We see batteries almost every day, but our brain hardly registers them unless we need one. On average, we throw away over 179,000 batteries every year, plus an additional 140,000 rechargeable batteries. We all know these small reactors create electricity, but what you may not know is the earliest known battery, called the “Baghdad Battery” is from 250BC. It was re-discovered in 1938 in the basement of the Baghdad museum. Controversy surrounds this earliest example of a battery, but suggested uses include electroplating, pain relief, or a religious tingle.

American scientist and inventor Benjamin Franklin first used the term "battery" in 1749 when he was doing experiments with electricity using a set of linked capacitors. The first true battery was invented by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800. Volta stacked discs of copper and zinc separated by a cloth soaked in salty water. Wires connected to either end of the stack produced a continuously stable current.

#batteries #lithium #

Now, get ready for the extreme advancement of x-ray technology. A brilliant new light shines in France, where officials at the ESRF announced the reopening of their completely rebuilt x-ray source. The ring-shaped machine, 844 meters around or 2,769-foot circle, generates x-ray beams 100 times brighter than its predecessor and 10 trillion times brighter than medical x-rays. The intense radiation could open up new vistas in x-ray science, such as imaging whole organs in three dimensions.

#x-ray #esrf #advancex-ray

One of the biggest challenges facing crewed missions to Mars is figuring out how to protect crewmembers from the onslaught of deadly cosmic rays. Now, scientists at a number of universities say there’s growing evidence that an unusual solution could be effective: building shields out of a radiation-absorbing fungus that grows near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

#ChernobylNuclearPowerPlant #CryptococcusNeoformans 

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Humans Horrorfying Use of Radium

Just about everyone in the world will see an image of a double helix and immediately identify it as DNA. This molecule is two polynucleotide chains that carry the genetic blueprint that makes it possible for organisms and viruses to grow and reproduce. Each cell uses the information in DNA as a guidebook to create the proteins needed for life; it also acts like a police officer to help direct the behavior of cells.

Nothing is perfect, not even DNA. Sometimes a mistake happens during replication. Sometimes the error can cause diseases or even death. Other times it may lead to an evolutionary shift in an organism. One way DNA can be damaged is when an organism is subjected to radiation exposure. Radiation can break the bonds between atoms or ionize water molecules and form free radicals. Radiation damage to DNA can change the proteins produced by cells, modifying cell behavior, and may lead to diseases such as cancer. Different forms of radiation cause different mutations in cells.

#radium #radiumchocolate #radiumbread #radiumtoothpaste #radiumgirls

Every Human Contains Radiation

A by-product of nuclear explosions is the production of carbon-14. When carbon-14 joins the atmosphere, it enters the food chain and gets bound up in the cells of living organisms. There was so much carbon-14 released into the atmosphere that researchers in 2020 can still detect it in the DNA of humans born today. That’s right; it is inside of you right now. How unsettling is that?

#radiation #carbon-14 #radiationDNA 

Eyeballs with Teeth

Whale sharks are gentle, giants that swim in tropical seas and scoop up plankton. They also have a sharp eye. According to new research, tiny teeth cover their eyes.

Whale sharks, along with some other shark species, have dermal denticles that cover their bodies like scales. Dermal Denticles are shaped like the letter V (as in Victory). The unique shape decreases the drag and turbulence of water, allowing them to swim faster. It also acts as an armor against other sea creatures that might bite them.

#whalesharks #eyeballteeth #dermaldenticles

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After decades of development, the James Webb Space Telescope finally completed the final systems tests! The telescope is the "largest and most technically complex space science telescope NASA has ever built." It's an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. Development of the delay-plagued orbital spyglass began in 1996, with an initial launch planned in 2007. Now, after a slew of significant redesigns, countless delays, and budget overruns, NASA is tentatively eyeing a March 2021 launch. The space agency will reevaluate launch readiness later this month.

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In a biological beating of swords into plowshares, researchers have converted a bacterial toxin into a genome editing tool that can make precise changes to DNA in mitochondria. Mitochondria are specialized structures unique to the cells of animals, plants and fungi. They serve as batteries, powering various functions of the cell and the organism as a whole. Though mitochondria are an integral part of the cell, evidence shows that they evolved from primitive bacteria.

