Are beluga whales the next gorillas?

            Confused by the title? Well, you should be because it makes little sense - except for the fact that researchers are now wondering if beluga whales can be taught to communicate with humans the same way that some gorillas have been.

            The Raffi song "Baby Beluga" was one of my favorite songs when I was a little kid, and belugas have always been one of my favorite animals because they look so happy all of the time, and chirp - thus they are known as the "canaries of the sea." So, this week when I was perusing science articles I found one from the Telegraph in the United Kingdom that was about a beluga and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. 

            They were reporting about a male beluga, named NOC, who has actually passed away since the recordings were done (his attempts at communication were first discovered in 1984), but the research was just published in the October issue of the journal Current Biology. In the recording the whale appears to be saying "Get out of the Water" to human divers. 

             I don't think that the words are truly that decipherable, but it does sound vaguely human. The pitch that NOC was using was many octaves lower than the usual chirps, whistles or clicks of beluga whales, and the cadence he was using was more similar to that of a human. They believe he was able to vary the pressure in his naval cavity and stretch lip-like structures within his blowhole to make these noises.

            I find this fascinating! An aquatic animal trying to make contact with humans. I would like to see more research done in this field of study. To think perhaps we could find some way to modify our larynx to make noises similar to a beluga whale, as NOC was able to manipulate his nasal tract to imitate us.            

Telegraph article - here.

Scientific American article - here.  

Neodymium - Element of the Week from 10/19-10/26

Neodymium, element number 60, was discovered in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Carl F. Auer von Welsbach. He was able to separate Neodymium from and another element from a substance known as didymium. It is a metallic Lanthanoid,, and is a rare-earth element. The name Neodymium comes from the Greek words "neos didymos" meaning new twin.  It's melting point is 1024 C and the boiling point is 3074 C.

Neodymium is considered a rare earth element, but is still found in amounts of 4.15×10¹ milligrams per kilogram in the Earth's crust, which is the second highest among rare-earth elements. It is never found by itself, but rather in different ores. The main mining areas are China, the United States, Brazil, and several others.

It is most commonly added to glass and gives the glass a violet, red, gray color.  Is made to use some light bulbs. The other common use for Neodymium is in permanent magnets. Neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent magnets available on the market. These permanent magnets are used in things such as headphones, microphones, and in some computer parts. Neodymium doped glass is also used in some lasers.

Read more - here. 

Space...space... and more space

I admit it - I am somewhat space obsessed. I don't know if it began with watching Star Trek with my family when I was young, looking through the massive telescope at the Missouri University of Science & Technology, reading the article in National Geographic from 1969 after the initial moon landing, or just staring up at the sky - but it is just a fact of my life.

Obviously, I adore all science, but space has just always been something that fascinates me and, at the same time, leaves me dumbstruck. I wish I could understand the vast field of astronomy, astrophysics, astrobiology, astrochemistry, forensic astronomy, and the list goes on. I think one of the best things about space though, is the vivid and majestic images that we can see! Just try and imagine how overwhelmed Galileo and other early astronomers would be. This week I am going to share some images and videos from the past week.

This image was taken by the Hubble telescope [made by a man from Missouri!] on the 19th of October. It is of the spiral galaxy NGC 3344. NGC stands for the New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, which lists nebulas, galaxies, and clusters. This is a galaxy that is approximately 25 million light- years away, and is about half the size of the Milky Way.  The telescope was lucky enough to get a face on view. Read more about NGC 3344 - here.

This image is of NGC 2623, which is not one galaxy, but two spiral galaxies smashing together at astounding speeds. The pair is approximently 300 million light-years away from Earth. The tails extend 50,000 light-years from the center of the merging galaxy. Explore and create your own galaxy merger - here. Read more about NGC 2623- here.

I was having trouble decided between doing an update on the Space Rover or not, but then I found this article, and decided against it. There is going to be a meteor shower from the morning of October 20 to the end of the morning of the 21! The shower is of the Orionids, which are bits of rock and ice that remain from the Halley's comet (which passed Earth in 1986). These pieces hit Earth's atmosphere and burn up leaving bright tails! It is expected that 25 meteors will pass overhead every hour. If you can't find a way or a good place to watch the meteor shower, NASA is hosting a webcast of the event starting at 10 pm CT.  Read more - here.

