Desi Nuts » Science

Bodies in water form coral reef

Venkat — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:13:34 +0000

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15 Beautiful Microscopic Images from inside the Human Body

Venkat — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:56:45 +0000

Get up close and personal with your innards with these 15 amazing 3D-body shots. Almost all of the following images were captured using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a type of electron microscope that uses a beam of high-energy electrons to scan surfaces of images. The electron beam of the SEM interacts with atoms near or at the surface of the sample to be viewed, resulting in a very high-resolution, 3D-image. Magnification levels range from x 25 (about the same as a hand lens) to about x 250,000. Incredible details of 1 to 5 nm in size can be detected.

Here you’ll experience the power of SEM in a journey of self-discovery that starts in your head, travels down through the chest and ends in the bowels of the abdomen. Along the way, you’ll see what’s normal, what happens when cells are twisted by cancer and what it looks like when an egg meets sperm for the first time. You’ll never see yourself the same way again.

Red blood cells
Image: Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images

Split end of human hair
Image: Liz Hirst, Wellcome Images

Purkinje neurons
Image: Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images

Hair cell in the ear
Image: Wellcome Photo Library, Wellcome Images

Blood vessels emerging from the optic nerve
Image: Freya Mowat,, Wellcome Images

Tongue with taste bud
Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

Tooth plague
Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

Blood clot
Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

Alveoli in the lung
Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

Lung cancer cells
Image: Anne Weston, Wellcome Images

Villi of small intestine
Image: Professor Alan Boyde, Wellcome Images

Human egg with coronal cells
Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

Sperm on the surface of a human egg
Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

Human embryo and sperm
Image: Dr. David Becker, Wellcome Images

Coloured image of a 6 day old human embryo implanting
Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

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The Most Expensive Mobile Phones in the World

Jeewan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:23:34 +0000

Until recently, the vast majority of mobile phones had been priced between £100 and £300, with only Vertu, a division of Nokia, manufacturing uber-premium phones. With prices starting at around £4,000 Vertu phones are only for the filthy rich, and the super famous.

However, Vertu’s monopoly of the luxury phone market is coming to an end with the launch of several new luxury mobile makers, including Gresso, Mobiado and GoldVish. Other mobile phone manufacturers are also partnering with luxury brands to produce a range of premium mobile phones, such as LG and Prada, D&G and Motorola, and now Tag Heuer and Modelabs. Finally, there are the ridiculous, super-expensive one-offs, made purely for headline grabbing, such as Goldvish’s “Le million”, worth a cool $1,000,000, see below for details!

1. Goldvish “Le million” = $1,000,000 (£540,540)

A PR stunt it may be, and they surely can’t be expecting to sell any, but the Goldvish “Le million” is officially the most expensive mobile phone in the world, according the Guiness Books of Records. There’s even been talk of a $1.3million phone, but this has fewer diamonds than the Goldvish so I can’t see where the extra expense comes from! The “Le million” is a one off, featuring a blinding 120 carats worth of VVS-1 grade diamonds, according to designer Emmanuel Gueit. If $1 million is out of your price range. the Geneva-based Goldvish also offer several other diamond-encrusted 18k gold models in your choice of rose, yellow, or white, starting at a much more reasonable $25,600 (£13,837).

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2. Vertu Signature Cobra = $310,000 (£167,567)

Vertu is now taking orders for the Signature Cobra, designed by French jeweler Boucheron, but you had better be quick as only 8 are being made! The Cobra will feature one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies. Vertu will also be offering a “cheaper” version, ruby free, at $115,000 (£62,162).

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3. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond = $300,000 (£162,162)

Apparently the Black Diamond will be available in 2007, not from Sony Ericsson but by a company called VIPN. Initially only 5 unique numered pieces will be available for the unbelievable price of, wait for it… $300,000.

With regards to the specifications, don’t expect anything remarkable for your money. It will have Quad-band with Wi-Fi, an Intel 400Mhz processor running windows mobile 5, and a touch sensitive 2″ screen. It will also include internal memory of 128mb and will come with a 2Gb SD card for external storage, plus a respectable 4 Megapixel camera.

The designer Jaren Goh has used some pretty impressive materials for the build, featuring titane with polycarbonate, mirror-finish cladding and diamonds.

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4. Vertu Diamond = $88,000 (£47,567)

The Diamond is Vertu’s premium range of high-end mobile phones. As the name suggests the handsets in the Diamond range are diamond-encrusted handsets made from platinum. Only 200 of the handsets are being produced, the most expensive believed to be worth an estimated £50,000.

