Purring Monkeys!

~Among 441 new species discovered in the Amazon jungle between 2010 and 2013 is a new species of titi monkey, Callicebus caquetensis.  Baby monkeys of this species exhibit a behavior not seen before in other species of monkey: when content, they purr!

Read the whole story (and about some of the other species discovered) here:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131025085909.htm

More Microscopy

~More microscopy today, this time of a flower petal:

40x

100x.  A bit grainy, but this image appears almost like a collection of gems.

200x, including 2x digital zoom.

Something that really bugs me

~Today, more microscopy. A mosquito somehow slipped into my apartment and met a gruesome demise at my hands.  Staring at her sad, shattered corpse on my palm, I decided to immortalize her tiny body by looking at it through a high-powered scientific instrument:

Wings at 40x.  Note the fine hairs all along the wings, and indeed all along the entire body.  These hairs help the mosquito to be extremely sensitive to any movement nearby.

The head, squashed a bit from her demise, at 40x.  Let's take a closer look at the eyes...

Compound eyes at 200x; the one on the right is crushed in both from being swatted, then being flattened into a pancake by the microscope slide.

The more intact eye, centered, 200x.  Note the hexagonal arrangement of the compound eye.  While you see only two images of what you're looking at (which are combined by your brain into a single image), she saw hundreds of small images.  This sort of vision is optimized for detecting movement, since the slightest motion becomes more obvious when you're seeing it hundreds of times.

Top of the head, 40x.  The long vertical top-to-bottom structure on the right is one of the mosquito's folded legs.  I think the thinner, horizontal structure is one of her antennae, because it looks to thin to be the blood-sucking proboscis.  That may have been the broken-off structure on the far left.

A closer view of the antenna at 100x.  Note that it, too, has tiny hairs along its length. 

Microscopy, part 1

~I recently acquired a digital microscope (a Celestron LCD Digital Microscope), and I've been having fun with some amateur microscopy.  It has a base zoom of 10x, and objective lenses of 4x, 10x, and 40x magnification, along with a digital zoom of up to 4x (so at maximum combined digital/optical zoom, it has a magnification of 1600x).

Here are pictures taken with the microscope's built-in digital camera of the sample slides that came with the device:

Dicotyledon wood stem, 40x

Dicotyledon wood stem, 100x.  From here we can better see individual cells.

Dicotyledon wood stem, 400x.  The magnification is almost too strong at this level, and things start to get blurry.  But isn't it interesting how the cells of different shapes and sizes connect to each other?

Stem of cotton, 40x. Similar to the wood stem from before, but with large of hexagonal cells in the center.

Stem of cotton, 100x.  Let's take a closer look at those cells in the middle... 

Stem of cotton, 400x.  See the boundary between the larger cells in the lower-right and the smaller ones to the left?

 

Stem of cotton, 100x.  This image was taken near the edge of the stem.  Notice the much thicker outer layer that protects the delicate cells in the upper-left.

Stem of cotton, 400x.  Individual cells are packed against each other in this plant cut.

Mature pine wood, 40x.  The outer edge is rough and torn up at this magnification.

Mature pine wood, 100x. Notice the beautiful linear arrangement of plant cells, almost perfectly lined up.

Mature pine wood, 100x.  This is the same plant, but the image is taken at the edge of the sample to show how different the cells there are from he previous image.

 

Mature pine wood, 400x.  This is a closer view of the lined-up cells from before.

Mature pine wood, 400x.  A close-up of the protective outer edge.

Onion skin, 40x.  Notice how much more simple this image appears to be than the complex arrangement of cells from the previous images.  The cells interlock with each other like puzzle pieces.

Onion skin, 100x.  The cells aren't a single defined shape; instead, it appears that individual cells seem to have grown and expanded into wherever there was space to fill in gaps in the skin.

Onion skin, 1600x.  This is the maximum magnification of the microscope.  Is this a cell nucleus?

The same image as above, but seen through a green color filter that is built into the microscope.

Fly's leg, 40x.  Look at all of those tiny hairs.

Fly's leg, 100x with color filter.  A closer view of the hairs.  If you ever wonder why flies at rest are constantly grooming their legs, it's to keep all of this clean so they can be sensitive to the tiniest movement...like a gigantic hand trying to swat them.

Fly's leg, 400x with color filter.  This didn't come out too well; I need to experiment more with the various lighting and color settings of the microscope.  But you can see the follicles at the base of each hair, and how some of the follicles are missing hairs.

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into the microscopic world around us.  I'll be taking more pictures and videos in the future with the microscope, so stay tuned for more.~

Choose(?) your own adventure

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

~I recently went to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to see a special exhibit titled “Genghis Khan: The Exhibition”:

The exhibit was a series of rooms containing Mongol artifacts and modern reproductions, educational displays, and the mummy of a Mongolian woman from the time of the Big G Himself. 

