Discvr.blog

See the sharpest movie of the sun ever made, with each plasma cell the size of Texas

The sun is about 93,000,000 miles away from Earth. The sun’s light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, in total taking just 8 minutes to reach us.

The National Solar Observatory (NSO) has brought us the sharpest view of the sun we’ve seen yet using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. Each plasma cell is about the size of Texas.

This is how NSO describes capturing the footage:

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has produced the highest resolution observations of the Sun’s surface ever taken. In this movie, taken at a wavelength of 705nm over a period of 10 minutes, we can see features as small as 30km (18 miles) in size for the first time ever. The movie shows the turbulent, “boiling” gas that covers the entire sun.
The cell-like structures – each about the size of Texas – are the signature of violent motions that transport heat from the inside of the sun to its surface. Hot solar material (plasma) rises in the bright centers of “cells,” cools off and then sinks below the surface in dark lanes in a process known as convection. In these dark lanes we can also see the tiny, bright markers of magnetic fields. Never before seen to this clarity, these bright specks are thought to channel energy up into the outer layers of the solar atmosphere called the corona. These bright spots may be at the core of why the solar corona is more than a million degrees!

Wells Baum

February 1, 2020

Science, Space

Earth, science, space, sun
Churches built in post-colonial India

While Hindus make up a majority of the population of India, there’s a high density of churches in the southwest region of the country.

German photographers Stefanie Zoche and Sabine Haubitz captured these uniquely structured colorful Christian churches during their trips to Kerala, India between 2011 and 2016.

“It seems to me that the Syro-Malabar Church wanted to find a new identity by employing an architectural style that was no longer neo-baroque or classical, as in colonial times,” Zoche told Scroll India.

“Obviously the church asked some architects to design these new churches in a more ‘modernist’ way and to give shape to the Christian iconography in the facades. I think this hybrid architecture can be seen as a new interpretation of Modernism and, in some ways, encouraging more modern ways of interpreting the Christian belief.”

When India gained independence in 1947, the churches wanted to break away from the rigid style of the colonizing west to recreate their own modern interpretation of church architecture with localized touches.

“Some modernist influence can be observed in southern Indian churches, but it is punctuated by local architectural elements,” writes Haubitz and Zoche on their website.

“The buildings often display an effusively sculptural formal language and a use of intense colours. In some churches, Christian symbols are directly transposed into a three-dimensional, monumental construction design. We are interested in highlighting the variety of western influences and their culturally influenced reinterpretation by means of a typological overview of these buildings.”

Wells Baum

January 29, 2020

Architecture & Design

Architecture, church, design, religion
How the Netherlands use agricultural density through “architecture“ to feed the world

The Netherlands is the world’s second-largest exporter of agricultural products despite being 237 times smaller in land area than the world’s export leader, the United States.

That’s according to a fascinating article on Netherlands agriculture density through “architecture“ (ie., extensive use of greenhouses) as examined by Arch Daily:

“Dutch agriculture is defined by vast landscapes of greenhouses, some covering 175 acres, which dominate the architectural landscape of South Holland. In total, the country contains 36 square miles of greenhouses, an area 56% larger than the island of Manhattan.”

Photographer Tom Hegen has captured these sprawling greenhouses from above in a mesmerizing series entitled “The Greenhouse Series.”

Researchers in the Netherlands are experimenting with one way to feed more people with using less land, by growing crops indoors. At inside temperatures above 20 degrees, constant humidity of around 80 percent and the use of LED lighting to permit precisely cultivation, in order to produce year-round. The indoor gardens provide growing conditions for plants like tomatoes, peppers or strawberries around the clock and in every kind of weather, which doubles the average yield of an outdoor farm.

How a country so small and very dense — 507 people per square kilometer — can also produce heaps of crop indoors to become a world-leading agricultural exporter is astonishing.

Wells Baum

January 25, 2020

Architecture & Design, Nature, Science

agriculture, Architecture, Nature, Netherlands, science, technology, video
It’s ‘Raining’ Iguanas in South Florida

Iguanas in South Florida are falling out of trees due to freezing temperatures.

Weather in South Florida dropped into the 30s on Tuesday night, which immobilized the iguanas and turned their bodies dormant.

“Don’t be surprised if you see iguanas falling from the trees tonight,” the Miami National Weather Service office tweeted.