If you still want an update on the Mars Rover - check here.

After all of these images and videos, I can't help but wonder how many more years it will be until Star Trek becomes a reality, and mankind can truly journey forth into - as Captain Kirk claimed - the final frontier. 

Nobelium - Element of the Week from 10/12-10/19

            In honor of the Nobel prizes being awarded this past week, I have decided to cover Nobelium. This element was named after Alfred Nobel, who is the creator of dynamite and is also the man who created/funded the prestigious Nobel prizes.

            Nobelium is a synthetic and radioactive metal, with the atomic number of 102. Its atomic weight is believed to be 259,its melting point is 827 degrees Celcius, and its boiling point is unknown.  

            Nobelium has been a finicky element to isolate. A group in Sweden in 1957 claimed to have discovered an element, which they named Nobelium. It is surprising that element 102 kept the same name because this research had been determined faulty. The credit for the actual discovery of element 102 was given to a research group at the University of Berkely , who researhced from 1958–1964, in 1966. This group decided to retain the name honoring Alfred Nobel.

            There are no truly stable isotopes of Nobelium. The most stable isotope of Nobelium, Nobelium-259, has a half-life of approximately 58 minutes. Only infinitesimal amounts of Nobelium have ever been produced, there are no uses of it outside of scientific research. 

The Nobel winners!

   Why did the scientist only have a door knocker at his house?

 So, he could win the No-bell prize!

            This past week, the Nobel prizes have been awarded to those who have made major advances in the realms of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine or Physiology, Literature, and Peace. The award in economic sciences will be awarded on Monday. For this post, I will be examining the work of the winners in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine/Physiology.

Alfred Nobel - the man behind the awards

            First, I would like to take a look at the life of the man behind the awards - Alfred Nobel. Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1833. From 1850 to 1852, he worked in the laboratory of one T. Jules Pelouze in Paris.

            After the Crimean War, Nobel was looking for something new to research and a new product to sell. One of Nobel's Chemistry teachers, Nikolai N. Zinin, gave him the idea to research nitroglycerin. Nobel did this and found uses for it as an explosive. After his younger brother Emil died in an explosion at a factory in Heleneborg in 1864, Nobel worked toward making the explosive safer.

            In 1867, after finding that a mixture of nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth was much safer, he obtained a patent for what he had dubbed "dynamite." From this invention, Nobel became a very wealthy man and his (third) and final will and testament left a large part of his fortune to the establishment of a fund that would present awards to people making advancements in various fields of science, literature, and toward peace. The people that Nobel left in charge of this did not want to fulfill the request, and it was five years after his death in 1896, that the first round of Nobel prizes were awarded.

2012 Nobel Prize in Physics

            This years Nobel Prize in Physics went to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland for their research in Quantum systems. The press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award was " for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems." Haroche is a researcher at the Collège de France and Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, and Wineland is a researcher with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. The Nobel laureates essentially took the opposite approach to the same research, quantum optics. Wineland worked toward trapping electrically charged atoms and measuring/controlling them with photons (light) and Haroche controlled/measured photons by sending atoms through a trap. From this research, it is believed that a quantum computer could be created and super accurate clocks could become a reality.

Read full text from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences - here

Read full scientific text - here

2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

            This years Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to two American scientists - Robert J. Lefkowitz, from Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, and Brian K. Kobilka from Stanford University School of Medicine, in California. The press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award was "for studies of G-protein–coupled receptors." What these Nobel laureates have done is essentially explained how cells interpret signals from the brain, and this is through receptors. The receptors they worked with and mapped out, the G-protein-coupled receptors, deal with adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin, light, flavor, and odor. This also has potential application in the field of medicine because many medications work through these receptors.

Article on the Scientists from the New York Times - here

Read full text from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences - here

Read full scientific text - here

2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology

            This years Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology went to John B. Gurdon of the United Kingdom and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed 
to become pluripotent" (or the capacity to differentiate into any mature cell type). John B. Gurdon, did research in 1962 and found out that the specialization of cells is reversible. He did this through experiments done on frog egg cells and mature intestinal cells, which then developed into a normal tadpole. Shinya Yamanaka did his research in 2006, and was able to take mature mice cells and reprogram them to become immature stem cells. From his research, it was found that mature cells could be developed into any type of body cell needed.

