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You WIMP you

By Science, Space and Aliens

WIMPsGosh, you gotta love those scientists. They probably had a quiet chuckle amongst themselves when they decided to create the acronym of WIMP when they came up with a possible explanation to support the theory of dark matter. These theoretical particles are huge and can’t be seen by the naked eye (or telescope for that matter).
The only way they can be ‘seen’ (they don’t absorb or emit light) is by viewing their gravitational impact on other visible objects.

 

Wacky scientists do it again….

By Science

Baubles miss out on Christmas tree dressing

…and this time, it’s the mathematical branch determining the formula to the calculate the most aesthetically pleasing Christmas tree.

A couple of students from the UK Sheffield University set upon the challenge of determining the ideal number of baubles, length of tinsel and lights necessary to decorate the picture perfect tree. The magical formulas are:

  • Number of Baubles = ( √17 / 20 ) x h
  • Tinsel length = { (13 x pi) / 8 } x h
  • Length of lights = pi x h
  • Height of star/angel = h / 10

Where: h is the height of your tree in cm.

If you don’t believe me, check out the Uni site for full details, including a cool on line calculator.

 

So what are the exact things living inside your belly button?

By Science

what's in your innie?

Taking on the challenges ordinary people wouldn’t dare, a team of scientists wanted to find out exactly what lives in your belly button?

Not surprisingly, a whole heap of bacteria. From a measly 60 volunteers, they managed to:

  • collect 2,368 bacteria species
  • of that, over 50% may not yet be known to science
  • the average person had 67 species, the ‘cleanest’ had 29 and the ‘dirtiest’ 107

…and what about the cartoon? Well, one of the volunteers was found to have bacteria only found in the soils of Japan (they had never visited Japan before). Another volunteer had bacteria typically only found in ice caps (must have a cold innie).

Gosh, I love scientists….Must be why I ‘married’ one.

Getting just a bit too close for comfort

By Science

WASP 12b gets a bit too close to its sun

Planet WASP 12-b (named so, as it was discovered by the UK SuperWASP team – cool, I want to be in a team with a funky name like that too) is believed to be the closest orbiting planet to its star.

So close, it’s being devoured by it. A gas planet about 1.4 times the size of Jupiter, it has a mean surface temperature of 2,200°C and completes its orbit in just 1.1 days (just the thought make me dizzy).  Due to its proximity, scientists believe that WASP 12-b is being boiled off and blown into space and creating a cloud of super heated gas around the planet.  Estimates assume it will be ‘consumed’ in the next billion years.

Is gravity keeping you down?

By Science, Space and Aliens

Rogue planet looking for new home

I was most excited to read in a local newspaper about the discovery of a new rogue planet affectionately called CFBDSIR2149.  

I couldn’t help myself and had to do a bit of a Google hunt on those wacky scientists, who give new interstellar discoveries these rather unmemorable and uninspiring names.  Well, sure enough I found my answer and not surprisingly much, much more.

Did you know there is an organisation called the International Astronomical Union (IAU)? One of their tasks is the approval of names to newly discovered celestial bodies and their surface features.  A staged process, first you get a series of letters and numbers (typically to define the type of object and accompanying co-ordinate locations. How they give co-ordinates to a rogue planet is beyond me. I tried reading their site for nomenclature rules, but seriously, life is too short).

If the discovery is of significance you can then get a Working Group within the IUA to help in the certification of a ‘common’ name, but (a big BUT), you must follow a series of their rather unique rules.  From a logical, structured approach, they obviously felt it was appropirate to let loose when it came to naming.

Here are but a few of the rules:

  • Size counts: the object (celestial body or surface terrain) must be greater than 100m.  ‘In general, official names will not be given to features whose longest dimensions are less than 100 meters, although exceptions may be made for smaller features having exceptional scientific interest.’
  • Want to name the object after yourself, as the proud discoverer.  Sure but first you must be dead for 3 years. ‘Commemoration of persons on planetary bodies should not normally be a goal in itself, but may be employed in special circumstances and is reserved for persons of high and enduring international standing. Persons being so honored must have been deceased for at least three years.’

What about a bit closer to home? Easy, just use the category naming table for features on planets within our solar system. Here are the crater naming requirements for some planets:

  • Mars Small towns and villages of the world with populations of approximately 100,000 or less. This category is simply a large source of crater names. No commemoration of specific towns or villages is intended.
  • Earth’s moon Deceased scientists and polar explorers who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field. Deceased Russian cosmonauts are commemorated by craters in and around Mare Moscoviense. Deceased American astronauts are commemorated by craters in and around the crater Apollo.
  • Venus Deceased women who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field (over 20 km diameter crater); Common female first names (under 20 km)
  • Mercury Deceased artists, musicians, painters, and authors who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field and have been recognized as art historically significant figures for more than 50 years

Fancy a threesome?

By Science

We need more ozone to save the planet don’t we? I particularly like the double hand holding bond between the O2 twins, don’t you?

Usain Bolt versus Higgs Boson

By Science

I couldn’t help myself and had to make another Usain Bolt cartoon, but this time I teamed him up with our latest subatomic particle friend, Higgs Boson. Higgs is not known for his speed, unlike our friends the photon and neutrino, but perhaps his life span is the more impressive aspect. The Higgs’ mean life span is a measley 1 zeptosecond (10−21).  No wonder physicists have found him to be so elusive in nature!

Usain Bolt versus Neutrino

By Science

Poor Neutrino, after his initial glory of the being the fastest, and then an error in equipment leading to his rapid demotion, and just recently with Usain Bolt pipping him at the post with an amazing Olympic record time of 9.63s for the 100m sprint.

This cartoon was a true team effort, with my thanks going to Mark from AusMigrate who provided the initial idea.

And for subscribers, consider this extra surprise cartoon for the day as a thanks for all your support!

And a word from Mr Higgs Boson himself

By Science

The experimental proof of the elusive Higgs Boson was announced last week with some claiming that this discovery was to physics, the equivalent of what evolution was to biology. In a nutshell, a Higgs boson is a subatomic particle and is responsible for turning other sub atomic particles into mass, therefore enabling the creation of the stars and planets just after the big bang. This has lead it to be called ‘God’s particle’, as without it, there universe could not have formed