Online And A Cup of Tea

Solar Tsunami heading for earth at 93 million miles per hour!

2010-08-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

There was a massive explosion on the Sun's surface this weekend, estimated to be of the size of our planet Earth, which created a massive storm like tsunami of charged particles travelling across the space at 93 million mph. It was expected to reach earth on Aug 3 with affects observable on Aug 4th in the form of Northern lights or aurora. One could witness these by looking out for bright green and bluish dancing lights in the direction of North during the night sky.

Here's the video feed as recorded by NASA:

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-video/7924167/Massive-explosion-ripples-across-the-sun.html
Can't wait to see this once in a life time display!

Strength of your password determines your online security level!

2010-07-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

Stronger the password, the more difficult it is for password crackers to break.

Read the following article: Girls in Tech Minneapolis.

courtsey:http://www.infosecblog.org/images/password.gif

Enjoy!

Wondering what a white dwarf star looks like? Take a look here...

2010-06-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Following is the image of an ancient white dwarf star in our very own galaxy "Milky Way" captured by the Hubble telescope.

Source: Hubblesite.org

Close Up of Ancient, White Dwarf Stars in the Milky Way Galaxy

Following is adapted from wikipedia:

As the name suggests, the white dwarf, is a small star composed primarily of electron-degenerate matter. It emits thermal energy in the form of a faint glow. They are very dense some with mass comparable to that of the Sun, volume comparable to that of the Earth. The unusual faintness of white dwarfs was first recognized in 1910 by Henry Norris Russell, Edward Charles Pickering, and Williamina Fleming;^[3]^{, p. 1} the name white dwarf was coined by Willem Luyten in 1922.^[4]
White dwarfs are thought to be the final evolutionary state of all stars whose mass is not high enough to supernova—over 97% of the stars in our galaxy.

Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico harming the wildlife!

2010-06-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

How miserable this brown pelican looks! It is covered in crude oil and is spotted at the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast on June 3rd, 2010. Photo taken by Charlie Riedel of AP.

Source: Yahoo News: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Tropical Storm Agatha creating a giant sinkhole in Guatemala

2010-06-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

The rains of Tropical Storm Agatha created a giant sinkhole in Guatemala City, May 31, 2010.

A giant Sinkhole, about one block in width, caused by tropical storm Agatha, in Gautemala City.

Click here to read more at Yahoo!

Google TV Software unveiled!

2010-05-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. released, Google TV, software that blends the conventional TV programming and Internet content on televisions during an event in San Fransisco. Google TV, based on Android platform, is already available for cellphones. The new release boasts of features such as search and browsing some websites at the comfort of your couch and remote control.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article: Google TV Software Demonstrated.

The Sun, Atlantis and Hubble - all in one!

2010-05-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

The following images are fabulous!

The Sun, The Hubble Telescope and the Atlantis, all captured in one shot!

Silhouette of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope are seen against the giant Sun (in lower left hand corner). A prism used with camera to filter out sunlight made sun appear super yellow.

Zooming in the image, one can see the space shuttle Atlantis just above the Hubble!

Here only Atlantis is cruising along!

In 2009, Atlantis was on one of its space missions to repair the Hubble telescope for the last time. Down here on the earth, an amateur astronomer was set on his mission of photographing objects some 370 miles away, measuring about 13-35m in length, and traveling at 15,000 mph (miles per hour). And, to add to this list of super challenging parameters was the glaring sun!

According to Mr. Theirry Legault's interview posting with the Mail Online

"However, the greatest challenge was to chase a hole in the clouds that were numerous in the area because there are currently many thunderstorms over Florida. I had to take the photo just at the right instant."

Image Source:Thierry Legault -The astrophotographer who captured the impressive pictures of the Sun, Hubble and Atlantis.

The Helix Nebula aka 'The eye of the God'

2010-04-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

This image is called "The eye of God"

This image was possible by composition from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the view from National Science Foundation's Mosaic Camera mounted on a 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Ariz. NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, is one of the closest nebulae of all and is about 450 light years away (exact distance is uncertain). This image is of paramount importance as it holds the clues in future for our very own Sun - happens to a star towards its dying stages. At the center of the image one can spot a white dot a "super-hot white dwarf" star swimming in the sea of hot blue gases.

References: Iridescent Glory of Nearby Planetary Nebula Showcased on Astronomy Day
The Helix Nebula

Send your message to Hubble on its 20th anniversary!

2010-04-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hubble has been instrumental in expanding our vision beyond the earth's horizon! For last 20 years, it has continually provided us with those staggering images of the outer space, and has tremendously helped us in acquiring profound knowledge of the Universe. Lets thank Hubble for our invaluable aid in astrophysics, and art!

Here's the link where you can post your message to Hubble. I already did :) Now its time for to post yours!

Leave your message and become a part of Hubble history:
http://hubblesite.org/hubble_20/message/

ScienceShot: A Mysterious Galactic Halo - ScienceNOW

2010-04-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

Galaxies like Milky way or Andromeda are known to be surrounded by halos, primarily consisting of stars from many smaller galaxies. However, something quite different about the "halo" of M81 galaxy is keeping scientists busy. Unusual aspect of this halo is that it appears to be a cloud consisting of much heavier elements than Hydrogen (H) and Helium (He).

