tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48713304645309132552024-02-20T18:37:37.017-08:00Surface CurrentsStacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-68844677857998591562011-06-04T16:59:00.000-07:002011-06-04T17:02:29.516-07:00Field Study to the Blue Mountains<b>Some Eastern Oregon geology fun.</b><br />
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My petrology class recently spent a weekend in the Blue Mountains learning how to hit rocks and write notes in the rain. Okay, so it was a little more than just that. Being a geologist requires the ability to look around and think of things on an incredibly macro scale: area, depth, and (especially) time. Sometimes it's astounding to realize just how big the Earth is... I don't even need the stars to feel insignificant. The beginning of the trip entailed four hours of driving from Portland to La Grande, alongside nothing but <a href="http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/ColumbiaPlateau/summary_columbia_plateau.html">Columbia River Basalts</a>. Four hours! You can hardly imagine how much volcanism must have been going on to produce such large deposits.<br />
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I'll spend the next few posts describing our field trip and the geology of Eastern Oregon. <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2311/5794525763_67c476224c_o.jpg">Click here</a> for a Google Earth (best freeware ever made!) map of the first nine stops.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/5794981990_0c52f521c0_o.png"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/5794981990_7d616b16f3.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>Basalt, basalt, and more basalt... and our troupe of white government vans.</i></div><br />
<b>Stop 1</b><br />
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<i>Observations:</i> A large, well-formed columnar basalt layer had been deposited over a layer of rounded cobbles and clay. The basalt contains a lot of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesicular_texture">vesicles</a> and olivine phenocrysts, while the cobbles are mostly Columbia River Basalts (CRB) and various metamorphic rocks. The border between the two strata is rough and contains <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002IJEaS..91..680S">palagonite</a>, an indication of altered glass. (This is unusual! Basalt has such a low viscosity that it doesn't normally prefer to create glass.)<br />
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The outcrop is nestled in a valley with Grande Ronde Basalt (dated at 15 Ma) on either side and the modern <a href="http://www.djensenphotography.com/images/ne_ore/mountains/winding_waters.htm">Grande Ronde River</a> flowing nearby. Its surrounding rocks are distinctly different, most noticeably by the absence of olivine phenocrysts.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/5777582876_7145b333ae_b.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3136/5777582876_7145b333ae.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<i>Interpretations:</i> After the Grande Ronde basalt was formed about 15 million years ago, a river cut through the rock and created a valley. The cobbles match metamorphic rocks associated with Oregon's mass amounts of <a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2409/5798299988_ef960e34c3_o.jpg">accreted terrane</a>, so they were probably eroded and carried down the river from a highland outcrop somewhere nearby. Around 10 Ma, a basalt lava flow (maybe from the Powder River Volcanics?) suddenly filled in the valley and was allowed to cool slowly and cohesively, giving it distinct columnar jointing and a high density. The hot lava interacted with the river water to create glass, which is why we found palagonite present at the contact zone.<br />
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<b>Stop 2</b><br />
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<i>Observations:</i> There are coarser, crystalline rocks that form bands within a basaltic mass. The thinner bands have more vesicles but are texturally similar. The banding does not show any evidence of chilled margins, indicating that it was <i>not</i> a sill intrusion. Nicely-formed quartz and calcite veins solidified in the cooling cracks of the basalt.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/5777047525_506908b2d6_b.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/5777047525_506908b2d6.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2082/5777597986_32bee1587e_b.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2082/5777597986_32bee1587e.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>Quartz Vein</i></div><br />
<i>Interpretations:</i> This basalt flow is probably older than the CRBs since the growth of quartz and calcite as secondary minerals would have taken longer to form. Basalt can contain up to 10% calcium, so weathering processes likely caused the calcite to precipitate into cracks that formed as it was cooling. Later, hydrothermal fluids rising through the cracks would have carried dissolved SiO<sub>2</sub> and created the quartz veins. This outcrop is estimated to have formed at around 28 Ma.<br />
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TO BE CONTINUED...Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-46924067635793995062011-05-13T19:24:00.000-07:002011-05-14T08:54:41.115-07:00Know a Fossil: RUGOSA<b>Digging up and dissecting the Earth's hidden treats.</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossil-art/cnidaria/rugosa2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossil-art/cnidaria/rugosa2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<b>Taxonomy</b><br />
Kingdom: Animalia<br />
Phylum: Cnidaria<br />
Class: Anthozoa<br />
Subclass: Zoantharia<br />
Order: Rugosa<br />
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<b>Etymology</b><br />
