Monday, February 4, 2013
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway, approx. 75 million years ago
Image from: Sampson SD, Loewen MA, Farke AA, Roberts EM, Forster CA, et al. (2010) New Horned Dinosaurs from Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism. PLoS ONE 5(9): e12292. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012292.
Australian Giant Centipede
Here we see a mother Australian Giant Centipede (Scolopendra mortisans) cleaning and protecting her eggs. This species grows to a length of 9 cm (possibly up to 12).
Blue-eyed Spotted Cuscus (Spilocuscus wilsoni)
is a species of marsupial native to the islands of Biak and Supori of West Papua. This animal is very rare and a combination of habitat loss, hunting and a small range has caused the cuscus to be listed as critically endangered. Several recent suveys have failed to find any individuals left in the wild. The species gets its common name due to its distinct bright blue eyes and spotted fur.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
v3 solar
CleanTechnica has an exclusive on a new solar technology that claims to be able to produce power with a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of8¢/kWh. That is mind-boggling, “two-thirds the price of retail electricity and over 3 times cheaper than current solar technology.” If the claim proves to be true (and a lot can happen between prototype and mass manufacturing), it could revolutionize the solar industry.
The company’s technology claims have been confirmed by a technical review commissioned from independent consultant Bill Rever. As to the 8¢/kWh cost claim, the company told CleanTechnica, “We think we can go below that, but we want to stay conservative.” Hitting it, or close to it, could shake up the energy world. Here’s a chart comparing LCOE for various power sources:
The company is called V3Solar (formerly Solarphasec) and its product, the Spin Cell, ingeniously solves two big problems facing solar PV.
First, most solar panels are flat, which means they miss most of the sunlight most of the time. They only briefly face direct sunlight, unless expensive tracking systems are added. The Spin Cell is a cone.
The conical shape catches the sun over the course of its entire arc through the sky, along every axis. It’s built-in tracking.
The second problem: Solar panels produce much more energy if sunlight is concentrated by a lens before it hits the solar cell; however, concentrating the light also creates immense amounts of heat, which means that concentrating solar panels (CPV) require expensive, specialized, heat-resistant solar cell materials.
The Spin Cell concentrates sunlight on plain old (cheap) silicon PV, but keeps it cool by spinningit.
It’s just so damn clever.
Here’s a video that explains:
That is a whole new ballgame right there.
The company’s aim is to capture 3 percent of the energy market. For context, CleanTechnica notes that “all solar power installed in the U.S. to date currently accounts for about 0.5-1% of the energy market.” More than tripling the size of the U.S. solar market is … well, not short on ambition.
Most impressively, to me, the company tells CleanTechnica that it already has over 4 GW of requests for orders. There is 7 GW of installed solar in the U.S., total.
There’s lots, lots more on the technology over on CleanTechnica, if you want to dig in.
To me, the most exciting implications of the technology (again, if it proves out) are for distributed energy. Spin Cells are only a meter across and quite aesthetically appealing. You could carpet a city in these. Like this:
1a super nova
Supernovas, which are bright enough to briefly outshine all the stars in their galaxies, happen in two known ways — type Ia supernovas occur after a white dwarf dies from gorging on too much fuel from a companion star, while type II supernovas take place after the core of a star runs out of fuel, collapses into an extraordinarily dense nugget in a fraction of a second, and then bounces and blasts outward…
Four hundred years ago a star exploded as a type 1a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) some 170,000 light-years from Earth. This is what was left behind. The beautiful ring-like structure of supernova remnant (SNR) 0509-67.5 is highlighted by Hubble and NASA’s Chandra X-ray space observatory observations. The X-ray data (blue/green hues) are caused by the shockwave of the supernova heating ambient gases
Andromeda Galaxy
Two new eye-catching views from the Herschel space observatory are fit for a princess. They show the elegant spiral galaxy Andromeda, named after the mythical Greek princess known for her beauty.
The Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31, lies 2 million light-years away, and is the closest large galaxy to our own Milky Way. It is estimated to have up to one trillion stars, whereas the Milky Way contains hundreds of billions. Recent evidence suggests Andromeda’s overall mass may in fact be less than the mass of the Milky Way, when dark matter is included.
Herschel, a European Space Agency mission with important NASA contributions, sees the longer-wavelength infrared light from the galaxy, revealing its rings of cool dust. Some of this dust is the very coldest in the galaxy — only a few tens of degrees above absolute zero…
(read more: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
(images: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech/NHSC)
Orange-bellied Jellyfish - Antarctica
fossa
The fossa (pron.: /ˈfɒsə/ or /ˈfuːsə/;[4] Malagasy [ˈfusə̥]; Cryptoprocta ferox) is a cat-like, carnivorous mammalthat is endemic to Madagascar. It is a member of the Eupleridae, a family of carnivorans closely related to the mongoose family (Herpestidae). Its classification has been controversial because its physical traits resemble those of cats, yet other traits suggest a close relationship with viverrids (most civets and their relatives). Its classification, along with that of the other Malagasy carnivores, influenced hypotheses about how many times mammalian carnivores have colonized the island. With genetic studies demonstrating that the fossa and all other Malagasy carnivores are most closely related to each other (forming a clade, recognized as the family Eupleridae), carnivorans are now thought to have colonized the island once around 18 to 20 million years ago.
The fossa is the largest mammalian carnivore on the island of Madagascar and has been compared to a small cougar. Adults have a head-body length of 70–80 cm (28–31 in) and weigh between 5.5–8.6 kg (12–19 lb), with the males larger than the females. It has semi-retractable claws and flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down trees head-first, and also support jumping from tree to tree. The fossa is unique within its family for the shape of its genitalia, which share traits with those of cats and hyenas. wiki
shovelnose sturgeon
hutton and clerk
Genus Dasornis
Dasornis was a genus of pseudotooth birds that appeared in Eocene Europe. Dasornis was quite large with a wingspan the size of a small plane ranging from 16-20 feet. Currently there is only one accepted species Dasornis emuinus with other possible fossils yet to be accepted into the genus, current taxonomy places it either with pelicans or with waterfowl. It was probably a seafaring bird and behaved in a similar fashion to exatant albatrosses.
gooseneck barnacle
Whoa—put that thing away! What you’re looking at is a gooseneck barnacle (Pollicipes polymerus), a crustacean that grows on rocks and boat hulls. And its penis is sticking out of the top, marked off by an arrow.
For barnacles, this is actually a fairly unimpressive penis. Some species can stretch their penises up to 8-times their body length! (Which, admittedly, is usually pretty small.) They use these long members to physically deposit sperm into the shells of nearby barnacles to reproduce.
But, with such a short penis, how does the gooseneck barnacle reproduce? It is able to spermcast: send its sperm out into the water, which is then collected by other barnacles as it passes over them. It sounds a bit riskier than the long penis method—what if no other barnacles capture your sperm?—but it seems to work pretty well for them.
Read more about the study at Smithsonian Magazine
Image via Barazandeh, et al. Proc. R. Soc. B.
Sierra Nevada red fox
Hidden cameras have discovered three foxes in the mountains of Oregon, and researchers think they may be previously unknown populations of the Sierra Nevada red fox, a subspecies that’s one of the rarest mammals in North America. Fewer than 50 of the foxes are thought to remain in the wild in known relict populations near Sonora Pass and Lassen Peak in California.
Researchers set up motion-triggered remote cameras that took pictures of the montane, or mountain-dwelling, red foxes this winter and spring on Oregon’s Mount Hood and in Crater Lake National Park, the first time foxes have been verified in these areas in decades. Researchers presume these are Sierra Nevada red foxes, because they are the only mountain-dwelling fox native to Oregon. Researchers hope to collect hair and saliva samples to perform genetic tests to prove their hunch.
The federal government is currently considering listing the animal under the Endangered Species Act, after being petitioned by the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group…
(read more: Our Amazing Planet) (photo: Cascadia Wild)
Is 10 Years in Jail Enough Hard Time for Murdering a Rhino?
by Maria Goodavage
Yesterday, January 29, South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs upped the penalties for rhino poaching to something beyond a slap on the wrist. The maximum fine will increase to about $110,000, with prison time of up to ten years—double what it had been.
The ruling was an attempt to stem the horrific tide of poaching in order to get a rhino’s coveted horns. “The price of rhino horn is increasing exponentially, but the penalty is not,” Mike Knight, chairman of the Southern African Development Community Rhino Management Group, said in a Times Live article.
But even the increased penalties aren’t enough for contributing to the demise of a critically endangered species. The monetary payoff for rhino horns is exorbitant, and the new penalties would not likely dissuade would-be poachers…
(read more: TakePart.org) (photo: Nigel Pavitt/Getty)
How the Star-Nosed Mole ‘Sees’ With Its Ultra-Sensitive Snout
But the most noticeable aspect of the animal is its utterly strange appearance, dominated by its 22-tentacled ultra-sensitive snout, called a star (those aren’t its eyes and face at the center of the pink fleshy area, but rather its nostrils). This snout, used to hunt and grab prey, features more than 100,000 nerve endings packed into an area barely more than 1 cm in diameter, making it one of the most sensitive touch organs in the whole animal kingdom.
Continue reading at Smithsonian.com.
Whale Meat Isn’t a Culinary Delicacy, It’s a Federal Offense
by Andri Antoniades
In 2010, the activist-filmmakers behind The Cove, the award-winning documentary exposing the brutal dolphin killings in Taiji, Japan, decided that even after worldwide acclaim and an Oscar win, they weren’t finished protecting the ocean’s endangered mammals. Setting up an undercover sting operation, they revealed that a popular Santa Monica sushi restaurant, named “The Hump,” was illegally selling endangered whale meat to diners.
Their efforts initially resulted in misdemeanor charges brought against The Hump’s parent company, Typhoon Restaurant Inc., as well two of its chefs, Kiyoshiro Yamamoto and Susumu Ueda. But The Los Angeles Times reports that following a further investigation, those charges were bumped up this week to nine felony counts of importing and selling endangered sei whale meat, a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
As a result, chef Yamamoto in particular could face up to 67 years in prison…
Atlantic Bay Scallop
Argopecten irradians is a species of saltwater clam native to the East coast of North America. Yes those little blue dots are eyes, scallops actually have around 100 simple eyes around their mantle. Although it looks like the scallop has teeth they are simple filter feeders and don’t eat anything of substance these teeth are tentacles that simply help the animal move food into its mouth.
NGC 4372 and the Dark Doodad
Explanation: The delightful Dark Doodad Nebula driftsthrough southern skies, a tantalizing target for binoculars in the constellation Musca, The Fly. The dusty cosmic cloud is seen against rich starfields just south of the prominent Coalsack Nebula and the Southern Cross. Stretching for about 3 degrees across this scene the Dark Doodad seems punctuated at its southern tip (lower left) by globular star cluster NGC 4372. Of course NGC 4372 roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy, a background object some 20,000 light-years away and only by chance along our line-of-sight to the Dark Doodad. The Dark Doodad’s well defined silhouette belongs to the Musca molecular cloud, but its better known alliterative moniker was first coined by astro-imager and writer Dennis di Cicco in 1986 while observing comet Halley from the Australian outback. The Dark Doodad is around 700 light-years distant and over 30 light-years long.
storm on saturn
NASA’s Cassini Watches Storm Choke on Its Own Tail on Saturn
by Jia-Rui C. Cook
Call it a Saturnian version of the Ouroboros, the mythical serpent that bites its own tail. In a new paper that provides the most detail yet about the life and death of a monstrous thunder-and-lightning storm on Saturn, scientists from NASA’s Cassini mission describe how the massive storm churned around the planet until it encountered its own tail and sputtered out. It is the first time scientists have observed a storm consume itself in this way anywhere in the solar system.
