1 April 2017
This incredible time-lapse microscopy by filmmaker Francis Chee shows the early development of a frog zygote (fertilized egg) over the course of 33 hours. The cells composing the zygote undergo cleavages, which are rapid cellular divisions that increase the number of cells (blastomeres) without increasing the mass. Cleavage ends with the formation of a hollow sphere of blastomeres known as the blastula.
Source: https://youtu.be/Wz4igVjNGq4
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Biology #Zygote #Frog #Development #Cellular #Cell #Division #Mitosis #Meiosis #Cleavage #Blastula #Embryo #Embryogenesis #Blastomere
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25 March 2017
Kinesin is a motor protein found in eukaryotic cells that helps transport cargo during critical cellular functions such as mitosis and meiosis. This animation depicts the proposed “hand-over-hand” walking mechanism by which the protein traverses a microtubule while carrying a cargo vesicle. The seesaw motion is caused by conformational changes during the binding and hydrolysis of the high-energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Because microtubules are polar, motor proteins are only capable of traveling in a specific direction. Most kinesins move from the center of the cell towards the periphery.
Source: https://goo.gl/jdkgy9 (XVIVO + Harvard)
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Protein #Kinesin #Microtubule #Mobility #Cell #Microscopic #Vesicle #Biology #Cellular #Biochemistry #Filaments #ATP #Cargo #Transport
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18 March 2017
This high-speed footage of an air burst detonation was captured at the Nevada National Security Site during Operation Teapot , a series of fourteen nuclear tests that took place during early 1955. This particular detonation (Turk) was the largest bomb tested during the experiment with a yield of 43-kilotons, almost three times larger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The expanding fireball can be seen violently impacting the ground as a powerful shockwave hurls debris into the air.
It is estimated that Operation Teapot released 24,500 kilocuries of radioiodine into the atmosphere, resulting in total civilian radiation exposures of 41 million person-rads of thyroid tissue exposure. This radiation exposure is estimated to have caused approximately 13,000 cases of thyroid cancer and 650 deaths.
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are working to catalogue, digitize, and declassify thousands of films featuring the United States’ nuclear weapons tests. So far, 64 declassified films have been released on YouTube featuring footage from Operations Upshot-Knothole, Castle, Teapot, Plumbbob, Hardtack I, Hardtack II, and Dominic.
Source: https://youtu.be/uYbNlgQyz84 (LLNL)
Learn More: https://goo.gl/CMC0z6
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Nuclear #Test #Atomic #Bomb #Weapon #Nevada #Shockwave #Kiloton #Yield #LawrenceLivermore #LLNL #Declassified #NationalLab #Lab #Physics #HighSpeed #Footage
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13 March 2017
The northeastern United States is currently bracing for record-breaking snowfall as a Nor ‘easter approaches the region. This macro-scale cyclone is a cold-core low-pressure system that thrives on cold air, opposite to how a hurricane thrives on warm air. Nor’easters form as warm Gulf Stream ocean current coming up from the tropical Atlantic collides with cold air coming down from Canada to form an area of intense low pressure.
These weather maps from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) depict a measurement known as potential vorticity , which is a useful metric for studying the formation and development of cyclones (cyclogenesis). Much like angular momentum, atmospheric potential vorticity must also be conserved in a system. Therefore, when a broadly spread vortex of air converges, its airspeed must increase in order to maintain potential vorticity.
Source: http://www.ensemble.ucar.edu/index.php (NCAR)
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Weather #Forecast #NCAR #NSF #Meteorology #Climate #Vorticity #Forecast #Noreaster #Northeaster #NYC #Boston #Snow #Blizzard #Cyclone #Atmosphere #Research #GulfStream #Cyclone
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11 March 2017
A couple weeks ago, +SpaceX successfully launched a cargo resupply mission from LC-39A to the International Space Station (ISS). As the Dragon CRS capsule continued onwards towards the ISS, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket performed a vertical landing at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) in Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex 39 was previously used by NASA for the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs and is now being leased by SpaceX for Falcon 9 launches.
Source: https://youtu.be/glEvogjdEVY (+SpaceX)
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Space #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Landing #Dragon #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #Aerospace #Engineering #ElonMusk
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5 March 2017
NASA announced last week the discovery of seven new exoplanets, the largest batch of Earth-size, habitable-zone planets found orbiting a single star. The Spitzer Space Telescope precisely measured the sizes, masses, densities, and orbits of the seven exoplanets located around the ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 located 40 light years away in the constellation Aquarius.
