Hamartia Antidote
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Micro stories - small news bits too small to have their own thread
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SvenSvensonov
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These ridiculously detailed aerial photos of London are so stunning
The weather isn’t great and the pubs close too early and the food is often better in other cities and yet London is still one of the capitals of the world and is packed with so much history. Photographer Vincent LaForet took these amazing aerial shots of London and seeing the city overhead like this reminds you why that is.
The buildings may be old and the streets may be confusing when you’re down low but boy, it looks great from above.
Vincent Laforet is a director, photographer, and a pioneer in tilt-shift, aerial photography, and in HD DSLR cameras for shooting film. He won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his images of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s conflicts after 9/11, plus three prizes at the 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Life and many other national and international publications have commissioned his service.
The weather isn’t great and the pubs close too early and the food is often better in other cities and yet London is still one of the capitals of the world and is packed with so much history. Photographer Vincent LaForet took these amazing aerial shots of London and seeing the city overhead like this reminds you why that is.
The buildings may be old and the streets may be confusing when you’re down low but boy, it looks great from above.
Vincent Laforet is a director, photographer, and a pioneer in tilt-shift, aerial photography, and in HD DSLR cameras for shooting film. He won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his images of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s conflicts after 9/11, plus three prizes at the 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Life and many other national and international publications have commissioned his service.
SvenSvensonov
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What it looks like to get hit in the face with a tank shell
So this is completely terrifying. In a holy crap wait a minute this isn't a video game right kind of way. No, no it is not. This is what it looks like to take a direct hit from a tank shell in real life. You can see it blast out of the barrel and head straight for your face.
So this is completely terrifying. In a holy crap wait a minute this isn't a video game right kind of way. No, no it is not. This is what it looks like to take a direct hit from a tank shell in real life. You can see it blast out of the barrel and head straight for your face.
Transhumanist
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What it looks like to get hit in the face with a tank shell
So this is completely terrifying. In a holy crap wait a minute this isn't a video game right kind of way. No, no it is not. This is what it looks like to take a direct hit from a tank shell in real life. You can see it blast out of the barrel and head straight for your face.
Holy sh**!!!
indiatester
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Whats the distance between the tank and the camera?What it looks like to get hit in the face with a tank shell
So this is completely terrifying. In a holy crap wait a minute this isn't a video game right kind of way. No, no it is not. This is what it looks like to take a direct hit from a tank shell in real life. You can see it blast out of the barrel and head straight for your face.
This is terrifying.
SvenSvensonov
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This 200-Trillion Watt Laser Produces Plasma Hotter Than The Sun
It’s amazing that scientists can recreate natural phenomena in labs experiments, including plasma many times hotter than the center of our own sun. In the middle of the photo above you can see a little star, white hot plasma produced by a 200-trillion watt laser.
The photo shows the Trident Laser at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. And honestly, “hot” is an understatement. The lab explains the experiment:
Invisible infrared light from the 200-trillion watt Trident Laser enters from the bottom to interact with a one-micrometer thick foil target in the center of the photo. The laser pulse produces a plasma — an ionized gas — many times hotter than the center of the sun, which lasts for a trillionth of a second. During this time some electrons from the foil are accelerated to virtually the speed of light, and some ions are accelerated to energies of tens of millions of volts.
In this time-integrated image, one sees many colorful plasmas that result from the collisions of energetic X-rays and particles with nearby surfaces. Various diagnostic devices located around the edge of the image are illuminated by the plasmas. The green light is caused by the second harmonic of the laser, and is produced by a nonlinear process taking place at the laser-plasma interface. Bits of debris from the target are seen as orange streaks of light, some of which ricochet from the surrounding environment, and some of which produce a colorful dance of twisted braids as they spin in flight.
It’s amazing that scientists can recreate natural phenomena in labs experiments, including plasma many times hotter than the center of our own sun. In the middle of the photo above you can see a little star, white hot plasma produced by a 200-trillion watt laser.
