After many long years of research, scientists finally solve the mystery of hair ice, an amazingly beautiful frozen cotton candy-like structure that can be found in the woods.

As you can see in the picture, hair ice is a collection of very thin ice follicles, that are less than a millimeter wide, that has been found in forests on damp wood. The mysterious structure was discovered back in 1918, by geophysicist Alfred Wegener, who hypothesized that the cause of this phenomenon is related to a certain species of fungus that enables the hair ice to grow out so thin, because he observed a mycelium coating on the fine ice particles, which linked it specifically to fungi.

It has been quite a lucrative task for scientists to conduct their research on this particular phenomenon along the years, as hair ice is not exactly a common sight, because it requires a set of highly specific conditions to develop successfully. It usually develops on damp wood, but it requires a certain temperature an a certain type of humidity to thrive.

Almost 100 years after its discovery, scientists have succeeded in confirming Wegener’s fungus theory and have even managed to identify the exact species of fungus that causes this beautiful ice formation. Gerhart Wagner, a researcher from Sweden has proven that the hair ice does not form in the absence of fungus by applying a fungicide on the wood samples.

Then, a team of Swiss and German researchers have identified Exidiopsis effusa to be the species responsible for the hair ice and they have revealed that the role of the fungus is to alter the shape of the ice that is formed on the wood. They have utilized state of the art technology to pinpoint the exact species.

“The same amount of ice is produced on wood with or without fungal activity, but without this activity the ice forms a crust-like structure,” said University of Bern researcher Christian Mätzler, one of the members of the research team.

Their study was recently published in the scientific journal Biogeosciences. With the mystery of the hair ice finally solved, further research can now be conducted on this species of fungus, in order to determine the extent of its hair-like ice particle producing properties.

One thing remains clear though and that is that we will certainly be hearing more about hair ice in the future, as it is not only a miracle of nature, but a very interesting phenomenon altogether.
Image Source: sciencedaily

Elon Musk explained that the investigation that Space X has conducted on the latest rocket failure has essentially revealed that the cause was a faulty strut that was holding down a helium bottle from the rocket’s second stage.

Musk revealed that the strut that ended up causing the explosion was purchased by Space X from a contractor company, that he refused to name though. However, he believes that there are other factors that have played an essential role in the rocket failure.

A very important aspect that Elon Musk believes to have been crucial is the fact that the majority of his employees have come to Space X after 2008, when the company registered its first rocket failure. Considering that they had not actually witnessed a rocker failure situation themselves, they were not driven enough to triple check their actions upon conducting the quality control. As such, they might consider that Musk might be paranoid for imposing certain measures, but it seems that these are extremely relevant and necessary.

“Most people at the company today have only ever seen success (…) When you’ve only ever seen success, you don’t fear failure quite as much.” explained Elon Musk.

Fortunately for Space X, none of the companies that had they were supposed to work with in future launches has decided to end the collaboration. Despite the immense financial loss that this rocket failure entails, which Musk has anticipated to be in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars, the fact that Space X’s collaborators, such as NASA and Air Force, are staying on ensures that the company will be able to withstand this unfortunate episode.

The investigation regarding the happenings that have led to the failure of the rocket will be conducted by Space X, but the team will include members from NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and from the National Transportation Safety Board, who have the right to protest to anything that they might find unsatisfactory about the manner in which the investigation is being carried out.

The Space X rocket was unmanned, but it was carrying cargo worth $110 million. This included a space suit, extensive equipment that was supposed to be used for experiments and also food and water supplies.

Due to the fact that he metal strut failed to hold the helium bottle properly, it shifted from its position and caused an explosion that caused the entire rocket to break apart above the coast of Florida. This was the seventh mission that the Falcon 9 rocket was on carrying supplies to the International Space Station.

At the moment, what is left of the rocket is “at the bottom of the ocean” and Space X hopes to recover these parts it soon, by using a submarine.

It remains to be seen if the investigation will reveal new factors that might have contributed to the failure of the Falcon 9 rocket. Elon Musk has Space X specialists already working on new and improved safety measures that might prevent such things from happening in the future.
Image Source: wp.com

After its journey from Canada to Germany was a tremendous success last year, HitchBOT is making its way across the U.S. this year, all with the help of kind strangers who will give it a lift.

Project HitchBOT was initiated by Ryerson University and McMaster University, and it has been met with a great deal of enthusiasm in its first journey. The adorable robot has maintained a Facebook and Twitter account, that it has kept updated all throughout the way. As a heartwarming social experiment, the HitchBOT proves that there is some social sense left in the world and that it is truly amazing that a small child-sized robot could unite so many people cheering it along its paths.

Since Americans have closely followed HitchBOT’s Canadian travels, the researchers have decided to extend the project onto U.S. territory. At this point it remains to be seen if last year’s comments that stated that the hitchhiking robot’s success was due to the renowned kind nature of the Canadian people will be confirmed by the Americans or not.

HitchBot has set off from the Peabody Essex Museum from Salem, Massachusetts and its target destination is the famous Exploratorium museum from San Francisco. However, among its many sightseeing goals that it is planned to visit along the way are the Big Apple’s Time Square and Central Park, the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.

Provided that nothing bad happens to HitchBOT along its journey, it will provide pictures and posts on its social media pages, in order to keep fans updated, so that they may be on the look out for the friendly robotic traveler.

Despite its high-tech interior, HitchBOT’s appearance is that of a cartoonish robot, with yellow plastic gloves as its hands and happy yellow rubber boots as its feet. Its head has a very old school arcade look, but it is capable to display the adorable robot’s “feelings” as text and icons. Also, HitchBOT has a special software installed, that enables it to have short conversations with its protectors.