5. Motorola V220 Special Edition = £28,000 ($51,800)

Austrian designer Peter Aloisson, has taken a standard Motorola, studded it with 1,200 diamonds and added a keyboard inlaid with 18 carat gold. The outcome is a £28,000 handset, suitable only for footballers and film stars!

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6. Gold Edition Nokia 8800 Phone = $2,700 (£1,459)

If you have $2,700 to spare, you can now buy the Nokia 8800 in 24K gold. However, be warned, if you think you’ll be getting a better phone for your extra cash, you wont! The features found on the Gold Edition are the standard 8800 features, which are pretty basic. It includes a 0.5 Mega pixel SVGA camera, 64 MB of internal memory, 64 voice polyphonic rigntones, FM Radio, Mp3 Player, video recording and 180 mins talktime. However, the Gold Edition does includes a special edition box and charging dock!

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7. Mobiado Professional EM (wood) = $1,900 (£1,027)

The Mobiado Professional EM, is a wood-clad upgrade of their earlier Nokia-based phone that includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Bluetooth, and according to Mobiado it’s the first production phone with Titanium buttons. Only 200 are being made and each one has its limited number engraved on the back. At $1,900 however, you’re still paying an awfully high premium for a fairly basic phone encased in wood!

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8. Bang & Olufsen (Samsung) Serene = $1,250 (£675)

Bang & Olufsen hooked up with Samsung to design the sleek but unconventional Serene. Its not a bad looking phone and it even has a built-in motor to assist you in opening and closing the phone. It’s not very practical however, requiring a special screwdriver to access the battery and the SIM card, and its circular keypad will take some getting used to. Also, for some strange reason they have positioned the camera lens on the side of the device, which will make it difficult to align snapshots via the viewfinder on the display.

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9. Lamborghini 8800 Sirocco from Nokia = $To be announced

The Lamborghini Nokia 8800 Sirocco is another special edition, like the previously launch Aston Martin branded Sirocco. It will ultimately be a standard 8800 Sirocco but with the addition of the famous Lamborghini logo engraved on the font and the back, plus ball bearings from the auto company to in the slider phone mechanism. The Lamborghini phone will be a limited edition with only 500 being made. It will also feature Lamborghini graphics as wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones, and even has a short documentary video about the Lamborghini.

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10. Gresso Luxury Phone = £expensive

The Russia based Gresso, is a new entry into the luxury phone market. Their aptly name “Gresso Luxury Phone” is made of gold and African Blackwood. Apparently they will be releasing a collection of five models called the Black Aura collection, and the designer is a “well known” Italian designer. Currently there are two versions of the African Blackwood phone, one with pink gold highlights named the Gresso Blackwood Gold Edition, and one made entirely of African Blackwood. In addition to the two African Blackwood phones Gresso also make a phone made entirely of pink gold named the Gresso Gold phone. Initially, the phones will be on sale only in Russia.

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30 Fascinating Cigarette Smoking Facts

Jeewan — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:34:21 +0000

The world’s view on smoking cigarettes has changed dramatically over the last century. The habit was once considered to be cool, sexy, good for your health, and widely enjoyed by many people. It was promoted by sportsmen, and advertised all over television. No one could be seen acting in a movie without a lit cigarette in their hand! Today, smoking is considered to be a nasty addictive habit that can kill you and those around you. You wont find them advertised anywhere - nor will you see anyone smoking inside a public building. It seems that these days smokers are considered to be anti-social and are often frowned at if seen smoking outside in crowded places. Below is a list of interesting facts about cigarettes.

1. Cigarettes are the single-most traded item on the planet, with approximately 1 trillion being sold from country to country each year. At a global take of more than $400 billion, it’s one of the world’s largest industries.

2. The nicotine content in several major brands is reportedly on the rise. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Health Department revealed that between 1997 and 2005 the amount of nicotine in Camel, Newport, and Doral cigarettes may have increased by as much as 11 percent.

3. In 1970, President Nixon signed the law that placed warning labels on cigarettes and banned television advertisements for cigarettes. The last date that cigarette ads were permitted on TV was extended by a day, from December 31, 1970 to January 1, 1971 to allow the television networks one last cash windfall from cigarette advertising in the New Year’s Day football games.

4. U.S. cigarette manufacturers now make more money selling cigarettes to countries around the globe than they do selling to Americans.

5. The American brands Marlboro, Kool, Camel and Kent own roughly 70% of the global cigarette market.

6. Cigarettes contain arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and 43 known carcinogens.

7. In the early 1950s, the Kent brand of cigarettes used crocidolite asbestos as part of the filter, a known active carcinogen.

