oh-ro:

Best fucking moment!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

thelookingglassgallery:

Artist Of The Week (June 9-June 16):

nicostars for “Radioactive”

——

See previous Artist Of The Week winners here.

staceythinx:

Selections from the upcoming book Soul of Science by Daniel Martin Diaz

Diaz on his book:

In the fall, I became immersed in scientific and philosophical theories. In particular, I was obsessed with scientific diagrams, which explain theories and properties through drawings. My interests also included subjects such as self-aware systems, philosophy, cellular automata, phase transitions, time travel, mystical behaviors at atomic and sub-atomic levels, and the mysteries of consciousness. Although these rudimentary drawings were without any leanings towards aesthetics, I found them to be beautiful, though that is clearly not their intention. I was inspired to create my own interpretations of the concepts of consciousness and other theories on a scientific, philosophical, and spiritual level through a simplified means such as drawing. All of the projects I have created begin as drawings, which I feel have a beauty and intimacy that paintings cannot capture. The subtle lines that graphite creates and the quickness with which one can capture an idea makes this medium alluring.

My wife Paula and I felt that these completed works would be best presented together in a beautifully designed book, and we strongly believed that they should be accompanied by the writings of arts professionals and scientists from varying disciplines to offer their interpretations of the connection between science and art. I am deeply grateful to have such an esteemed group of scientists and writers as contributors to this book.

tash-n-tweed:

Night of the hunter.

neurosciencestuff:

Quality of waking hours determines ease of falling asleep

The quality of wakefulness affects how quickly a mammal falls asleep, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in a study that identifies two proteins never before linked to alertness and sleep-wake balance.

“This study supports the idea that subjective sleepiness is influenced by the quality of experiences right before bedtime. Are you reluctantly awake or excited to be awake?” said Dr. Masashi Yanagisawa, professor of molecular genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at UT Southwestern. He is principal author of the study published online in May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Co-author Dr. Robert Greene, UT Southwestern professor of psychiatry and a physician at the Dallas VA Medical Center, said the study is unique in showing that the need for sleep (called sleep homeostasis) can be separated from wakefulness both behaviorally and biochemically, meaning the two processes can now be studied individually.

“Two of the great mysteries in neuroscience are why do we sleep and what is sleep’s function? Separating sleep need from wakefulness and identifying two different proteins involved in these steps represents a fundamental advance,” he said.

If borne out by further research, this study could lead to new ways of assessing and possibly treating sleep disorders, perhaps by focusing more attention on the hours before bedtime because the quality of wakefulness has a profound effect on sleep, Dr. Yanagisawa said.

The experiment featured three groups of mice with virtually identical genes. The control group slept and woke at will and followed the usual mouse pattern of sleeping during the day and being awake at night. The two test groups were treated the same and had the same amount of sleep delay – six hours – but they were kept awake in different ways, said lead author Dr. Ayako Suzuki, a postdoctoral researcher who works in the laboratories of both Dr. Yanagisawa and Dr. Greene.

The first test group’s sleep was delayed by a series of cage changes. Mice are intensely curious, so each cage change was followed by an hour spent vigorously exploring the new surroundings. This behavior would roughly correspond to teenagers voluntarily delaying bedtime with a new and stimulating event like a rock concert or video game.

Researchers kept the second group awake as gently as possible, usually by waving a hand in front of the cage or tapping it lightly whenever the mice appeared to be settling down to sleep. That test group would more resemble parents reluctantly staying awake awaiting a child’s return from a concert.

Both test groups experienced the same amount of sleep deprivation, but their reactions to the different forms of alertness were striking, Dr. Yanagisawa said. In one test, the cage-changing group took longer to fall asleep than the gentle-handling group even though an analysis of their brain waves indicated equal amounts of sleep need in both test groups.

“The need to sleep is as high in the cage-changing group as in the gentle-handling group, but the cage-changers didn’t feel sleepy at all. Their time to fall asleep was nearly the same as the free-sleeping, well-rested control group,” he said.

The researchers identified two proteins that affected these responses, each linked to different aspects of sleep:  phosphorylated dynamin 1 levels were linked to how long it took to fall asleep, while phosphorylated N-myc downstream regulated gene 2 protein levels tracked the amount of sleep deprivation and corresponded to the well-known brain-wave measure of sleep need, they report.

“The two situations are different biochemically, which is a novel finding,” Dr. Yanagisawa said, adding, “These proteins are completely new to sleep research and have never before been linked to sleep need and wakefulness.”

From an evolutionary perspective, an arousal mechanism that adapts to environmental stimuli is crucial because sleeping on a rigid schedule could be dangerous. “Animals, including humans, must be able to keep themselves at least temporarily alert, say during a natural disaster,” he said.

(Image: Robert Manella / Getty Images)

thepieshops:

Union Pacific Astra Dome Dining

Only Union Pacific offers the exciting experience of dome dining. In addition to a selection of choice foods, an ever-changing scenic panorama unfolds. Rivers, lakes, waterfalls and snowy mountains present unforgettable pictures.

itsjohnsen:

A lone British soldier stands up to his knees in spent shell cases. France, WWI.
Tom Aitken

sagansense:

Channel Z by Todd Lambert

via thedemon-hauntedworld

nevver:

Body language

thescienceofreality:

Cassini Probe to Take Photo of Earth From Deep Space

[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]

“NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, now exploring Saturn, will take a picture of our home planet from a distance of hundreds of millions of miles on July 19. NASA is inviting the public to help acknowledge the historic interplanetary portrait as it is being taken. 

Earth will appear as a small, pale blue dot between the rings of Saturn in the image, which will be part of a mosaic, or multi-image portrait, of the Saturn system Cassini is composing. 

“While Earth will be only about a pixel in size from Cassini’s vantage point 898 million [1.44 billion kilometers] away, the team is looking forward to giving the world a chance to see what their home looks like from Saturn,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “We hope you’ll join us in waving at Saturn from Earth, so we can commemorate this special opportunity.” 

Cassini will start obtaining the Earth part of the mosaic at 2:27 p.m. PDT (5:27 p.m. EDT or 21:27 UTC) and end about 15 minutes later, all while Saturn is eclipsing the sun from Cassini’s point of view. The spacecraft’s unique vantage point in Saturn’s shadow will provide a special scientific opportunity to look at the planet’s rings. At the time of the photo, North America and part of the Atlantic Ocean will be in sunlight. 

Unlike two previous Cassini eclipse mosaics of the Saturn system in 2006, which captured Earth, and another in 2012, the July 19 image will be the first to capture the Saturn system with Earth in natural color, as human eyes would see it. It also will be the first to capture Earth and its moon with Cassini’s highest-resolution camera. The probe’s position will allow it to turn its cameras in the direction of the sun, where Earth will be, without damaging the spacecraft’s sensitive detectors.”

Continue reading…

To learn more about the public outreach activities associated with the taking of the image, visit:http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/waveatsaturn . 

For more information about Cassini, visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .