Interesting Stuff

Tarantula

World's Largest Spider" Stalks South American Jungles
The goliath birdeater tarantula of South America is arguably the biggest spider in the world. The venomous night hunter can grow to be one foot (30 centimeters) long and sports one-inch (2.5-centimeter) fangs.
--> more (video of tarantula catching a mouse)

Nuke test brought out the love
Condom sales and pay-by-the-hour "love motel" bookings surged across South Korea after North Korea carried out its nuclear test.
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Bodybuilder

Men's Testosterone Levels Down
A new study shows a drop in average blood levels of testosterone in middle-aged Boston men over the last 20 years.
The reasons for that decline aren't clear, and participants' average testosterone levels are in the normal range, the study shows.
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Old but worth repeating. Thanks phil via max.blog.az

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Which is the original?





--> See how it is done

The scanning electron micrograph at left shows an overview of the silicon track, designed to coax the bacteria into moving in a uniform direction around the circular tracks. In the center, two cells glide along the wall in the track. The illustration at right of a circular track shows how the bacteria bind to and pull the rotor. Image credit: Yuichi Hiratsuka, et al.

New motor first to be powered by living bacteria
Yuichi Hiratsuka and his colleagues used a species of bacteria called Mycoplasma mobile to power their micromechanical motor. M. mobile, which has micrometer-sized cell body that glides continuously over solid surfaces, can move at speeds of up to 5 micrometers per second. Scientists aren't sure what causes the bacteria to move, other than that several proteins are involved, but Hiratsuka's group was still able to take advantage of the gliding ability by using entire M. mobile cells. The whole cells have been observed to work "more efficiently and intelligently" than nature's smaller motor machines (e.g., proteins and molecules), the scientists reported.
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Before


After

All this talk about fashion models and extreme dieting. How did our idea of beauty become so distorted?
--> take a look

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A Ballute

Spacecraft airbags
Ballutes – a cross between balloons and parachutes – may one day act as lightweight heat shields and braking mechanisms for cargo or even people landing on the Earth or Mars from space. The concept recently received a boost from NASA, which is funding a proposal to develop the idea.
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A photo of the sun taken by the SOHO

The SOHO (Solar & Heliospheric Observatory) project is a cooperative effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SOHO is designed to study the internal structure of the Sun, its extensive outer atmosphere and the origin of the solar wind, the stream of highly ionized gas that blows continuously outward through the Solar System. SOHO was launched on December 2, 1995.

Gallery of the best shots from SOHO

Short clip of the space craft

SOHO Home Page