The image is taken by Subaru Telescope (8.2 m) located in Hawaii and is deliberately focused on the cloudy-halo and NOT on M81 galaxy (belonging to Ursa Major cluster).

Very interesting read: ScienceShot: A Mysterious Galactic Halo - ScienceNOW

Active After Sleeping for 200 years!

2010-04-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Dormant Iceland Volcano Erupts after 200 Years. Last time it was active as in 1784.

The visuals of this event are very amazing - geography is unique in itself -snow-clad Iceland, with hot sea of molten lava, thick white clouds of steam, along with gray clouds of ash!

Posted At My WP Blog:
http://wp.me/pHeZ3-17

2010's Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in south Iceland

2010-04-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

The Iceland's volcanic eruption in March of 2010 in pretty intriguing. Red hot lava spewed out of the earth's crust evaporating the glacier cover and the resultant effect is beyond impressive. A thick white cloud cover formed by steam, with red hot molten lava ejected upwards, gray cloud of ash under changing light effects from sun rise to sunset - words cannot describe what this video has captured! Enjoy!

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A_3O8zLiEs&feature=popt1cus06

DNA Replication Captured using Computer Animation!

2010-03-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here's another cool animation to understand this complicated but amazingly fast DNA replication process!

Do you want to see "How DNA Replicates?"

2010-03-29T15:36:00.001-07:00

Here's a cool video on DNA Replication.
Enjoy!

What makes you 'Unique' may imply Your Clones may 'NOT' be 100% identical!

2010-03-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

DNA of an organism determines its biological constitution (genotype), and physical appearances (phenotype). In other words, its our DNA that makes us unique, and in particular, its our "genes" which help in shaping our destiny in terms of the biological make up, and physical appearances!
Do you know that this genetic difference between me and you, is minuscule - just about 0.025% or (1:4000). Imagine this could result in two completely different individuals!

According to scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine and Yale University, it may not be entirely these genetic differences that result in our 'uniqueness', a direction of many researches aiming to identify the genes that determine our individuality! Results from their research suggest that it is due to the sequences surrounding the genes (on our DNA) like DNA binding sites, transcription factors etc.. These sequences may be upstream or downstream w.r.t a gene's loci on the DNA, and control or regulate the translation of genes (code for proteins) on DNA, and making of proteins - vital molecules in several physiological processes which in tandem, keep us alive and functioning. These genomic differences in non-gene coding regions of DNA play a pivotal role in deciding our uniqueness, and making you YOU, and me ME! As a result, several scientific studies are now shifting their focus from discovering/identifying the genes but to a more broader regions of DNA.

Now, what about cloning? What happens if you were to clone yourself?
Having just the oligo-nucleotides for translation of genes to make proteins be enough? I guess not! Constructing a perfect (100% identical) clone, would require a nature's miracle. And, to get a nearly perfect gene, you will need a lot more than just genes! Keeping DNA polymerase (an enzyme acts as catalyst in DNA replication) happy, you would also need identical transcription factors, and binding sites,... Due to some genomic catastrophic event like inversion or deletion or crossing of some section of chromosome, there may be some difference between sequences surrounding the genes on DNA. And, guess what the way they regulate genes may be altogether a different prospect, resulting in near to perfect clones only!

Source: http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2010/march/genes.html
Image Source: http://www.dnareplication.info/images/dnareplication.jpg

Interestingly different Sexes are at War -The Genetic War!

2010-03-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

Can regular altercations (arising from basic behavior) between men and women be blamed on to their genes?

Basic instinct of female fruit flies to make more and more eggs, while that of males to increase their success of mating and fertilization, can now be blamed onto their genes, as shown by researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden. Ted Morrow (leader of this research) said that the genes that are most beneficial for one sex, say female, are most disadvantageous for the other (male) resulting in "conflict of interests" and, the saga begins.

For humans, sex chromosome for "Male" are XY, and for "Female": XX. And, its interesting to see that these most of the conflicting genes reside on X-chromosome.

For more details:
Original news @Scicasts: Genetic War of the Sexes
Published paper @PLoS: The Sexually Antagonistic Genes of Drosophila melanogaster
Image source: http://www.tetrasomy18p.ca/chromosome.jpg

Who spent most time social networking in 2009? Its the Australians!

2010-03-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

With Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, social networking sites with gigantic, but continually growing online users base, its easy to anticipate Americans to lead the world in terms of time spent online and socializing virtually. The Nielsen Company concluded that it was the Australians who spent most time (average) socially online in last year.
As Facebook and Twitter mania continues this year, these statistics are most likely to change, and it will be interesting to see who is the new world leader for 2010.

Links to the sites mentioned in this post:
Facebook.com
Twitter.com
MySpace.com

References:
iTWire: http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/entertainment/30681-australia-leads-world-in-time-spent-socially-online
nielsonWire: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/led-by-facebook-twitter-global-time-spent-on-social-media-sites-up-82-year-over-year/