realcleverscience:

smarterplanet:

Powerhouse Solar Cell Inspired by Leaf Biomimicry

A team of scientists headed up by Princeton University has achieved a whopping 47 percent increase in electricity generation from flexible plastic solar cells, simply by texturing the surface to mimic the wrinkles of a typical leaf.

Full Story: Cleantechnica

via emergentfutures:

1) Biomimicry is amazing. I love that human design is now recognizing that it has so much to learn from natural design. Especially when it can replace eco-questionable solutions with much more eco-friendly solutions - such as simply creating wrinkles on a surface as opposed to something like nano-sprays with unknown side-effects.

2) As the article notes, solar is getting very, very close to the 10-15% efficiency needed to make it competitive with traditional energy sources. And with the various solar innovations coming out, I expect we’ll hit that goal soon… and then surpass it by quite a bit. But of course, this requires research and funding. *cough*fund_science*cough*

(via scinerds)

expose-the-light:

The Art in Biomedical Research

1. Muscle Stem Cell Factories

Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Douglas B. Cowan

This micrograph shows cells called myoblasts attached to spherical microcarriers, which allow the growth of adult stem cells that have been isolated from skeletal muscle. The stem cells are shown in green. By combining these cells in a bioreactor, the muscle stem cells can be greatly increased in number and then separated from the myoblast “feeder” cells. The image was produced in the course of studies aimed at creating artificial “stem cell factories” and was supported by NIH funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

2. Scaffold for Cartilage Regeneration

Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Frank Moutos and Farshid Guilak

Due to a lack of blood vessels and other characteristics, cartilage heals very slowly. One way to accelerate natural cartilage repair and growth is to use tissue engineering, or the artificially-stimulated production of functional replacement tissue. The image shows a three-dimensionally woven biomaterial scaffold. The scaffold consists of multiple layers of resorbable fiber bundles that have been woven into a porous structure. The scaffold is then seeded with cells that grow to become new tissue as the fibers are resorbed. The fibers provide stiffness and strength in a manner that mimics native collagenous tissues such as cartilage. This work to use tissue engineering to generate replacement cartilage is supported by NIH funding from the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

3. Production of New Neurons

Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Grigori Enikolopov and Ann-Shyn Chiang

New neurons are produced from neural stem cells in several areas of the adult brain. One such area is in the hippocampus, a brain structure crucial for cognitive function. The number of neural stem cells in the hippocampus decreases over time, possibly contributing to the cognitive impairment associated with aging. When activated by extrinsic stimuli, stem cells divide and generate progenitor cells, which eventually mature into neurons and migrate into the layers above, whereas stem cells themselves undergo additional rounds of rapid divisions and convert into astrocytes, thus leaving the stem cell pool. The image depicts stem cells (green) and neuronal nuclei (red). This research to understand how the brain produces new neurons is supported by NIH through the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Aging.

4. Brain, Heart, and Lung Communication

Credit: FASEB 2012 Bio-Art Winner - Li-Hsien Lin

Both glutamate and nitric oxide play an important role in transmitting cardiovascular and respiratory signals between the brain, heart, and lung. This butterfly shaped figure is an image of a rat spinal cord showing the distribution of three types of glutamate and nitric oxide synthesizing enzymes. Understanding the action and interaction of glutamate and nitric oxide in the nervous system could lead to better treatments for cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and heart failure. This work is supported by NIH funding from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

(via scinerds)

scinerds:

Antibiotic Overuse May Increase Superbug Evolution Rate

By flooding our environment with antibiotics, people may alter a little-appreciated but profound aspect of bacterial evolution: the very pace at which it occurs. Bacteria may evolve more rapidly and more radically than just a few decades ago.

This proposition is still a hypothesis, but it’s an intriguing one. While drug resistance is a well-known consequence of antibiotic use, a global acceleration of bacterial mutability could make drug resistance more common and shape pathogens in unpredictable ways.

“Human activities might be altering the fundamental tempo of bacterial evolution,” write geneticists Michael Gillings of Australia’s Macquarie University and Hatch Stokes of the University of Technology in a June Trends in Ecology and Evolution paper.

Retrograde: 14-billion-years-later: crownedrose: cambriankin: Tumblrs to follow :...

scinerds:

geologise:

shychemist:

14-billion-years-later:

crownedrose:

cambriankin: Tumblrs to follow : Science - Updated 2012

cambriankin:

14-billion-years-later:

mission-to-mars:

Because science is awesome, and you need to follow them!

Miscellaneous

It’s Okay to Be Smart!

Stoked on Science

Real Clever Science

Sci-Psy

Scientist in Training

The Science Center

Science Walrus

14 Billion Years Later

SkeptTV

Science n cutesy junk*

Its Full of Stars* (Different from the astronomy one)

Holy crap science* 

Cosmologic*

Naturally selected*

Clear Science* 

Scinerds**

Ikenbot**

Chemistry

Sciencyness

Smug Youth

Chubbylemonscience

Shychemist**

Astronomy

It’s Full of Stars!

PeteUplink’s Universe

The beautiful Cosmos

Luminous Red Nova

Urania Project

Celestial Transfer*

Cosmoscience*

Biology 

The Biology Teacher*

Botanical Balthazar*

Microculture*

Geneticist*

The Bug Girl*

Geology

CambrianKin*

Geology Boy*

Migeo*

Geology Rocks*

Christopher J* (I just put you under geology because it’s mostly your blog but you seem to be interested in all sorts).

