Josephine's Notebook

The surreal treehoppers « Why Evolution Is True

This is a Brazilian treehopper (Bocydium globulare) and is arguably one of the most bizzare insects I’ve ever seen. Some great photos of similarly strange creatures if you click the link.

via www.sciencedaily.com

A team of researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology has developed a software tool that physicians can use to easily study the wiring of the brains of their patients. The tool converts MRI scans using special techniques to three-dimensional images. This now makes it possible to view a total picture of the winding roads and their contacts without having to operate.

Pictures of the day: 30 September 2010 - Telegraph

Gray Matter: In Which I Fully Submerge My Hand in Liquid Nitrogen | Popular Science

When I first saw this photograph of a man’s hand submerged in liquid nitrogen at somewhere below -320° F, my immediate thought was, “That guy must be crazy! One second in that stuff, and you’re shopping for new skin!” My shock was tempered only slightly by the fact that it was my hand, and we’d taken the picture just a minute earlier.

Most detailed image of a sunspot caught on camera | Mail Online

Researchers at Big Bear Solar Observatory have captured this image of a sunspot that is now the most detailed ever captured in visible light. Each of the irregular-sized shapes around the sunspot itself are around 1000km across. The diameter of Earth is around 12,000km, meaning the sunspot is probably much larger than our own planet

readmorewikipedia:

The Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 4th century BC, during the time period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950 buried in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, which preserved his body. Such a find is known as a bog body.

The head and face were so well-preserved that he was mistaken at the time of discovery for a recent murder victim.

(via sawtooth)

2,400 years old and you can see the wrinkles on his eyes and the stubble on his chin… amazing.

MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

Earth and Moon from 114 Million Miles

APOD: 2010 August 2 - Prometheus Creating Saturn Ring Streamers

Explanation:  What’s causing those strange dark streaks in the rings of Saturn? Prometheus. Specifically, an orbital dance involving Saturn’s moon Prometheus keeps creating unusual light and dark streamers in the F-Ring of Saturn. Now Prometheus orbits Saturn just inside the thin F-ring, but ventures into its inner edge about every 15 hours. Prometheus’ gravity then pulls the closest ring particles toward the 80-km moon. The result is not only a stream of bright ring particles but also a dark ribbon where ring particles used to be. Since Prometheus orbits faster than the ring particles, the icy moon pulls out a new streamer every pass. Above, several streamers or kinks are visible at once. The above photograph was taken in June by the robotic Cassini Spacecraft orbiting Saturn. The oblong moon Prometheus is visible on the far left.