A Hypotrochoid Is A Roulette Traced By A Point P Attached To A Circle Of Radius B Rolling Around The

Happy #Darwin Day!

Synthetic membranes created to mimic properties of living cells

Living cells continually remodel their membranes to change their physical characteristics, a process that can affect the behavior of other biomolecules in the cell membrane.

Biochemists at the University of California San Diego have developed artificial cell membranes that grow and remodel themselves in a manner similar to that of living mammalian cells.

The achievement, detailed in a paper published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, follows the successful design last year in the same laboratory of artificial, or synthetic, cell membranes capable of sustaining continual growth. The two developments now bring the researchers closer to mimicking all of the properties of living mammalian cell membranes with synthetic components.

That’s important because synthetic membranes that accurately mimic the behavior of living mammalian cell membranes could be used by biomedical researchers to develop more effective drugs that target membrane proteins and better understand the chemical changes that occur in dysfunctional membranes during disease.

“While artificial membranes have been used to model the properties of native membranes, previous methods have not been able to mimic lipid membrane remodeling,” said Neal Devaraj, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego who headed the research team for both studies. “In our latest study, we show that reversible chemical reactions can be harnessed to achieve spontaneous remodeling of lipids in synthetic membranes.”

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#sciphy4all #science #physics #photon #black #hole #blackhole #joke

What’s Up for July 2016?

What’s Up for July? Use Saturn as your guide to a tour of the summer Milky Way.

Saturn continues to dazzle this month. Its wide rings and golden color provide a nice contrast to nearby Mars and Antares. Below Saturn lies the constellation Scorpius, which really does look like a scorpion! 

Through binoculars or telescopes you’ll be able to spot two pretty star clusters: a compact (or globular) cluster, M-4, and an open cluster, M-7. M-7 is known as Ptolemy’s cluster. It was observed and cataloged by Greek-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy in the first century.

Climbing north, you’ll be able to spot the teapot shape which forms part of the constellation Sagittarius. The center of the Milky Way is easy to see. It looks like bright steam rising from the teapot’s spout. 

With difficulty, a good star chart and a medium-sized telescope you can locate faint Pluto in the “teaspoon” adjacent to the teapot.

A binocular tour of this center core of the Milky Way reveals many beautiful summer sky objects. We first encounter the Eagle Nebula, M-16. Part of this nebula is featured in the famous and beautiful “Pillars of Creation” images taken by our Hubble Space Telescope.

You’ll have to stay up later to see the northern Milky Way constellations, which are better placed for viewing later in the summer and fall. Cygnus the swan features the prettiest supernova remnant in the entire sky, the Veil Nebula. It’s too big to fit in one eyepiece view, but luckily there are three sections of it. 

Look between Aquila and Cygnus to find three tiny constellations: Delphinus the dolphin, Vulpecula the fox and Lyra the lyre (or harp). M-57, the Ring Nebula, is the remains from a shell of ionized gas expelled by a red giant star into the surrounding interstellar medium. It’s pretty, too! Look in Vulpecula for the Dumbbell, another planetary nebula.

We’ll end our summer tour with Lacerta the lizard and Draco the Dragon. Lacerta is home to a star with an extrasolar planet in its orbit, and Draco, facing away from the center of our Milky Way, is a treasure trove of distant galaxies to catch in your telescope.

Watch the full What’s Up for July 2016 video HERE.

You can catch up on current missions and space telescopes studying our Milky Way and beyond at www.nasa.gov.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Help the Association of Astrophysics of Asea (https://www.facebook.com/astroasea/) to build an Astronomical Observatory in Asea, Arcadia, Greece! Donations made via Jump Start (http://www.jumpstartgreece.com/projects/arcadian-astronomical-observatory-astro-tourism/)! http://www.sciencephysics4all.com/902rhothetarhoalpha1/arcadian-astronomical-observatory-astro-tourism

Βοήθησε και εσύ τον Σύλλογο Αστροφυσικής Ασέας (https://www.facebook.com/astroasea/) να κατασκευάσει ένα Αστεροσκοπείο στην Ασέα Αρκαδίας! Οι δωρεές γίνονται μέσω της ιστοσελίδας Jump Start (http://www.jumpsttgreece.com/projects/arcadian-astronomical-observatory-astro-tourism/)!

Thermal Processes with Ideal Gas

Το Αιγαίο από το διάστημα! Το φαινόμενο sunglint στο Αιγαίο από το διαστημοσυσκευή MODIS της NASA via NASA Earth. Διαβάστε περισσότερα εδώ: https://goo.gl/LqUgJJ

SpaceX Just Landed a Rocket At Cape Canaveral (video at link)

While many eyes are on the rocket Kim just launched at Taylor, SpaceX was busy sending a payload up to ISS and and trying out another experimental landing of a rocket.

And SpaceX succeeded! The first stage segment of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed in Cape Canaveral only about 5 minutes after launching.

While SpaceX has been having a some success landing rockets, this is one of the first instances of it doing so while performing a NASA-contracted ISS delivery.

Τεστ γνώσεων!

Kirk vs. Spock: NASA Trivia Time!

Star Trek has inspired generations of NASA employees to boldly go exploring strange new worlds and develop the technologies for making science fiction become science reality. We recently caught up with Star Trek Beyond actors Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock) and quizzed them on some NASA trivia. Before you take a look at their answers (video at bottom of post), take a stab at answering them yourself! See how well you do: 

1. What does the first “A” in NASA stand for?  A) Adventure B) Aeronautics

2. On July 4 this year, we sent a spacecraft into orbit around what planet? A) Jupiter B) Pluto

3. What do scientists call a planet that orbits a star outside our solar system? A) