The Science Center

jtotheizzoe: Chelya-boom-boom A meteor burned up above the...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:35:21 -0500

Chelya-boom-boom

A meteor burned up above the skies of central Russia this morning, resulting in an aerial explosion and shockwave whose effects injured hundreds near Chelyabinsk. It brings to mind these lines from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between

Events like this are not rare in Earth’s atmosphere, happening at least once per decade. What made this one special was its chance occurrence over a populated area and the fact that so many Russians have cameras running on their dashboards, like, all the time. Central Russia is no stranger to extreme aerial explosions due to space debris entering the atmosphere, most famously with 1908’s Tunguska Event, a several megaton aerial explosion of a comet fragment that knocked down 80 million trees.

Details about today’s meteor event are a little fuzzy, but I plugged some data into Purdue’s Impact Earth! meteor event calculator (which is a super fun way to pretend you’re destroying Earth) to see if I could nail down the energy released by this fireball.

From the videos I’ve seen, it looks like this thing entered the atmosphere at a pretty shallow angle, maybe 15 degrees from the horizon. It would have to be pretty dense rock in order to make it that far into the atmosphere without disintegrating, so I plugged its density in as 3,000-5,000 kg/m³. Russian officials reported its aerial velocity at about 15 km/second and that it was about the size of a dinner table, so 4 meters across? If you tweak the velocity, density, size and angle a little, you get an airburst of between 2 and 5 kilotons of TNT, or a little less than half the strength of the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima, and an explosion altitude upwards of 50,000 feet.

Seems like a pretty accurate calculation, although the actual altitude must have been more like 30,000 feet to produce the shockwave that resulted in all the injuries. Play around with the Impact Earth calculator and let me know if you get anything better!

Although asteroid 2013 DA14 is making a close flight by Earth today, zipping inside of some of our satellites, but this meteor event almost certainly had nothing to do with that. Space is full of stuff, and every so often we are reminded of that in spectacular fashion.

BONUS: This kind of thing happens all over the solar system. Check out this scorched explosion remnant on Mars!

(GIF via amalucky)

motherboardtv: Happy Valentine’s Day. Here’s how different...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:29:29 -0500

motherboardtv:

Happy Valentine’s Day. Here’s how different types of animals have sex.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my lovely followers!

Round 15: Total number of visitors

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:00:32 -0500

Round 15: Total number of visitors

Scientists discover sea slug with “disposable...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:00:51 -0500

Scientists discover sea slug with “disposable penis”

If you haven’t put much thought into the genitalia of sea slugs, maybe now’s the time to start.

A sea slug that is able to detach, re-grow and then re-use its penis has surprised scientists. Japanese researchers observed the bizarre mating behaviour in a species called Chromodoris reticulata, which is found in the Pacific Ocean. They believe this is the first creature known that can repeatedly copulate with what they describe as a “disposable penis”. […]

The Japanese team observed sea slugs that they had collected from shallow coral reefs around Japan. They saw the animals mate 31 times. The act took between a few seconds and a few minutes, after which the creatures would push away and shed their penises, leaving them on the floor of the tank.

However, the researchers were surprised to discover that just 24-hours later, the sea slugs had regenerated their male organs and were able to mate again. Closer examination of the animals’ anatomy revealed that the sea slugs had a large part of their penis coiled up in a spiral inside their bodies, which they would then use to replenish their missing part.

Blind moles smell in stereo You might be shocked to find out...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:01:04 -0500

Blind moles smell in stereo

You might be shocked to find out that the strangest thing about the common mole isn’t its, umm, peculiar face. A new study suggests that they can smell in stereo, the same way that your ears experience surround-sound.

Tiny-eared and blind, common moles search for tasty meals – like crushed-up earthworms – with their noses. Now a study suggests that these unconventionally adorable critters find their food by smelling in stereo, by detecting small differences in the strength of an odor between the two nostrils.

The study “shows quite directly that stereo olfaction helps with finding food,” said Upinder Bhalla, a neurobiologist at Bangalore’s National Centre for Biological Sciences. Bhalla has studied stereo smelling in rats, but was not a part of the mole team. “It shows how there is a greater reliance on the stereo cues as the animal gets closer to the odor source.”

Stereo sensing is not an unfamiliar capability among mammals. Vision and hearing both work this way, with input from two eyes producing depth perception, and separated ears localizing sound. But for years, the question of whether mammals could smell in stereo has generated controversy. Studies have suggested that both rats and humans could do this, but not everyone believes it.