Rugose coral found a namesake in the Latin word for wrinkled (rug- or rugo-), due to their characteristically ridged outer surface. However, the distinct shape of their coral structure gave rise to a more commonly used name of “horn coral.” Older paleontology articles, especially from the late 1800s, often cite these organisms as tetracoralla in reference to the corals’ tendency to insert septa in groups of four.<br />
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<b>Index Fossils</b><br />
Rugosa first appeared in the mid-Ordovician (about 465 Ma) and disappeared at the end of the Permian (about 250 Ma). Because of the occurrence of the mass Permian-Triassic extinction, there are no known direct descendants of rugose corals. However, it is thought that rugose polyps had arms full of stinging cells that helped to catch prey, which is a common characteristic found in modern corals. Rugosa’s relatively short existence, combined with their distinct characteristics and worldwide geographic spread makes them excellent index fossils.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FOTArssymH4/Tc3h20s3VRI/AAAAAAAAAEc/d1VjUWtmuWo/s1600/rugose+morphology.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FOTArssymH4/Tc3h20s3VRI/AAAAAAAAAEc/d1VjUWtmuWo/s1600/rugose+morphology.png" /></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><b><b>Morphology</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> All horn corals live inside of a “cup” called the calyx, a basin-shaped depression within a hard outer sleeve (or theca). The polyp builds these encasings by secreting calcite to add a new layer of growth each day that it is alive. A distinct characteristic of Rugosa is found inside the calyx, where radially-aligned septa extend inward from the outer wall. These features serve as skeletal support plates for the polyp.<br />
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The theca is built in (what humans would call) an inverse fashion, with the point of the horn at the bottom and the wide, open end at the top. Inside the base of the theca, transverse partitions form shelf-like structures called tabulae. They form one by one as the polyp pulls itself upward, until it rests on top of the skeleton with its arms pointing toward the open ocean. This growth mechanism means they can get to be a wide range of sizes, from a few millimeters long to over one full meter.<br />
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The arrangement of a rugose coral’s septa is very important for classifying its type. While solitary horns will nearly always have septa in groups of four, the colonial corals usually develop in multiples of 6 – all of which grow in varying patterns depending on what stage of life the coral is at.</span> <br />
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<b>Lifestyle</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Rugosa were usually solitary creatures, though some could be found in colonial masses with a more hexagonal coral structure. They attached themselves to the seafloor with rudder-like talons while the polyp (sitting atop the horn) used tentacles that swept in the ocean currents to catch organisms for feeding. Although some horn corals reproduced sexually, it was more common for budding to occur, a type of asexual reproduction. The buds consist of four septa that spread apart as they grew, until new septa were added to maintain the coral’s rigid structure. The parent polyp then split off new polyps to create separate corallites.<br />
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Colonial masses would grow as individuals banded together. However, even then rugose corals were rarely reef-builders like the corals known today. Standing up on end meant that it was relatively easy for ocean currents to knock the animal over, and they would have to build a new calyx within the old one to “upright” itself. This resulted in fossils with an awkwardly twisted, cup-in-cup shape. To accommodate for this inconvenience, it’s likely that solitary corals colonized soft bottom environments by sinking their points into the soft sediment. <br />
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Rugosa fossils have been found in all four types of reef areas (fore-reef, reef, back-reef, and bioherms), usually in carbonate rocks. Studies indicate that they lived in tropical shallow seas, generally very close to the continental shelf, and preferred clear, high-energy waters that were well oxygenated.</span> <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7BNDSvt_dDc/Tc3iAV_aiyI/AAAAAAAAAEk/_e4GaVmdiLc/s1600/Hexagonaria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7BNDSvt_dDc/Tc3iAV_aiyI/AAAAAAAAAEk/_e4GaVmdiLc/s400/Hexagonaria.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><br />
</b></span></b></div><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span">Printable Versions:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></b></span></b></b><br />
<div><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/29196323/Rugosa%20Handout.pdf">Rugosa Handout.pdf</a></span></b></span></b></b></div><div><b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/842487/Rugosa%20Handout.pdf"></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/29196323/Rugosa%20Bibliography.pdf">Rugosa Bibliography.pdf</a></span></b></span></b></b><br />
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</b></b></div><div><b>Bibliography</b><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Carlson, R. and Poor, J. (2005). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Historical Geology: Interpretations and Applications</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Clarkson, E. N. K. (1998). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Invertebrate Paleontology and Evolution.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Malden: Blackwell Science Ltd.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Doyle, P. (1996). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Understanding Fossils: An Introduction to Invertebrate Paleontology.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Haeckel, E. (1998). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Art Forms in Nature.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> New York: Prestel.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Kentucky Geological Survey. (2006). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Rugose Corals.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Retrieved May 3, 2011 from http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/rugosecorals.htm</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Levin, H. (1999). </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Ancient Invertebrates and their Living Relatives.</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, Inc.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">White, T. et. al. (2010). Rugosa. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from http://www.palaeos.org/Rugos</span></li>