500 hours of continuous imaging revealed the existence of seven planetary bodies orbiting TRAPPIST-1. When a planet passed in front of the star, the telescope detected slight dips in brightness. The closest planet only takes only 1.5 Earth days to orbit the star whereas the furthest planet takes about 20 Earth days. The magnitude of the drop in brightness corresponds to the size of the planet, which can be used in conjunction with the orbital period to estimate the planetary mass.
Source: http://www.trappist.one/
Learn More: https://goo.gl/fGXGEI
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #NASA #Exoplanet #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Space #Spitzer #Telescope #Trappist #Exploration #Discovery #Data
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27 February 2017
The Okeanos Explorer is an exploratory vessel operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) dedicated to exploring the seabed and ocean crust. This deep-sea jellyfish was imaged during a robotic submersible dive last week in the unexplored Utu Seamount of the American Samoa. The jellyfish ‘s reproductive organs can easily be seen in yellow and the circulatory system in red.
Source: https://goo.gl/C6hmYL (NOAA)
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #NOAA #Jellyfish #Robot #Utu #Seamount #Ocean #Deep #Sea #Okeanos #Explorer #Samoa
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25 July 2016
The geocentric model is an outdated description of the solar system where the Earth is at the center of all the celestial bodies. The stars were thought to be fixed points on a celestial sphere that rotated around the Earth once a day while the planets followed complex orbits. This concept served as the predominant cosmological system in many civilizations for centuries until being replaced by the heliocentric model in the late 16th century. In contrast to geocentrism, heliocentrism claimed the Earth and other planets rotated around the Sun.
While the heliocentric model was proposed as early as 300 BC, it was not until the 16th century when a geometric mathematical model presented by Nicolaus Copernicus ushered in the Copernican Revolution. Over the course of the next century, observations by Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei helped solidify the heliocentric model as scientific fact. Further observations revealed that the Sun, although the center of the Solar System, was not the center of the galaxy or the Universe.
Source: http://goo.gl/6yw5jO
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Heliocentric #Geocentric #Solar #SolarSystem #Orbit #Earth #Planets #Centric #Galileo #Copernicus
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22 July 2016
Pyrex is a popular household glassware company that is famous for making sturdy measuring cups and containers out of borosilicate glass. However, after Corning sold the Pyrex brand in 1998, the borosilicate glass was substituted for weaker tempered soda-lime glass in the United States. While it is arguably more resilient to drops, the soda-lime glass does not handle temperature shock as well as borosilicate glass. Exposing a hot glass to a cold surface, such as a wet granite countertop, can often result in the glass violently shattering.
The Slow Mo Guys demonstrate this problem using their ultra high-speed cameras and a blowtorch. After heating the handle of a Pyrex measuring cup with the flame it shatters into pieces after being sprayed with water. In order to capture the fracturing of the glass, they had to record the footage at over 343,000 frames-per-second (13,000x faster than the human eye can see) at a resolution of 256x144. Out of the 5.1 seconds of recorded footage, the handle shattering only occupied 0.000104 seconds.
Source: https://youtu.be/xbuvcQrAOSk (The Slow Mo Guys)
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #SlowMoGuys #Pyrex #Borosilicate #Glass #Shatter #HighSpeed #FrameRate #Temperature #FPS #Quality
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14 July 2016
Wingtip vortices are circular patterns of rotating air that occur when a wing is generating lift. High pressure air from below the wing is drawn around the wingtip into the region above the wing by the pressure differential. This rotation of air around the end of the wing causes a vortex to trail from each wingtip that forms the primary component of wake turbulence , which can be extremely dangerous to other planes. The strength of wingtip vortices is determined by the weight and airspeed of the aircraft. Most modern aircraft use winglets to minimize the size of the vortices and increase efficiency by reducing induced drag.
Source: https://youtu.be/QZkggFzAtEc
#ScienceGIF #Science #GIF #Airplane #Wake #Vortex #Fluid #Dynamics #Airbus #A340 #Turbulence #Air #Wingtip #Vortices #Jetwash #Aviation
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