Jan 21 – This isn't something we usually forecast, but don't be surprised if you see Iguanas falling from the trees tonight as lows drop into the 30s and 40s. Brrrr! #flwx #miami pic.twitter.com/rsbzNMgO01
— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) January 21, 2020

The good news is that the iguanas woke up when the heat turned back up on Wednesday morning, like this one. While Miami suffered its coldest temperatures in 9 years, it’s expected to be back to 80 on Friday.

via Twitter

Those iguanas you see everywhere will eventually wake up and scurry off. Here’s one outside our Broward Bureau doing just that: pic.twitter.com/UKV6BtWuhU
— Frank Guzman (@fguzmanon7) January 22, 2020

Wells Baum

January 22, 2020

Animals, Nature, Science

animals, iguana, Nature, news, science, weather
Everything you need to know about Yosemite’s stunning ‘firefall’ phenomenon

In what looks like a scene from a fantasy movie, the ‘firefall’ phenomenon in Yosemite is spewing lava-like water again.

Called Horsetail Fall, the fiery waterfall makes an annual appearance for two weeks around February. The fiery orange glow of the waterfall emerges from the illumination of the setting sun over the 1500 foot flowing water.

via twitter

The tight window around catching the Firefall natural phenomenon in Yosemite

The Yosemite Firefall phenomenon is a summer tradition that dates back to 1872.

People would gather at the eastern edge of El Capitan Yosemite to watch ember from the bonfires get pushed over the edge of Glacier Point, creating a man-made fiery waterfall.

Take a look at this photo of the ritual👇

As travel blogger James Kaiser notes on his blog:

For decades those words ushered in one of Yosemite National Park’s most famous spectacles: The Yosemite Firefall. Each evening in the summer, a roaring bonfire was built at the edge of Glacier Point , which towers 3,200 feet above Yosemite Valley. By sundown hundreds of spectators had gathered in Curry Village below. At 9pm sharp, a master of ceremonies in Curry Village shouted out, “Let the Fire Fall!” and the bonfire’s glowing embers were pushed over the edge of Glacier Point, creating a glittering “Waterfall of Fire.”

The National Park Service ended the Yosemite Firefall in 1968. But then nature magically took over to recreate the scene.

Today, the scientific miracle of intermixing chemicals including barium, aluminum and strontium mix together with the sunlight at dusk.

Writes Kaiser on the Yosemite Firefall website:

Then in 1973, within months of the 100-year anniversary of the first Yosemite Firefall, photographer Galen Rowell took the first known photo of the “Natural Firefall” at Horsetail Fall. That single photo ushered in an exciting new chapter in the history of the Firefall, and within a few decades the Natural Firefall had become as famous as the Manmade Firefall.

The firefall phenomenon only lasts about 10 minutes so you’ll need to be patient to catch it just as you would a solar eclipse. If you’re planning a trip to Yosemite, check out some of the best lodging sites here.

Video via Calia Domenico/tw

Wells Baum

January 21, 2020

Nature, Science, Travel

Nature, Travel, waterfall, Yosemite
A navigational nightmare: Watch a time-lapse of Port of Amsterdam

The Port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands is the 4th busiest port by metric tons of cargo in Europe.

As you can see in the time-lapse of traffic patterns, navigation looks nearly impossible to control on a daily basis. So we did some digging to find out if this sort of nautical chaos was normal.

As one Twitter user noted, this time-lapse was taken during the Sail Amsterdam event which occurs every five years. This would make sense given all the fleet of tall ships and masted sails rolling about.

It’s also worth mentioning that David Bowie recorded a song in the port’s name.

In the port of Amsterdam there’s a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings from the wide open sea
In the port of Amsterdam there’s a sailor who sleeps
While the river bank weeps to the old willow tree
In the port of Amsterdam there’s a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries in a drunken town fight
In the port of Amsterdam there’s a sailor who’s born
On a hot muggy morn by the dawn’s early light
David Bowie, Port of Amsterdam

Wells Baum

January 18, 2020

Travel

Amsterdam, David Bowie, Travel, water
Breathtaking views of the Earth from the International Space Station

Ever wanted to see Planet Earth from 248 miles away? That’s how high the International Space Station orbits above the earth, which is about the same distance as New York to Washington DC, or London to Durham.

Thanks to these epic views of our planet from the International Space Station in the thermosphere, now you can get a glimpse of the perspective.

Photo: NASA

Watch the crescent Earth rotate among the solar panels and the sun in various views as the International Space Station orbits Earth at 17,500mph.

Stunning. And be sure to follow the International Space Station on Twitter for more live shots.

Photo: NASA

Photo: NASA

Videos via Nasa/Images via Astro_Jessica

Wells Baum

January 17, 2020

Space

Earth, space, technology
Anthropologist Grover Krantz donated his body to science with this one condition

Grover Krantz was one of the few anthropologists who dedicated their time to studying Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot.

As a cryptozoologist, Krantz believed that Bigfoot might exist and did everything he could to research it. Five of his ten books explored the possible existence of the ape-like creature.

