Researchers to use lasers to control weeds.
German researchers are developing a system to use lasers to control weeds, as a safer alternative to toxic herbicides. Using laser beams directed at the growth centre of plants they can be effectively controlled, without the risk of contaminating food with toxins, and without spray drifting onto nearby people or waterways.
Challenges the team need to overcome include being able to correctly identify and target weeds, and adjusting the intensity of radiation precisely for each plant - if the levels are too low it can actually encourage growth. The technology uses beams in the mid-infrared range.
At this stage the system runs on rails in a greenhouse. To take it out into the field the team says “trailers are out of the question”, as it would be impossible to aim precisely due to the vibrations. “We are currently investigating the use of drones – little robots that would swarm over the field”.
(via 8bitfuture)
Tatiana Plakhova: BIO Patterns
Complexity Graphics illustrations combine the trends of multiple areas of design, such as information, math design and infographics, and brings elements from science, energetics, space, various kinds of “nets”, cultural patterns and biology.
(via thescienceofreality)
(Source: shinraco, via otakugangsta)
Dark Matter Could Play a Role in Creating Life in The Universe
First Image : A Hubble Space Telescope image of Dark Matter mapped in a 3d representation.
Second Image: Abel 1689 galaxy cluster.
Dark matter makes up the majority of mass in our universe. However, we cannot directly measure the stuff as it doesn’t interact with electromagnetic radiation (i.e. it doesn’t emit or reflect any light), but we can indirectly observe its presence. In the Hubble Space Telescope image above, the distribution of mostly dark matter has been calculated and mapped. Basically, the location and density of anything with mass has been plotted in a 3D representation of the cosmos.
A 2011 study suggests that mysterious, invisible dark matter could warm millions of starless planets in regions such as Abell 1689 (image below) and make them habitable.
Scientists think the invisible, as-yet-unidentified dark matter which we know exists because of the gravitational effects it has on galaxies, makes up about 85 percent of all matter in the universe. Current prime candidates for what dark matter might be are massive particles that only rarely interact with normal matter.These particles could be their own antiparticles, meaning they annihilate each other when they meet, releasing energy. These invisible particles could get captured by a planet’s gravity and unleash energy that could warm that world, according to physicist Dan Hooper and astrophysicist Jason Steffen at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.Hooper and Steffen’s propose that rocky “super-Earths” in regions with high densities of slow-moving dark matter could be warmed enough to keep liquid water on their surfaces, even in the absence of additional energy from starlight or other sources.The density of dark matter is expected to be hundreds to thousands of times greater in the innermost regions of the Milky Way and in the cores of dwarf spheroidal galaxies than it is in our solar system.
The scientists concluded that on planets in dense “dark-matter” regions, it may be dark matter rather than light that creates the basic elements you need for organic life without a star”Now take a moment to think how this could change the way we view evolution of life on other worlds. A dark matter evolved life form definitely gives me tingling sensations just trying to think of it despite how theoretical the assertion may be.
(Source: theartofanimation, via blkfivedelta)
my life
spores!
Ever since catching up with Paul Staumets on the benefits of mycology and how it can regrow and many times replenish forests and thus lands I’ve had a growing fascination with the subject. It surprises me that it doesn’t get the science community love it deserves. It’s like the neural network of trees and many plant life.
(Source: dickiepea-blog, via scinerds)
The following is an excerpt from an article published in Harvard Magazine on July 26, 2012:
A team of Harvard scientists led by Weld professor of atmospheric chemistry James G. Anderson announced today the discovery of serious and wholly unexpected ozone loss over the United States in summer. The finding, published in advance online on July 26 at Science’s Science Express website, is startling because the complex atmospheric chemistry that destroys ozone has previously been thought to occur only at very cold temperatures over polar regions where there is very little threat to humans. (A large hole in the ozone layer persists over Antarctica.) The discovery also links—for the first time—ozone loss (an issue around which world leaders successfully organized to ban chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs) to climate change (a global problem that has so far proven politically intractable).
The ozone layer blocks a large fraction of the sun’s ultraviolet light from reaching the earth, protecting life forms from potentially damaging radiation that in humans can lead to skin cancer. But stratospheric ozone is susceptible to chemical catalysts of manmade origin, such as chlorine and bromine, which are present in the earth’s atmosphere as a result of the formerly widespread commercial use of CFCs. And the chemical reactions that destroy ozone are highly dependent on both atmospheric temperature and the presence of water vapor.
Anderson’s team has discovered that during intense summer storms over the United States, water vapor is thrust by convection far higher into the lower stratosphere than previously thought possible, altering atmospheric conditions in a way that leads to substantial, widespread ozone loss throughout the ensuing week. The paper links the loss of ozone over populated mid-latitude regions in summer to the frequency and intensity of these big storms, which could increase with climate change resulting from rising levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
(via thescienceofreality)