The WOW Science Thread

[dtaai-maai]

You certainly wouldn't notice it...

None of us can feel it...

They really do think we're stupid, these scientist fellahs!

[sateeb]

Scientists make flies levitate
Press Association – 2 hours 48 minutes ago

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Researchers at the University of Nottingham (pictured) have explored gravitational force by levitating fruit flies
Scientists have taken on Harry Potter-style powers to levitate fruit flies and watch them walk on air.
Researchers performed the seemingly magical feat by suspending fruit flies in a strong magnetic field.
The technique, known as "diamagnetic levitation", allows water and organic based materials to become weightless.
Floating freely inside a plastic tube, the flies were observed closely to spot any changes in their behaviour. The scientists confirmed effects previously seen in similar experiments in Earth orbit. The flies walked more quickly and more frequently while floating in zero gravity than they did on the ground.
Previously it was not clear whether the changing G-forces associated with space flight may have affected the flies.
The research is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Author Dr Richard Hill and colleagues from the University of Nottingham wrote: "This study shows that the walking speed of fruit flies and their 'activity' is altered significantly by counteracting gravitational force.
"Diamagnetic levitation enabled us to maintain tight control over the experimental conditions of all the experimental subjects. This allowed us to identify, unambiguously, the alteration of effective gravity as the cause of the anomalous behaviour.
"Four billion years of evolution have equipped life on Earth to withstand the stresses generated by the ever-present pull of gravity. Here, we have shown that diamagnetic levitation can be used to investigate directly the influence of changing gravity on the locomotion of a complex multi-cellular organism, and that close comparison can be made with experiments performed in space."
Magnetic fields have been used in previous studies to levitate organic materials, as well as small living organisms and even a live frog.
"Diamagnetic material is weakly repelled from magnetic fields, compared with the more commonly known 'magnetic'...materials such as iron, which are strongly attracted to a magnetic field," the scientists wrote. "The diamagnetic force, balancing the weight of the levitating object, acts at the molecular level throughout the body of the object, just as the centrifugal force balances the gravitational force on an object in Earth orbit."
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RELA



David Copperfield has been doing this for years

[hhfarang]

David Copperfield has been doing this for years

And fruit flys have been doing it all by themselves for much longer than that...

[sateeb]

So were Jimi Hendrix,Jim Morrison and Pink Floyd etc

[sandman67]

Another major step in evolutionary theory has been proven correct, and another blow dealt to the insane creationsts who, until now, have used the lack of research into single cell to mult cellular life evolution as a supposed proof of the hand of god.....all say awwwww for the nutballs....another one bites the dust.

This is a real foundation stone proof of concept....one cell to multi cellular evolution in a brewers bucket.

http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/ ... 70158.html

Hats off to the University of Minnesota crew!

[sandman67]

somethng to scare the willies out of you

Josh Fox's GASLAND about the massive environmental impact of so called clean fracking of natural gas reserves and how EPA laws are circumvented by dodgy Dick Cheney and his chums.



Keep an eye out fellow Brits....the Tory Tossers will be pulling the same stunt on us if we have similar reserves.

[STEVE G]

This is some pretty amazing robotic control technology:

[Big Boy]

Impressive

[pharvey]

The race to "Challenger Deep" continues with Cameron and Branson the front runners.......

The Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the oceans, with a depth of 10,902 metres (35,768 ft) to 10,916 metres (35,814 ft) by direct measurement from submersibles, and slightly more by sonar bathymetry (see below). It is located at the southern end of the Mariana Trench near the Mariana Islands group. The Challenger Deep is a relatively small slot-shaped depression in the bottom of a considerably larger crescent-shaped trench, which itself is an unusually deep feature in the ocean floor. The closest land to the Challenger Deep is Fais Island (one of the outer islands of Yap), 289 km (180 mi) southwest, and Guam, 500 km (311 mi) to the northeast. The depression is named after the British Royal Navy survey ship HMS Challenger, whose expedition of 1872–76 made the first recordings of its depth.

Recent (1 June 2009) sonar mapping of the Challenger Deep by the Simrad EM120 (sonar multibeam bathymetry system for 300–11,000 m deep water mapping) aboard the RV Kilo Moana indicated a depth of 10,971 m (35,994 ft) (6.82 miles). The sonar system uses phase and amplitude bottom detection, with a precision of better than 0.2% of water depth (this is an error of about 22 m (72 ft) at this depth).[1][2] Further soundings made by the US Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping in 2011 are in agreement with this figure, placing the deepest part of the Challenger Deep at 10,994 m (36,070 ft), with a vertical precision of approximately 40 m (130 ft).[3]

Only three descents have ever been achieved. The first and only manned descent was by Trieste in 1960. This was followed by the unmanned ROVs Kaikō in 1995 and Nereus in 2009. These expeditions measured very similar depths of 10,902 to 10,916 meters.

Capture.JPG (32.18 KiB) Viewed 639 times

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9106288 ... ottom.html

[STEVE G]

The depression is named after the British Royal Navy survey ship HMS Challenger, whose expedition of 1872–76 made the first recordings of its depth.

It's pretty impressive when you consider that in those days, the only way to measure it was with a lead weight and over 10 Km of line.

[PeteC]

Venus and Jupiter to pass in the night sky.......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17312354

[sandman67]

I thought I'd post this here as it is actually science based (archaeology) and takes in comparatve religions and my pet topic..... gve it a read and do some further research from the links. Its interesting.

http://www.freethoughtnation.com/contri ... -myth.html

And next Christmas, when we have any more of the whiny threads about how Christmas is just becoming a more secular holiday and how sad it is that baby Jeebus and the rest of the crib crowd are being forgotten....dont be surprised if I ram this back in the OPs face.

[sandman67]

and while we are on the topic of myth debunking....another hard kick in the teeth for moon landing conspiracy twonks

http://motherboard.vice.com/2012/3/8/re ... n-the-moon

of all conspiracy twaddle crculating the nterweb cackosphere I fnd the moon hoaxer cackola some of the most offensive. The men who manned the Apollo missions, and all the staff at NASA are IMHO real heroes. They make we walking talking monkeys more than we are.... they are giants, and the ticks and fleas that slate their work and achievements are despicable idiotic scum. n my dictonary the word Bravery has Astronaut/Cosmonaut linked to it.

On a side note I watched Apollo 13 again yesterday care of True..... man that must have been scary.

As always, hats off all round to NASA and the Russians....giants in a time of intellectual pygmies that cast long shadows.

[sandman67]

I've wrtten before about one of my favorite scientists Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and one of the main reasons for my fanboy worship is the way he makes astro-physics accessable, excitng and even poetic.

Anyways....heres a nice little Neil radio quote wth some lovely music and visuals added.

[sandman67]

I think I posted news on this before, but heres an update on the Mammoth cloning program

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-sko ... mmoth.html

mwaaaa ha ha ha ha! Today Mammoths, tomorrow.....Marxist K-Pop Velociraptors with frickin laser beams on their heads!

IMHO I think this is great..... Id love to see what one of these bg wooly buggers actually looks like in the fur and tusk.