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POPSExploding chromosomes fuel research about evolution of genetic storage
Dinoflagellates are stuffed at the core with tightly compacted chromosomes, yet these organisms contain neither histones nor nucleosomes. "What takes care of neutralizing DNA, to allow chromosomes to condense?" Levi-Setti asked. "Most biology books do not tell you." Other scientists had already identified positively charged atoms called cations as neutralizing factors. They found that dinoflagellate chromosomes explode upon the removal of calcium and magnesium cations. Levi-Setti has produced the first images of the distribution of these cations in dinoflagellate chromosomes. These images verify that cations, mainly of calcium and magnesium, neutralize DNA's enormous negative charge, and further suggest a critical role in folding the protein as well. The finding raises questions about the evolution of chromosomes, Rizzo said. "Did dinoflagellates once have histones and then lost them? Or did dinoflagellates never have histones and just 'figured out' a different way to fold lar
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POPS'Green' chemistry may get the midas touch I imagined 'green' chemistry would involve copper but...They think the size of the Gold particles may make them reactive due to quantum effects. I wonder how that theory extends to smaller particles or even mono-atomic (single non-metallic atoms powdered or in suspension) gold. I bet we'll find out.They regularly seem to be finding uses for gold, that are completely unlike any use it has had before. Still, all it can take for any element to be used in a revolutionary way is a new approach. Gold just happens to fascinate us so particularly.
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POPSDo subatomic particles have free will? But physicists all the way back to Einstein have been unhappy with this idea. Einstein famously grumped, “God does not play dice.” And indeed, ever since the birth of quantum mechanics, some physicists have offered alternate interpretations of its equations that aim to get rid of this indeterminism. The most famous alternative is attributed to the physicist David Bohm, who argued in the 1950s that the behavior of subatomic particles is entirely determined by “hidden variables” that cannot be observed. Conway and Kochen say this search is hopeless, and they claim to have proven that indeterminacy is inherent in the world itself, rather than just in quantum theory. And to Bohmians and other like-minded physicists, the pair says: Give up determinism, or give up free will. Even the tiniest bit of free will.
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POPSArsenic-eating bacteria rewrite evolutionary history Oremland's team isolated and bred these bacteria in the lab. By growing them with with arsenite as the only possible food source, the researchers showed that the bacteria can indeed thrive. The results suggest that arsenic photosynthesis evolved at the same time, or even before, "normal" photosynthesis. Oremland says a similar mechanism might once have fuelled life on Mars or on Jupiter's moon Europa.
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POPSSurge in Food Nanotechnology Worries Consumers Davies quoted David Rejeski of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, who advocates a U.S. investment of $150 million a year in such research by 2010, to benefit from an industry that will involve “15 percent of globally manufactured goods, worth $2.6 trillion, by 2014.”
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POPSWierd Science Clothes that are dried outside DO smell better because of a process called photolysis. What happens is this: sunlight breaks down compounds in the laundry that cause odor, such as perspiration and body oils. Clouds fly higher during the day than the night. Dirty snow melts faster than clean.
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POPSThe Many Benefits of Hydrogen Peroxide When it comes to hydrogen peroxide therapy there seems to be only two points of view. Supporters consider it one of the greatest healing miracles of all time. Those opposed feel its ingestion is exceptionally dangerous, and only the foolhardy could think of engaging in such behavior. Before either condemning or endorsing hydrogen peroxide, let's take a real close look at what we're dealing with.
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POPSThe future of science...is art
"But before any of this can happen, our two existing cultures must modify their habits. First of all, the humanities must sincerely engage with the sciences. Henry James defined the writer as someone on whom nothing is lost; artists must heed his call, and not ignore science's inspiring descriptions of reality. At the same time, the sciences must recognize that their truths are not the only truths. No single area of knowledge has a monopoly on knowledge. As Karl Popper, an eminent defender of science wrote, "It is imperative that we give up the idea of ultimate sources of knowledge, and admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes; that all we can do is to grope for truth even though it is beyond our reach." The struggle for scientific truth is long and hard and never ending. If we want to get an answer to our deepest questions—the questions of who we are and what everything is—we will need to draw from both science
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POPSAtom laser to keep spacecraft on track. Models predict that the atom laser will be 11 orders of magnitude more sensitive than light laser gyroscopes, offering measurements that could be 100 billion times more precise.
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POPSThe World's First Flying Saucer: Made Right Here on Earth Using an onboard source of energy (such as a battery, ultracapacitor, solar panel or any combination thereof), the electrodes will send an electrical current into the plasma, causing the plasma to push against the neutral (noncharged) air surrounding the craft, theoretically generating enough force for liftoff and movement in different directions (depending on where on the craft's surface you direct the electrical current). The concept sounds far-fetched, but U.F. mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor Subrata Roy plans to have a mini model ready to demonstrate his theory within the next year.
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POPSTesla Purple Plates for Healing
The plates are made of aluminum, which is first anodized (electrolytic oxidation) and then colored. The spin of the atoms and electrons of the aluminum is thus changed in such a way, that the plates are said to vibrate in resonance with the fundamental energy (Chi, Prana, Orgon) of the universe. The plates were developped by Ralph Bergstresser after a patent and from the knowledge / information and ideas of Nikola Tesla, with whom he worked for a certain time. With anodizing, the field of the plates is changed and interacts with tachyons. The surface of the plates has a crystal-structure. Their chemical composition is the same as that of rubies and sapphires, which also consist of aluminum oxide. We know that rubies give energy and thus were called "life-stones" in the Middle-Ages. The plates offered here have been further developed.Nikola Tesla himself used similar plates in several patents and called them antennas for free energy. They are said to transfer information from the
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POPSHow having a stroke led neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor to nirvana
This fascinating account goes on: Now, after brain surgery and almost a decade of recovery in which she had to relearn how to use the part of her brain that was disabled by the stroke, Taylor says her stroke-induced experience of living primarily in right brain mode — freed of the incessant "chatter" of her left brain as it attempts to organize, categorize and make sense of all it was experiencing — has transformed her into a more creative, compassionate person who feels a strong connection with all life. That sense of oneness came when the left brain's ability to declare "I am" was squelched by the stroke and Taylor lost all sense of herself as an individual. She recalled, in a speech given this past winter at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, being unable to tell where the atoms and molecules that comprised her arm stopped and the atoms and molecules that comprised the rest of the world began. Such experiences are a primary goal of some spiritual traditio
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POPSA Quark Star? Super-luminous Stellar Explosion Observed Quarks are the fundamental components of protons and neutrons, which make up the nucleus of atoms. The most dense objects known to exist today are neutron stars--stars composed entirely of tightly packed neutrons. A typical neutron star is some 16 miles across, yet has a mass one and a half times the mass of our Sun. The question is, is a neutron star indeed the most dense object that exists? It is thought that if the neutrons are too tightly packed--if what scientists consider a neutron star is too dense--the resulting instability may lead to a further collapse, resulting in a second explosion and the creation of a quark star. The energy that powers that second explosion comes from neutrons breaking down into their component parts: quarks.
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POPSNew Power Source Looks Promising Dr. Randell Mills is a very smart man with a big research facility in Cranbury, NJ, and many millions in invested dollars. He's apparently found a way to move the electron in the H atom to move closer to the nucleus, = great energy output.
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