My Science School

A California electrician developed star-shaped cataracts after being shocked by 14,000 volts of electricity. The current passed through his entire body, including the optic nerve that connects the back of the eye to the brain. “The optic nerve is similar to any wire that conducts electricity,” said Dr Bobby Korn, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology, University of California. “The extreme current and voltage that passed through this important natural wire caused damage to the optic nerve itself.” In animal studies, damage to the eye’s lens from electricity first appears as small bubbles called ‘vacuoles’ on the outside of the lens. These then coalesce to form a star-shaped cataract.

 

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At Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen Volcano, extremely high quantities of sulphuric gases emerge at high pressure and temperatures (sometimes in excess of 600 degree Celsius) along with the lava. Exposed to the oxygen present in air and sparked by lava, the sulphur burns readily, and its flames are bright blue. There’s so much sulfur, that at times it flows down the rock face as it burns, making it seem as though blue lava is spilling down the mountainside. But because only the flames are blue rather than the lava itself, the effect is only visible at night – during daytime, the volcano looks like any other.

Miners extract the sulfur rock, which is formed after the blue flames extinguish leaving behind a solid sulfur-rich rock. They then carry these large loads in baskets down the side of the mountain to be paid per kilogram. The work is unregulated and small children can often be seen scrambling up and down the slopes hoping to support their family’s low incomes with additional money. They usually take two daily trips. Each local worker is paid about 680 Indonesian rupiahs per kilogram, the equivalent of about six USD cents. 

The working conditions are highly dangerous. It does not only require agility and strength to walk up and down the volcano's steep slopes, but workers are also exposed to the toxic sulfur gases for long periods of time. Without gas masks or other safety equipment, many of the mine's workers suffer long-term health problems resulting from sulfur exposure. These volcanic materials make it one of the more dangerous places on Earth.

 

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Alston’s singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) produces vocalizations that are barely audible to humans. Unlike simple squeaks or chirps, the “songs” of these mice last longer and have multiple notes, and the mice can modulate both the amplitude and the frequency of the calls. Researchers have now found that besides using them to attract mates and repel rivals within their own species, these high-pitched tunes can serve as signals across species, too, helping males protect their turf.

 

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-93.2 degree Celsius is the temperature recorded by NASA satellites at the coldest place on earth. The record temperatures were found in 5 by 10 km pockets where the topography forms small hollows 6 to 13 feet deep just off the ice ridge that runs between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji – the ice dome summits of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. A lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said, “I am told that every breath is painful and you have to be extremely careful not to freeze part of your throat or lungs when inhaling.”

 

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Tired of the usual flavours of ice cream? How does bioluminescent jellyfish flavour sound? U.K.-based Lick Me I’m Delicious has developed the first-ever ice cream that glows in the dark using a protein that gives the jellyfish its bioluminescence.

Founder Charlie Francis explains that the act of licking warms up the protein in the ice cream, causing an increase in its  level, which produces the glow. “Is it safe to eat? Well I tried some and I don’t seem to be glowing anywhere, so we’ll go with a yes for now.”

Price of glowing treat? US$225 per scoop!

 

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A recent study showed that people who took photographs of items during a museum tour were less likely to remember details than those who merely looked at the objects. “When you press click on that button for the camera, you’re sending a signal to your brain saying, ‘I’ve just outsourced this, the camera is going to remember this for me,” said Linda Henkel, a psychological scientist at Fairfield University, Connecticut. “The photos are trophies. You want to show people where you were rather than saying, ‘Hey, this is important, I want to remember this.” Henkel called this the ‘photo-taking impairment effect’.

 

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Mt Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It features a 1700oF lava lake, a swirling pool of magma perhaps many miles deep: one of only five that exit in the world. Riddling the side of the snow-covered volcano are ice caves. The volcanic gases heat their way through these ice caves and escape into the air to form enormous 60-foot chimneys of ice or ‘fumaroles’ with noxious volcanic gases pouring out from their tips.

At the summit of the volcano is some 500 by 600 m large and 110 m deep crater. In this crater is one more – inner crater which is some 250 m wide and 100 m deep. In this inner crater is lava lake – one of the few such lakes in the world. It is filled with phonolitic lava. In fact, Mount Erebus is the only volcano in the world which erupts this kind of lava currently.

If the weather let’s see through the fumes, visitors can admire the glow of this lake from the rim of the crater. The lava lake of Mount Erebus has existed since the discovery of the volcano (and, most likely, before this), but it has constantly changed.

Thus, during the 1970ies the lava lake was some 130 m long and had oval shape. Then, in 1984 – 1985 the volcanic activity increased and the glow of lava was visible from a distance of some 70 km. During this time most of the lava lake “froze” – solidified. Nevertheless, Erebus threw volcanic bombs with a diameter up to 10 m up to 1.2 km far!

Small lava lake with a diameter of some 15 m appeared in late 1985. Then, in the late 1980ies, researchers observed up to three smaller lava lakes.

Lava lake or several lakes existed in the crater in the 1990ies and in the 21st century. In 2010 – 2016 volcano formed two lava lakes.

 

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Forgetting everything you hear in classes or meetings? Your overstuffed notebook might be the culprit. According to psychologists at Mount St. Vincent University in New York, our brains go: “Hey, he’s writing this down, so no need to warehouse this stuff. Better to make room for other stuff.” Researchers call this phenomenon ‘intentional forgetting’.

Subjects played the memory game Concentration in which players memorize images on cards and try to identify them after the cards have been covered up. Half the subjects studied the cards before they were covered; the other half were allowed to take notes. The note-takers did significantly worse than the group that knew they had to concentrate on the images and position of the cards.

Researchers concluded that “participants adopted an intentional-forgetting strategy when using notes to store certain types of information.” Taking notes didn’t improve memory; it made recall worse because the brain was forgetting as fast as its owner was writing.

So the next time your teacher asks why you’re not taking notes, explain that you want to make sure you remember!

 

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Stanford engineers recently demonstrated a pair of gecko-inspired hand pads strong enough to pull the weight of an adult man and to allow him to climb a wall.

The gecko’s climbing ability is due to specialized pads located on its toes, comprised of various satae (bristle-or hair-like structures) on the tip of which lie tiny structures called spatulae, each less than a micron wide. These allow attraction forces called Van der Waals interactions to arise between the adhesive satae and the surface. A single spatulae shows very weak molecular forces, however when coupled together in thousands of thousands on the satae, the attraction becomes very strong.

Researchers created an artificial adhesive that could copy the high surface area of the satae on a gecko’s feet, made from a silicone material called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that is layered as a microscopic wedge. The pads have “controllable adhesion”, so they could easily be switched on or off simply by transferring weight on the adhesive.

The pads could prove useful in manipulating huge solar panels or other massive objects without any suction power or chemical glues, and in space where astronauts could cling to surfaces of the International Space Station.

 

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