</ul></div></div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-78285857199935642332011-04-18T22:02:00.000-07:002011-04-19T08:44:40.564-07:00The Beauty of Being Calm<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="281" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22439234" width="500"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/22439234">The Mountain</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/terjes">Terje Sorgjerd</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div><div style="text-align: center;">This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011.</div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-29881702307815916822011-04-14T12:34:00.000-07:002011-04-14T12:37:07.949-07:00Mineral Discovery<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5225/5619934830_b69867ea08_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5225/5619934830_8090559cf0.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">A new mineral, dubbed "Wassonite" to honor UCLA's main meteorite researcher John T. Wasson, was officially <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/wassonite.html">announced by NASA</a> on April 5, 2011. It was found via electron microscope in an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato_691">Antarctic meteorite</a> that's been sitting around since the Japanese Antarctic Expedition Team (JARE) first brought it home in 1969! This discovery is generally no big thing, seeing as around 50 new minerals are approved by the <a href="http://pubsites.uws.edu.au/ima-cnmnc/IMA2009-01%20UPDATE%20160309.pdf">International Mineralogical Association (IMA)</a> each year... but this one is special. It's made up of two elements arranged in a crystal structure never before observed in nature - titanium (II) sulfide, or TiS, was previously known only as a synthetic compound.<br />
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The tiny, tiny specks of Wassonite were surrounded by more mystery minerals, which researchers are currently looking into.</div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-55390363155143786122011-04-12T12:23:00.000-07:002011-04-14T12:37:56.009-07:00Psh, That's Old News<b>Progressions of knowledge through time.</b><br />
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April 12 seems to be an active day for scientific advancement! Let's take today's <a href="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljjrorkeHd1qb9sjmo1_500.gif">Google Doodle</a> one step further and look through a few of the date's historical moments:<br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5302/5613610533_d19336f6f4_o.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5302/5613610533_fd86813478_m.jpg" /></a><u><b>April 12, 1888:</b></u><br />
A french newspaper mistakenly reported, "Dr. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel">Alfred Nobel</a>, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday." But Alfred wasn't dead... his brother was! The erroneous article that insulted him for the invention of dynamite made him wonder how his name would be remembered for the rest of civilization - thus, the birth of the Nobel Prize.<br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5613578765_e6f2a3deeb_o.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5613578765_c64040021e_m.jpg" /></a><u><b>April 12, 1955</b></u><br />
Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. announced that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk">Jonas Salk</a>'s vaccine against polio was verified to be "safe, effective, and potent." The statement was made at a University of Michigan press conference, to highlight the 10th anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt's death from the disease. Salk, however, stole the stage by defying Dr. Francis's description of testing problems and insisted that he had created nothing less than the perfect vaccine. There's an accurate write-up of the incident in the <a href="http://www.francismedal.umich.edu/history/markel.pdf">U of M history files</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5229/5613796452_05610df9e4.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5229/5613796452_05610df9e4_m.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a><b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-weight: normal;"><b><u>April 12, 1961</u></b></span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-weight: normal;"><b><u></u></b></span></u></b>Russian pilot Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. He orbited the Earth in 108 minutes aboard the <i>Vostok 1</i>, a completely automated spacecraft. (The controls ran on automatic for the duration of the flight, though there was a sealed envelope containing a key in case of an emergency.) Instead of landing "the normal way," Gagarin made a pre-planned descent by ejecting the spacecraft and floating down to land via parachute. The vessel was spherical and not designed to safely land with a human still on board. The Soviet Union denied this action for several years in order to evade the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_A%C3%A9ronautique_Internationale">FAI</a> world records rules, which states that a pilot must accompany his craft to a landing.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">“I could have gone on flying through space forever.” - Yuri Gagarin</div><br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5227/5614120012_54f76bd2b6_o.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5227/5614120012_12e5fff778_m.jpg" /></a><b><u>April 12, 1981</u></b><br />
