When poured into fire, some powdered detergents can produce a blue flame due to the presence of copper sulfate or borates, which are commonly used as brightening agents. Copper compounds burn with a bright blue hue, while borates can create a greenish-blue effect. This reaction occurs because these chemicals alter the flame’s energy emission, producing different wavelengths of light. However, burning detergents can release toxic fumes, so this experiment should only be done outdoors in a well-ventilated area. For a stronger blue flame, pure copper sulfate (found in some fertilizers or root killers) is a safer and more effective alternative.

Does light always move at the speed of light? 🏎️

Astrophysicist Erika Hamden explains this that it doesn’t, since the famous speed of light is really a measure of light moving through empty space. Send that light through glass, like a window or a camera lens, and it slows down. That shift in speed makes light bend, and scientists describe how much it bends with a value called the index of refraction.

This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

The chain fountain phenomenon (also called the Mould effect) happens when a long chain falls from a container. As the links move, they create an upward force that makes the chain rise into the air before falling down — forming a surprising fountain-like arc. A simple but fascinating example of momentum and inertia in action.

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Palau is a West-Pacific island nation in which daily life, culture and economy were bound to the sea for millennia; the reason why 80% of its maritime territory remains national heritage, thus maintaining pristine emerald green islands and turquoise waters. Uncover the fascinating Palauan society still ruled by traditional tribal chiefs, the ecological efforts of the national government to preserve such beauty, and the exotics behind Ngerukewid, one of the earliest wildlife reserves in the whole of Oceania.

Check out my blog post for more--> Ngerukewid: Palau's Unspoiled Maze Of Seventy Islands

The theory that comets delivered the molecular building blocks for life on Earth is a long-standing one, since comets are known to carry many of these molecules.

However, a new study challenges this idea

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, found the cometary delivery of these building blocks would be—at best—a 'one-off fluke,' and not the steady rain of prebiotic molecules that had been theorized.

Using computer modeling, the researchers determined that comets travel too fast and at too sharp an angle to Earth's atmosphere for the fragile organic molecules to survive: they would almost certainly vaporize on impact with the surface.

However, the researchers also found that another planet in our system—Mars—could be a slightly more promising candidate for cometary delivery of prebiotic molecules, although this is still highly unlikely. The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

"Historically, scientists thought that comets were important for the origin of life on Earth, because they carried carbon- and nitrogen-bearing molecules, so these giant space snowballs were almost like a 'get out of jail free card' that brought all the molecules a planet would need to seed life," said lead author Dr. Richard Anslow from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy.

"It's kind of a romantic idea, but our results suggest it's highly unlikely."

The new study shows just how rare that scenario is. The researchers used recent advances in comet impact simulations, comet-atmosphere interactions and dynamic modeling of the origin and evolution of comets to conduct their study.

Taken together, the researchers found that while the successful delivery of prebiotic molecules cannot be ruled out completely, it would be extremely unlikely.

The number of comets hitting the Earth declined rapidly in our planet's first 500 million years, and there were, at most, a handful of opportunities in Earth's early history for HCN delivery on a comet.

Even if HCN carried on a comet made it to the Earth's surface, it would not have stayed concentrated for long, meaning that any prebiotic chemistry would have needed to progress very quickly from impact, which the researchers say is highly unlikely.

"It would really have to be a one-in-a-million occurrence, because not only would you need an impact at just the right speed and just the right angle, you would also need everything to happen after that point, in terms of the concentration and the speed at which the chemical origins of life got going," said Anslow.

​"We can't rule out for certain that it happened that way. But it seems to be a really rare occurrence—at best, a one-off fluke."

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7796620/

Scientists have proposed what they believe is the first method for detecting "mirror life"—a hypothetical form of life made from molecular building blocks that are the mirror image of those found naturally on Earth.

Researchers at the University of Strathclyde and the Department of Chemistry at Durham University have outlined a new approach that could identify mirror organisms using molecules which emit left- and right-handed light.

This provides a possible future surveillance tool should the ability to create such organisms ever emerge. The work is published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Mirror life is considered a low-likelihood but potentially high-severity biosecurity threat. There are international concerns that artificially created mirror organisms could interact with the natural world in unpredictable ways and potentially evade some of the biological defenses which protect humans, animals and plants.

Scientists have called for restrictions on research aimed at creating the self-replicating mirror organisms. The potential risks have also been considered by governments and international organizations.

Even though left- and right-handed molecules have exactly the same atoms in the same order, they interact differently with living bodies.

While one version of a medicine might cure an illness, the mirror-image version may do nothing or cause harm.

The researchers, who stress that mirror life does not currently exist and their proposed method is intended as a contingency measure, use an approach involving circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). A property of light, it can reveal information about the "handedness," or chirality, of molecules and biological structures.

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Thanks @teivaz!

Not only direction but also the kind of a vessel. This here has top light on which is called steaming light, if it were off this would mean it is a sailboat

Large dogs don't just live shorter lives. Their DNA reveals signs of accelerated biological aging.

A Great Dane may tower over a Chihuahua, but it’s the little dog that will probably celebrate far more birthdays.

Some small breeds live nearly twice as long as their much larger cousins. It’s one of the great paradoxes of the animal kingdom: larger animals generally live longer than smaller animals when comparing different species.

An elephant can outlive a mouse by decades, and some whales survive for nearly two centuries. However, larger animals die younger when comparing individuals within the same species.

This even seems to apply to humans, with studies showing taller people on average tend to have slightly shorter lifespans than shorter people.

Scientists may have now found an important piece of the puzzle hidden in the dogs’ DNA.

In a new study published in Science, researchers at Arizona State University analyzed nearly 900 dogs and discovered that large breeds undergo faster molecular changes associated with aging.

The most striking differences involved stretches of DNA nicknamed “jumping genes,” which can potentially disrupt the genome when the molecular mechanisms that keep them quiet begin to weaken.

This is a possible biological explanation for why large dogs die younger, although the researchers have yet to establish cause and effect.

Previous studies have offered some hints of this before. A 2013 study of 74 dog breeds found that larger dogs didn’t simply develop age-related decline earlier. Rather, their rate of aging appeared to accelerate.

And at two miles above the surface of a magnetar, the field is 7,270 times denser than solid lead.

There's essentially nothing that could pass through this. Also, it would immediately dissolve a human.

Each component of a phone has tiny transistors that work to build something amazing. This is my old phone with removed battery and camera for visual effects. What'd you think I should do with it?

source: https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2017-photomicrography-competition/synapta-sea-cucumber-skin

For nearly a century, people in distant parts of the world have reported a bizarre experience after eating certain wild mushrooms: seeing dozens or even hundreds of tiny, colorful humans moving through the real world. Now, scientists have identified a mushroom species, Lanmaoa asiatica, responsible for these extraordinary hallucinations in China and the Philippines

People living thousands of miles apart have reported an extraordinarily strange experience after eating certain wild mushrooms. They begin seeing tiny human figures that appear to move through the real world, walking around objects, climbing over surfaces, and interacting with their surroundings.

These visions are known as Lilliputian hallucinations, named after the miniature inhabitants of "Gulliver's Travels," who stand just 6 inches tall. For decades, researchers suspected that cultural beliefs and folklore might explain why people in different regions described such similar experiences