#science photos
This Thermographic Image Confirms It…
SUNGLASSES ARE INDEED COOL
Happy National Sunglasses Day!!
Image SL8285 - Man wearing sunglasses, thermogram. A thermogram shows the variation in temperature on the surface of an object, measured by the long-wave infrared radiation it emits. The temperature scale is color-coded and runs from purple (coldest), through blue, green, yellow and orange to red (warmest).
Purchase a Beach Towel, Tote Bag, T-Shirt or Poster
© Tony McConnell / Science Source
Post link
Keeping Your Blood Sugar In Check Could Lower Your Alzheimer’s Risk
by Jon Hamilton / NPR Health
Brain scientists are offering a new reason to control blood sugar levels: It might help lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“There’s many reasons to get blood sugar under control,” says David Holtzman, chairman of neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. “But this is certainly one.”
Holtzman moderated a panel Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago that featured new research exploring the links between Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
“The risk for dementia is elevated about twofold in people who have diabetes or metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors that often precedes diabetes),” Holtzman says. “But what’s not been clear is, what’s the connection?”
One possibility involves the way the brain metabolizes sugar, says Liqin Zhao, an associate professor in the school of pharmacy at the University of Kansas.
Image above © DOE / Science Source
Post link
Image SS2519384 (Cricket Sound Comb, SEM)
Scanning Electron Microscope image of the sound producing comb of the Field Cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus).
This specimen was collected in the Finger Lake Region of New York State. The sound from this insect comes from their comb rubbing against the underside of the opposite wing. Only male crickets produce the characteristic sound.
View More Cricket Sound Comb Images
Some cricket species have several types of chirping songs in their repertoire. The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud.
The courting song is used when a female cricket is near and encourages her to mate with the caller.
A triumphal song is produced for a brief period after a successful mating, and may reinforce the mating bond to encourage the female to lay some eggs rather than find another male.
An aggressive song is triggered by contact chemoreceptors on the antennae that detect the presence of another male cricket.
Image above © Ted Kinsman / Science Source
Post link
Alexander von Humboldt - The Man Who Predicted Climate Change
One man first recognized man-made Climate Change, inspired Charles Darwin’s journey into the Galapagos and revolutionized the concept of nature while braving the wilds of 19th century Central & South America.
Alexander von Humboldt set off to survey the new world, scaling volcanoes, exploring jungles and changing scientific thought. His radical theory that nature was a complex and interconnected global force, and not merely a tool for human civilization, laid the foundation of environmentalism.
How U.S. Countertop Workers Started Getting Sick
by Nell Greenfieldboyce / NPR Health
Ublester Rodriguez could not have anticipated that his life would be profoundly changed by kitchen and bathroom countertops.
He says that he grew up poor, in a small Mexican town, and came to the United States when he was 14. He spoke no English, but he immediately got a job.
“In the beginning I was working in a Chinese restaurant, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. It was all day, so I never had time to go to school,” he recalls. “I was a dishwasher.”
He labored in restaurant kitchens for about eight years. But he wanted Sundays off to go to church and play soccer. So when his brother-in-law offered to help him get a new job, he jumped at the chance.
That’s how he ended up in a workshop that cuts and polishes slabs of an artificial stone to make kitchen and bathroom countertops.
“It was something totally different for me,” says Rodriguez.
Back then, in 2000, the material he was cutting was also something totally different for the American countertop industry. The stuff looked a lot like natural granite. In reality, it was made in a factory, from bits of quartz bound together by a resin.
Image above (Lung silicosis, X-ray) ©CNRI / Science Source
Post link
Measles Virus May Wipe Out Immune Protection For Other Diseases
by Emily Vaughn / NPR Health
This year saw the largest outbreak of measles in the U.S. since 1994, with 1,250 cases reported as of Oct. 3, largely driven by families choosing not to vaccinate their kids. Worldwide, the disease has resurfaced in areas that had been declared measles-free.
Some families choosing not to vaccinate argue that measles is just a pesky childhood illness to be endured. But two new studies illustrate how skipping the measles vaccine carries a double risk. Not only does it leave a child vulnerable to a highly contagious disease, but also, for individuals who survive an initial measles attack, the virus increases their vulnerability to all kinds of other infections for months, possibly even years, after they recover.
The research begins to explain something surprising that happened when the measles vaccine was introduced in the U.S. in the 1960s. Rates of childhood deaths from other diseases fell precipitously. The same thing happened as the vaccine was introduced around the world.
But what is it about the measles vaccine that seems to provide protection from more than just measles? The new studies published this week in the journals Science and Science Immunology provide substance to what has been the leading theory: Measles can damage the immune system by erasing the body’s memory of previously encountered antigens.
Image above © James Cavallini / Science Source
Post link