<b><u></u></b>American Space Shuttle <i>Columbia</i> was launched. This was the first successful <i>reusable</i> spacecraft developed by NASA. It went on to complete a total of 28 flights, spent 300.74 days in space, completed 4, 808 orbits, and flew over 200,000,000 km.<br />
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<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5030/5614216762_d0900a4163_o.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5030/5614216762_0ef46c82b8_m.jpg" /></a><b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-weight: normal;"><b><u>April 12, 1994</u></b></span></u></b><br />
Attourney Laurence Canter created the first commercial internet spamming program to solicit business for his law firm on a message board. Need I say more? Read more about how this annoying sludge got started on <a href="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/04/19098">Wired</a>.<br />
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<i>Interesting Fact: </i>The term "spam" is from the BBC television series <i>Monty Python's Flying Circus</i>. There is a sketch in the show where a waitress offers an unwilling patron a menu with nothing but variations of spam on it.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-80090599276279430092011-04-07T12:59:00.000-07:002011-04-07T18:58:41.471-07:00Perceptions on Meltdown<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5598241681_e59eb1a181_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5102/5598241681_3f776236cb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Radiation can be scary, whether you're looking at its effects under the microscope or in a post-apocalyptic full-length feature film. But people accept radiation into their bodies in all types of forms - eating a banana, tanning in the summer sun, and of course getting an x-ray at the hospital. The hype from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant leak is causing a completely unprecedented political and social "scare" thanks to public ignorance on the subject. Here are two items that help put things into perspective:</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><ul><li><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20928053.600-fossil-fuels-are-far-deadlier-than-nuclear-power.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news">NewScientist Report on Fossil Fuel Deaths</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blog.xkcd.com/2011/03/19/radiation-chart/">xkcd Radiation Dose Chart</a></li>
</ul>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-50782007379481387682011-04-04T16:39:00.000-07:002011-04-05T09:46:23.202-07:00A Gravity Model of the EarthA video has been circulating the internet that a lot of people (myself included) are misinterpreting as the <i>true</i> shape of Planet Earth. This isn't necessarily false, but there is a definite difference in how each of us are defining the word "shape"...<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ThcMzqlSwYo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><br />
This multi-colored potato is not the normal, observable shape of the Earth, but rather a "mathematical figure" according to gravity (as described by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss">Gauss</a>). The spinning animation that <a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/GOCE/SEM1AK6UPLG_0.html">GOCE</a> released last Friday is exaggerated <i>by a factor of 7,000</i> to highlight its irregularities - making it look more like a rotten grape than a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblate_spheroid">spheroid</a>. It shows, specifically, what Earth's geoid would look like if every single location was perpendicular to its gravitational field. In other words, if you were to place a marble anywhere on the surface, this shape would allow for it to stay put instead of rolling around. Some scientists say that this figure is a more accurate description of the "shape" of our planet - but these are also usually the same scientists blessed with a complete visual understanding of the fourth dimension.<br />
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The completion of Earth's geoid map is incredibly important for determining ocean circulation, magma distribution, and information about polar ice sheets. What's so cool about this release is that the information has never before been so accurately compiled. GOCE developed instruments that were able to detect the weakness of gravity's force <a href="http://www.gifsoup.com/view/966490/billnye-o.gif">within 1-2 centimeters of vertical accuracy</a>!<br />
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Just remember: it's not an actual snapshot of what our blue planet looks like. <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=the-geoid-why-a-map-of-earths-gravi-2011-04-01">Click here</a> if you want to read more about the technical information from <i>Scientific American</i>.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-21526048017028215152011-04-02T13:09:00.000-07:002011-04-02T14:33:26.933-07:00Weekly Highlights<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Sedimentary, my dear watson.</b><br />
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I held a rock in my lab yesterday. But this wasn't just any rock, no - it was <i>the oldest meteorite ever found</i>. I know it looks plain, but you probably would too after <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/question486.htm">entering the Earth's atmosphere</a> at 50 kilometers per second through 1,500°C heat.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5056/5580427296_a84ae8c3f7_b.jpg"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5056/5580427296_a84ae8c3f7.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Older than dirt. No, really.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The PSU geology department just happened to have a meteorite specialist on hand with $10,000 worth of his collection, so we got to hear about the composition of each sample, how they were formed, and where they were found. The one pictured here is dated at</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> 4.6 billion years old</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> and contains carbon, water, and alien amino acids. This means it's from when the <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/assets/images/articles/ee2/prentice-hall-647.jpg">solar system was forming</a>! Scientific magic in my hands!</span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Meanwhile, in petrology I'm learning to identify key features of rocks under a microscope. This slide was by far my favorite - the little orange watercolor streaks are actually places where oxidation is occurring in <a href="http://www.mindat.org/photo-45560.html">olivine</a>. Click on the picture to zoom in and see how modernist the lines look in non-polarized (plain) light. Doesn't it seem as if they were manually drawn on?</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5062/5578600368_cb0c03f79f_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5062/5578600368_3d7a7d0922.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>Tin roof... rusted.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">A lot of my lab time this quarter is going to be spent at the microscope, so check back soon for a quick overview on how to analyze thin sections and some associated vocabulary!</span></i></span></i></div></div></div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-64652618283562580402011-03-31T12:29:00.000-07:002011-03-31T20:55:58.082-07:00Gotcha!I am a senior in the university science program. By now, the scientific method has been hard-wired into every analytical aspect of my brain. So imagine my surprise when on the first day of Historical Geology, the professor presented a single powerpoint slide asking us if we were able to differentiate between a hypothesis and a theory. The exercise brought us back to the basics, and pointed out how easy it is to overlook the single aspect of science that allows us to separate it from a belief system: <i>A theory is always falsifiable.</i><br />
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Just in time for April Fools, this reminded me of a somewhat hilarious case where scientists had to prove themselves wrong. Enter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archeoraptor">Archaeoraptor liaoningensis</a>, 1999:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14932287@N02/1557221684/"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5012/5577518266_98db4cf646_o.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>Squaaaaaw!</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not to be confused with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx#Controversies">Archaeopteryx</a> (which was real), <a href="http://www.agiweb.org/geotimes/mar00/newsnotes/fossilfauxpas.jpg">this fossil</a> was found to be the missing link between dinosaurs and modern-day feathered birds. National Geographic threw a hey-we're-jumping-the-gun party and immediately ran the cutie as a feature story - only to shamefully release an admission of error less than a year later.<br />
<br />
The fossil was acquired from <a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5106/5577255471_1aaa95ec35_o.jpg">Liaoning Province, China</a>, an area known for having farmers and businessman that take "evolutionary liberties" in order to fetch a higher price for their artifacts. Although NG was fooled at first, further examination revealed it was an intense forgery - what with the tail being <i>glued onto the body</i> and all. The creature in the specimen was actually a mosaic of multiple animal bones (the two most prominent being a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microraptor">Microraptor zhaoianus</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanornis_martini">Yanornis martini</a>) that someone had managed to make a pretty penny on.<br />
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Kudos to all people involved for admitting their mistake and reinforcing how important it is for scientists to think critically about their experiments. Unfortunately, this little gem of a prank is used by <a href="http://www.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Kirk-Cameron-Mike-Seaver-Growing-Pains-Teenager1.jpg">religious nerds</a> everywhere to claim evolution as a fraudulent theory. What they <i>don't</i> realize is that this example is exactly what separates science from religion - those who quest for the truth bother looking for inconsistencies in the data.<br />
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Happy April, everyone!</div></div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-25876737526943423242011-03-29T09:53:00.000-07:002011-03-29T10:10:13.247-07:00(Speechless) Series #6<b>A photo collection of the wondrous little details of our planet.</b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5181/5571783352_e347e15c2d_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5181/5571783352_60337fed88.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
