Step into the spotlight for too long and you might forget what the sun feels like.
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Hey I'm Ken, sketch artist, art, civil rights, equality & science enthusiast live blogging his interests. New Yorker from uptown Manhattan, originating from the Dominican Republic.
Winner of Honorable Mention in Olympus’ BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition® of 2010.
Shown here is the polarized light micrograph of a Diatom arachnoidiscus. Diatoms encase themselves in an outer cell wall called a frustule, which is composed of silica, or glass. Although these glass frustules provide diatoms with structure and defense, they are also extremely beautiful.
By Michael Shribak, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, love MAAMB x
A marine scientist has produced this incredible Christmas card made from his own pictures of plankton.
Dr Richard Kirby has created a festive scene including a decorated Christmas tree, bells, angels and even the Star of Bethlehem.
‘The importance of these micro marvels in the sea can’t be underestimated. ‘Their importance on a global scale is obvious when you realize that 50 per cent of the world’s photosynthesis takes place in the surface of the sea, drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the oceans and releasing oxygen.
‘Starting with the phytoplankton, plant-like cells mostly smaller than the diameter of a human hair, and the tiny animals that eat them called the zooplankton, these creatures underpin the whole marine food chain.
Aquanauts Assemble: Coral Restoration
Several years ago (June, 2008), scientists participated in an eight-day mission in which they were living and working at 60 feet (18 m) below the sea surface in order to determine why some coral colonies survive transplanting after a disturbance, such as a storm, while other colonies die out.
Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from the combined effects of hurricanes, global warming, increased boat traffic, and pollution. As a result, their restoration has become a priority among those who are concerned about their health.
Using as a home base the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Aquarius, an underwater facility for science and diving located in Key Largo, Florida, a team of “Aquanauts” is working to protect coral reefs from this barrage of threats by investigating ways to improve their restoration. The photo above shows an aquanaut building a “coral garden” with transplanted colonies.
Summary and Photography by Iliana Baums
1 Marine vs 30 Cops
From #OccupyTimesquare this Saturday. A marine loudly expresses his disgust and anger with NYPD treatment against the protesters.
Ghostly ‘Winged’ Octopus Caught on Camera
By Olivia Solon, Wired UK
A rarely seen white deep-sea octopus has been captured on camera in high definition by researchers from the University of Washington. The octopus features two “wings” which make it look just like the ghosts from Mario videogames, aka Boos.
The Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus, also nicknamed the Dumbo octopus, was filmed with an HD video camera at a depth of more than 2,000 metres [6,500 feet] about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon.
Little is known about the deep-sea octopuses, which live near the hydrothermal vent fields — fissures in the Earth’s surface generally found near volcanically active places that release geothermally heated water.
The ghostly octopus is seen in the video above propelling itself gracefully through the water, using its wings (which are actually fins) for navigation.
Video: RSNOOI/Youtube
Source: Wired.co.uk
Humpback Whales May Be Migratory Astronomers
An eight-year project that tracked humpback whale migrations by satellite shows the huge mammals follow uncannily straight paths for weeks at a time.
The results suggest a single migratory mechanism isn’t responsible. Instead, humpbacks may use a combination of the sun’s position, Earth’s magnetism and even star maps to guide their 10,000-mile journeys.
“Humpback whales are going across some of most turbulent waters in the world, yet they keep going straight,” said environmental scientist Travis Horton of the University of Canterbury, whose team will publish their findings April 20 in Biology Letters. “They’re orienting with something outside of themselves, not something internal.”
Habitat: throughout the tropical oceans, gaping at everything
In 1976 a research boat was moored off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. When the crew winched up the anchors they discovered a 4.5-metre-long shark tangled up in the cables. It looked like nothing they had ever seen.
It was seven years before the animal was officially described and named. Taking their lead from press coverage of the discovery, the scientists suggested calling it the megamouth shark. It’s an appropriate moniker: the shark’s mouth can be over a metre across, or a fifth of the animal’s length.
Since then the megamouth has proved an elusive beast, not least because it rarely comes shallower than 12 metres, and spends most of its time over 100 metres down. Only 50 have ever been seen, and less than half of those have made their way to scientists; a specimen caught in 2009 wound up being cooked. Nevertheless we are building up a picture of how it lives, including answers to the most important question: what it does with that gaping maw.
Ghostly ‘Winged’ Octopus Caught on Camera
By Olivia Solon, Wired UK
A rarely seen white deep-sea octopus has been captured on camera in high definition by researchers from the University of Washington. The octopus features two “wings” which make it look just like the ghosts from Mario videogames, aka Boos.
The Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus, also nicknamed the Dumbo octopus, was filmed with an HD video camera at a depth of more than 2,000 metres [6,500 feet] about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon.
Little is known about the deep-sea octopuses, which live near the hydrothermal vent fields — fissures in the Earth’s surface generally found near volcanically active places that release geothermally heated water.
The ghostly octopus is seen in the video above propelling itself gracefully through the water, using its wings (which are actually fins) for navigation.
Video: RSNOOI/Youtube
Source: Wired.co.uk
Ghostly ‘Winged’ Octopus Caught on Camera
By Olivia Solon, Wired UK
A rarely seen white deep-sea octopus has been captured on camera in high definition by researchers from the University of Washington. The octopus features two “wings” which make it look just like the ghosts from Mario videogames, aka Boos.
The Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus, also nicknamed the Dumbo octopus, was filmed with an HD video camera at a depth of more than 2,000 metres [6,500 feet] about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon.
Little is known about the deep-sea octopuses, which live near the hydrothermal vent fields — fissures in the Earth’s surface generally found near volcanically active places that release geothermally heated water.
The ghostly octopus is seen in the video above propelling itself gracefully through the water, using its wings (which are actually fins) for navigation.
Video: RSNOOI/Youtube
Source: Wired.co.uk
The Florida Keys Reef - U.S. Marine Protected Area
The islands in the Florida Keys span 126 miles (200 kilometers) and are home to the most extensive living coral reef in the United States, and the third largest on Earth.
Just south of the Florida peninsula, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary covers 3,708 square miles (9,600 square kilometers).
The region receives more than 4 million visitors a year who come to dive, explore coral reefs and shipwrecks, and fish.
Beyond tourism, the Keys support a nearly 20-million-pound (9-million-kilogram) harvest of seafood and marine products annually. In an effort to protect the ecological and commercial resources in the park, the area was designated a national sanctuary in 1990.
(Photograph by Emory Kristoff)
Tracking Whale Sharks With Astronomical Algorithms
With the help of algorithms designed to guide the Hubble telescope’s starscape surveys, conservation-minded coders have designed software that helps biologists identify whale sharks by their spots. The program enlists the help of citizens with cameras, and lets researchers track Earth’s biggest fish across time and oceans.
At the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo-Identification Library, people can upload photographs to the database, where they’re analyzed and classified. Photographers can then learn about their individual animal and receive emails each time it’s spotted. In the meantime, researchers will use the records to study population trends and the histories of individual whale sharks.
“If you put a tag in skin, it wears off or falls away. But we can recognize these animals for the rest of their lives,” said whale shark expert Al Dove of the Georgia Aquarium, a participant in the ECOCEAN project. “It lets you recognize and track animals without marking them, and it’s permanent.”
The program began when Jason Holmberg, then an English teacher in Cairo with a passion for scuba diving, saw his first whale shark during a trip to Djibouti in 2002. Fascinated by the giant, gentle fishes, he accompanied researchers on an expedition that fall.
Tracking Whale Sharks With Astronomical Algorithms
With the help of algorithms designed to guide the Hubble telescope’s starscape surveys, conservation-minded coders have designed software that helps biologists identify whale sharks by their spots. The program enlists the help of citizens with cameras, and lets researchers track Earth’s biggest fish across time and oceans.
At the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo-Identification Library, people can upload photographs to the database, where they’re analyzed and classified. Photographers can then learn about their individual animal and receive emails each time it’s spotted. In the meantime, researchers will use the records to study population trends and the histories of individual whale sharks.
“If you put a tag in skin, it wears off or falls away. But we can recognize these animals for the rest of their lives,” said whale shark expert Al Dove of the Georgia Aquarium, a participant in the ECOCEAN project. “It lets you recognize and track animals without marking them, and it’s permanent.”
The program began when Jason Holmberg, then an English teacher in Cairo with a passion for scuba diving, saw his first whale shark during a trip to Djibouti in 2002. Fascinated by the giant, gentle fishes, he accompanied researchers on an expedition that fall.
Bobtail Squid Goes to Space
If the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour goes ahead as planned next week, it will be carrying an unusual cargo: baby squid.
This is not because the astronauts want a change in their menu: the squid could help us understand how “good” bacteria behave in the microgravity of space. As Jamie Foster of the University of Florida in Gainesville, who is running the experiment, puts it: “Do good bacteria go bad?”
We already know that disease microbes grow faster and become more virulent if they are sent into space. In 2006 Salmonella bacteria were sent up on a space shuttle, and when they returned to Earth they were almost three times as likely to kill mice as normal (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707155104). Escherichia coli also changes its behaviour.