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The first cataract surgery was described in a textbook written by an Indian physician who lived on the banks of the Ganges river around 1000 BC. The method he used was called "couching" and consisted of using a needle or a thorn to push the clouded lens downwards into the eye. The stick was used as a tool to displace the clouded white cataract to clear the visual axis. Once the patient claimed that he or she could see clearly, the couching stopped. The method had abysmal results with only about a 30% success rate. Today couching is still performed in some remote areas of the third world. The cataract is not actually removed from the eye, but dislodged so that the visual axis is clear.

Woodpeckers are fascinating birds. This time of the year, when Craig and I are on our morning walk, we hear the unmistakable sound of a woodpecker pecking at a tree or telephone pole. Most of the time, we can spot them clinging to the side of a tree, sometimes sideways or upside down. Then they peck the tree, and we wonder how they don’t get a headache.

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Vaccines contain the same germs that cause disease. For example, the measles vaccine contains the measles virus, and the Hib vaccine contains Hib bacteria. But they have been either killed or weakened to the point that they don’t make you sick. Some vaccines contain only a part of the disease germ. A vaccine stimulates your immune system to produce antibodies, exactly like it would when exposed to the disease. After getting vaccinated, you develop immunity to that disease, without having to get the disease first.

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The knee is the largest joint in the body, and having healthy knees is required to perform most everyday activities. The knee is made up of the lower end of the thighbone, the upper end of the shinbone, and the kneecap. The ends of these three bones are covered with cartilage, a smooth substance that protects the bones and enables them to move easily within the joint.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. Because of the Red Planets’ bloody color, the Romans named it after their god of war. In truth, the Romans copied the ancient Greeks, who also named the planet after their god of war, Ares. Other civilizations also typically gave the planet names based on its color, the Egyptians called it “Her De-sher,” meaning “the red one,” while ancient Chinese astronomers dubbed it “the fire star.”

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An ultrasound scan uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of the inside of the body. It is suitable for use during pregnancy. Ultrasound scans, or sonography, are safe because they use sound waves or echoes to make an image, instead of radiation. Doctors use Ultrasound scans to evaluate fetal development, and they can detect problems in the liver, heart, kidney, or abdomen. They may also assist in performing certain types of biopsy. The image produced is called a sonogram.

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The search for the secret to a long life began, in part, with 560 unique strains of baker’s yeast. Matt Kaeberlein noticed that some of the strains with the greatest longevity tended to divide in slow motion. And he found that this slowdown, which takes place in the molecular mechanisms controlling cell division, could be tinkered with artificially by feeding the yeast a drug called rapamycin.

It's Raining Plastic:

Since the dawn of history, humankind has struggled to develop materials offering benefits not found in natural materials. The development of plastics started with the use of natural materials that had fundamental plastic properties, such as shellac and chewing gum. The next step in the evolution of plastics involved the chemical modification of natural materials such as rubber, nitrocellulose, and collagen. Finally, the full range of entirely synthetic materials that we would recognize as modern plastics started around 100 years ago.............

Scientists Are Making Fuel From Sunlight and Air

Few activities swell our carbon footprint quite like flying. A one-hour flight on a twin-engine jet aircraft burns almost 6,000 pounds of kerosene and adds nearly 19,000 pounds of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The environmental impact of air travel is stark, but what if flying could be made zero carbon?

Hunt for Alien “Technological Civilizations”

A team of astronomers from Harvard and other institutions are collaborating on a new project to scan the skies for technological signatures from alien civilizations. It’s a noteworthy new project, as it’s the first to receive a NASA grant for SETI-specific research in more than 30 years.

Earth’s Magnetic Field: Magnetic fields around planets behave in the same way as a bar magnet. But at high temperatures, metals lose their magnetic properties. This fact makes it clear that Earth’s hot iron core isn’t what creates the magnetic field around our planet. Instead, a dynamo effect is what creates Earth’s magnetic field. To understand what a dynamo effect is, think of a bicycle light. Magnets in the dynamo, or generator, start spinning when a person pedals, which creates an electric current. The electricity generated powers the bicycle’s light. This process also works in reverse. If you have a rotating electric current, it will create a magnetic field.