So, in the event that a small little robot lying on the side of the road, with a sign that reads “San Francisco or bust”, take a few minutes to stop and welcome it into your car, so that you can take place in this unique social experiment! You can take it as far as you want, but just remember to leave it in a public place, so that it might find its way to its next travel companions.
Image Source: independent.co.uk

A new study has showed that phytoplankton play a part in cloud formation by brightening the clouds. Researchers claim that phytoplankton in Southern Ocean plays an incredibly important role in cloud formation. Gusts of wind sweep phytoplankton out of their water home and involve them in water condensation. Phytoplankton helps with the formation of brighter clouds which reflect more light.

Phytoplankton is a photosynthesizing organism which can be found in the upper layer of fresh water and oceans. They cause half of the droplets that cover the Southern Ocean in summer. These organisms draw down CO2 for photosynthesis, which makes them very important for the Earth’s climate.  Besides this the new study published in the journal Science Advances shows that phytoplankton reflects four more watts of incoming solar radiation per square meter in the Southern Ocean area.

Daniel McCoy from the University of Washington was one of the researchers involved in the study. He remarked:

“The clouds over the Southern Ocean reflect significantly more sunlight in the summertime than they would without these huge plankton blooms. In the summer, we get about double the concentration of cloud droplets as we would if it were a biologically dead ocean.”

Clouds take shape when water droplets condense tiny particles such as dead microorganisms, specks of salt, dead organic matter and dust. The brightness of the cloud is influenced by the size of these particles. It seems that particles which are small form smaller droplets. This creates more surface area inside the cloud in order to reflect back incoming light from the sun. As a consequence the surface of the earth is cooler.

Co-author of the study Susannah Burrows explained that phytoplankton produces dimethyl sulfide which is transported by the wind in higher levels of the atmosphere. Afterwards it gets chemically transformed and produces aerosols. This occurs in the northern part of the domain, whereas in the southern part the organics have more effect since the phytoplankton bloom happens there. This process doubles the droplet concentration during summer.

The researchers managed to make this discovery with the help of a NASA instrument which was invented about ten years ago.  The device, called an imaging spectroradiometer, was used to analyze the size of the droplets and led to this discovery.

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Scientists have discovered a revolutionary method to keep electronics cool. 3D white graphene structures are an excellent means of keeping temperatures down.

White graphene is actually boron nitride and it is different from the carbon-based graphene. Shortly after graphene films have been proved to show a tremendous capacity of keeping electronics cool in a research project conducted at the Chalmers University of Technology, a team of researchers from Rice University have found a new and improved method that provides even better results.

The graphene film method uses multiple graphene layers that are glued together with a specialized adhesive substance. The Chalmers team has based its project on the hypothesis that if one layer of graphene can successfully keep temperatures down, then several layers will be even better at doing that. This is where the Rise University team found a significant improvement.

“One of the drawbacks in electronics, especially when you have layered materials on a substrate, is that heat moves very quickly in one direction, along a conductive plane, but not so good from layer to layer. Multiple stacked graphene layers is a good example of this.” says researcher Rouzbeh Shahsavari.

And so, Rouzbeh Shahsavari and his colleague Navid Sakhavand have devised a boron nitride system that would use a loophole in this theory in order to get better results. Instead of gluing the white graphene layers one to another, the Rice team tried adding boron nitride nanotubules between them. By using a tubular structure made out of the same material as the layers themselves, the heat could be transferred much better than through layers that are glued together.

They tried different heights and widths for the nanotubules, until they found the perfect shape that could be integrated in this 3D white graphene structure. It features several layers of boron nitride that are connected by the nanotubules.

While both materials are exceptional heat conductors, white graphene has a very important advantage. It is that is a tremendous insulator, which means that it it does not conduct electricity. Graphene on the other hand is a good conductor for electricity.

The Rice University 3D white graphene method could ensure that electronic parts of various gadgets and devices will stay cool, even without the use of fanning and other space consuming methods. And this is a very import feature, since one of the aims of modern technology is to keep devices as small as possible.
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In an unusual event requiring unusual measures, more than a hundred whales are currently again about around Northen California’s coast, in a view which is both a feast for the eyes and rare enough that federal officials have issued boating warnings to pilots in the area.

Over 115 fin, blue and humpback whales have been documented in the peculiar event, during a survey which lasted a little more than an hour done near Farallon Islands, as reported by the Marin Independent Journal. The Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, has therefore issued an alert to both small boaters and large vessel captains to be wary of the hoard of whales and keep their required minimum distance to the animals.

Federal guidelines indicate that both fishermen and recreational boaters keep their vessels at least 90 meters away from members of the endangered species, so as to minimize the actual risk of colliding with them. Whales are protected against harassment by law under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, with the humpback, blue and fin whales being listed in the Endangered Species Act.

One of the more experienced sailors of those parts, dean of the Bay Area salmon fleet and at the same time captain of Sausalito’s Salty Lady, 80 year-old Roger Thomas has expressed his awe at the situation, stating that he’d never seen anything like in his decade-old sea career. He claimed to sight about 25 humpback and three blue whales during a sighting trip along the Southeast Farallon Islands.

At the same time, visitors at San Francisco’s Land End saw 10 humpback during a single just about a mile offshore, according to the Oceanic Society’s Nan Sincero.

According to specialists, the influx of whales comes after an abnormally high concentration of krill – a tiny crustacean not unlike a shrimp which is an important part of the blue whales’ diet – and also due to the presence of very numerous and distinct anchovies schools, which are the preferred diet of hunchback whales.

Image Source: CBS