A Thing or Two

40 gorgeous photos from Apollo 11: 40 years ago on the moon

The Boston Globe is featuring 40 big, beautiful photographs called "Remembering Apollo 11" in their online gallery called The Big Picture.

This is but a mere thumbnail snapshot of the first image.

Cosmic Variance: the numbers line up

Shortly after noon on July 8, comes the moment that can be called 12:34:56 7/8/9.  In another 80 years or so, we'll have 12:34:56 7/8/90, but that's another story.

Magnetic fields made visible

In this movie:

The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries. All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries. Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent ‘whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons. Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?

Nearly five minutes, but well worth a look. Awarded Best Film at Cutting Edge at the British Animation Awards 2008. Awarded Best Experimental Film at Tirana International Film Festival 2007.

Credits: A Semiconductor film by Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt shot at the NASA Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley, California, USA.

I want a Phonautograph

This comes from the New York Times:

Researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades.

The 10-second recording of a singer crooning the folk song “Au Clair de la Lune” was discovered earlier this month in an archive in Paris by a group of American audio historians. It was made, the researchers say, on April 9, 1860, on a phonautograph, a machine designed to record sounds visually, not to play them back. But the phonautograph recording, or phonautogram, was made playable — converted from squiggles on paper to sound — by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

The article includes a picture of the paper used to record the sound waves, and MP3s: one, a recognizable snippet from the folk song, and another, the playback of the 1860 phonautograph recording. Neither one is in surround sound. Jules Verne, where are you?
Link

Antikythera Mechanism

Today's issue of the journal Nature tells how researchers deciphered the inscriptions and reconstructed the gear functions on fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism, which was recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece.

The Antikythera Mechanism was created about 100 BCE to measure the rotation and position of heavenly bodies, but new high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography help us see how this early technology was a precursor to devices that could more accurately measure time, and machinery that performs work. Awesome.

Quantum Trickery: A "cat state" of mind

Here's what got my propeller spinning today: Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory - New York Times (free login required).

The more we explore quantum properties, the closer we get to knowing the real name of God. Or so I think.

(image by Akiko Nishimura for The New York Times, reprinted here without permission)

Yet another reason to love the microbrews

Research at Oregon State University is generating interest in a micronutrient, xanthohumol, that inhibits cancer-causing enzymes. The flavonoid compound is found in hops and beer made using hops. The cancer-related properties were first isolated by Oregon State 10 years ago, according to Fred Stevens, a researcher with OSU's Linus Pauling Institute and an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at Oregon State's College of Pharmacy. The press release from OSU goes on to say:

By now, quite a bit is known about the biological mechanism of action of this compound and the ways it may help prevent cancer or have other metabolic value. But even before most of those studies have been completed, efforts are under way to isolate and market it as a food supplement. A "health beer" with enhanced levels of the compound is already being developed.

"We can't say that drinking beer will help prevent cancer," Stevens said. "Most beer has low levels of this compound, and its absorption in the body is also limited. But if ways can be developed to significantly increase the levels of xanthohumol or use it as a nutritional supplement - that might be different. It clearly has some interesting cancer chemopreventive properties, and the only way people are getting any of it right now is through beer consumption."

It's possible, scientists say, that hops might be produced or genetically engineered to have higher levels of xanthohumol, specifically to take advantage of its anti-cancer properties. Some beers already have higher levels of these compounds than others. The lager and pilsner beers commonly sold in domestic U.S. brews have fairly low levels of these compounds, but some porter, stout and ale brews have much higher levels.

Xanthohumol also appears to have a role as a fairly powerful antioxidant - even more than vitamin E. And it has shown the ability to reduce the oxidation of LDL, or bad cholesterol.

The full story is available at the link below.
Link: Anti-cancer Compound in Beer Gaining Interest.

Photo property of Dave Wills, owner of Oregon Trail Brewery and Freshops, a wholesaler of hops. Used without permission.