Photographer Olivier Grunewald followed Indonesian miners 200 meters down into the sulfur-rich lakes of the Kawah <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen">Ijen volcano</a>. The molten sulfur is blood red in color underneath these electric blue flames. But as the liquid begins to cool, it slowly turns into the bright, neon yellow characteristic of the element. <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/kawah_ijen_by_night.html">Click through</a> to see more of his incredible shots!</div></div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-79376531748520252152010-02-23T19:21:00.001-08:002010-02-23T19:24:39.210-08:00Liquid Heat<div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Video footage of the West Mata Submarine Volcano eruption - the first ever recorded in a deep-sea environment. Released in December of 2009.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="436" id="flashObj" width="404"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/1813626064?isVid=1&publisherID=1564549380" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=57942188001&playerID=1813626064&domain=embed&" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/1813626064?isVid=1&publisherID=1564549380" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=57942188001&playerID=1813626064&domain=embed&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="404" height="436" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object></div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-63944626761644368642010-01-21T12:43:00.000-08:002010-01-21T12:46:50.207-08:00Uncomfortable<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8470945.stm"><img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47156000/jpg/_47156343_banquet_dunlop466.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8470945.stm">Refusing to Eat Shark's Fin at the Dinner Table</a><br />
<br />
Although not particularly well written, I found this quick editorial on endangered sharks and environmental conscience to be subtly thought-provoking.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-70365804151789368952009-12-10T08:55:00.000-08:002009-12-10T09:50:36.526-08:00Demystified.<b>Sometimes explanations are pretty lame.</b><br />
<br />
A suspiciously computer-generated light storm appeared above Norway yesterday as a magical blue light shot up into the air and spiraled through the sky for over 12 minutes, beating the crap out of Pink Floyd laser light shows everywhere.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/4174699072_f66c2e8a64_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/4174699072_3bd333ca1d.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Seriously not photoshopped.</i><br />
</div><br />
Despite the immediate transmission of imaginations gone wild, it turned out to be nothing more than the NINTH failure of Russian ballistic missile Bulava, fired from a submarine in the White Sea. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8405481.stm">BBC News</a> has more scoops on that.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zx8i5EfmYU4&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zx8i5EfmYU4&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
</div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-27718607724630209352009-11-24T16:40:00.000-08:002009-11-25T09:55:02.396-08:00Algae Knows How to Party <br />
In early 2009, researchers at Cambridge University discovered that Volvox can really cut a rug. Shaking some booty (er, flagella) allows them to flail around until flow is created in their fluid surroundings - and if they've got the moves down right, the current can bind their movements to those of other swagging Volvox. Between what scientists call the "waltz" and the "minuet," the oscillating dances are supposed to make it easier for the microbes to reproduce.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b></b><br />
<b><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V6Yg2BQy82w&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V6Yg2BQy82w&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></b><br />
</div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QD7HQLhy_IY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QD7HQLhy_IY&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
</div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-40726641845504396922009-11-20T10:04:00.000-08:002009-11-24T16:48:18.876-08:00A Tribute To My Favorite MicrobeI fell in love with biology a long time ago, and since that time I've encountered many strange and wonderful things. If I had to make a list of the top ten wonders of the biology world, it would be a fearfully difficult feat for me to tackle. But... one thing is for sure. My favorite organism has been, and always will be: Volvox.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2613/4132395442_2bf4aa790b_o.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2613/4132395442_dc5cf69274.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Many of you are probably familiar with Volvox, and in fact many have probably discounted Volvox and its importance. Well, I feel it is now my duty as an algae, microbe, and cell enthusiast to give Volvox it's time to shine by sharing <a href="http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec03/volvox.html">this article</a> with you. If you already know and love Volvox like I do, then please take the time to browse these magnificent glowing pictures of the little beauties. If you are not familiar with Volvox, then please take the time to become acquainted with my number one favorite organism (thus far) on planet Earth. I doubt you will be disappointed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-70096953151303258982009-11-19T10:56:00.000-08:002009-11-19T10:59:02.693-08:00Giant Fireball!!<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Check out <a href="http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8714738">Utah's KSL News</a> for the complete story.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8gcWeLGNLgA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8gcWeLGNLgA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
</div></div>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-84123476343354573902009-11-18T19:58:00.000-08:002009-11-20T11:27:34.627-08:00(Speechless) Series #5<b>A photo collection of the wondrous little details of our planet.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://contrailscience.com/things-that-are-not-contrails-or-chemtrails/"><img src="http://www.puppiesandflowers.com/blogimages/cloud_streets.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>6/18/07: Stratocumulus clouds forming “cloud streets” over the Sea of Okhotsk, Northern Japan.</i><br />