The photo shows the Trident Laser at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. And honestly, “hot” is an understatement. The lab explains the experiment:
Invisible infrared light from the 200-trillion watt Trident Laser enters from the bottom to interact with a one-micrometer thick foil target in the center of the photo. The laser pulse produces a plasma — an ionized gas — many times hotter than the center of the sun, which lasts for a trillionth of a second. During this time some electrons from the foil are accelerated to virtually the speed of light, and some ions are accelerated to energies of tens of millions of volts.
In this time-integrated image, one sees many colorful plasmas that result from the collisions of energetic X-rays and particles with nearby surfaces. Various diagnostic devices located around the edge of the image are illuminated by the plasmas. The green light is caused by the second harmonic of the laser, and is produced by a nonlinear process taking place at the laser-plasma interface. Bits of debris from the target are seen as orange streaks of light, some of which ricochet from the surrounding environment, and some of which produce a colorful dance of twisted braids as they spin in flight.
SvenSvensonov
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Saving Coral Reefs With... Electrified Rocks?
Biorocks might be the prettiest forms of environmental remediation you’ll ever see. Part art, part science, these artificial structures are slowly helping coral recover from environmental devastation.
The BBC recently profiled Gili Trawangan, a small island in Indonesia perhaps best known for these biorocks. The biorocks begin as naked metal sculptures of rebar and wire mesh, in shapes that include “giant steel manta rays, pyramids, planes, dolphins, whale sharks, lizards and turtles.” Once in the water, a weak current is passed through them. The electricity draws out ions dissolved in the water, such as calcium and magnesium, which form a hard coating around the metal.
The electrified biorocks essentially speed up the process of building reefs, which are naturally made of calcium carbonate. Divers also transplant injured coral to these structures, coaxing them back to health. As a coral reefs grow out of the metal, they become habitats for fish and small crustaceans.
With the technology working on waters near shore, the Gili Eco Trust is now looking to expand electric biorocks into the open ocean. The hang up? A power source for the electricity. To read about more the efforts to harness tidal power, check out the story at BBC Future.
Biorocks might be the prettiest forms of environmental remediation you’ll ever see. Part art, part science, these artificial structures are slowly helping coral recover from environmental devastation.
The BBC recently profiled Gili Trawangan, a small island in Indonesia perhaps best known for these biorocks. The biorocks begin as naked metal sculptures of rebar and wire mesh, in shapes that include “giant steel manta rays, pyramids, planes, dolphins, whale sharks, lizards and turtles.” Once in the water, a weak current is passed through them. The electricity draws out ions dissolved in the water, such as calcium and magnesium, which form a hard coating around the metal.
The electrified biorocks essentially speed up the process of building reefs, which are naturally made of calcium carbonate. Divers also transplant injured coral to these structures, coaxing them back to health. As a coral reefs grow out of the metal, they become habitats for fish and small crustaceans.
With the technology working on waters near shore, the Gili Eco Trust is now looking to expand electric biorocks into the open ocean. The hang up? A power source for the electricity. To read about more the efforts to harness tidal power, check out the story at BBC Future.
SvenSvensonov
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Watch the furthest flight ever flown on a real life hoverboard
The Guinness World Records says that Catalina Alexandru Duru just pulled off the farthest flight ever traveled on a real life hoverboard: 905 feet and 2 inches. You can see him rise up 16 feet in the air on the hoverboard and then start cruising through the air over a lake with nothing but invisible underneath him in the video below.
The hoverboard Duru uses is more like a super powerful quadcopter-type hoverboard and not a hoverboard in the Back to the Future sense but it’s still pretty awesome. And also, the added bonus of not using BTTF-style? This one works over water.
The Guinness World Records says that Catalina Alexandru Duru just pulled off the farthest flight ever traveled on a real life hoverboard: 905 feet and 2 inches. You can see him rise up 16 feet in the air on the hoverboard and then start cruising through the air over a lake with nothing but invisible underneath him in the video below.
The hoverboard Duru uses is more like a super powerful quadcopter-type hoverboard and not a hoverboard in the Back to the Future sense but it’s still pretty awesome. And also, the added bonus of not using BTTF-style? This one works over water.
