro continuo de partículas heladas se encontró hidrógeno molecular ( H2 ). Dicho chorro, recibe el nombre de géiser y dispara las moléculas cientos de millas en el espacio desde las grietas de la superficie de la luna. El hidrógeno es una golosina para las posibles bacterias que podrían estar viviendo en el océano de la luna; además, indica que están ocurriendo activamente reacciones químicas entre el agua y las rocas del océano ¿Significa esto que hay vida? No ¿Significa que si la vida existiera, podría sobrevivir? Sí. La pequeña luna de Saturno Encélado ha sorprendido a todos. Es una luna diminuta ( 310 millas de diámetro), se esperaba que fuera fría, un mundo inactivo. Después de un viaje de siete años, Cassini llegó a Saturno…

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All of matter is made of smaller particles. Organisms are made of  molecules, molecules are made of atoms, and atoms are made of subatomic particles. Examples of these are protons, neutrons, and electrons.

A gravitational wave is a ripple in space-time caused by intense gravitational forces in space. Not to be confused with with a gravity wave, which is an oscillation (back and forth wavelike movement) between two substances of different densities. Ocean waves are an example of a gravity wave, whereas a gravitational wave is something much larger that occurs between stars, supernovae, planets, etc. To read more about the differences between these two similar sounding names: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-a-gravitational-wave-and-a-gravity-wave http://www.livescience.com/53683-gravitational-waves-vs-gravity-waves-know-the-difference.html

A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to nearly light speed in the form of a narrow beam. It is used for many types of research including physics and medicine.

RuBisCo The word of the day today is not even really a word, but it’s THAT important that it gets to be featured. RuBisCo is short for “Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase.” If you think that’s a mouthful, wait until you find out how important it is. RuBisCo is a special kind of protein called an ENZYME. It has the critical job of allowing plants to make sugars and starches from the carbon dioxide IN THE AIR! How awesome! Life as we know it would not exist without RuBisCo.

by Vigneshwaran Krishnamurthy Imagine a world similar to Earth, flourishing with a rich atmosphere of breathable oxygen. Water is flowing effortlessly, the temperature in just the right range and possibly filled with life forms. Intriguing? This hypothetical world could have been our neighbor Mars. Dr. Dimitra Atri from Blue Marble Space believes so. In his recent work titled “Did high-energy astrophysical sources contribute to Martian atmospheric loss?” he tries to figure out what could have possibly caused Mars to lose its atmosphere. Planetary atmospheres play a major role in maintaining habitable conditions on a planet. Earth, for example, has a magnetic field that cause our compass to always point north, and is strong enough to deflect radiation from Sun and protect our atmosphere. Atmospheres can break down because of the lack of this planetary magnetism and also low surface gravity, leaving the planet vulnerable. But even though our Sun has…

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Atoms make molecules and molecules make proteins, like the keratin in your hair or hemoglobin in your blood. These proteins interact in complex ways to create movement, metabolism, consciousness, and everything we call life. But there is a vast divide in complexity between the simplest amoeba and a human being. How do those chemicals self-assemble to breathe and communicate? Information control is one of the key hallmarks of life, but we don’t know a lot about how information is organized in biology, or how information is held in chemistry. There is a fascinating complexity gap that is begging to be understood, and this is why Sara Imari Walker does science. I got the chance to chat with her about ways of thinking about this complexity gap to further our understanding on this question. When trying to understand how the interactions of life came to be, Sara and her lab start…

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Cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy sometimes suffer from gastrointestinal side effects that can be quite severe, leading to ulcers and and bleeding. The problem is unfortunately common, and there are no established ways of preventing it. The intestines, according to a paper published in the journal PLOS in April, are particularly at risk for radiation side effects. Radiation targets cells that divide quickly. Cancer cells divide much more quickly than healthy cells. However, intestinal cells are an exception because they also divide and slough off quickly and become casualties in the battle for the patient’s health. An over-the-counter hormone supplement called melatonin, typically made from animal pineal glands or synthesized in a laboratory, was tested in the present study to see if it would be able to protect the intestines of rats treated with radiation. Melatonin is best known for it’s use as a “natural sleep aid” but the…

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