8. Urea, a chemical compound that is a major component in urine, is used to add “flavor” to cigarettes.

9. The ‘Cork Tip’ filter was originally invented in 1925 by Hungarian inventor Boris Aivaz, who patented the process of making the cigarette filter from crepe paper. All kinds of filters were tested, although ‘cork’ is unlikely to have been one of them.

10. In most countries around the world, the legal age for the purchase of tobacco products is now 18, raised from 16, while in Japan the age minimum is 20 years old.

11. Contrary to popular social belief, it is NOT illegal to smoke tobacco products at any age. Parents are within the law to allow minors to smoke, and minors are within the law to smoke tobacco products freely. However, the SALE of tobacco products is highly regulated with legal legislation.

12. Smoking bans in many parts of the world have been employed as a means to stop smokers smoking in public. As a result, many social businesses have claimed a significant drop in the number of people who go out to pubs, bars and restaurants.

13. Scientists claim the average smoker will lose 14 years of their life due to smoking. This however does not necessarily mean that a smoker will die young - and they may still live out a ‘normal’ lifespan.

14. The U.S. states with the highest percentage of smokers are Kentucky (28.7%), Indiana (27.3%), and Tennessee (26.8%), while the states with the fewest are Utah (11.5%), California ( 15.2%), and Connecticut (16.5%).

15. Cigarettes can contain more than 4,000 ingredients, which, when burned, can also produce over 200 ‘compound’ chemicals. Many of these ‘compounds’ have been linked to lung damage.

16. The United States is the only major cigarette market in the world in which the percentage of women smoking cigarettes (22%) comes close to the number of men who smoke (35%). Europe has a slightly larger gap (46% of men smoke, 26% of women smoke), while most other regions have few women smokers. The stats: Africa (29% of men smoke, 4% of women smoke); Southeast Asia (44% of men, 4% of women), Western Pacific (60% of men, 8% of women)

17. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has been found in every part of the body and in breast milk.

18. Sugar approximates to roughly 20% of a cigarette, and many diabetics are unaware of this secret sugar intake. Also, the effect of burning sugar is unknown.

19. ‘Lite’ cigarettes are produced by infusing tobacco with CO2 and superheating it until the tobacco ‘puffs up’ like expanding foam. The expanded tobacco then fills the same paper tube as ‘regular’ tobacco.

20. Smokers draw on ‘lite’ and menthol cigarettes harder (on average) than regular cigarettes; causing the same overall levels of tar and nicotine to be consumed.

21. ‘Lite’ cigarettes are manufactured with air holes around the filter to aerate the smoke as it is drawn in. Many smokers have learned to cover these holes with their fingers or their lips to get a stronger hit.

22. The immune systems of smokers has to work harder every day than non-smokers. As a result, a smokers’ blood will contain less antioxidants, although a smokers immune system may be quicker to respond to virus attacks due to its more active nature.

23. Smokers often smoke after meals to ‘allow food to digest easier’. In fact, this works because the bodies priority moves away from the digestion of food in favor of protecting the blood cells and flushing toxins from the brain.

24. Some people (mostly males) can be aroused by the sight of smoker smoking (usually females). This is called the Smoking Fetish, and affects a small number of the population. As with most fetishes, the reason for this arousal can usually be traced back to incidents in childhood. However, cigarettes - particularly menthols, force blood away from the penis if smoked while aroused.

25. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 25% of cigarettes sold around the world are smuggled.

26. Most smokers take up the habit in their mid teens, well before the legal age for purchasing them, and is seen as a right of passage towards adulthood. Other perceived rights of passage include: aftershave, wearing stilettos, alcohol, drugs and sexual intercourse; with a combination of these sometimes being cited as the main causes of teenage pregnancy.

27. Smoking tobacco is the ultimate gateway drug in that it is legally available, and involves mastering a unique method of intake - much more so than alcohol (which has such a significant effect that users need look no further for stimulation). Smokers looking to get ‘high’ will very rarely do so from cigarettes after the initial stages of taking up the habit.

28. Smokers generally report a variety of after-effects; such as calmness, relaxation, alertness, stimulation, concentration and many others. In fact, smoking will produce a different effect in each individual depending on ‘what they expect to get’; turning the cigarette into the worlds most popular placebo (satisfying the brains hunger for nicotine being the only ‘relaxing’ factor). The smoker will then use these expectations as a means to continue the habit.

29. Several active ingredients and special methods of production are involved in making sure the nicotine in a cigarette is many times more potent than that of a tobacco plant.

30. ‘Toppings’ are added to the blended tobacco mix to add flavor and a taste unique to the manufacturer. Some of these toppings have included; clove, licorice, orange oil, apricot stone, lime oil, lavender oil, dill seed oil, cocoa, carrot oil, mace oil, myrrh, beet juice, bay leaf, oak, rum, vanilla, and vinegar.