“This Saturn storm behaved like a terrestrial hurricane - but with a twist unique to Saturn,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, who is a co-author on the new paper in the journal Icarus. “Even the giant storms at Jupiter don’t consume themselves like this, which goes to show that nature can play many awe-inspiring variations on a theme and surprise us again and again.”
Earth’s hurricanes feed off the energy of warm water and leave a cold-water wake. This storm in Saturn’s northern hemisphere also feasted off warm “air” in the gas giant’s atmosphere. The storm, first detected on Dec. 5, 2010, and tracked by Cassini’s radio and plasma wave subsystem and imaging cameras, erupted around 33 degrees north latitude.
“This Saturn storm behaved like a terrestrial hurricane - but with a twist unique to Saturn,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, who is a co-author on the new paper in the journal Icarus. “Even the giant storms at Jupiter don’t consume themselves like this, which goes to show that nature can play many awe-inspiring variations on a theme and surprise us again and again.”
Earth’s hurricanes feed off the energy of warm water and leave a cold-water wake. This storm in Saturn’s northern hemisphere also feasted off warm “air” in the gas giant’s atmosphere. The storm, first detected on Dec. 5, 2010, and tracked by Cassini’s radio and plasma wave subsystem and imaging cameras, erupted around 33 degrees north latitude.
Shortly after the bright, turbulent head of the storm emerged and started moving west, it spawned a clockwise-spinning vortex that drifted much more slowly. Within months, the storm wrapped around the planet at that latitude, stretching about 190,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) in circumference, thundering and throwing lightning along the way…
(read more: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Saturday, February 2, 2013
upper atmosphere lightening
Upper-atmospheric lightning or upper-atmospheric discharge are terms sometimes used by researchers to refer to a family of short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena that occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds. Upper-atmospheric lightning is believed to be electrically induced forms of optical fluorescence. The preferred usage is transient luminous event (TLE), because the various types of electrical-discharge phenomena in the upper atmosphere lack several characteristics of the more familiar tropospheric lightning.
There are several types of TLEs, the most common being sprites. Sprites are flashes of bright red light that occur above storm systems. C-sprites (short for “columniform sprites”) is the name given to vertical columns of red light. C-sprites exhibiting tendrils are sometimes called carrot sprites. Other types of TLEs include sprite halos, blue jets, gigantic jets, blue starters, and ELVES. ELVES (Emission of Light and Very Low Frequency perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources) refers to a singular event which is commonly thought of as being plural. TLEs are secondary phenomena that occur in the upper atmosphere in association with underlying thunderstorm lightning.
TLEs generally last anywhere from less than a millisecond to more than 2 seconds. The first TLE was captured accidentally in a video recording in 1989. University of Minnesotaresearchers were waiting to record a rocket launch and pointed the camera at a distant thunderstorm. A TLE was later identified, appearing in only two frames of the film. TLEs have been captured by a variety of optical recording systems, with the total number of recent recorded events (early 2009) estimated at many tens-of-thousands. The global rate of TLE occurrence has been estimated from satellite (FORMOSAT-2) observations to be several million events per year
Pycnosteus
Pachyrhinosaurus
Utahraptor
Prionosuchus
Genus Prionosuchus was a genus of large Temnspondyl amphibians from Permian Brazil. Prinosuchus is the largest described species of amphibian ever found, with individuals growing up to 30 ft long! Prinosuchus while an amphibian looks and acts very similar to extant crocodiles like the gharial, as it had a long snout and body and short legs. They presumably had a similar lifestyle as well as they probably were ambush hunters and fed primarily on fish and aquatic animals.
Friday, February 1, 2013
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