Friday, May 28, 2010
Major Breakthrough: Fourth Photo of Planet Around Other Stars
This 2006 Hubble Space Telescope optical image shows the belt of dust and debris (bright oval) surrounding the star Fomalhaut and the planet (inset) that orbits the star every 872 years and sculpts the inner edge of the belt.
Major Breakthrough: Third Photos of Planets Around Other Stars
The HR 8799 planetary system (shown as an artist's conception) resembles a scaled-up version of the outer portion of the solar system, according to the researchers, who estimate the planets orbit their star at distances similar to those of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Credit: Gemini Observatory; Artwork by Lynette Cook
Second Major Breakthrough: Photos of Planets Around Other Stars
The three exoplanets (red dots in the right panel) are shown orbiting HR 8799, whose residual light is shown as the multi-colored specks in the center of the right panel. An infrared image of one of the planets, which lies at 38 AU from the star, is shown in the right panel. Credit: National Research Council Canada.
Major Breakthrough: First Photos of Planets Around Other Stars
This 3D representation of the three planets orbiting the star HR 8799 shows the system is located 90 degrees away from the Milky Way galactic center, lower than the sun.Breakthrough technology
Until now, scientists have inferred the presence of planets mainly by detecting an unseen world's gravitational tug on its host star or waiting for the planet to transit in front of its star and then detecting a dip in the star's light. While these methods have helped to identify more than 300 extrasolar planets to date, astronomers have struggled to actually directly image and see such inferred planets.
The four photographed exoplanets are discussed in two research papers published online today by the journal Science.
"Every extrasolar planet detected so far has been a wobble on a graph. These are the first pictures of an entire system," said Bruce Macintosh, an astrophysicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and part of the team that photographed the multi-planet system in infrared light. "We've been trying to image planets for eight years with no luck and now we have pictures of three planets at once."
Astronomers have claimed previously to have directly imaged a planet, with at least two such objects, though not everybody agreed the objects were planets. Instead, they may be dim, failed stars known as brown dwarfs.
Parrot Talk More than Just Squawking
Parrot speech is commonly regarded as the brainless squawking of a feathered voice recorder. But studies over the past 30 years continually show that parrots engage in much more than mere mimicry. Our avain friends can solve certain linguistic processing tasks as deftly as 4-6 year-old children. Parrots appear to grasp concepts like "same" and "different", "bigger" and "smaller", "none" and numbers. Perhaps most interestingly, they can combine labels and phrases in novel ways. A January 2007 study in Language Sciences suggests using patterns of parrot speech learning to develop artificial speech skills in robots.
Elephants Do Forget, but They're Not Dumb
Elephants have the largest brain enearly 11 pounds on averageeof any mammal that ever walked the earth. Do they use that gray matter to the fullest? Intelligence is hard to quantify in humans or animals, but the encephalization quotient (EQ), a ratio of an animal's observed brain size to the expected brain size given the animal's mass, correlates well with an ability to navigate novel challenges and obstacles. The average elephant EQ is 1.88. (Humans range from 7.33 to 7.69, chimpanzees average 2.45, pigs 0.27.) Intelligence and memory are thought to go hand in hand, suggesting that elephant memories, while not infallible, are quite good.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Giraffes Compensate for Height with Unique Blood Flow
The stately giraffe, whose head sits some 16 feet up atop an unlikely pedestal, adapted his long neck to compete for foliage with other grazers. While the advantage of reach is obvious, some difficulties arise at such a height. The heart must pump twice as hard as a cow's to get blood up to the brain, and a complex blood vessel system is needed to ensure that blood doesn't rush to the head when bent over. Six feet below the heart, the skin of the legs must then be extremely tight to prevent blood from pooling at the hooves.
It's a mistake to think of evolution as producing selfish animals concerned only with their own survival. Altruism abounds in cases where a helping ha
With so many land creatures to wonder at, it's easy to forget that some of the weirdest activities take place deep in the ocean. The strange practice of hermaphroditism is more common among species of fish than within any other group of vertebrates. Some fish change sex in response to hormonal cycle or envirnomental changes. Others simultaneously possess both male and female sex organs.
Baby Chicks and Brotherhood
It's a mistake to think of evolution as producing selfish animals concerned only with their own survival.Altruism abounds in cases where a helping hand will encourage the survival of genetic material similar to one's own. Baby chicks practice this "kin selection" by making a special chirp while feeding. This call announces the food find to nearby chicks, who are probably close relations and so share many of the chick's genes. The key to natural selection isn't survival of the fittest animal. It's survival of the fittest genetic material, and so brotherly behavior that favors close relations will thrive.
Mole-Rats aren't Blind
With their puny eyes and underground lifestyle, African mole-rats have long been considered the Mr. Magoos of rodents, detecting little light and, it has been suggested, using their eyes more for sensing changes in air currents than for actual vision. But findings of the past few years have shown that African mole-rats have a keen, if limited, sense of sight. And they don't like what they see, according to a report in the November 2006 Animal Behaviour. Light may suggest that a predator has broken into a tunnel, which could explain why subterranean diggers developed sight in the first place.
For Beavers, Days Get Longer in Winter
Beavers become near shut-ins during winter, living off of previously stored food or the deposits of fat in their distinctive tails. They conserve energy by avoiding the cold outdoors, opting instead to remain in dark lodgings inside their pile of wood and mud. As a result these rodents, which normally emerge at sunset and turn in at sunrise, have no light cues to entrain their sleep cycle. The beaver's biological sense of time shifts, and she develops a "free running circadian rhythm" of 29-hour days.
