Scientists invent transparent soil to reveal the secret life of plants Lettuce grown in transparent soil developed by researchers at the James Hutton Institute and the University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland Most people’s image of plants is actually upside down. For most of our photosynthetic friends, the majority of the plant is underground in the form of an intricate system of roots. The bit that sticks up is almost an afterthought. That’s a problem for scientists trying to study plants because growing them in media that allow you to see the roots, such as hydroponics, doesn't mimic real soil very well. Developed by a team led by Lionel Dupuy, a theoretical biologist in the Ecological Sciences group at the James Hutton Institute, the transparent soil is the result of two years of research. It’s made from granules of Nafion, which is a lot easier than calling it a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymer-copolymer. The team's research is published in the journal PLOS One. Source: James Hutton Institute About the Author
logy Magazine Atmospheric oxygen really took off on our planet about 2.4 billion years ago during the Great Oxygenation Event. At this key juncture of our planet’s evolution, species had either to learn to cope with this poison that was produced by photosynthesizing cyanobacteria or they went extinct. It now seems strange to think that the gas that sustains much of modern life had such a distasteful beginning. So how and when did the ability to produce oxygen by harnessing sunlight enter the eukaryotic domain, that includes humans, plants, and most recognizable, multicellular life forms? One of the fundamental steps in the evolution of our planet was the development of photosynthesis in eukaryotes through the process of endosymbiosis. This crucial step forward occurred about 1.6 billion years ago when a single-celled protist captured and retained a formerly free-living cyanobacterium. Bhattacharya leads the Rutgers Genome Cooperative that has spread the use of genome methods among university faculty.
Photography Tips, Tutorials, Resources And Inspiration The Ultimate Babble Noise Machine | Free, Online & Calibrated In open offices, overheard conversations are often cited as the main source of distraction: disregarding human speech is a very difficult task for the human brain, especially when speech is intelligible. One way of reducing the annoyances of intelligible speech is to mask speech using natural noises such as our Rain and Stream Noises, or this babble noise, as further explained. Babble noise can be used in an office for privacy reasons as well, when calls or conversations need to remain confidential. Private offices often appear to provide privacy but often do not perform well in terms of acoustics. Sound masking between adjacent offices can be used to ensure that confidential conversations remain confidential. When the frequency characteristics of the masking noise differ to much from the noise you are willing to camouflage, higher masking levels will be needed to cover the nuisance. In our case, this strategy consists of using one babble noise to mask another.
Amazing City Views from the Top Amazing City Views from the Top by paul0v2 Thu, 02/11/2010 - 13:09 There are two things I really enjoy, big cities and good photography. When these two combine it's just magic, I enjoy looking a concrete jungles from the top view and see how big and full of buildings they are, the show of lights that it makes at night it's just amazing. Here is a great selection of top view photography from cities all over the globe. Tokyo Nightscape | by Altos Photowalking | by Thomas Hawk City of Lights | by Paul Lower Manhattan, New York | by Frankhg Tokyo in Blue | by Magnumpi Manhattan View | by Digital Agent Still Growing | by Emarati Style Chicago Skyline | by Spudart Bologna | by Luca Zappacosta Above the Stars | by Andras Jancsik Is It the end of days? Navy Helicopter flying over Bangkok | by Ben North of São Paulo | by Blast Furnace 2 View of London | by superhoopsa Ocean of Lights | by Hughes500 View from the Top | by Joep R. NYC Cityscape | by Jorg Dickman Above Zurich | by thnkfst More articles about: Tags:
Biologists learn how plants synthesize their growth hormone auxin Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have succeeded in unraveling, for the first time, the complete chain of biochemical reactions that controls the synthesis of auxin, the hormone that regulates nearly all aspects of plant growth and development. Their discovery, detailed in a paper in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will allow agricultural scientists to develop new ways to enhance or manipulate auxin production to improve the growth and yield of crops and other plants. More than a century ago, Charles Darwin noticed that plants produced a substance that made them bend toward light, a hormone called auxin that biologists have since found to be essential not only in regulating plant growth but also in patterning their development. In 2006, a team of San Diego researchers headed by Yunde Zhao, an associate professor of biology at UC San Diego, discovered a family of 11 genes involved in the synthesis of auxin.
Flowers in Ultra-Violet The compilation of species will continue to be updated at irregular intervals. All species listed here have been documented, and links are added whenever I can find spare time for updating. These images are made for illustrative purposes, not as artistic statements per se. However, there are lots of food for thought in the convoluted ways Nature expresses itself, so for once the artist can step backand let the subjects speak for themselves. If you are unfamiliar with the botany, just select any species indicated as having a "strong" response to learn how this looks. However, not all species have the typical bull's-eye UV pattern, which may be confined to symmetrical flowers. The UV range of the spectrum has no predefined colours, so we are free to assign any colour we like. UV fluorescence may be a common trait to most flowers, but might be of temporary occurrence for parts of the flower. In case you are curious as to why the species might have these patterns, read this to learn more.
ALTFoto The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers :: Meetings This is a repository of the most up-to-date versions of Deviant's lock diagrams and animations. Seen in all of the TOOOL educational materials and slide decks, these files are all released under the Creative Commons license. You are free to use any of them for non-commercial purposes, as long as they are properly attributed and the same freedom for others is maintained in all derivative works. Please note that these diagrams have evolved and developed over time. While Deviant is still proud of the older versions of his images, if you still have copies of legacy material they should all be replaced with the latest versions available here. Each image shown below in thumbnail form can be accessed in high resolution individually, or you can obtain the full set from the zip archive at the bottom of this page. Lock Basics and Mechanical Operation How pin tumblers are arranged and how locks operate (or fail to) with conventional keys Introduction to Lockpicking Manipulation-Resistant Locks