Far Beneath The In-Between

Greetings and Salutations, my name is Mark, I am 17 years old. Come Fall I am starting my Undergrad in Biochemistry. My goal overall is to become a Neuroscientist, and I listen to music more than is healthy. I also am very into Literature and anything and everything Avant Garde, Progressive, or Experimental. Yup.
ikenbot: Partial Lunar Eclipse Monday Sets Stage for Venus Transit The historic transit of Venus across the sun Tuesday is a must-see for skywatchers, but observers shouldn’t overlook another celestial event that comes just one day earlier — a partial lunar eclipse of the June full moon. On Tuesday (June 5), Venus will trek across the sun’s face from Earth’s perspective, marking the last such transit of Venus until 2117. In a sort of celestial warmup, the full moon will dive through the Earth’s shadow on Monday morning to produce a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible to observers throughout parts of North America, Asia and the Pacific region, weather permitting. The lunar eclipse comes two weeks after the May 20 annular solar eclipse that enthralled skywatchers around the world, and that’s no accident. Solar eclipses are always accompanied by lunar eclipses, either two weeks before or two weeks after. The moon travels halfway in its orbit around the Earth in that time, forming another straight line with our planet and the sun. (In solar eclipses, the moon blots out the sun, while lunar eclipses occur when Earth’s shadow covers all or part of the moon.)

ikenbot:

Partial Lunar Eclipse Monday Sets Stage for Venus Transit

The historic transit of Venus across the sun Tuesday is a must-see for skywatchers, but observers shouldn’t overlook another celestial event that comes just one day earlier — a partial lunar eclipse of the June full moon.

On Tuesday (June 5), Venus will trek across the sun’s face from Earth’s perspective, marking the last such transit of Venus until 2117. In a sort of celestial warmup, the full moon will dive through the Earth’s shadow on Monday morning to produce a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible to observers throughout parts of North America, Asia and the Pacific region, weather permitting.

The lunar eclipse comes two weeks after the May 20 annular solar eclipse that enthralled skywatchers around the world, and that’s no accident.

Solar eclipses are always accompanied by lunar eclipses, either two weeks before or two weeks after. The moon travels halfway in its orbit around the Earth in that time, forming another straight line with our planet and the sun. (In solar eclipses, the moon blots out the sun, while lunar eclipses occur when Earth’s shadow covers all or part of the moon.)

stressface:

Fractal Art

Above are 8 stunning images of fractal art, some of the winners from the 2011 Fractal Art Contest.  Click here for more images. 

1.  Underwater, by Jérémie Brunet

2.  Tisular, by Victor Carbajo

3.  Lumia, by Anton Liasotskyi

4.  Fractal baroque, by Bill Beath

5.  Partial Symmetric Bone Music, by Jonathan McCabe

6.  Renaissance, by Stuart Painter

7.  Imaginary Mine, by Maulana Randa

8.  secret sign, by Jost Teutemann

Source: Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest

(via project-argus)

chemta: Well I’m finally settled down at Case and starting my REU! I’m still waiting on my own project but it should be dealing siRNA and their role in preventing/stopping cancer, so I’m pretty excited to say the least! Once I know more specifics, I’ll be sure to bore/entertain you all with a better write up. Today’s molecule is brought to you by sleep! Without it, how could have all those awesome dreams that make reality seem oh so boring? Be warned though, taking too much of this molecule and you could end up dreaming while you are awake (aka hallucinations). While that might seem like fun, the permanent sleeping condition know as “dying” can result which will quickly put an end to things. Ambien, also known as Zolpidem, is typically used to treat insomia. Its much stronger than the OTC varieties, and due to its potential to cause addiction, is only available with a prescription. Once Ambien gets into your blood, it heads straight for the brain where it interacts with GABA receptors. Now GABA is a neurotransmitter that actually inhibits the nervous system (aka GABA=feeling sleepy). What happens is that Ambien comes in binds to the GABA receptor (more specifically GABA A receptor) where it acts as an agonist. An agonist is something that up regulates a protein/enzyme so basically Ambien causes the GABA receptor to become more sensitive to GABA. I’m feeling kinda sleepy now, brb allowing GABA to work its magic.  Ahh, Ambien. Excellent sleep aid for small periods of time only. One of the better Z-Drugs. Just like Benzodiazepines (which also act on GABA if you did not know) the addiction, withdrawal, and rehabilitation can be pretty serious. On a lighter note, though, Ambien certainly provides some good times if you fail to sleep after taking it. Very brief, surreal delirium that isn’t too freaky.

chemta:

Well I’m finally settled down at Case and starting my REU! I’m still waiting on my own project but it should be dealing siRNA and their role in preventing/stopping cancer, so I’m pretty excited to say the least! Once I know more specifics, I’ll be sure to bore/entertain you all with a better write up.

