As if Star Trek didn’t already provide enough futuristic inspiration , scientists from the UK are working on an actual deflector shield that could protect astronauts from dangerous levels of radiation. And it would work in a way that’s very similar to how we’re protected right here on Earth. Read more…
Read More:
Proposed ‘deflector shield’ could protect astronauts from radiation
Japanese researchers have successfully cloned a mouse from a drop of blood taken from a donor’s tail. The breakthrough means that animals don’t have to be euthanized when extracting their cells, which could prove important if we’re ever going to clone endangered animals. Read more…
View original post here:
Scientists Clone a Mouse From a Single Drop of Blood
There are so many optical illusions that feature an object or picture that can be seen in two different ways. But have you ever seen an illusion that can be interpreted in three different ways? Read more…
See the original article here:
This wild illusion causes you to see an object in three different ways
In a manner of speaking, Albert Einstein just helped an international team of astronomers find a hot Jupiter that’s 2,000 light-years away. It’s the first time in history that the theory of relativity was used to locate another planet. Read more…
See the article here:
We just used the theory of relativity to discover a new planet
A partial solution to a centuries-old problem known as the twin prime conjecture now affirms the idea that an infinite number of prime numbers have companions — and that a maximum distance between these pairs does in fact exist. Read more…
Follow this link:
Mathematician Makes Astounding Prime Numbers Breakthrough
By bombarding insects with electrons, Japanese researchers formed a microscopically thin layer that protected them from the ravages of a vacuum. The discovery suggests a way that microbes might survive the harsh conditions of outer space — and perhaps humans as well. Read more…
See the original post:
Bugs can survive space-like vacuums with “nano-suit”
In a much needed breakthrough, neuroscientists have developed a technique to predict how much physical pain people are feeling by looking at images of their brain scans. Read more…
Back in 2011, GE unveiled DeltaVision OMX Blaze , a state-of-the art microscope that uses a combination of optics and powerful computer algorithms. Using a technique called 3D structured illumination microscopy (SIM), OMX can see objects as small as 100 nanometers across and more than doubles the resolution in all three dimensions . Here are some of the most mind blowing super-resolution images taken by the microscope to date. Read more…
View original post here:
These spectacular images show why they call it the ‘OMG’ microscope
This is the map we’ve all dreamed of seeing. It’s a depiction of Earth in which its primary geological features have been inverted , showcasing a planet with a sprawling landmass that extends across two-thirds of its surface. Read more…
Read the original post:
What Earth would look like with its oceans and landmasses swapped
A new study by Australian geologists has shown that over 80% the world’s commercial gold deposits were generated in a flash process, the result of depressurizing earthquakes that rapidly converted mineral-rich fluids into precious veins of gold. The process is called flash vaporization . Deep below the Earth’s crust, at depths ranging from three to 18 miles (5-30 km), fluid-filled fault cavities are subject to extreme temperatures and pressure. These fluids are rich in dissolved substances like gold and silicate minerals. But for those deposits located near fault lines, an earthquake can create a dramatic drop in pressure which forces the fluid to expand to as much as 130,000 times its former size — and in the blink of an eye. The researchers, a team consisting of Dion Weatherley and Richard Henley, found that this depressurization process causes trapped fluids to expand to a very low-density vapor. This ‘flash’ effect results in the rapid deposition of silica, along with gold-enriched quartz veins. From New Scientist : The fluid cannot get from the surrounding rock into the hole fast enough to fill the void, Henley says, so pressure drops from 3000 times atmospheric pressure to pressures almost the same as those at Earth’s surface in an instant. The nearby fluid flash-vaporises as a result – and any minerals it contains are deposited as it does. Later, incoming fluid dissolves some of the minerals, but the less-soluble ones, including gold, accumulate as more episodes of quake-driven flash deposition occur. “Large quantities of gold may be deposited in only a few hundred thousand years,” says Weatherley – a brief interval by geological standards. “Each event drops a little more gold,” adds Henley. “You can see it microscopically, tiny layer after tiny layer. It just builds up.” They calculate that large earthquakes can deposit as much as 0.1 milligrams of gold along each square meter of a fault zone’s surface in a fraction of a second. Eventually, over the course of many thousands of years, these deposits begin to accumulate. The researchers estimate, for example, that active faults can produce a 100-metric-ton deposit of gold in less than 100,000 years. Read the entire study at Nature Geoscience . More at Nature News and New Scientist . Image: Shutterstock/farbled.
Originally posted here:
Most gold deposits were produced by earthquakes