30 Temmuz 2015 Perşembe
Why are pandas so lazy?
Giant pandas seem to have mastered the art of leisure. They don’t move much, and when they do, it’s usually to eat. A 90-kg panda expends less than half the energy of an equally weighted human; even a person standing motionless still has a higher metabolic rate than an “active” panda. The reason? The panda’s diet requires it. Though its digestive system is built for a carnivore, the giant panda survives almost exclusively on bamboo, making digestion an inefficient process. To fulfill nutrient needs, pandas eat heaping quantities of bamboo, anywhere from 9 kg to 18 kg a day. Because this diet provides so few nutrients, pandas need to slow things down. That means not moving a lot; harboring smaller energy-sucking organs like the liver, brain, and kidneys; and producing fewer thyroid hormones, which slows their metabolism. Sure, we humans move around a lot more—but we don’t have to eat bamboo all day.
29 Temmuz 2015 Çarşamba
Why do these sharks glow in the dark?
- Maybe they have got reflective skins ?- :) :) :) Maybe...
28 Temmuz 2015 Salı
Four-legged snake fossil
Scientists have described what they say is the first known fossil of a four-legged snake. The limbs of the 120-or-so-million-year-old, 20-centimeter-long creature are remarkably well preserved and end with five slender digits that appear to have been functional. Thought to have come from Brazil, the fossil would be one of the earliest snakes found, suggesting that the group evolved from terrestrial precursors in Gondwana, the southern remnant of the supercontinent Pangaea. But although the creature’s overall body plan—and indeed, many of its individual anatomical features—is snakelike, some researchers aren’t so sure that it is a part of the snake family tree.
The team’s scientific interpretation may be the least controversial aspect of the discovery, which they report online today in Science. The specimen’s provenance seems to be murkier than the silty waters that once buried its carcass. Whereas the team’s analyses strongly suggest the fossil came from northeastern Brazil, details of when it was unearthed and how it eventually ended up in the German museum where it now resides remain a mystery. Those details matter to many researchers and especially to some from Brazil, because it’s been illegal to export fossils from that nation since 1942.
Aptly, the new species has been dubbed Tetrapodophis amplectus. The genus name, in Greek, means “four-footed serpent.” (Previously, fossils of creatures considered to be protosnakes have only sported one set of limbs, usually hindlimbs.) The species nameamplectus, which comes from Latin, means “embracing” and refers to the creature’s flexibility and presumed ability to wrap tightly around its prey. The front part of the fossil—which appears to be complete and has all bones in their original, lifelike arrangement—lies in a tight coil, a demonstration of the animal’s extreme limberness, says Nicholas Longrich, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and co-author of the new study. Besides the tiny limbs, the specimen sports a skull the size of a human fingernail, 160 spinal vertebrae, and 112 vertebrae in the tail.
The fossil had resided in a private collection for several decades before it gained the attention of team member David Martill of the University of Portsmouth. He stumbled across the specimen during a field trip with students to Museum Solnhofen in Germany. No notes about when or where it was collected are available, the researchers say. But certain characteristics of the limestone that entombed the fossil, as well as the distinct orange-brown color of the bones themselves, strongly suggest it came from a particular area of northeastern Brazil, Longrich says. The sediment that became those rocks accumulated in calm waters on the floor of a lake or a lagoon sometime between 113 million and 126 million years ago, he notes.
Regarding the legality of the fossil’s collection or export from its presumed home country, Martill says “Who knows how the fossil came from Brazil”? Furthermore, he notes, to assert that the fossil was collected illegally a person would need to ascertain when it was unearthed. But such questions are irrelevant to the fossil’s scientific significance, Martill maintains. “Personally I don’t care a damn how the fossil came from Brazil or when,” he says.
Many features of Tetrapodophis point to its snakiness. Among squamates, the group of reptiles that also includes lizards, only snakes have more than 150 spinal vertebrae, the researchers note. The creature’s teeth are pointy and slightly curved. Also, the fossil includes some scales that stretch across the full width of the belly, a trait known only in snakes. The dramatically reduced size of the creature’s limbs, as well as a cylindrical rather than a flattened tail, suggest that snakes evolved from terrestrial animals that burrowed, not from marine creatures as some researchers have proposed, Longrich says.
“This is the single most extraordinary fossil that I’ve ever seen,” says Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, a vertebrate paleontologist at Yale University who was not involved with the work. AndTetrapodophis is definitely a snake, he notes: “No other reptile has the combination of features that this creature has.”