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Palm Pre hands-on! | CES 2009

Venkat — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:49:29 +0000

Written off for dead by many, Palm came roaring back at CES with the Pre — a smartphone that combines the best features of BlackBerry and the iPhone, and which adds a dose of its own innovations. The phone looks similar to the iPhone, with a full touch-screen, but is a little more rounded.

Its biggest physical difference is the full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which addresses the main complaint about Apple’s device — the difficulty of typing on a touchscreen. The Pre thus adds one of the best things about most BlackBerrys — the ease of typing — to an iPhone-inspired touch screen.

Like the iPhone, the Pre features multi-touch and an accelerometer, so photos and videos switch between horizontal and vertical view when the phone is turned.

Pssst… There’s a video after the jump.

The Pre goes a step further with its touch capability, however. The area just below the touch screen, which would normally be considered dead space on most phones, is actually a gesture pad that allows the user to navigate menus and programs on the phone without touching the screen.

The gesture pad comes in handy for the phone’s “Card” display system, which is similar to how windows are shown on a computer desktop. Each application that is running, whether it’s the MP3 player or web browser, is displayed as a Card on the screen, and it can be rearranged just like windows on a computer.

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Dell Adamo hands-on! | CES 2009

Venkat — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:21:28 +0000

Dell hosted a press conference in the Fantasy Suites of the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas where they announced a series of new products. Perhaps the real news and excitement at the event wasn’t what was announced, but what wasn’t announced.

The much-rumored Dell Adamo made a brief, but very real, in-person appearance this morning and it sent waves throughout the consumer electronics press and blogosphere. It’s the company’s first foray into the luxury electronics market and it has already been positioned as the Macbook Air killer.

It features some truly stunning design features that are indicative of the company’s commitment to innovation inside and out. They’re strikingly beautiful, subtly bold, stylish, elegant, and they’re definitely make a statement. And, the Adamo is thinner than the Macbook Air.

To take a look at the video, you can head on to Engadget.

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Ford Park Assist | Automated Parking from Ford | Video

Jeewan — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:15:26 +0000

The often stressful and frustrating task of parallel parking soon will be as easy as pressing a button for owners of the Lincoln MKS flagship sedan and all-new Lincoln MKT seven-passenger luxury crossover, thanks to an exclusive new technology from Ford Motor Company called Active Park Assist.

Available in mid-2009 as an option on the 2010 Lincoln MKS sedan and new Lincoln MKT crossover, Active Park Assist uses an ultrasonic-based sensing system and Electric Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) to position the vehicle for parallel parking, calculate the optimal steering angle and quickly steer the vehicle into a parking spot.

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Bathroom in outer space

Admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:59:56 +0000

Almost two generations of schoolchildren have been asking how astronauts go the the bathroom in space. It’s no mystery. Plenty has been written on the subject. A NASA engineer answers this age-old question.

By the way, adults may want to pay attention, too.

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Dell’s MacBook Air rival confirmed | Dell Adamo

Admin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:38:58 +0000

When Apple released the MacBook Air, someone viewed the sleek notebook as an opportunity to make fun of clunky, old Dell on YouTube with a parody ad. But what if Dell is about to have the last laugh in the ultralight laptop race?

A recent dig through Dell’s trademarks turned up a couple of curiosities – “Adamo” and “Adamo by Dell”. According to the documents, the trademarks cover computer hardware, including possibly desktops and laptops.

The whole “Adamo by Dell” bit sounds rather fancy for a company that lumps all of its computers under just a handful of brands. But, apparently, this computer isn’t your regular Dell computer. It has its own web site after all, which says the product is coming soon.

Throw Adamo and Dell into a search engine, and you get nothing. Well, make that almost nothing.

A luxury goods publication appears to have some early marketing collateral from Dell for Adamo. “Rumor has it that Dell is coming out with a computer called Adamo that will rival the MacBook Air,” Uptownlife.net writes.

But most telling of all might have been the reaction of Michael Tatelman, Dell’s vice president in charge of consumer sales and marketing, to my question about whether or not Dell had an Air-like product in store. Mr. Tatelman’s mouth gaped open and his eyes darted away from my face.

If looks could reveal product dimensions, then I’d guess that Dell’s going even thinner and lighter than Apple.

After a couple of moments, Mr. Tatleman said, “I think we need to get some iconic products out there, so people associate Dell’s brand with other things.” Namely, that’s goodbye to clunky, and hello to sleek.

A Dell spokesman, Bob Kaufman, said the company would not comment on speculation.