Trust Me I’m A Geologist

Geology Nerd**

Continental Riff**

Hammer For Scale**

Geologise**

Palaeontology

Your Daily Fossil

Crowned Rose**

Dr Kris Lynn** (palaeoanthropology)

Physics/math

Matthen* (maths!)

Physicsphysics*

 I feel I should reblog this and add my own 2 cents, I’ll put * next to them in case anyone is wondering what my recommendations are (although I recommend all the blogs on this list I know). I also probably forgot a lot. I also strongly suggest Mission to Mars.

I’m reblogging this because it’s got some sweet science blogs listed, and also to say thank you for featuring me! Now go check out those other blogs, and spread the knowledge :)

Reblogging again to update the change in my blog name and to add some new blogs to the list (check the **). And in case anyone missed it first time round, a chance to follow some pretty cool blogs

Wow, I’m on this! Thanks so much for including me on this awesome list, and you should all be checking these amazing blogs out as well!

I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR AGES.

Thanks so much for the mention. I apologize for my blog. Its kind of a mess today. It’ll be more science filled tomorrow…probably. XD

Sweet list by the way. :)

Thanks as well for including geologise on here! To all the followers out there, check out this list of amazing people who continually bring awesome stuff to dashboards everywhere. Thanks again for the mention as well!

Awesome stuff; thank you. Woo, science! For everyone following scinerds, here is a list of blogs to check out for your daily dose of science.

veterinarianjoske:

Classification of fractures (source: Merck Manual)

(via scinerds)

crownedrose:

Humanity and nature become one in these beautiful metamorphic illustrations.

“It’s easy to regard humankind as a species that exists apart from the rest of the natural world. Dwell on that idea too much, however, and it can grow into an unsettling feeling of detachment.”

“The next time you’re feeling isolated from nature, let these breathtaking illustrations, which seamlessly weave the bodies of humans with those of plants and other animals, serve as a compelling reminder that even when humanity and nature seem separated from one another, the two are, in fact, inextricably linked.”

“The pieces you see here are the work of Madrid-based artist Gabriel Moreno, who created them using an arresting combination of pen, ink and watercolor. What’s really mindblowing is how much detail Moreno manages to include in every illustration. It’s difficult to see in the pictures as they appear here, but many of his pieces are actually several square meters in area. Using finely crafted line work to depict images at such a large scale allows for a variety of aesthetic features to emerge depending on your proximity to the piece. The first two images illustrate this attention to detail particularly well.”

You’ll find more of Moreno’s work on his website and facebook page. (via io9.com)

(via scinerds)

Study shows that Negative Words Shut Down Higher Level Mental Processes.

anticapitalist:

The brain can unconsciously ‘decide’ to suppress negative information to minimize anxiety or mental discomfort, according to a new study.

Just as psychologists have previously discovered that people who are bilingual and subconsciously access their first language when they are reading in their second language, the latest findings suggest that the brain unconsciously shuts down the same access to a bilingual person’s native language when it encounters a negative word such as war, discomfort, inconvenience and unfortunate.

UK researcher who conducted the study, published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, believe that a specific unconscious brain reaction that blocks negative language inputs from reaching the part of the brain where primal reactions interact with higher mental processes by shutting down access to certain forms of knowledge. 

Experts say that people exhibit greater reaction to emotional words and phrases in their first language, explaining why some bilingual parents choose to speak to their children in their native tongue despite being fluent in the language of the country where they reside. 

Researchers also point out that anger, swearing or discussing intimate feelings has more power in a speaker’s native language, and emotional information processing is less powerful in the second language compared to the first language.

tl;dr Being mean to people makes you stupider. 

(via scinerds)

sciencecenter:

Historical accounts from the largest electromagnetic storm ever recorded

It was September 1, 1859, and boy were people confused. The global telegraph system failed, telegraph paper spontaneously lit on fire, and the sky was filled with brilliant colors and patterns. The New York Times described it thusly: “alternating great pillars, rolling cumuli shooting streamers, curdled and wisped and fleecy waves—rapidly changing its hue from red to orange, orange to yellow, and yellow to white, and back in the same order to brilliant red.”

In the months shortly after the incident, newspapers and scientific journals found other possible causes. Scientific American postulated falling debris from active volcanoes, the San Francisco Heraldtheorized about “nebulous matter” from “planetary spaces,” and Harper’s Weekly settled on reflections from distant icebergs.

Ars Technica has collected historical documents recording the contemporary responses, including the above painting by Frederic Edwin Church, possibly a portrayal of the aurora. Click through to check it out.

blamoscience:

From The Earth Story Facebook:

While it certainly looks as though someone has taken a great deal of paint to these hills, these colours in fact formed naturally.
This unique geological formation is known as the Zhangye Danxia landform, found in southern China. It was formed by sediments laid down in a low-elevation fault basin during the Cretaceous period, which then experienced uplift due to their position on top of various fault zones. The various colours are a result of the erosion of the thick-bedded red sandstone and conglomerate: from running water erosion, biological effect, chemical precipitation and organic staining.

(via scinerds)

(via captain-jackie)