Science Porn

[Mystical]

Well, to me this is science porn. Natural selection favors corroboration. Who knew?

Date:
November 6, 2014

Source:
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, together with researchers from New Zealand and the USA, have observed in real time the evolution of simple self-reproducing groups of cells from previously individual cells.

Summary:

All multicellular creatures are descended from single-celled organisms. The leap from unicellularity to multicellularity is possible only if the originally independent cells collaborate. So-called cheating cells that exploit the cooperation of others are considered a major obstacle. Now, researchers capture the emergence of multicellular life in real-time experiments.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...113334.htm

[pocaracas]

First EVER photo taken on the surface of a comet!

[SteelCurtain]

More Badass Science GIFs:

When an LED is immersed in liquid nitrogen, the electrons lose a lot of thermal energy, even when the light isn’t turned on. When this happens, the bandgap in the semiconductors increases. Since this gap is increased, when electrons in the conduction band fall to the valence band, they emit a higher energy light, meaning the light emitted has a shorter wavelength and a higher frequency. This is why we see the orange light turn into colours that are higher on the electromagnetic spectrum when it is frozen in the liquid nitrogen.

Phases of the moon with libration:


Glass Fracturing at 5 million fps:


And just for awesome's sake:

[Exian]

What's bandgap? Does it have to do with the distinct light wave cancellation that we see from different elements?

[SteelCurtain]

Not really. It is the difference between the bottom of the conduction band and top of the valence band in eV. (Generally a signifier of how conductive a material is, eg if the bandgap is really small (or negative if the valence and conduction band overlap), it is a conductor, and if the band gap is large it is an insulator.)



As the material approaches absolute zero, the gap gets larger, and as the electrons travel this larger gap, more and more energy is released, which leads to the shorter wavelength of the light that is emitted. (Orange--->Yellow--->Green)

[Exian]

God damn it, I love these forums. Filled to the brim with brilliant people. Thanks for the explanation, brother.

[SteelCurtain]

More fun with scales:



A comet (like Rosetta) compared to the city of Los Angeles.

[Whateverist]

I don't think we'd want to get smacked by a comet that size. Rings would be pretty cool though.

[vorlon13]

Rings have a natural tendency to spread radially, the outer edge recedes from the planet, and the inner edge contracts, unless restrained by gravitational interactions from satellites further out.

Particles on the inner edge, for a ring system around earth, would burn up in the atmosphere in a very slow but steady drizzle. Around an airless body like our moon, the inner edge can do more interesting things,

[Anomalocaris]

More fun with scales:

That's far from accurate. The furthest stars easily visible to the naked eye even in relatively light polluted areas like Los angeles are those of the andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million light years away, or a distance equal to about 20 times the diameter of a typical large spiral galaxy implied here. Admittedly I am talking about seeing a collection of stars, not resolving a single star.

The furthest single star that can be resolved by the naked eye would be blue supergiants. These can be seen out to about 5000 light years. So a circle encompassing the further individual stars visible to the naked eye would still be 1/10 the diameter of a typical large spiral galaxy - ie far larger relative to the Galaxy than the yellow circle in the picture.