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<i>Sigh</i>... how I wish I was driving down the celestial super highway right now.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-53065640319438215342009-11-16T00:17:00.000-08:002009-11-16T06:23:34.735-08:00GeoDictionary<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Learning the language, one word at a time.</b><br />
</div></div><br />
<b><big>Frazil ·</big></b> (frāz′il)<br />
<em>noun</em><br />
Ice crystals formed from turbulent, often <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercool">supercooled</a> water, as in the open ocean or river rapids. Represents the first stage of sea ice formation.<br />
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<a href="http://www.crrel.usace.army.mil/ierd/ice_guide/iceguide.htm"><img src="http://www.crrel.usace.army.mil/ierd/ice_guide/images/largefs.jpg" /></a><br />
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The crystals usually only grow 3-4mm in diameter, since the movement caused by water currents interrupts crystal growth and prevents them from coagulating. The river (or section of the ocean) begins to have the appearance of a melted slushie as it becomes saturated with suspended ice crystals.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GMBaB8pKB68&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GMBaB8pKB68&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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Under calmer conditions, as the water temperature begins to drop, the frazil ice clusters begin to form sheets of ice by clumping and freezing together. The new "pancake ice" formations are often rounded plates with raised edges, due to both frequent collisions and periodic compressions as they pass through <a href="http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/images/clip_image084.jpg">wave troughs</a>. <br />
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<a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jensenl/visuals/album/2006/ice/IMG_7998.JPG"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4108044209_efe478018f.jpg" /></a><br />
<em>Photo by <a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jensenl/visuals/album/">Lars Jensen</a>.</em>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-81227592649923636572009-11-08T22:13:00.000-08:002009-11-08T22:40:12.314-08:00Deep Sea Bioluminescence, Part 1<b>Defense and Survival</b><br />
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Bioluminescence is the light produced from a chemical reaction that occurs inside a living organism. The emission is a "cold light," named as such since less than 20% of it generates thermal radiation. Although multiple land animals have developed the trait (fireflies, glowworms, click beetles, fungi, etc.), it's not in particularly high demand in their evolutionary process. However, the deep sea is a vast open space devoid of sunlight. And when there's nowhere to run to, baby, and certainly nowhere to hide, you've got to make do with your own body.<br />
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Some deep sea predators need simply to look up, where the minimal amount of sunlight makes enough of a change in light value to expose silhouettes of the prey swimming above. To avoid becoming a succulent snack, creatures like the firefly squid, hatchetfish, and lightfish have developed rows of photophores (light-producing organs) that produce the same color and intensity of blue as the daylight above. The counterillumination breaks up the silhouette edges and allow them to disappear into the backdrop.<br />
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<a href="http://squid.tepapa.govt.nz/the-deep/article/bioluminescence-in-the-deep-ocean"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2591/4088891812_0010177363.jpg"></a><br />
<em>Lightfish, commonly called bristlemouths, are usually black with under-body photophores, and can grow anywhere from 2 to 30cm long.</em><br />
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<a href="http://www.myinterestingfiles.com/2008/08/weirdest-sea-creatures.html"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2692/4088994526_867f78e202.jpg"></a><br />
<em>The Sparkling Enope, or Firefly Squid, is usually found in the Pacific Ocean at depths of 600-1200ft.</em><br />
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Blue light is the most common color emitted in marine life, as it travels furthest in seawater and is the only shade visible to an abundance of the deep sea organisms. The dragonfish took advantage of this by evolving the ability to emit and perceive a much longer wavelength - red light. Besides being able to sneak up on unsuspecting prey with advanced night vision goggles, it also managed to retain the ability to create blue light, in order to switch from lurker-mode to high-beam headlight, and to lure prey with the fishing-bait barbel dangling from its lower jaw. <br />
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<a href="http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/10-most-diabolical-fish-on-earth/8156"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2531/4088967510_17ae8dd072.jpg"></a><br />
<em>Mmmm, deelicious squid...</em><br />
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There's so much more to come!Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-81363427709744734212009-10-30T12:00:00.000-07:002009-10-30T12:53:15.082-07:00Bloodybelly Comb JellyA few years ago I gave my Speech 101 class an informational talk on the presence of bioluminesence in the deep sea. The pictures alone generated enough interest for the teacher to let me stand up there the rest of the class period - and this footage from the <a href="http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a> should explain why!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LbcnRVkzy8A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LbcnRVkzy8A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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If anyone's interested (and you should be!), please leave a comment and I'll take the time to make a fully-illustrated expansion of the speech I gave.<br />
