The Rainbow Mountains are China’s secret geological wonder
The Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park is located near the city of Zhangye in China’s northwestern Gansu province. It covers an area of 510 square kilometres. Known for its colorful rock formations, it has been voted by Chinese media outlets as one of the most beautiful landforms in China
Month: October 2014
Flying Cars Are Here
Honey Bee Infographic
What color is your blood?
Carnivorous Caterpillars
On the island of Hawaii, 18 of the 20 native species have evolved into carnivorous predictors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmpA-fnxfWI
NASA officials have described the event as a “catastrophic anomaly” but have not pointed to a cause of explosion yet. NASA reports that the team did not experience any warning signs prior to launch that there would be a problem.
The Cygnus spacecraft atop the rocket was carrying 2290 kg (5050 lbs) of cargo for the International Space Station, including the Arkyd-3 satellite.
Sunspots are amazing …
The largest sunspot of this solar cycle has now rotated around so that it is just about facing Earth. The video clip of filtered light images (October 18-22, 2014) show this substantial active region is 125,000 km wide, almost as big as the planet Jupiter, and many times the size of Earth. The region appears to have the kind of unstable magnetic field that suggests it might well produce more solar storms. It has already blasted out three substantial flares and numerous smaller ones. Sunspots are darker, cooler regions of the Sun with intense magnetic fields poking out through the surface. Credit: NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO)
Posted by NASA Sun Science on Wednesday, October 22, 2014
The blood-brain barrier is a network of cells that separates the brain from the rest of the body, preventing harmful toxins and chemicals in the blood stream from entering the brain tissue. This blocking mechanism makes it very difficult to deliver drugs to the brain for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and cancer.
via Scientists have opened the blood-brain barrier for the first time.
Earth is rapidly being wired with fiber-optic cables—inexpensive, flexible strands of silicon dioxide that have revolutionized telecommunications. They’ve already crisscrossed the planet’s oceans, linking every continent but one: Antarctica. Now, fiber optics has arrived at the continent, but to measure ice sheet temperatures rather than carry telecommunication signals. A team of scientists using an innovative fiber-optic cable–based technology has measured temperature changes within and below the ice over 14 months. This technology, they say, offers a powerful new tool to observe and quantify melting at the base of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the collapse of which may help drive a worldwide increase in sea levels of more than 3 meters.
via Fiber optics in Antarctica will monitor ice sheet melting | Science/AAAS | News.