An innovative initiative is taking place in the Philippines to bring sustainable lighting to homes in impoverished communities. Empty plastic bottles are installed in the roof, filled with water and bleach they refract sunlight. These “solar light bulbs” provide light equivalent to a 55 watt light bulb.
See how they’re made here. From Visual News
What an incredible idea!
(via scinerds)
The skeleton, brain, spinal cord, and some internal organs are visible on the bat fetus.
National Standards:Characteristics of living things
Structure and function in living systemsRelated NSF Exemplary Curriculum:Human body systems
Human body
Investigating human systems
The Highest Resolution Image of Earth Ever
This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.
(Click the photo for the 8000x8000 image; definitely worth it)
It almost looks like it can’t be real. So real that it mustn’t be… Such a weird notion.
(via suicideblonde)
cwnl:
Noctilucales Takeover: Bioluminescent Oceans
The most common species is Noctiluca scintillans, also called N. miliaris. It can be bioluminescent when disturbed, as are various other dinoflagellates, and large blooms can sometimes be seen as flickering lights on the ocean. Sub-class of Bioluminescence.
Seeing Red (by NASA Goddard Photo and Video)
(via shepherd-of-rot)
It’s like active and continuous behind the scenes.
This animation represents the entire data set (1,871 slices) of the male cadaver from the Visible Human Project. The animation was played fullscreen on a computer, which was moved around by an assistant while being photographed in a dark environment. The resulting images are long-exposure “light paintings” of the entire cadaver. Variations in the movement of the computer during each exposure created differences in the shape of the body throughout the series.
You guys, my heart is overwhelmed by this.
NASA geophysicist Richard Gross calculated that Earth’s rotation sped up by 1.6 microseconds.
(via tamburinaa)
Library of Dust
In 1913, an Oregon state psychiatric institution began to cremate the remains of its unclaimed patients. The ashes of these forgotten souls were then stored in individual copper canisters and stacked on pine shelves in a small room. Over time, the cannisters had a chemical reaction to the human ashes inside. Photographer David Maisel was granted access to these cannisters and documented the unique mold-like mineral patterns that have developed over the years. Here you can buy his book, Library of Dust. You can read more about the project right here.
(via edisonnoside)
Toxoplasmosis (by Yale Rosen)
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family.
Up to one third of the world’s human population is estimated to carry a Toxoplasma infection. During the first few weeks post-exposure, the infection typically causes a mild flu-like illness or no illness. Thereafter, the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, those with a weakened immune system, such as AIDS patients or pregnant women, may become seriously ill, and it can occasionally be fatal. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases, and can affect the heart, liver, inner ears, and eyes (chorioretinitis)
The parasite can also cause the brain to produce more dopamine and essentially have a similar effect to that of antidepressants and stimulants. It has also been observed to alter the behaviour of rats; making them less fearful of cats, sometimes, even seeking areas marked by cat urine. Apparently, this parasite’s ideal location is in the gut of a cat and therefore causes its host to be more prone to getting it there (also, humans that have cats are more likely to have the parasite, as the parasite may cause an affinity for cats).
Correlations have been found between latent Toxoplasma infections and various characteristics:
Other studies suggest that the parasite may influence personality. There are claims of Toxoplasma causing antisocial attitudes in men and promiscuity (or even “signs of higher intelligence” ) in women, and greater susceptibility to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in all infected persons
[information via Wikipedia and class discussion; originally discussing free will vs. fate (in Macbeth) and this came up as a question against what free will is and how do we know if we actually do have free will]
Crying women may literally turn men off. Odorless chemical signals in a woman’s waterworks lessen any stirrings of sexual interest in a guy who whiffs her tear-stained cheeks, a new study suggests.
In a paper published online January 6 in Science, a team led by neuroscientists Shani Gelstein and Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, presents the first evidence that human tears contain pheromones, substances that influence behavior via smell. “Our experiments suggest that women’s emotional tears contain a chemosignal that reduces sexual arousal in men,” Sobel says.
Chemical compounds in tears that douse men’s desire have yet to be identified.
“This new report makes a strong case for pheromones in women’s tears, but the results clearly warrant replication,” comments neuroscientist Robert Provine of the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
The reasons why people, but not any other animal, cry at sad thoughts or events remain poorly understood. Tears provide key visual cues to a person’s inner emotional distress, Provine says. In a 2009 study that he directed, men and women rated the faces of crying people with visible tears as much sadder than the same faces digitally altered to remove tears. Tear removal made faces appear emotionally ambiguous, with participants saying that awe, concern or puzzlement often outweighed sadness.
This is really captivating. I want to see if there’s a way that I can use this (and other research, should it exist, and my own research, should I became to conduct that with success) for my Internal Assessment.
(via tamburinaa)
“Five fossil human skulls show how the shape of the face and braincase of early humans changed over the past 2.5 million years.”
I wonder how it will change in another 2.5 million years.
(via aestheticbrah)
Gallium is a silvery metal with atomic number 31. It’s used in semiconductors and LEDs, but the cool thing about it is its melting point, which is only about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If you hold a solid gallium crystal in your hand, your body heat will cause it to slowly melt into a silvery metallic puddle. Pour it into a dish, and it freezes back into a solid.
![Toxoplasmosis (by Yale Rosen)
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family.
Up to one third of the world’s human population is estimated to carry a Toxoplasma infection. During the first few weeks post-exposure, the infection typically causes a mild flu-like illness or no illness. Thereafter, the parasite rarely causes any symptoms in otherwise healthy adults. However, those with a weakened immune system, such as AIDS patients or pregnant women, may become seriously ill, and it can occasionally be fatal. The parasite can cause encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and neurologic diseases, and can affect the heart, liver, inner ears, and eyes (chorioretinitis)
The parasite can also cause the brain to produce more dopamine and essentially have a similar effect to that of antidepressants and stimulants. It has also been observed to alter the behaviour of rats; making them less fearful of cats, sometimes, even seeking areas marked by cat urine. Apparently, this parasite’s ideal location is in the gut of a cat and therefore causes its host to be more prone to getting it there (also, humans that have cats are more likely to have the parasite, as the parasite may cause an affinity for cats).
Correlations have been found between latent Toxoplasma infections and various characteristics:
Decreased novelty seeking behaviour
Slower reactions
Lower rule-consciousness and greater jealousy (in men)
Promiscuity and greater conscientiousness (in women)
Other studies suggest that the parasite may influence personality. There are claims of Toxoplasma causing antisocial attitudes in men and promiscuity (or even “signs of higher intelligence” ) in women, and greater susceptibility to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in all infected persons
[information via Wikipedia and class discussion; originally discussing free will vs. fate (in Macbeth) and this came up as a question against what free will is and how do we know if we actually do have free will]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lezqcgwDlu1qzdmufo1_500.jpg)