Read full scientific article from The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet - here

Full list of Nobel Prize winners - here

Astatine - Element of the Week from 10/5-10/12

            Astatine was first produced in 1940 by Dale R. Carson, K.R. MacKenzie and Emilio Segrè at the University of California. They did this by bombarding an isotope of Bismuth  (209) with alpha particles. The name astatine comes from the Greek word "astatos," which means "unstable."

            Astatine is extraordinarily rare, and it is believed that less 30 grams of it exist in nature, in the crust of the Earth. It is produced when it is needed for research, and to date, 0.00000005 grams have been made.

            Astatine is a radioactive element that has actually never been viewed in its elemental state. This is partially due to the fact that the mass is so large, it could be seen by the naked human eye. The heat generated by its radioactivity would also instantaneously vaporize astatine. For these reasons, astatine can only be created in a nuclear reactor.

            Other than for research, one of the only known usages for Astatine is its potential use for nuclear medicine - primarily radiation therapy for cancer patients. It is believed that astatine-211 would be a better choice than iodine-131 for treatments because it does better at isolating the cancerous cells. There are contracting reports though, and some research suggests that this isotope is more damaging than iodine-131. Read more about this potential usage - here. 

Killer snake leads to Painkillers

             I have never been one to be terrified of snakes. As long as I am not face-to-face with one (that is actually dangerous) I am good. But, I never thought that they would contribute anything particularly useful to my life either - I guess in both of these cases I was wrong.

            When watching a video of a black mamba, one of the most dangerous and venomous snakes in the world, I wanted to crawl into my bed and never venture outdoors again (This is a wee bit of an exaggeration/overreaction seeing as how they are found in Africa). The Black mamba is not only deadly, its venom can kill an adult human within half an hour, they are also scary fast - some clocking in at 12.5 miles an hour. These snakes are so scary that in many African cultures their lethalness has been exaggerated. It was due to all of this that I was so shocked when I found out that these snakes could be benefiting humans and could be the source of a new, very effective human painkiller.

            Recently, French researchers have discovered that within the venom of a Black Mamba, there are peptides - called mambalgins. These peptides are fascinating and potentially very useful because unlike traditional morphine they do not seem to cause respiratory problems or have a tolerance build-up over time. The researchers found that these peptides "relieve pain by blocking acid-sensing ion channels in the skin and central nervous system." [read article -here]

            The part that has me worried though is the way in which this painkiller was discovered and tested. In this study, researchers injected one group of mice with traditional morphine and another group of mice with a painkiller derived from the venom. It was found that the group with the mamba painkiller had a similar pain tolerance.

            The mice were exposed to high temperatures, and while painful, they are not harmful? That doesn't make much sense to me. I understand the necessity of animal research, but I can't help but feel a little bad for the mice. I look forward to seeing what researchers can develop from this and how it can help us. I also look forward to hearing from all of you!

Partial scientific article -here

Discover magazine article -here

Scientific American blog -here

Watch a cool video about a Black Mamba below.

Krypton - Element of the Week from 9/28-10/5

            Krypton was discovered in 1898, by the Scottish Chemist Sir William Ramsey, and English chemist Morris Travers. It was not intentionally discovered, but instead was a result of testing to find Argon. The process included removing oxygen and nitrogen from liquid air, and it was during this time that a bright yellow and green line were found in the resulting spectrum. The name Krypton is derived from the Greek word "kryptos", which means hidden. This comes from the way in which it was discovered.

            Krypton exists naturally as a gas, in a concentration of 1 ppm in the atmosphere. Solidified Krypton is white and crystalline in appearance. There are six natural, stable isotopes and 30 unstable isotopes and isomers. One isotope, ⁸⁵Kr, is an inert radioactive gas, with a half-life of over 10 years. It is produced by the fission of uranium and plutonium - think nuclear bombs and reactors.

            Some uses of Krypton gas include in photography, as the gas emits a brilliant white light. Krypton and Argon gases are mixed and are the fill gas in many energy-saving fluorescent lamps. ⁸³Kr is used with MRI imaging of airways.

            Interestingly, Radon was the only noble gas that William Ramsey was not responsible for discovering, and he and Morris discovered three new elements [Krypton, Neon, and Argon] in a period of only 42 days!

A fun picture of Sir William Ramsey - here!

Read more - here!