Scientists of the Max Plank Institute and Berlin’s Humboldt University have generated a ball of lightning in the laboratory.
The facility can generate impressive “ball-lightning“ in every possible manifestation and colour about every five minutes. Professor Fussmann: “Why luminous phenomena occur at all is anything but clear: They continue to be visible about 300 milliseconds after the current has decayed and the energy input is thus cut off; however, they should really be quenched after a few milliseconds at most. Furthermore, the plasma glows very brightly, although the plasmoids appear to be rather cold. A sheet of paper placed above them does get lifted, but it does not catch fire.“
Posted by Alex in Travel on June 9, 2006 at 6:28 pm
From the Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society:
The Ténéré wastelands of northeastern Niger were once populated by a forest of trees. By the 20th century, desertification had wiped out all but one solitary acacia. The Tree of Ténéré, as it came to be called, had no companions for 400 km in every direction. Its roots reached nearly 40 m deep into the sand. In 1973, the tree was knocked over by a drunken Libyan truck driver. It has been replaced by a simple metal sculpture.
Meet I. plenipes, the world’s leggiest animal. This millipede, about an inch long, has been sighted in San Benito County, California, a known biodiversity hot spot.
Despite the name, which means "thousand-legged," most millipedes have on average 300 legs. Of the estimated 10,000 species, only one — I. plenipes — comes close to living up to its name and only thrives in California.
That rare species was first spied in 1926 in San Benito County, about 120 miles southwest of San Francisco, by a government scientist who counted up to a record 750 legs. For decades, scientists flocked to the area in search of the leggy bug, but were unsuccessful.
It remained elusive until a 28-year-old scientist from East Carolina University, Paul Marek, and his brother chanced upon it last fall.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Zoology Department discovered this earth-shocking bit of revelation: swans cheat. A lot.
"Swans have long been renowned as symbols of lifelong fidelity and devotion, but our recent work has shown that infidelity is rife among black swans," says Dr Raoul Mulder, whose team is busy fitting tracking devices to scores of swans.
DNA testing has shown that one in six cygnets is the product of an illicit encounter, smashing the birds’ monogamous image.
Why have a boring backyard shed when you can make your own Roman Temple garden shed? Tony from Berkshire, UK converted his shed into a roman temple, complete with columns, marble panels, grape lights, and a flaming torch!
From the website:
Following on from my interest in all things Roman, I was standing at the kitchen window one day when I casually suggested to my wife that the shed might look better if it was converted to a Roman Temple. She was not amused! Three years passed during which time I produced a computer- simulated view of the garden with the proposed shed / Temple, and I continued to promote the idea at every opportunity. Then, on 23rd December 2004, I was at home when a parcel lorry arrived with my Christmas present, four (very big 2.2 metre) plastic/fibreglass Roman columns. I assumed this meant that I now had "Official Permission" to go ahead.
This woodblock of the demon Behemoth, a "heavy, stupid demon, despite his dignities … his powers are in the gluttony and the pleasure of the belly", is found in J.A.S. Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal published in 1863.
We’ve featured images from the Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections before, but it’s worth another look: Link – Thanks Yayo!
Posted by Alex in Pictures on June 9, 2006 at 9:21 am
This photo was taken on May 23, 2006 by Flight Engineer Jeff Williams of the International Space Station:
This picture shows the ash plume moving west-southwest from the volcano’s summit. A bank of fog (upper right) is a common feature around the Aleutian Islands. The event proved to be short-lived; two hours later, the plume had completely detached from the volcano (see image from May 24). The AVO reported that the ash cloud height could have been as high as 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) above sea level.
Cleveland Volcano, situated on the western half of Chuginadak Island, is one of the most active of the volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands, which extend west-southwest from the Alaska mainland.
The arrival of rainy season in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan is marked by the appearance of the mysterious, glow-in-the-dark mushroom.