Hamartia Antidote
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SvenSvensonov
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Genetic Engineers Are Building a Biological Kill Switch
The fear of genetically-modified creatures escaping from the lab is the basis for a thousand sci-fi stories, but it’s also a legitimate concern. That’s why genetic engineers are inventing kill switches, or genetically-encoded suicide triggers, for GMOs they want to keep contained. Here’s how they work.
Why we need kill switches
When we talk about GMOs now, we usually mean genetically modified food: corn, soybeans, canola, extra-crisp apples. While GM crops have occasionally spread into the wild, plants are, relatively speaking, easy to contain.
But what about a GM mosquito that can fly away? Or microscopic GM bacteria oozing through the ground? Once such organisms escape, there’s really no going back. And these aren’t far-fetched scenarios. Scientists are already investigating ways to mobilize GM bacteria to clean up toxic spills. And the mosquito scenario is already happening — we’ve been using sterile GM mosquitos to stop the spread of dengue fever. What we don’t want is an unintended ecological disaster, as GM organisms and their genes spread through the environment.
What’s to stop it? A kill switch, or a piece of genetic code that kills the GM organism when its job is done. Kill switches have already been developed to confine lab-made GMOs to the lab. But if we’re going to purposely release GMOs into the wild, we’ll need more sophisticated kill switches. And they are coming.
Get ‘em hooked on a lab chemical
A kill switch is basically a lethal piece of genetic code that be easily switched on or off. The trigger could be a change in the environment, such as heat or cell density. The most common strategy, though, is basically chemical dependence: Feed the GMO a lab chemical that it can’t get in the wild. Then make the GMO’s life dependent on it. If the GMO escapes into the outside world, it dies without its chemical.
We’re already using this kind of kill switch right now. Genetically modified Aedes aegyptimosquitoes are used to fight dengue fever. The company Oxitec has experimented with releasing these mosquitos, which need tetracycline to survive. Tetracycline is better known as an antibiotic, but it plays very different role for these modified mosquitos.
Oxitec has inserted in its mosquitos a genetic sequence that includes a protein called tTa, or tetracycline transactivator. The genetic sequence is engineered in such a way that once tTa is activated, it causes the cell to keep making more and more of the protein—leading to the runway production of tTA. tTa then gunks up the cellular machinery, eventually killing the mosquito.
Tetracycline acts like an antidote to tTA. Oxitec raises male mosquitos with the tTA and feeds them tetracycline. Once released into the wild, they die without the antibiotic—but not before mating and passing the tTa genes off to offspring that can’t live without tetracycline either. It’s pretty ingenious.
What’s still missing: The tTa system might work with mosquitos, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution to GMOs. That’s especially true for GM bacteria, which might be the wiliest of them all.
For one, bacteria evolve very quickly, in part because they have the special ability to suck up DNA they encounter in the environment. A kill switch that relies on, say, a GM bacteria’s inability to metabolize a single vital nutrient might be easily foiled if it picks up that relevant gene. This also means that killing a GM bacteria might not be enough to prevent its genes from spreading. If its modified DNA sticks around, other bacteria in the environment might pick it up.
That’s why this year, scientists have suggested two new strategies. They both still involve a chemical trigger, but they add another piece to the puzzle.
Synthetic amino acids
One strategy takes synthetic nutrients one step further to synthetic amino acids, the very molecules that are the building blocks of proteins. Earlier this year, scientists announced they were able to create E. coli that take up synthetic amino acids by actually modifying translation, the process by which our cells read the genetic code of RNA to make proteins.
Translation usually works like this. Every three letters of RNA makes up a codon, which corresponds to one of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins. Codons are redundant, so that more than one codon can code for the same amino acid. There are also three stop codons (UAG, UAA, UGA) that all signal the end of a protein. Scientists took one of these stop codons (UAG) and assigned it to a 21st amino acid—a synthetic one. Then they redesigned essential proteins in the cell to include this synthetic amino acid. Take away this synthetic amino acid, and the cell can no longer survive. It also can’t as readily pass on its genes to other bacteria, since this tinkers with the very process of making proteins.
