Rational Discovery Blog

SCIENCE has explained nothing; the more we know the more fantastic the world becomes and the profounder the surrounding darkness. Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963. This blog resides firmly at the intersection of scientific research, education, art, and communication. Herein lies information and current happenings related to each, as well as any other sciencey goodness worth sharing.

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Beautiful space photography

The lastest edition of PBS's 'Off Book' web series, which looks at the intersection of science and photography and its use as a tool to study space.

via Open Culture

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A valid point...

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via I Fucking Love Science

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Parasitic worms may regulate the human immune response

Parasitic worms (helminths) may have a role in evading the host immune response, while protecting the host from autoimmune disorders. The above image shows Trichuris trichiura eggs inside a female worm from an infected individual.

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Creating human faces from discarded DNA

Heather Dewey-Hagborg is an information artist whose work "seeks to question fundamental assumptions underpinning perceptions of human nature, technology and the environment". 

From Twisted Sifter:

In her fascinating series entitled Stranger Visions, Heather collects DNA samples from discarded objects found on the street such as hair, nails, cigarette butts and chewing gum.

She then takes the samples to a DIY biology lab where she extracts the DNA and sequences the results. The sequence is then fed into a custom-built computer program that spits out a 3D model of a face which she then prints. The process and ideas behind such a provocative exploration are fascinating.

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The periodic table of awesome

Anneka Tran is responsible for this. 

via Popperfont

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Animated wire

From Colossal:

There are some fantastic sequences in this brief stop motion clip by Victor Haegelin of Patator Prod accompanied by music from Professor Kliq. Haegelin relies entirely on bent wire and paper to create everything you see and it’s amazing how fluid all the individual wire strands become when animated like this, wish it went a bit longer.

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Red gas cloud: The result of a supernova explosion 150,000 years ago

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Flowers via nanotechnology

Researchers at Harvard have used nanotechnology to generate these 'flowers', which are roughly the width of "six red blood cells". 

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Street Fighter: Motion captured

Motion sculptures for every move from the video game, Street Fighter are surprisingly beautiful.

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Check out these incredible launch photos from photojournalist Dan Winters

To witness a space shuttle launch is something that very few of us are (were) able to witness first-hand. Nevertheless, it's comforting to know that photographers like Dan Winters were there to capture the vast beauty and immensity of lift-off for the rest of us.

From Time:

Dan Winters, who grew up during the golden age—the Cronkite Age—of space reporting, is one of the photographers who has mastered the craft best. His pictures can practically singe your eyebrows and set you squinting with their brilliance, while at the same time capturing the black smoke and deep clouds that are often the counterpoint to the fires of liftoff.

These three photographs are just three of many that are included in the upcoming compilation, Last Launch, by Dan Winters.

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A reminder of our relative insignificance on the cosmic stage

Our pale blue dot is microscopic in comparison.

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Anatomically correct lego

Somebody has gone to the trouble to ensure that lego remains anatomically correct. Or zombies.

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Bill Nye on Creationism: "Your world is just going to be a mystery instead of an exciting place"

(via Boing Boing)

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights encoded into DNA, and then eaten?

A collaboration between The Netherlands Proteomics Centre, The Netherlands Genomics Initiative and artist Charlotte Jarvis has resulted in Blighted By Kenning, a project that incorporates science, nature, and biblical symbolism:

The project has bio-engineered a bacteria which has the Universal Declaration of Human Rights encoded into its DNA sequence. The DNA has been extracted and apples grown near The Hague, which houses the International Court of Justice, have been 'contaminated' with the synthetic DNA. They are currently being sent to genomics laboratories around the world, which have been asked to sequence the declaration and also to eat the fruit. 

To achieve this, each unique three-character combination ("codon") of the fundamental units of DNA: Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Guanine (G) and Cytosine (C), represents each letter of the alphabet. Using bacteria to generate the specific DNA sequence of the Declaration of Human Rights, it was inoculated into apples and allowed to express a novel protein: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights protein, to be exact.

Fruit-based human rights is definitely an innovative exploit - I'd be interested to see what comes next...

(via The Finch & Pea)

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What lightning looks like from space

Did you know that every 50 seconds there is a lightning strike somewhere in the world? In Focus have a nice collection of photographs capturing this frequently stunning phenomenon from several vantage points around the world, including the one above from Space.

As noted by In Focus,

An elusive "red sprite" flash, photographed by Expedition 31 astronauts aboard the International Space Station on April 30, 2012. The sprite (upper right) appears high above a lightning strike (bright spot in the clouds). Red sprites only last for a few milliseconds, sending pulses of electrical energy up toward the edge of space--the electrically charged layer known as the ionosphere--instead of down to Earth's surface.

(via Twisted Sifter)

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3D Body Parts

Victoria Cartright is a "designer, 3D artist, illustrator, and general creator of images" who has created these gorgeous three-dimensional pieces of various anatomical organs.  Check out the full range at her website.