The new report, published today in Nature Communications, aims to add the common mole (Scalopus aquaticus) to the roster of stereo-sniffers. To test these subterranean furballs, Kenneth Catania, a neurobiologist at Vanderbilt University, constructed a chamber containing 15 food wells arrayed in a semicircle.

Moles placed in the chamber had to follow their noses to a chunk of earthworm randomly hidden in one of the 15 wells. Most sniffed a few times and went directly to retrieve their yummy treasure.

But when one nostril was plugged, a different pattern emerged. Temporarily blocking the left nostril with plastic tubing sent moles veering off to the right. When the right nostril was plugged, the moles favored initial forays to the left. When Catania inserted tubes that crossed the odor cues between left and right, the moles were completely flummoxed. They often wandered around, even missing the wriggling worm completely. A different testing chamber — designed to simulate an underground tunnel — produced similar results.

The Bite That Heals It’s hard to see—but essential to avoid—a...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:00:41 -0500

The Bite That Heals

It’s hard to see—but essential to avoid—a stonefish on a Pacific reef. If venom from its dorsal spines doesn’t kill you, the pain is so great that you may find yourself begging for the affected limb to be cut off.

NatGeo takes a look at the possible medical value of venoms. Read the feature article or check out the photo gallery.

Help name two of Pluto’s moons Pictured above is one of...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:01:07 -0500

Help name two of Pluto’s moons

Pictured above is one of Pluto’s moons, Charon. However, two of Pluto’s other moons have much more boring names: P4 and P5. For that reason, an astronomer from SETI is leading the charge to rename the moons, and the best part is, you can have a say! For the next two weeks, you can vote on this website for your favorite of the choices, or select your own. But, with apologies to Stephen Colbert, the International Astronomical Union has set rules for the naming of the moons: the names must be mythological and pertain to Hades. This contest harkens back to the origin of Pluto’s own name, which was chosen in 1930 at the suggestion of an 11-year-old girl.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go vote!

Curiosity marks first ever drilling of rock on a planet besides...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:00:57 -0500

Curiosity marks first ever drilling of rock on a planet besides our own

There’s something about the above picture that I just love - maybe it’s the rover’s shadow or the surreal surface. Regardless, there’s an objective reason to be excited for the Curiosity rover’s latest hijinks - it’s bored into Martian rock for the first time. The hole has dimensions of just a centimeter or too - they’re calling it a “mini-drill operation” - but the shavings will be enough to assure scientists that Curiosity can handle bigger targets. But don’t just marvel at the drilling - Curiosity has done some amazing things over the past few weeks. Check out the full article at Wired to read more.

You all remember prime numbers, right? A prime number’s...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:00:38 -0500

You all remember prime numbers, right? A prime number’s only factors are 1 and itself. Well, the above number is the largest prime number discovered yet - all told, it comes out to 17 million digits! It’s something mathematicians and math geeks are probably very excited about, but the rest of us may not see as much cause for celebration. The finding is momentous because finding larger prime numbers is a test of computing power and programming projects. Today, the most efficient way to search for prime numbers is to use the formula 2^n -1, where n is also a prime number. Even still, it took one computer 39 days to confirm that the latest discovery is indeed prime. Before you scoff, there’s money behind the prime madness - a foundation has already doled our prizes for the first 1m- and 10m-digit prime numbers, and $150,000 awaits the discoverer of the first 100m-digit prime number.

New high-speed, high resolution 3D printer prints on...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:00:59 -0500

New high-speed, high resolution 3D printer prints on microscale

The printer, produced by a German company, printed the above tiny spacecraft - about the size of a dust mite - in under a minute. The craft is so tiny that it was imaged using an electron microscope. While the spaceship itself isn’t functional, there are plenty of potential applications that scientists could capitalize on, like tiny biological scaffolds or chips for microfluidics.

Maybe this is why all my relationships fail.

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:00:56 -0500

Maybe this is why all my relationships fail.

3D Printers Could Make Astronaut Meals Several decades from...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:00:31 -0500

3D Printers Could Make Astronaut Meals

Several decades from now, an astronaut in a Mars colony might feel a bit hungry. Rather than reach for a vacuum-sealed food packet or cook up some simple greenhouse vegetables in a tiny kitchen, the astronaut would visit a microwave-sized box, punch a few settings, and receive a delicious and nutritious meal tailored to his or her exact tastes.

This is the promise of the rapidly maturing field of 3-D food printing, an offshoot of the revolution that uses machines to build bespoke items out of metal, plastic, and even living cells. Sooner than you think, 3-D printed designer meals may be coming to a rocketship, or a restaurant, near you.