These studies all focused on harmful bacteria. “This is the first to look at beneficial bacteria,” Foster says
Orbital Tentacles
Squid are cephalopods, a group of relatively intelligent animals that also includes octopuses and cuttlefish. Cephalopods have never been into space before – not in reality, at least.
Foster has arranged to send up the bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes, a Pacific species that carries a cargo of bacteria called Vibrio fischeri in its body. The microbes colonise young squid soon after the squid hatch and set up home in their light organs. The squid use the bacteria to generate light, which they shine downwards to ensure they don’t cast a visible shadow.
This is a classic example of mutualism: the two species cooperate and each benefits. Humans have similar relationships with microbes, which help shape our immune and digestive systems, but thousands of species are involved with us rather than just one. “Humans are way too complex,” Foster says.
Foster’s experiment is simple. Newly hatched squid that have not yet encountered their bacterial partners will go up to orbit in tubes of seawater. 14 hours after launch, an astronaut will add the bacteria and give them 28 hours to colonise the squid. Then the squid will be killed and fixed solid, and brought back to Earth for examination.
Foster has some preliminary results from Earth-bound experiments that simulated microgravity and appeared to show problems with the uptake of bacteria by squid. If the shuttle study shows the same result, it would suggest that astronauts’ relationships with their own microbes might also be affected in space. “We want to make sure the astronauts are healthy,” she says.
Foster developed the experiment with Margaret McFall-Ngai of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Florida Space Grant Consortium and students from Milton Academy in Massachusetts and Merritt Island High School, Florida.
Bobtail Squid Goes to Space
If the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour goes ahead as planned next week, it will be carrying an unusual cargo: baby squid.
This is not because the astronauts want a change in their menu: the squid could help us understand how “good” bacteria behave in the microgravity of space. As Jamie Foster of the University of Florida in Gainesville, who is running the experiment, puts it: “Do good bacteria go bad?”
We already know that disease microbes grow faster and become more virulent if they are sent into space. In 2006 Salmonella bacteria were sent up on a space shuttle, and when they returned to Earth they were almost three times as likely to kill mice as normal (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707155104). Escherichia coli also changes its behaviour.
These studies all focused on harmful bacteria. “This is the first to look at beneficial bacteria,” Foster says
Orbital Tentacles
Squid are cephalopods, a group of relatively intelligent animals that also includes octopuses and cuttlefish. Cephalopods have never been into space before – not in reality, at least.
Foster has arranged to send up the bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes, a Pacific species that carries a cargo of bacteria called Vibrio fischeri in its body. The microbes colonise young squid soon after the squid hatch and set up home in their light organs. The squid use the bacteria to generate light, which they shine downwards to ensure they don’t cast a visible shadow.
This is a classic example of mutualism: the two species cooperate and each benefits. Humans have similar relationships with microbes, which help shape our immune and digestive systems, but thousands of species are involved with us rather than just one. “Humans are way too complex,” Foster says.
Foster’s experiment is simple. Newly hatched squid that have not yet encountered their bacterial partners will go up to orbit in tubes of seawater. 14 hours after launch, an astronaut will add the bacteria and give them 28 hours to colonise the squid. Then the squid will be killed and fixed solid, and brought back to Earth for examination.
Foster has some preliminary results from Earth-bound experiments that simulated microgravity and appeared to show problems with the uptake of bacteria by squid. If the shuttle study shows the same result, it would suggest that astronauts’ relationships with their own microbes might also be affected in space. “We want to make sure the astronauts are healthy,” she says.
Foster developed the experiment with Margaret McFall-Ngai of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Florida Space Grant Consortium and students from Milton Academy in Massachusetts and Merritt Island High School, Florida.
Ghostly ‘Winged’ Octopus Caught on Camera
By Olivia Solon, Wired UK
A rarely seen white deep-sea octopus has been captured on camera in high definition by researchers from the University of Washington. The octopus features two “wings” which make it look just like the ghosts from Mario videogames, aka Boos.
The Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus, also nicknamed the Dumbo octopus, was filmed with an HD video camera at a depth of more than 2,000 metres [6,500 feet] about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon.
Little is known about the deep-sea octopuses, which live near the hydrothermal vent fields — fissures in the Earth’s surface generally found near volcanically active places that release geothermally heated water.
The ghostly octopus is seen in the video above propelling itself gracefully through the water, using its wings (which are actually fins) for navigation.
Video: RSNOOI/Youtube
Source: Wired.co.uk
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