The Mycena lux-coeli mushrooms, known locally as shii no tomobishi-dake (literally, “chinquapin glow mushrooms”), sprout from fallen chinquapin trees. As they grow, a chemical reaction involving luciferin (a light-emitting pigment contained within the mushrooms) occurs, causing them to glow a ghostly green.
Mr. Dealio tracked the prices of electronics from Best Buy and Circuit City to find out who drives the competition for better deals:
In the online retail world, few competitors are as fierce as Best Buy and Circuit City. When asked, most people have a preference toward one — or avoid them all together. We thought it would be interesting to study the historic price performance of these two heavyweights across several products to find out who really gives consumers a better deal.
Posted by Alex in Pictures on June 9, 2006 at 1:08 am
Astronomer John Barentine ran into this carving while hiking in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park in Arizona. The carving, made by prehistoric Native Americans, depicts a scorption and an eight-pointed star, which reminded him of the supernova of AD 1006 in the constellation Scorpius.
The supernova would have been brighter than a planet, and both it and the constellation – which is shaped like a scorpion – would have appeared just above the edge of the rock, in the same orientation depicted in the carvings. Native Americans populated the region during that period and often recorded objects thought to have magical powers, says Barentine.
"It’s by no means conclusive, but I think it’s strong circumstantial evidence that the art depicts the supernova," says Barentine. He announced his theory at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, on Monday.
Yes, there is a Woody Allen statue in Oviedo, Spain – so naturally when the famous Hollywood director visited the town for a conference on film, he had to take a look at the statue!
See more statues of Woody Allen on Flickr: Link – Thanks Yayo!
Posted by Alex in Art, Sports on June 9, 2006 at 1:06 am
Just in time for soccer fever, bora.herke decorated 32 regulation-size soccer balls with different materials associated – for good or bad, with certain countries.
And yes, that Sweden ball is covered with pages from an IKEA catalog!
Improv Everywhere brings participatory art (read: prank in public places) to a new level. In this one "mission", 80 people showed up wearing blue polos and khaki pants and "infiltrated" a Best Buy store.
With our main photographer busted, I took out my camera and started taking covert snapshots. One employee caught me in the act and rushed over. As soon as he got to me, I caught him off guard with a question, "Hey, do you know where I can find the right memory cards for my camera?" He stammered for a second and then said, "Sure. They’re right over there." I thanked him and was on my way. Another employee caught me moments later in the DVD section, but I disarmed him with a question as well, "Do you know how much the Star Trek DS9 DVDs are? There is no price tag." We chatted for a second about how expensive the set was, and by the time I walked away he forgot all about the camera.
Posted by Alex in Health on June 9, 2006 at 1:03 am
Scientists found that chemicals from gardenia fruit extract used in Chinese medicine for centuries can actually treat diabetes effectively.
The extract has been used in traditional Chinese Medicine to relieve the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes.
Tests on mice showed the extract blocked UCP2′s action, and that a chemical called genipin was the active compound.
When genipin was added to pancreatic tissue in the lab, it also reversed faults linked to obesity and high glucose levels in insulin-producing cells.
Collectively, Chinese herbalists shrugged and said, we knew all along. Collectively, big pharmas shrugged and said, there’s no profit in herbs – medicine must be chemical/biologics-based & be patent-able.
Geologists studying rock formations called stromatolites found stippled, wavy markings that some claimed to be made by ancient microbes.
The rocks, widely regarded as some of the oldest fossils, are evidence of a ‘microbial reef’ ecosystem of similar complexity to modern coral reefs, the scientists say.
The rocks bear stippled, wavy markings that many claim are the hallmarks of colonies of ancient microbes. But others argue that the formations, which are more than 3.4 billion years old, are too old to have been made by life, which is thought only to have arisen only a few hundred million years earlier.
Abigail Allwood of Macquarie University in Sydney suggested that because diversity of life had arisen so early on on this planet, life may also have evolved on other planets like Mars (when its condition was more like Earth).
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