Self-destructing DNA
This week, scientists announced a new type of kill switch that kills the genetically modified organism (GMO) and erases its modified genes. It uses CRISPR, a hot new tool in molecular biology right now. The CRISPR system has an enzyme that cuts target DNA very precisely.
In a new study, scientists specially engineered E. coli with genes for CRISPR that only become active in the presence of a sugar called arabinose. Once the bacteria sense arabinose, the CRISPR machinery comes alive, chewing up DNA to kill the cell. Its CRISPR system can also be tweaked to erase manmade DNA sequences, keeping them out of the environment and also keep them secret in case of, you now, trade secrets.
In the cases of both synthetic amino acids and self-destructing DNA, the recent studies are proofs of concept, and it’ll be years before the technology is ready for primetime. But scientists are definitely thinking about how to contain genetically modified organisms. More sophisticated GMOs are coming, and we’ll need more sophisticated ways to contain them.
I always thought that this was spam. Who knew it was an actual service?
The fear of genetically-modified creatures escaping from the lab is the basis for a thousand sci-fi stories, but it’s also a legitimate concern. That’s why genetic engineers are inventing kill switches, or genetically-encoded suicide triggers, for GMOs they want to keep contained. Here’s how they work.
Why we need kill switches
When we talk about GMOs now, we usually mean genetically modified food: corn, soybeans, canola, extra-crisp apples. While GM crops have occasionally spread into the wild, plants are, relatively speaking, easy to contain.
But what about a GM mosquito that can fly away? Or microscopic GM bacteria oozing through the ground? Once such organisms escape, there’s really no going back. And these aren’t far-fetched scenarios. Scientists are already investigating ways to mobilize GM bacteria to clean up toxic spills. And the mosquito scenario is already happening — we’ve been using sterile GM mosquitos to stop the spread of dengue fever. What we don’t want is an unintended ecological disaster, as GM organisms and their genes spread through the environment.
What’s to stop it? A kill switch, or a piece of genetic code that kills the GM organism when its job is done. Kill switches have already been developed to confine lab-made GMOs to the lab. But if we’re going to purposely release GMOs into the wild, we’ll need more sophisticated kill switches. And they are coming.
Get ‘em hooked on a lab chemical
A kill switch is basically a lethal piece of genetic code that be easily switched on or off. The trigger could be a change in the environment, such as heat or cell density. The most common strategy, though, is basically chemical dependence: Feed the GMO a lab chemical that it can’t get in the wild. Then make the GMO’s life dependent on it. If the GMO escapes into the outside world, it dies without its chemical.
We’re already using this kind of kill switch right now. Genetically modified Aedes aegyptimosquitoes are used to fight dengue fever. The company Oxitec has experimented with releasing these mosquitos, which need tetracycline to survive. Tetracycline is better known as an antibiotic, but it plays very different role for these modified mosquitos.
Oxitec has inserted in its mosquitos a genetic sequence that includes a protein called tTa, or tetracycline transactivator. The genetic sequence is engineered in such a way that once tTa is activated, it causes the cell to keep making more and more of the protein—leading to the runway production of tTA. tTa then gunks up the cellular machinery, eventually killing the mosquito.
Tetracycline acts like an antidote to tTA. Oxitec raises male mosquitos with the tTA and feeds them tetracycline. Once released into the wild, they die without the antibiotic—but not before mating and passing the tTa genes off to offspring that can’t live without tetracycline either. It’s pretty ingenious.
What’s still missing: The tTa system might work with mosquitos, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution to GMOs. That’s especially true for GM bacteria, which might be the wiliest of them all.
For one, bacteria evolve very quickly, in part because they have the special ability to suck up DNA they encounter in the environment. A kill switch that relies on, say, a GM bacteria’s inability to metabolize a single vital nutrient might be easily foiled if it picks up that relevant gene. This also means that killing a GM bacteria might not be enough to prevent its genes from spreading. If its modified DNA sticks around, other bacteria in the environment might pick it up.