Human Hibernation: The dream of suspended animation has long captivated the human imagination, reflected in countless works of mythology and fiction, from King Arthur and Sleeping Beauty to Captain America and Han Solo. By effectively pausing time itself for an individual, a state of stasis promises to enable the repair of lethal injuries, prolong life and allow for travel to distant stars.

Dads Experience Postpartum Depression: In the U.S., 1 in 7 fathers suffers from depression during the time of pregnancy and a child’s infancy. That number skyrockets to 1 in 4 men after birth around the three to six month period. If the mother experiences postpartum depression, 1 in 2 dads will also experience postpartum depression. Also, up to one-quarter of expecting fathers experience anxiety during pregnancy, and more than half have anxiety during their child’s infancy. These are worrisome statistics since research shows a strong correlation between anxiety and depression.

We live on a green planet. Today we may take plants for granted, but they are the most important living things on Earth. Their establishment onto land made it possible for all animal life to survive, from the smallest ants to the biggest dinosaurs. Humans and a few other animals make up the short category of omnivores. The best evidence of this is our teeth: we have biting/tearing/ripping incisors and canines (like carnivores) and chewing molars (like herbivores). Animals with such diverse teeth tend to be omnivores.

There are about 2,700 different species of mosquitos in the world. The United States is home to about 150 different species. For centuries mosquitoes have plagued people all over the globe, and eventually, humanity found out that these pests also carried deadly diseases.

In a sad sideshow to the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities in the Netherlands began to gas tens of thousands of mink on 6 June, most of them pups born only weeks ago. SARS-CoV-2 has attacked farms that raise the animals for fur, and the Dutch government worries infected mink could become a viral reservoir that could cause new outbreaks in humans.

Since the very first humans roamed the Earth about 300,000 years ago, the tidal-locked face of the Moon silently watched all of humanity unfold. She has been the one single object that every living creature could see no matter where they were on planet Earth. She was there for every war, every natural disaster, every achievement. Hundreds of millions of people at one time or another have gazed at her in wonder.

Sea-level rise is a real problem. Observational data and changing conditions in such places as Greenland suggest if there is a problem there, then it is an underestimation of future sea-level rise elsewhere. The IPCC reports offer conservative projections of sea-level increase based on assumptions about the future behavior of ice sheets and glaciers, leading to estimates of sea level roughly following a linear upward trend mimicking that of recent decades.

Need an endless boost to your immune system? Growing culinary herbs on your balcony, backyard, or even your windowsill can be a great way to incorporate them into your cooking creations. There’s an added bonus: many herbs are beneficial to the immune system. Using these flavorful and aromatic herbs can give an extra oomph to a meal, as well as your health.

My Science Bytes with Joe and Craig S01, E11

US Military Kill an Aircraft With an Energy Weapon

The idea of using light as a weapon can be traced back to Hippocrates, commander of the Greek forces in 212 B.C. His forces supposedly set fire to the sails of the Roman fleet by focusing sunlight with mirrors. Weapons systems based on lasers and ray guns, long a staple of science fiction, have captured the imagination of people everywhere.

Earth’s Rare Elements Are Running Out!

Let’s do a small thought experiment. Close your eyes a picture the condiment section in your local supermarket, specifically at the ketchup bottles. How many are on the shelf, two or three dozen? Most likely those bottles are replaced with new ones either weekly or bi-weekly. Now let’s look at just the Heinz Ketchup. Heinz Ketchup makes 650 million bottles each year. An estimated 1,000 bottles per minute.

There’s a Russian Volcano That Erupts Diamonds

Diamonds are remarkable, they formed over 3 billion years ago deep within the Earth's crust under conditions of intense heat and pressure that cause carbon atoms to crystallize, thus creating diamonds. They are brought to the surface in powerful explosive volcanic eruptions.