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Entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets studies mushrooms. The focus of Stamets’ research is the Northwest’s native fungal genome, mycelium, but along the way he has filed 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies, including pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas.
The webcast really gets interesting at minute 9 or so (in my opinion) with 6 specific examples.
Related: Fun Fungi - Thinking Slime Moulds - Microbe Types
The situation of a bubble in water is comparable to a balloon. The balloon surface is elastic. The tension of it tries to minimize the surface: if you don’t tie a knot in the balloon after blowing it up, air escapes and the surface of the balloon is minimized to the initial unstretched situation.
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Bubbles do not turn into rings naturally. Something has to be done for that. However, they have long lives and often make it up to the surface. Hence they are stable structures.
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Dolphins create bubble rings by blowing air in a water vortex ring: by flipping a fin they create a vortex ring of water. The then blow air in the ring, which goes to the center of the vortex ring. In the water vortex ring the natural location of the air is in the center of the vortex. When air and water move in a circular path like they do in the vortex ring, air and water are separated due to the centripetal force. Since density of water is larger than air, water moves at the outside, while the air ends up in the middle.
Follow the link for much more on the physics of bubble rings.
Related: Colored Bubbles - Dolphins Using Tools to Hunt - Do Dolphins Sleep? - posts on animals
Tara Adiseshan, 14, of Charlottesville, Virginia; Li Boynton, 17, of Houston; and Olivia Schwob, 16, of Boston were selected from 1,563 young scientists from 56 countries, regions and territories for their commitment to innovation and science. Each received a $50,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation.
In the webcast, Tara Adiseshan, talks about her project studying the evolutionary ties between nematodes (parasites) and sweat bees. She identified and classified the evolutionary relationships between sweat bees and the nematodes (microscopic worms) that live inside them. Tara was able to prove that because the two have such ecologically intimate relationships, they also have an evolutionary relationship. That is to say, if one species evolves, the other will follow.
Li Boynton developed a biosensor from bioluminescent bacteria (a living organism that gives off light) to detect the presence of contaminants in public water. Li’s biosensor is cheaper and easier to use than current biosensors, and she hopes it can be used in developing countries to reduce water toxicity.
Olivia Schwob isolated a gene that can be used to improve the intelligence of a worm. The results could help us better understand how humans learn and even prevent, treat and cure mental disabilities in the future.
In addition to the three $50,000 top winners, more than 500 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair participants received scholarships and prizes for their groundbreaking work. Intel awards included 19 “Best of Category” winners who each received a $5,000 Intel scholarship and a new laptop. In total, nearly $4 million is scholarships and awards were provided.
Related: Intel ISEF 2009 Final Gala - Girls Sweep Top Honors at Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology - Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007 - Worldwide Science Wizkids at Intel ISEF - 2008 Intel Science Talent Search
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In the webcast an Aukuu bird (Black-crowned Night Heron) fishes using bread as bait. They normally hunt by waiting at the side of a lake and fishing. This individual learned how to bait the fish with bread and improve the fishing results. It also passed on that method to other birds that learned how to use the bait method themselves.
Another bird using bait (with turtles trying to get the bait) and another bird using bait (with a stork trying to steal the fish). And another one. The videos seem to be different species of birds to me.
Related: Orangutan Attempts to Hunt Fish with Spear - Dolphins Using Tools to Hunt - Bird Brain experiment - posts on animals
The webcast shows another cool TV display. This transparent OLED display could for example be used for displaying directions and GPS information to someone driving a car.
Related: Holographic Television on the Way - BCS Title Game, Live in 3D - Video Goggles
The National Film Board of Canada is marking its 70th anniversary in 2009 with a gift to Canadians and Web users: a new online Screening Room providing free home viewing of over 700 productions, films, trailers and clips from the NFB’s world-renowned collection.
“This new online Screening Room is the latest example of how the NFB plays a major role in the free exchange of ideas through cinema,” said Tom Perlmutter, Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Film Board of Canada. “At a time when issues are inter-connected and global communications are mobile and instantaneous, Canada needs a voice. More than ever, the NFB provides that voice: empowering Canadians to share their concerns, express their points of view, tell Canada’s stories. The world is changing – our stories continue.”
From historical films dating back to 1928 to current contemporary releases, including award-winning documentaries, animation and fiction, this initiative invites Canadians from all regions, to browse, discover and be entertained by the stories that bind us together.
The NFB has also opened its vaults to bring forgotten gems to light: archival works that offer rare glimpses back into our past, from Canada’s sacrifices during World War II to traditional communities, exploring the changing face of Canada over the decades.
The site includes many science and nature films including: Life on Ice - Kluane National Park - In Search of the Bowhead Whale - The Enduring Wilderness (Canada’s Natural Parks)
The National Film Board of Canada showing far more vision than many others clinging to outdated models. The internet provides a great opportunity for sharing and using open access to share ideas.
Related: Meteorite, Older than the Sun, Found in Canada - Fishy Future? - Arctic System on Trajectory to New, Seasonally Ice-Free State
Pretty cool. Tiny motor allows robots to swim through human body
Their miniature motor was connected to an electricity supply and a way would need to be found to power it remotely. The construction of the flagella also needed refinement.
Related: Micro-robots to ’swim’ Through Veins (post in 2006 on this work) - Bacteria Power Tiny Motor - Biological Molecular Motors - Robo Insect Flight
Science Friday is a great National Public Radio show. The week was a great show covering Antimicrobial Copper, Top Jobs for Math and Science, Human-Driven Evolution, Methane On Mars, Fish with Mercury and more. This show, in particular did a great job of showing the scientific inquiry process in action.
Very interesting stuff, listen for more details. A part of what happens is those individuals that chose to focus on reproducing early (instead of investing in growing larger, to reproduce later) are those that are favored (they gain advantage) by the conditions of human activity. I am amazed how quickly the scientists says the changes in populations are taking place.
And Methane On Mars is another potentially amazing discovery. While it is far from providing proof of live on Mars it is possibly evidence of life on Mars. Which would then be looked back on as one of the most important scientific discoveries ever. And in any even the podcast is a great overview of scientists in action.
Martian Methane Reveals the Red Planet is not a Dead Planet
The Mars Methane Mystery: Aliens At Last?
Related: Mars Rover Continues Exploration - Copper Doorknobs and Faucets Kill 95% of Superbugs - Viruses and What is Life - posts on evolution - Science and Engineering Link Directory
Software Breakthroughs: Solving the Toughest Problems in Computer Science, 2004:
Related: Bill Gates Interview from 1993 - Donald Knuth - Computer Scientist - Open Source: The Scientific Model Applied to Programming - Internship with Bill Gates
Planetary scientist Jennifer Heldmann discusses the Moon. From Fora.tv which has a wide selection of great webcasts.
Related: Science and Engineering Webcast Directory - China Reaches for the Moon - Astronomers Find a Planet Denser Than Lead - Studying Martian Soil for Evidence of Microbial Life - Cool Astronaut photo
Bird-brains smarter than your average ape
“The crows appeared to solve these complex problems by identifying causal regularities,” says Professor Russell Gray of the Department of Psychology. “The crows’ success with the trap-table suggests that the crows were transferring their causal understanding to this novel problem by analogical reasoning. However, the crows didn’t understand the difference between a hole with a bottom and one without. This suggests the level of cognition here is intermediate between human-like reasoning and associative learning.”
“It was very surprising to see the crows solve the trap-table,” says PhD student Alex Taylor. “The trap table puzzle was visually different from the trap-tube in its colour, shape and material. Transfer between these two distinct problems is not predicted by theories of associative learning and is something not even the great apes have so far been able to do.”
Related: Cool Crow Research - Orangutan Attempts to Hunt Fish with Spear - Backyard Wildlife: Crows - Dolphins Using Tools to Hunt
The panel starts speaking at about minute 14. The technical presentation of the video could be better (likely will be as we develop good, easy ways to capture speaking events for web delivery) but their is some interesting content.
Related: Microbes - Secret Life of Microbes - SciVee: Science Webcasts - Plants, Unikonts, Excavates and SARs
See more adventures of this curious cat from Japan. Or see this one of a curious kid.
Related: flushing cat - incredible cat camera - Photos by Fritz the Cat
Gut Bacteria May Cause And Fight Disease, Obesity
But as soon as we pass out of the birth canal, when we are fetched by a doctor’s hands, placed in a hospital crib, put on our mother’s breast, when we drag a thumb across a blanket and stick that thumb in our mouths, when we swallow our first soft food, we are invaded by all sorts of bacteria. Once inside, they multiply - until the bacteria inside us outnumber our human cells.
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University of Chicago immunologist Alexander Chervonsky, with collaborators from Yale University, recently reported that doses of the right stomach bacteria can stop the development of type 1 diabetes in lab mice. “By changing who is living in our guts, we can prevent type 1 diabetes,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
The bottom line: We now have two sets of genes to think about - the ones we got from our parents and the ones of organisms living inside us. Our parents’ genes we can’t change, but the other set? Now that is one of the newest and most exciting fields in cell biology.
Follow link with related podcast: Gut bacteria may cause and fight, disease, obesity. This whole area of the ecosystem within us and our health I find fascinating. And I fall for confirmation bias on things like becoming inefficient at converting food to energy as a way reduce obesity.
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They then gave an example of the difference being 95 calories versus 99 calories. Hardly seems huge but it would add up. Still that is a less amazing difference than I was expecting.
Related: Energy Efficiency of Digestion - Waste from Gut Bacteria Helps Host Control Weight - Obesity Epidemic Partially Explained - Foreign Cells Outnumber Human Cells in Our Bodies
I wrote about SciVee, over a year ago, saying I thought they could become a valuable resource. It has been taking longer to really get going than I thought it would but this new feature, Postercasts, is great. I am glad to see SciVee living up to my high expectation. Keep up the great work SciVee. The experience can still use improvement but this is a great start.
They have provided a tutorial on: How to Synchronize my Poster to my Video. I hope some of our readers try this out.
via: Interactive Virtual Posters
Related: Engineering TV - Science Webcasts - Magnetic Movie
Not exactly what I would think of as fun but people seem to love these webcasts on folding shirts. The one shown shows how an engineering folds a t-shirt.
Step by step guide to folding a shirt in 2 seconds in Japanese (40 seconds webcast) in English (2 minutes)
Related: Camera Fashion - Hug Shirt - Now for Something Completely Different
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