Perhaps even more interestingly, the peculiar scientist donated his body to science with the one condition that his dog Clyde, an Irish wolfhound, would be right by him.

“I’ve been a teacher all my life and I think I might as well be a teacher after I’m dead, so why don’t I just give you my body,” said Krantz. “But there’s one catch: You have to keep my dogs with me.”

Both Krantz and Clyde are on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

PS, if you’re wondering why mentions of Bigfoot may be on the decline, blame technology.

Wells Baum

January 16, 2020

Animals, Science

animals, anthropology, Bigfoot, Grover Krantz, Sasquatch, science
RIP Gary Starkweather, inventor of the laser printer

The inventor of the laser printer at Xerox, Gary Starkweather, has died at the age of 81.

When Starkweather first proposed the idea of a laser printer to his boss at Xerox, they shut his idea down. But curious and determined, Starkweather persisted because he was convinced of the possibility of making precise copies.

Starkweather developed the printer at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center beginning in 1969 before completing it in November 1971

Even more interesting his how the genius inventor did it. Writes the Wall Street Journal:

To avoid blurry prints, Mr. Starkweather had to find ways to direct laser pulses precisely. He devised a cluster of revolving mirrors and a lens to guide the light. One of his breakthrough ideas came while he was mowing the lawn; he turned off the mower and drove to the lab to test it out.

Xerox created the first-ever laser printer in 1969

The Xerox printer found itself in nearly every office and home eventually, making the company an absolute fortune.

We often forget how people we’ve rarely heard of impact our lives. Gary Starkweather was one of them, as was Evelyn Berezin who developed the world’s first processor.

The prescient Starkweather also issued a warning about the negative effects of our over dependency on technology. The WSJ writes:

Though he never lost his fascination with technology, Mr. Starkweather worried about some of the consequences. “We talk about productivity,” he said, “but I’ve watched people go from 40-hour weeks to 60-hour weeks.”
He disliked the pressure to stay digitally connected at all times. “A big question about the future of information technology,” he said, “is, ‘Do I get to stay human in the process?’ ”

RIP Gary Starkweather

Wells Baum

January 16, 2020

Architecture & Design, Technology

design, Gary Starkweather, Tech, xerox
Watch two Kangaroos fight it all out in the Australia Outback

What looks like it was taken out of a country western film, here are two Kangaroos fighting each other from the outback in Australia.

Kangaroos usually loaf around most of the time — if they’re not eating or jumping around — so to see them duking it out like humans in a good old boxing match is fascinating.

For all the jokes about humans fighting kangaroos, it seems unlikely that humans could defend against the extremely muscular hind legs of these marsupial kickboxers — their kicks are so lethal they can crush bones!

via Twitter

via Twitter

But in more serious terms, if you want to donate to help fight the rampant Australia fires — of which millions of wild animals have been a victim, including kangaroos — donate here.

Wells Baum

January 15, 2020

Animals, Nature

animals, australia, kangaroo, Nature
The Taal volcano erupts in Philippine capital, showering Manila with ash and lava

The Taal volcano in south Philippine capital Manila erupted on Sunday spewing ash and red hot lava, forcing 13,000 people to evacuate.

If you take a look at the photographs below, you can see the cloud of ash that blanketed towns near the volcano.

While no casualties nor major destruction have been reported, sources say that the Philippine capital is now at risk of a tsunami due to the volcano.

The last time the Taal Volcano erupted was in 1977.

Images via Twitter

Wells Baum

January 13, 2020

Nature

Nature, Philippines, volcano
A 3D render of your eye under a microscope

What does your eye look like under a microscope?

Instagram 3D artist Frank J Guzzone gives us at least an imaginative glimpse into the workings of an eye.

Don’t get carried away by the reality or irreality of the visualization. Just admire the concept.

Eye doctors on Twitter have promptly responded to Twitter account ZonePhysics with rightful criticism. “There’s no windstorm in the anterior chamber,” writes Dr. Cheryl G Murphy in debunking the graphic tweeted with the headline “This is your eye under microscope.”

As someone who stares at eyes under the microscope day in and day out, that’s not even close. Not that much movement on the iris. There’s no windstorm in the anterior chamber. Peripheral cornea blurred for no reason. The actual iris magnified is much more beautiful than this.
— Dr. Cheryl G. Murphy (@murphyod) November 8, 2019

Renders do not explain science — at least this one — but we can admire the fascinating illustration nonetheless.

Wells Baum

December 23, 2019

Architecture & Design, Health, Science

art, design, eye, Nature, science

The tight window around catching the Firefall natural phenomenon in Yosemite