It remains to be seen whether Dell and its manufacturing partners in Asia can come up with something that rivals the aesthetics of Apple’s MacBook Air. It is pretty clear, though, that Dell could beat Apple on price.

“One of the things they could do real differently from Apple would be cheap,” said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies, an analyst firm. “They could shave $400 off the MacBook Air price pretty easily.”

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Top 10 New Organisms of 2008

Admin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:34:47 +0000

The world’s smallest snake, a prehistoric ant and microbes that may be 120,000 years old: These are just a few of the species revealed to the world in the last 12 months. With animals going extinct at rates unseen since the dinosaurs disappeared, it’s nice to be reminded that some species haven’t even been discovered. As Smithsonian Institute ornithologist Brian Schmidt said after finding the olive-backed forest robin: “It is definitely a reminder that the world still holds surprises for us.”

Stiphrornis pyrrholaeumus, also known as the olive-backed forest robin, was found during a biodiversity expedition in Gabon. Scientists know little more about S. pyrrholaeumus other than it exists.

Leptotyphlops carlae was found in a patch of forest on the eastern side of Barbados. Thin as a spaghetti noodle and small enough to curl up on a quarter, it’s believed to embody the evolutionary limits of snake smallness.

Photo: Blair Hedges/Pennsylvania State University

Only three specimens of Martialis heureka have been found, all outside the Amazon jungle city of Manaus — but that’s all scientists needed to trace a direct evolutionary lineage to the last known ancestor of all living ants, a subterranean creature that lived 120 million years ago.

Photo: Christian Rabeling

The first new elephant shrew in 126 years, the 18-ounce Rhynchocyon udzungwensis — also called the grey-faced sengi — is a giant in its family (which, technically, are not shrews, though they are distantly related to elephants).

Video: Trevor Jones/Anglia Ruskin University

Undiscovered parasites are relatively common, but Myrmeconema neotropicum does something no other parasite can: mimic fruit. The abdomens of infected ants swell and turn bright red, making them easy targets for berry-hungry birds who then spread M. neotropicum’s eggs in their droppings.

Photo: Steve Yanoviak/University of Arkansas

Carpomys melanurus, or the greater dwarf cloud rat, was first observed 112 years ago, and never seen again. Until it was found again in the rain-forest treetops of the Philippines, scientists thought it was extinct.

Photo: Larry Heaney/The Fie

Tridacna costata is the first giant clam species found in two decades, and not a moment too soon: Fossil evidence suggests it once made up 80 percent of Red Sea giant clams, and now accounts for just 1 percent.

Photo: Carin Jantzen/GeoBioCenter Munich

When Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences collection manager Mark Sabaj Pérez needed to name a new catfish, he thought immediately of Frank Gallagher, who managed the Academy’s mail room for 37 years.

“I wanted to honor Frank for his many years of dedicated service to the global community of taxonomists and systematists in handling the shipping and receiving of countless loans of biological specimens,” said Pérez. “I was impressed by Frank’s dedication, his love for fellow employees, and his keen interest in the science we do. I simply thought, here is a guy who should be honored with his own catfish.” The result was Rhinodoras gallagheri.

Photo: Mark Sabaj Pérez/Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences

When biologists in New Zealand compared modern yellow-eyed penguins to centuries-old museum specimens, they realized that the birds were not the same species. Megadyptes waitaha is a brand-new species that’s already extinct.

Photo courtesy University of Adelaide

With only 8,000 of an estimated 3 million bacterial species identified, new bugs aren’t hard to find. But unlike Chryseobacterium greenlandensis, they don’t usually date from the late Pleistocene.

Unthawed from ice recovered two miles below the surface of a 120,000-year-old Greenland glacier, C. greenlandensis appears unchanged by its time in deep-freeze. Its discoverers aren’t sure whether it shut down or just slowed down its metabolism.

“There may be some metabolism occurring in the ice. If they have been dividing, it may be on a very low rate, on a scale we’re not accustomed to — so slow, they could be dividing every 100 or 1,000 years,” said Penn State biochemist Jennifer Loveland-Curtze.

Asked whether her samples may not have divided at all, and have survived in suspended animation for 120,000 years, Loveland-Curtze replied, “We don’t know yet.”

And there’s more: 120,000 years could be the low end of C. greenlandensis‘ age.

“The bottom of the ice core had sediment where the glacier had rubbed against the earth,” said Jean Brenchley, a Penn State microbiologist. “We don’t know if the microorganisms were from snow that was deposited and became trapped, or were scooped up from the permafrost and there for millions of years.”

Photo: Jean Brenchley/Penn State

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