For Beavers, Days Get Longer in Winter
Beavers become near shut-ins during winter, living off of previously stored food or the deposits of fat in their distinctive tails. They conserve energy by avoiding the cold outdoors, opting instead to remain in dark lodgings inside their pile of wood and mud. As a result these rodents, which normally emerge at sunset and turn in at sunrise, have no light cues to entrain their sleep cycle. The beaver's biological sense of time shifts, and she develops a "free running circadian rhythm" of 29-hour days.
Birds Use Landmarks to Navigate Long Journeys
Can you imagine a road trip vacation without missed exits, stubborn drivers or map-folding disasters? Of course noteyou're not a bird. pigeonscan fly thousands of miles to find the same roosting spot with no navigational difficulties. Some species of birds, like the Arctic tern, make a 25,000 mile round-trip journey every year. Many species use built-in ferromagnets to detect their orientation with respect to the Earth's magnetic field. A November 2006 study published in Animal Behaviour suggests that pigeons also use familiar landmarks on the ground below to help find their way home.
Whale Milk Not On Low-Fat Diets
Nursing a newborn is no "small" feat for the whale, whose calf emerges, after 10 to 12 months in the womb, about a third the mother's length (that's a 30-foot baby for the blue wahle). The mother squirts milk into the newborn's mouth using muscles around the mammary gland while the baby holds tight to a nipple (yes, whales have them). At nearly 50 percent fat, whale milk has around 10 times the fat content of human milk, which helps calves achieve some serious growth spurtseas much as 200 pounds per day.
Crocodiles Swallow Stones for Swimming
The stomach of a crocodile is a rocky place to be, for more than one reason. To begin with, a crocodiles's digestive system encounters everything from turtles, fish and to giraffes,buffaloes,loins and even (when defending territory) other crocodiles. In addition to that bellyful-o'-ecosystem, rocks show up too. The reptiles swallow large stones that stay permanently in their bellies. It's been suggested these are used for ballast in diving.
Crocodiles Swallow Stones for Swimming
The stomach of a crocodile is a rocky place to be, for more than one reason. To begin with, a croc's digestive system encounters everything from turtles, fish and birds to giraffes, buffaloes, lionsand even (when defending territory) other crocodiles. In addition to that bellyful-o'-ecosystem, rocks show up too. The reptilesswallow large stones that stay permanently in their bellies. It's been suggested these are used for ballast in diving.
Furthest Eyeball Popper
Kim Goodman (USA) can pop her eyeballs to a protrusion of 12 mm (0.47 in) beyond her eye sockets. Her eyes were measured in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 2, 2007.
Most Pierced Woman
By August 9, 2001, Elaine Davidson, of Edinburgh, Scotland, had a record-breaking total of 720 piercings. She first broke the record in May 2000, when a Guinness World Records official examined her and found 462 piercings on various parts of her body, including 192 on her facial area alone.
Longest Hair
The world's longest documented hair belongs to Xie Qiuping (China) at 5.627 m (18 ft 5.54 in) when measured on May 8, 2004. She has been growing her hair since 1973 from the age of 13.
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tallest man in the world in last century
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biggest cockroach in the world
The largest cockroach in the world is the Australian giant burrowing cockroach, also known as rhinoceros cockroaches and litter bugs.
The Australian burrowing cockroach can grow up to three and half inches long, and they weigh about the same as a parakeet. These insects are becoming popular pets both inside and outside of Australia.
Recycling Roaches
They’re not garbage scavengers; they eat dry Eucalyptus leaves. In doing so, they serve an important function in Australian ecology; they recycle nutrients from the dry Eucalyptus leaves back into the earth.
Though wingless and slow moving, they can live for up to ten years. And unlike the cockroaches you’re used to, these creatures bear live young.
biggest lizard in the world
Giant Lizards
You pause from hiking down the mountain to enjoy the sunset. Below lies a serene tropical beach and above a cloud forest. Around you are hills covered with savanna. In the ravines between the hills are monsoon forests. An amazing range of environments, you think to yourself, for an island only twenty miles long and ten miles wide.
Suddenly from the thick grass nearby a buck bolts and runs across your path. You are startled, but soon recover. After all, it is only a deer, and in a few seconds your heart rate drops back to normal. Still, something is not right. You have the feeling you are being watched. A feeling of dread. The hairs on the back of your neck suddenly stand on end. But you don't see anything.
Then you notice a smell. Unpleasant. Very unpleasant. You hear a sound in the nearby grass. You turn to look, and then it happens. The grass flies apart and something comes at you. Reptilian with cold, dead eyes. It's big. Very big. Twice your size from its ugly head to its massive tail and more than your weight. The creature's jaws open to display a set of inch-long serrated teeth dripping with deadly, infectious saliva.
The speed of this monster is incredible. Before you can even move it is upon you, its wide mouth biting down on your thigh...
world,s biggest tree
Hyperion, a Coast Redwood in California, at 115.5 m tall the tallest tree in the world, found in 2006. Hyperion is the name of a coast redwood tree in Northern California that has been confirmed to measure 115.55 m (379.1 feet), which ranks it as the world’s tallest known living tree. Despite its great height, Hyperion is not the largest known coast redwood; that distinction belongs to the Lost Monarch tree.
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