“Right now, astronauts on the space station are eating the same seven days of food on rotations of two or three weeks,” said astronautical engineer Michelle Terfansky, who studied the potential and challenges of making 3-D printed food in space for a master’s thesis at the University of Southern California. “It gets the job done, but it’s not exactly home cooking.”

Let global warming take care of itself! Here’s an...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:00:53 -0500

Let global warming take care of itself!

Here’s an interesting story coming out of Australia - the temperatures are so high that gas vaporizes before you can pump it into your tank. At least that’s one approach to lowering fossil fuel consumption.

The country’s all-time record of 123.26 degrees Fahrenheit was set in 1960 at the Oodnadatta Airport in Southern Australia, but it’s already so hot that people can’t even pump gas. Nikki Staskiewicz and Angela Blomeley were stranded in Oodnadatta — which bills itself as “the driest town [in] the driest state of the driest country” in the world — when they tried to fill up their tank, only to find the fuel vaporizing in the triple-digit heat.

"How did men get the dinosaurs to not buck them off of their saddles when people rode then? Were the..."

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:01:04 -0500

“How did men get the dinosaurs to not buck them off of their saddles when people rode then? Were the dinosaurs more domesticated and well behaved because there wasn’t as much sin back them?”

- Creationists are answering the most difficult questions science has to offer.

#Overlyhonestmethods I’m doing my senior research right...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:00:49 -0500

#Overlyhonestmethods

I’m doing my senior research right now, and I swear that the Experimental sections of the papers I read were written with a Magic 8 Ball. There are plenty more memes if you click through. And feel free to make your own and sent it my way!

h/t Chas

This makes me laugh every time I see it I know this has already...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:01:07 -0500

This makes me laugh every time I see it

I know this has already made the rounds on the blogosphere, but I couldn’t help posting it myself. This chipmunk gives the greatest “oh sh**!” reaction likely to ever be caught on film. You have to check out the short clip from the BBC’s documentary Africa, which shows you why the chipmunk reacted like he did; it may have had to do with being stared down by a cheetah.

I believe there might be some confusion with the recent post concerning the imported water at Town Square. I live in Las Vegas and we've been in a severe drought since 2000. This means the whole region is under strict watering restrictions throughout the year. These restrictions include a limit on the days and amount of time we can water our lawns and a ban on water features such as water fountains. This imported water just helps ease the water used in our region while providing comfort.

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:33:55 -0500

This makes much more sense. Thanks for clearing it up! Still, I think the sign is overall pretty absurd - the water feature seems even more excessive than it ordinarily would, when you factor in the cost and energy required to transport the water into the desert.

climateadaptation: “Las Vegas cares about the environment…We...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:07:00 -0500

climateadaptation:

“Las Vegas cares about the environment…We use imported water.”

I’m trying to imagine the staff meetings they had discussing importing water as well as design approval for this sign. Were there power points and budget analysis? Unreal. Via

If, in the future, someone makes a gravestone for America, I think it will say “We use imported water in our water feature.”

This is fun. I hope we start a meme.

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:43:01 -0500

This is very, very nerdy. But also pretty fun!

"There are many legitimate and articulate opponents of genetically modified products and, for that..."

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:01:19 -0500

“There are many legitimate and articulate opponents of genetically modified products and, for that matter, of conventional medicine itself. But Oz has consistently chosen guests with dubious authority to argue those positions. Joseph Mercola, an osteopath, runs mercola.com, one of the most popular alternative-health Web sites in the country. Oz has described Mercola as a “pioneer in holistic treatments,” and as a man “your doctor doesn’t want you to listen to.” This is undoubtedly true, since Mercola has promoted such alleged experts as Tullio Simoncini, who claims that cancer is a fungus that can be cured with baking soda. Mercola has long argued that vaccines are dangerous and that they even cause aids. When Oz says that Mercola is “challenging everything you think you know about traditional medicine and prescription drugs,” it’s hard to argue. “I’m usually earnestly honest and modest about what I think we’ve accomplished,” Oz told me when we discussed his choice of guests. “If I don’t have Mercola on my show, I have thrown away the biggest opportunity that I have been given.””

- The New Yorker has an excellent profile of Dr. Oz, the so-called “America’s Doctor” who has a wildly popular daytime show. Dr. Oz tends to get in hot water from the skeptical community for his choice of guests, ranging from psychic mediums to outcasts like Joseph Mercola. Does Oz’s outreach to a group of people normally distrusting of doctors outweigh the often dubious information he peddles? Check out the full article and judge for yourself. Regardless of your opinion of him, I’m sure you’ll find Oz a fascinating figure.