Yet other scientists aren’t so sure. Michael Caldwell, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, in Canada, readily admits he has seen only the team’s images of the fossil, not the fossil itself. But some aspects of the creature’s spinal vertebrae don’t match that of other snakes and lizards, he notes. In particular, the front surfaces of the vertebrae of known snakes and lizards except geckoes are concave, and the rear surfaces are convex; that doesn’t appear to be the case in Tetrapodophis, he says.
And whereas the vertebrae of all living and fossil reptiles include a small bone called an intercentrum, Tetrapodophis’ vertebrae don’t have them. In fact, Caldwell notes, its vertebrae resemble those seen among a large group of extinct amphibians that died out during mass extinctions about 251 million years ago, long before Tetrapodophis appeared on the scene. Rather than being a protosnake, Tetrapodophis might be a surviving remnant of that previously presumed lost group, he suggests. “I think this creature is far more exciting for what it might be than for what [the team] says it is.”
Tetrapodophis “has a really interesting mix of characters,” says Susan Evans, a paleobiologist at University College London. Although the creature’s teeth look snakelike, she admits, “I’m trying to carefully sit on the fence as to whether this is actually a snake.” A radical elongation of the body and reduction in size or loss of limbs has occurred many times in other groups of reptiles, she notes.
Another puzzle, she adds, are why the bones at the tips of the creature’s digits are so long. Longrich and his colleagues suggest the long-fingered feet are used for grasping prey or possibly used during mating. But Caldwell notes that such feet “are remarkably unusual unless you’re a tree-climber.”
Regardless of what Tetrapodophis turns out to be, says Caldwell, “I’m looking forward to seeing the specimen.” Now permanently on loan to the Museum Solnhofen, the fossil will be made available for further scientific analysis, Longrich and his colleagues confirm.
27 Temmuz 2015 Pazartesi
Unknown things about China
People have to wear mask in China while travelling because the weather is so dirty .
Every year one million children are abandoned by their family.
There are special ways in China for phone addicts...
100 Million people have to live with 1 dollar in a day...
Train drivers are tuck a needle their neck so they can't tilt their head when they are tired.
Chinese people eats dogs...
Chinese people are using 45 billion sticks every year...
Chinese people are making boiled eggs with children's urine :D
30 million Chinese people are living in cave...
Air pollution is a problem which is deriving from China in San Francisco
World's most long traffic was observed in China in the past...
The first kite is made by Chinese people 2000 years ago
25 Temmuz 2015 Cumartesi
23 Temmuz 2015 Perşembe
Fallen Heroes of Space
On Jan. 27, 1967, NASA experienced its first space disaster - the deaths of three astronauts during a training excercise for the Apollo 1 mission. Pictured are the three Apollo 1 prime crewmembers intended for the first manned Apollo space flight: (L to R) Edward H. White II, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee. A fire inside the Apollo Command Module during a test took the lives of all three astronauts. NASA had not experienced a disaster of this magnitude previously.
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Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire struck during testing for the AS-204 mission on January 27, 1967. The flight would have been the first Apollo manned mission, and NASA later renamed the mission Apollo 1 in honor of the astronauts. Following the disaster, NASA made substantial changes to increase safety
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Astronauts (left to right) Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee posing in front of Launch Complex 34.
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Astronaut Ed White floats in zero gravity of space off the coast of California during the Gemini IV mission.
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The flag draped coffin of Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom is escorted at Arlington Cemetery, Va., by his fellow astronauts, following the Apollo 1 fire that claimed his life.
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Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov (right) is seen here with Yuri Gargarin. Komarov piloted the Soyuz 1 mission on April 24, 1967. Komarov perished uponimpact when the parachutes that were supposed to slow his capsule's return to Earth failed. In 2011, a controversial book attempted to describe Komarov's death but was challenged by experts.
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Soviet cosmonauts Viktor Patsayev, Georgi Dobrovolsky, and Vladislav Volkov are seen in the Soyuz simulator during their mission training for Soyuz 11. After a successful docking with the Salyut 1 space station in June 1971, the crew returned to earth on June 30. Recovery team members found the three men dead inside their capsule. A valve had opened in space, allowing the air to escape.
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On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA faced its first shuttle disaster, the loss of the Challenger orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew. Here, Challenger's last crew – members of the STS-51L mission – stand in the White Room at Pad 39B following the end of a launch dress rehearsal. They are (L to R) Teacher in Space Participant, Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik, Commander Dick Scobee. Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Pilot, Michael Smith and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka
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An official portrait shows the STS-51L crewmembers. Back row (L to R): Mission Specialist, Ellison S. Onizuka, Teacher in Space Participant Sharon ChristaMcAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Greg Jarvis and Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik. Front row (L to R): Pilot Mike Smith, Commander, Dick Scobee and Mission Specialist, Ron McNair.
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Greg Jarvis was selected as a payload specialist candidate in July 1984. He was chosen from over 600 engineer applicants from Hughes Aircraft. His initial launch date was delayed twice and he reentered training in November 1985, preparing to fly the STS 51-L mission. His duties on Challenger 51-L were to conduct fluid dynamics experiments that would have tested the reactions of satellite propellants to various shuttle maneuvers and simulated spacecraft movements. He and the entire STS 51-L crew died on January 28, 1986 when Challenger exploded after launch.
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Christa McAuliffe was selected as the primary candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Project on July 19, 1985. She was a payload specialist on STS 51-L,which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. The STS 51-L crew died on January 28, 1986 when Challenger exploded after launch.
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Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, Ronald McNair completed a 1-year training and evaluation period in August 1979, qualifying him for assignment as a mission specialist astronaut on Space Shuttle flight crews. Dr. McNair was assigned as a mission specialist on STS 51-L. Dr. McNair died on January 28, 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
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Lieutenant Colonel Onizuka was a mission specialist on STS 51-L which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. The STS 51-L crew died on January 28, 1986, after Challenger exploded 1 minute 13 seconds after launch
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Dr. Resnik was a mission specialist on STS 51-L, which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. The STS 51-L crew died on January 28, 1986 after Challenger exploded 1 minute and 13 seconds after launch
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Captain Michael J. Smith was assigned as pilot on shuttle mission STS 51-L. He was also assigned as pilot for Space Shuttle Mission 61-N scheduled for launch in the Fall of 1986. Captain Smith died on January 28, 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after launch from the Kennedy Space Center.
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Francis R. "Dick" Scobee was spacecraft commander on STS 51-L, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. The STS-51L crew died on January 28, 1986 after Challenger exploded 1 minute, 13 seconds after launch
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Teacher Christa McAuliffe experiences the "vomit comet."
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STS-51L crewmembers and backup depart Ellington Air Field following brief flights in NASA's T-38 jet trainers. Pictured (L to R): Barbara R. Morgan, Michael J. Smith, an unidentified visitor, Sharon Christa McAuliffe and Francis R. (Dick) Scobee.
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The STS-51L Challenger flight crew receives emergency egress training in the slide wire baskets. They are (L to R) Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Teacher in Space Participant, Christa McAuliffe. Directly behind them are Mission Specialist Judy Resnik and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka.
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The STS-107 crew. Front from left: Rick Husband William McCool. Standing from left: David Brown, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Michael Anderson and Ilan Ramon. The entire crew was lost on February 1, 2003, during re-entry when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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Astronaut Rick D. Husband, commander of shuttle mission mission STS-107, shown in January 1999. He perished on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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Ilan Ramon (Colonel, Israel Air Force), payload specialist representing the Israel Space Agency (ISA), shown in November 2001. He perished in flight on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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Kalpana Chawla flew on two shuttle missions. She perished in flight on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas
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Astronaut William C. McCool, pilot of the STS-107 mission, shown on August 10, 2001. He perished in flight on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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Astronaut Michael P. Anderson, STS-107 payload commander shown on October 1, 2001. He perished in flight on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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Astronaut David M. Brown, STS-107 mission specialist, shown on Sep. 25, 2001. He perished in flight on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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Astronaut Laurel B. Clark, STS-107 mission specialist, shown on February 26, 2002. She perished in flight on February 1, 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas.
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During the STS-107 mission, the crew appears to fly toward the camera in a group photo aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. On the bottom row (L to R) areastronauts Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; Rick D. Husband, mission commander; Laurel B. Clark, mission specialist; and Ilan Ramon, payload specialist. In the top row (L to R) are astronauts David M. Brown, mission specialist; William C. McCool, pilot; and Michael P. Anderson, payload commander. On February 1, 2003, during re-entry, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas with all seven crewmembers aboard. This picture survived on a roll of unprocessed film recovered by searchers from the debris.
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Flowers lay at the foot of the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida for NASA's Day of Remembrance to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery.
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A moment of silence is observed at the Astronaut Memorial Mirror.
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The Space Mirror Memorial was dedicated in 1991 to honor those lost in pursuit of the exploration of space. There are 24 people memorialized on the granite blocks that make up the monument.
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