madame scientist's not-so-mad musings

2012-01-08

2012-01-08

Space Oddity (original video, released in 1969). Happy Birthday, David Bowie!

• Released to coincide with the first moon landing, Space Oddity became instantly popular as backdrop for TV footage of the event. Bowie was amused because in the song, the unfortunate astronaut Major Tom, is cut off from Ground Control:

“Here am I sitting in my tin can far above the Moon

Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do.”

• The inspiration for the song came from the 1968 release of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey . “Space Oddity” is a play on the phrase “Space Odyssey,” and the title does not appear in the lyrics. Did you notice that David Bowie’s name is remarkably similar to David Bowman of the film?

• Ashes to Ashes released in 1980 reports back with news that Major Tom is doing well: “I’m happy, hope you’re happy too”. But Ground Control is not buying it: “Ashes to ashes, funk to funky

We know Major Tom’s a junkie

Strung out in heaven’s high

Hitting an all-time low”

This song is hauntingly lovely (can’t get it out of my head!), watch his innovative video: David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes

Major Tom gets a final mention on Hallo Spaceboy : David Bowie – Hallo Spaceboy

Let’s make Neil deGrasse Tyson a bigger badder internet meme than Chuck Norris!

La Vergne Lestermeringolo Thatch : “Did you know that Neil deGrasse Tyson has his own wormhole?”

Paul Spoerry : “Neil deGrasse Tyson is so much the man that Chuck Norris made him that wormhole.”

If you agree retweet: https://twitter.com/#!/PaulSpoerry/status/155774407426572288

Originally shared by Paul Spoerry

Science IS Awesome

Damn Neil, is that a telescope in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

#scienceisawesome #science Awesomesauce

BTW… if there is one thing to re-share today this might just be it. Oh, and can we get a petition or something to get Neil deGrasse Tyson on Google+?

via:http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2012/01/07/im-sorry-i-cant-hear-you-pic/

Shine on you crazy diamond. Today is the birthday of Syd Barrett, born Roger Keith Barrett in 1946.

• Barrett, who died in 2006, founded Pink Floyd with bass guitarist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright in 1965. In1967, Pink Floyd released the singles Arnold Layne (banned by the BBC) and See Emily Play , both written by Syd, and the album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn , again mostly composed by Syd and considered to be one of the greatest British psychedelic albums.

• Sadly, Syd’s fall was as meteoric as his rise. His behavior became increasing erratic and he eventually spent the last 35 years of his life away from the public eye.

• A self portrait of the singer was stolen from the London Idea Generation Gallery, but returned unharmed after a plea was made by the late singer’s girlfriend.See it here: http://thewire.co.uk/articles/6271/

Wish you were here , Syd! Watch this birthday tribute: http://youtu.be/BhNAMasKXK4

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,

blue skies from pain.

Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?

A smile from a veil?

Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?

Hot ashes for trees?

Hot air for a cool breeze?

Cold comfort for change?

And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.

We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,

Running over the same old ground.

What have we found? The same old fears.

Wish you were here.

Intelligent Design we can all agree upon! The grainy butterfly images are actually simulations of compound-eye views of how one butterfly would see another! The typical courtship distance of 18 inches, is seen at the top. If the butterfly moves slightly, large portions of the image flash back and forth between all orange and all black.

• Full size (spectacular) butterfly vision here:http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2011/12/30/art-for-sciences-sake/

• Leonardo da Vinci wanted us to Study the science of art and the art of science .

• See the award winning gallery here: http://www.princeton.edu/artofscience/gallery2011/

Thanks for the find, Tom Lee !

Originally shared by Tom Lee

Science can be beautiful. That’s the message behind Princeton University’s “Art of Science” competition.

This year’s competition, with the theme of “Intelligent Design,” drew 168 submissions, depicting subjects ranging from neurons to nanostructures to magnetic fields. A panel chose 56 works for the final exhibition, on display at the university through November 2012. Here is a look.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204720204577126594000364840.html

I used to sing this song when I was a little girl 😛

http://youtu.be/OYwhXjjmt50

via Jeffrey J Davis

Originally shared by Telles

Stemming the March of Time: Young stem cells extend the life of aging mice.

• Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into just about any kind of mature cell type. Although it was known that stem cells from aged animals grew slowly and poorly, it was not clear if this was a consequence or cause of aging.

• A study by University of Pittsburgh researchers just published in Nature Communications showed that aging could be dramatically slowed down in mice engineered to have Progeria, a rare genetic condition of premature aging in humans.

• “We wanted to see if we could rescue these rapidly aging animals, so we injected stem/progenitor cells from young, healthy mice into the abdomens of 17-day-old progeria mice,” Dr. Huard said. “Typically the progeria mice die at around 21 to 28 days of age, but the treated animals lived far longer — some even lived beyond 66 days. They also were in better general health.”

• Surprisingly, although the stem cells did not migrate far from the site of injection, new blood vessels developed in the brain and muscle suggesting that the stem cells secrete factors that could affect development at sites far from their location. The hunt is on for the molecules or chemicals secreted by these stem cells!

• Read more: Muscle-derived stem/progenitor cell dysfunction limits healthspan and lifespan in a murine progeria model. Nature Communications , 2012; 3: 608 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1611

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103135131.htm

Originally shared by NATURE

Dance of the Weedy Seadragons. A male weedy seadragon seduces a female with some very fancy fin work. Two months later, however, its the male who’s left carrying the eggs! Living off the coast of south Australia, weedy seadragons ( Phyllopteryx taeniolatus ) sway to the rhythm of the waving seaweeds.

Inspired by the beautiful image posted by New England Aquarium .

Connection-Junction: The Synapse. It’s all about networking. Synapses connect nerve cells to each other, or to muscles and glands.

• The word synapse is derived from the Greek syn (together) and haptein (to clasp).

• There are an estimated 100-500 trillion (that’s 10^14) synapses in the human brain.

• The space (synaptic cleft) at the junction is narrow, only 20 nanometers wide.

• Messages travel down the nerve fiber in the form of an electric pulse known as the action potential. When they get to the synaptic terminal, these messages must be converted to a chemical signal that crosses the narrow cleft (within microseconds) to trigger a new electrical signal at the connecting nerve or muscle cell. The chemical signal is the neurotransmitter (glycine, acetylcholine, etc.).

• These chemicals are packaged into small vesicles that lie just under the nerve membrane, docked and ready to fuse. When the action potential arrives, the vesicles execute a quick “kiss and run” to release the neurotransmitter into the cleft.

• Here is a beautiful scanning electron microscope image of a nerve ending in which the membrane has been sheared away, revealing hundreds of spherical vesicles ready to release their neurotransmitter cargo into the synaptic cleft.

• Synapses are targets for hundreds of toxins, psychoactive drugs and poisons including curare, cocaine, LSD and morphine. Botox is a formulation of botulinus toxin, and works by cleaving the proteins that allow the vesicles to fuse. By blocking neurotransmitter release, the nerve cannot signal the muscle to contract. Voila, no wrinkles!

Image from: http://www.cellimagelibrary.org/images/214