The exhibit also included a clever “character” system, in which you received a bookmark at the beginning of the exhibit with the name and description of one of six fictitious people who might have lived during the lifetime of Genghis Khan.  Throughout the exhibit, there were electronic displays that let you track your character’s life and development.  I had Ivan, a Russian who was going to be a priest, but drank too much and later became a spy in service of the Mongols.

 

^ My favorite part of the exhibit was this life-size display of Mongolian warriors.  I wouldn’t want to meet these guys on the steppes, unless of course I was carrying one of the diplomatic passports issued by the Khan to messengers and dignitaries such as Marco Polo.

^ There were plenty of ancient weapons on display.  These bad boys were probably used by Mongolian warriors, such as the bad boys in the previous picture.

 

^ Me in front of the statue of Genghis Khan at the entrance to the exhibit.

One of the principal aims of the exhibition was to, in at least some ways, “reform” the popular image of Genghis Khan as a bloodthirsty conquering warlord.  It pointed out the many cultural achievements of the Mongolian empire, which integrated many different cultures, religions, ethnicities, and territories.  Under Genghis’ rule, there was a significant increase in travel, trade, and cultural exchange between Europe and East Asia, as well as the development of legal codes and the construction of an amazing capital city.

That being said, I couldn’t help but notice that according to a timeline in the exhibit, by around 150 years after Genghis Khan’s death in 1227 (which occurred of sickness during a campaign to subdue a rebellious province in China), his empire had ceased to exist. His glorious capital city of Khara Khorum was razed, and is now little more than a few shattered stone walls.  His homeland is now sandwiched between and dominated by its far more powerful neighbors.  While Genghis Khan’s rule may have stimulated trade and cultural exchange, this was done at the cost of tens of millions of lives and unfathomable suffering and destruction; entire advanced civilizations, such as the Xi Xia, were wiped out by the Mongol horde.  It’s a bit like wondering if the technological achievements that came out of World War II (such as space travel) somehow justify the toll in human suffering that conflict engendered.  I think most (sane) people would favor a more peaceful path to development, even if it takes longer.

The mummy was interesting – her clothes were amazingly well-preserved – but the biggest prize of Mongol history (and perhaps that of the entire discipline of archaeology itself) remains undiscovered: the tomb of Genghis Khan himself.  Perhaps somewhere out there on the Mongolian steppes lies a tomb of such incredible riches and archaeological value that it is rivaled only by the tomb of King Tutankhamen!  I hope I live to see the day that the Khan’s legacy is brought to light.

Of course, no piece of writing about Genghis Khan would be complete without this:

Cat-O-Vision

~In the video below (from 2009), scientists at UC-Berkeley demonstrate how they can directly capture images of what a cat sees, not from its eyes, but directly from its brain.

Sure, it’s a neat use of technology…but watch until the video reaches the 1:04 mark.  That’s when things get interesting.  If you’ve ever wondered what your cat really sees when it looks at you, wonder no longer:

 

NOVA!

No no, not that kind of nova.

Nope, not that one either. 

Yes, that one! I’m writing about the venerable PBS science show NOVA, which, as I have recently discovered, has an excellent website filled with interesting and interactive multimedia about science,technology, engineering, history, nature, and more.

For example, just today an online interactive exhibit about Norse runes appeared.  You can learn what each of the runes looks like, what sounds it corresponds to, and what meaning the rune holds.  Best of all, you can type in your name, and it creates an image of it in runes!  Here’s my name:

D   A   U   I   D  

Yes, that’s a “U”, because there’s no V in the runic alphabet.  Here are the names and meanings of the individual runes according to NOVA:

D (Dagaz) = Day

A (Ansuz) =  a deity, usually Odin

U (Uruz) = strength, speed, and health

I (Isa) = Ice

So, by this runic logic, I am apparently a god of winter daytime, who is strong, fast, and healthy.  Sounds about right.

There are many other interesting pages on the NOVA site, complete with videos, animations, articles, interviews, and more.  How about a slide show of European megalithic sites?  Or a tour of the electromagnetic spectrum?  An interview with a NASA engineer about solar sails? A video about next-generation space suits?  Best of all, you can watch full episodes of NOVA online for free.

If you’re at all interested in science (and if you are human, you ought to be), the NOVA site is well worth a visit.

Carl Sagan’s COSMOS (edited for rednecks)

The Best Chemistry Video Ever

This requires no explanation.  Enjoy.

Ant Megalopolis

~In this amazing investigation, liquid concrete was poured into a vast underground ant colony, which was then excavated:



The video clip is from the documentary "ANTS: Nature's Secret Power". It makes me ponder what other wonders (and horrors) may lie beneath our feet, out of sight and out of mind. It also makes me want to play SimAnt again...

(Interesting Fact of the Day: A entomologist who specializes in the study of ants is a "myrmecologist".)