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Thanks to <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/">Zooillogix</a> for the post, who in turn are begrudging a thanks to <a href="http://deepseanews.com/">Deep Sea News</a> - both favorite blogs of mine.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-1115809099247045812009-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:002009-10-29T15:57:03.606-07:00Simply! Mad! Scientists!<b>(Warning!! The featured article is not for children!!!)</b><br />
<br />
Okay, enough with the exclamation points. Thought I would share this vile yet (mostly) informative article about weirdos from the science world.<br />
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<a href="http://www.spike.com/blog/top-10-crazy/87425">The Top 10 Crazies Who Actually Changed the World</a><br />
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"G. K. Chesterton once said that imagination does not breed insanity, but reason. He argued that artists and poets rarely go crazy, but with scientists it’s pretty much par for the course, and one good look around the halls of fame of the scientific community seems to confirm this."<br />
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Thanks to my lovely friend <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lloyd-the-Fellas/170749768486">Sam Cooper</a> for this entertaining little ditty.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-90348560094024529802009-10-20T15:55:00.000-07:002009-10-26T20:25:37.118-07:00(Speechless) Series #4<b>A photo collection of the wondrous little details of our planet.</b><br />
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<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3330416560_02b4d1c535_b.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3355/3330416560_02b4d1c535.jpg" /></a><br />
<i>Teeny <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mica">mica</a> grains, separated from a <a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3436/3300899237_41c21bd1b2_b.jpg">sand sample</a> and viewed through<br />
the microscope lens. My first adventure in photomicrography!</i>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-44545034059144730532009-10-19T10:04:00.000-07:002009-10-19T10:14:59.028-07:00Orionids Meteor Shower<div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://www.cloudbait.com/science/orionid2008.html#"><img src="http://www.cloudbait.com/science/2008orionids.jpg" /></a><br />
<em>Composite photo of the 2008 Orionids Meteor Shower</em></div><br />
Ooh! For all you lucky stars outside the rain-filled skies of Portland, the Orionids Meteor Shower will be at its peak this Wednesday (October 21st), about 2 hours before dawn. The new moon coincides perfectly, allowing a dark sky and unusually good viewing conditions this year.<br />
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The Orionids occur annually as the Earth's orbit syncs up with the debris left behind by Halley's Comet. Because there's quite a bit of space dust to pass through, the meteor shower should be in your eastward sky view all week long - but the peak on Wednesday is expected to have as many as 20 shooting stars an hour! So grab your blankets, drive outside the city, and open that sunroof for a sweet date with your main squeeze.<br />
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<em>Hobbyists say:</em> Binoculars shouldn't be necessary as long as the sky is dark with relatively few clouds. If you're able to see all the stars in the Little Dipper constellation, you've found ideal viewing conditions.Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-79352971627198608092009-10-13T17:14:00.000-07:002009-10-13T17:18:51.628-07:00(Speechless) Series #3<b>A photo collection of the wondrous little details of our planet.</b><br />
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<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/3805073688_b7f721c2c1.jpg" /><br />
<i>The magical powers of Lower Oneonta Falls, Oregon.<br />
Visited, gaped at, and amateurishly shot by Yours Truly.</i>Stacy Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332451894120043599noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4871330464530913255.post-55454476721388341422009-10-12T18:55:00.000-07:002009-10-12T20:47:45.893-07:00Future InterFace<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3509/3794393665_48d50cc605.jpg" /><br />
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If you're a graphic designer AND a germophobe, you're going to have quite the dilemma in the upcoming years. Hideki Koike and colleagues (University of Electro-Communications) have been working with Kentaro Fukuchi (Japan Science and Technology Agency) to develop a brilliantly squishy computer interface that will make animation and design programs even easier to use.<br />
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Dubbed "photoelastic touch," a camera positioned directly above an LED tabletop can read the polarized light variations in transparent rubber shapes when they're held above the screen. The 3-D interactions would allow features such as interchangeable computer buttons (eliminating the need to memorize all those Photoshop shortcuts!), a physical paintbrush tool, and later on, science applications - like giving aspiring surgeons a 3-D model of the brain to practice operating on.<br />
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There's a nice, long demonstration video on <a href="http://web.me.com/koike/research/Photoelastic.html">Hideki Koike</a>'s website, but otherwise, <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17961-stretch-and-squeeze--a-stress-ball-computer-interface.html">New Scientist</a> seems to be the first and only group with a press release.<br />
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