That’s why this year, scientists have suggested two new strategies. They both still involve a chemical trigger, but they add another piece to the puzzle.
Synthetic amino acids
One strategy takes synthetic nutrients one step further to synthetic amino acids, the very molecules that are the building blocks of proteins. Earlier this year, scientists announced they were able to create E. coli that take up synthetic amino acids by actually modifying translation, the process by which our cells read the genetic code of RNA to make proteins.
Translation usually works like this. Every three letters of RNA makes up a codon, which corresponds to one of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins. Codons are redundant, so that more than one codon can code for the same amino acid. There are also three stop codons (UAG, UAA, UGA) that all signal the end of a protein. Scientists took one of these stop codons (UAG) and assigned it to a 21st amino acid—a synthetic one. Then they redesigned essential proteins in the cell to include this synthetic amino acid. Take away this synthetic amino acid, and the cell can no longer survive. It also can’t as readily pass on its genes to other bacteria, since this tinkers with the very process of making proteins.
Self-destructing DNA
This week, scientists announced a new type of kill switch that kills the genetically modified organism (GMO) and erases its modified genes. It uses CRISPR, a hot new tool in molecular biology right now. The CRISPR system has an enzyme that cuts target DNA very precisely.
In a new study, scientists specially engineered E. coli with genes for CRISPR that only become active in the presence of a sugar called arabinose. Once the bacteria sense arabinose, the CRISPR machinery comes alive, chewing up DNA to kill the cell. Its CRISPR system can also be tweaked to erase manmade DNA sequences, keeping them out of the environment and also keep them secret in case of, you now, trade secrets.
In the cases of both synthetic amino acids and self-destructing DNA, the recent studies are proofs of concept, and it’ll be years before the technology is ready for primetime. But scientists are definitely thinking about how to contain genetically modified organisms. More sophisticated GMOs are coming, and we’ll need more sophisticated ways to contain them.
I always thought that this was spam. Who knew it was an actual service?
Last edited:
SvenSvensonov
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See How SpaceX Astronauts Could Survive a Failed Launch
Two weeks ago, SpaceX successfully tested the launch abort system for its new commercial crew capsule, which is designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017. The company has just released a first-person view video recorded by cameras mounted on the Dragon capsule, so you can take a virtual ride on the capsule as it accelerates from 0-100 mph in 1.2 sec during the first critical pad abort test.
Enjoy the test footage here:
Watch again the test from the outside:
Two weeks ago, SpaceX successfully tested the launch abort system for its new commercial crew capsule, which is designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017. The company has just released a first-person view video recorded by cameras mounted on the Dragon capsule, so you can take a virtual ride on the capsule as it accelerates from 0-100 mph in 1.2 sec during the first critical pad abort test.
Enjoy the test footage here:
Watch again the test from the outside:
lol
See How SpaceX Astronauts Could Survive a Failed Launch
Two weeks ago, SpaceX successfully tested the launch abort system for its new commercial crew capsule, which is designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017. The company has just released a first-person view video recorded by cameras mounted on the Dragon capsule, so you can take a virtual ride on the capsule as it accelerates from 0-100 mph in 1.2 sec during the first critical pad abort test.
Enjoy the test footage here:
Watch again the test from the outside:
Impressive.
SvenSvensonov
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Yes I am... oh, we weren't talking about my beard
.
Haven't seen you around this thread in a while. You must be bored
.But since you're here:
Yes I am... oh, we weren't talking about my beard
Haven't seen you around this thread in a while. You must be bored
But since you're here:
LOL!
Last time i saw your beard it was short, or was it trimmed? Growing out the brown now?
And thank you for the welcome ! Really awesome thread !
.... lol.
SvenSvensonov
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No misses around to nag me, I've got a bit lazy about trimming it.However, my dogs are nagging me for a walk
. I'll be back in about 30 minutes or so
.
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