Today’s molecule is brought to you by sleep! Without it, how could have all those awesome dreams that make reality seem oh so boring? Be warned though, taking too much of this molecule and you could end up dreaming while you are awake (aka hallucinations). While that might seem like fun, the permanent sleeping condition know as “dying” can result which will quickly put an end to things.

Ambien, also known as Zolpidem, is typically used to treat insomia. Its much stronger than the OTC varieties, and due to its potential to cause addiction, is only available with a prescription. Once Ambien gets into your blood, it heads straight for the brain where it interacts with GABA receptors. Now GABA is a neurotransmitter that actually inhibits the nervous system (aka GABA=feeling sleepy). What happens is that Ambien comes in binds to the GABA receptor (more specifically GABA A receptor) where it acts as an agonist. An agonist is something that up regulates a protein/enzyme so basically Ambien causes the GABA receptor to become more sensitive to GABA.

I’m feeling kinda sleepy now, brb allowing GABA to work its magic. 

Ahh, Ambien. Excellent sleep aid for small periods of time only. One of the better Z-Drugs. Just like Benzodiazepines (which also act on GABA if you did not know) the addiction, withdrawal, and rehabilitation can be pretty serious. On a lighter note, though, Ambien certainly provides some good times if you fail to sleep after taking it. Very brief, surreal delirium that isn’t too freaky.

thenoobyorker: From genannetics, Totally rad: Scientists create rewritable digital data storage in DNA “One of the coolest places for computing is within biological systems.”             Drew Endy, PhD Imagine being able to use the DNA of a living cell to store data.  Not only would it be an incredible tool for researchers studying cell division, cancer, evolution, aging, and many other biological fields, but also it could lead to a way of storing information without consuming power.  Amazingly, a lab out of Stanford’s Bioengineering Department reported this week that it was able to record a single bit of data in this manner. The team calls its device a “recombinase addressable data” module, or RAD for short. Alright, already loving the name. They used RAD to modify a particular section of DNA within microbes that determines how the one-celled organisms will fluoresce under ultraviolet light. The microbes glow red or green depending upon the orientation of the section of DNA. Using RAD, the engineers can flip the section back and forth at will. Their system seems to be reliable after many cellular divisions, as well as rewrite-able, which is quite a feat in an environment as dynamic as a microbe. Going forward, the team hopes to work towards an 8-bit of genetic programmable data.  This may take years, but the scientists are excited by their progress and prospects.   Paper: “Rewritable digital data storage in live cells via engineered control of recombination directionality,” Bonnet, J., Subsoontorn, P. & Endy, D. PNAS,http://dx.doi.org/ … s.1202344109 (2012). Image: http://www.dna11.com The ability to make organisms switch between different states on command is a important part of existing molecular genetic toolboxes. However the way this does it different and very cool… [to me.]

thenoobyorker:

From genannetics,

Totally rad: Scientists create rewritable digital data storage in DNA

“One of the coolest places for computing is within biological systems.”             Drew Endy, PhD

Imagine being able to use the DNA of a living cell to store data.  Not only would it be an incredible tool for researchers studying cell division, cancer, evolution, aging, and many other biological fields, but also it could lead to a way of storing information without consuming power.  Amazingly, a lab out of Stanford’s Bioengineering Department reported this week that it was able to record a single bit of data in this manner.

The team calls its device a “recombinase addressable data” module, or RAD for short.

Alright, already loving the name.

They used RAD to modify a particular section of DNA within microbes that determines how the one-celled organisms will fluoresce under ultraviolet light. The microbes glow red or green depending upon the orientation of the section of DNA. Using RAD, the engineers can flip the section back and forth at will.

Their system seems to be reliable after many cellular divisions, as well as rewrite-able, which is quite a feat in an environment as dynamic as a microbe. Going forward, the team hopes to work towards an 8-bit of genetic programmable data.  This may take years, but the scientists are excited by their progress and prospects.  

Paper: “Rewritable digital data storage in live cells via engineered control of recombination directionality,” Bonnet, J., Subsoontorn, P. & Endy, D. PNAS,http://dx.doi.org/ … s.1202344109 (2012).

Image: http://www.dna11.com

The ability to make organisms switch between different states on command is a important part of existing molecular genetic toolboxes. However the way this does it different and very cool… [to me.]

(via polymath4ever)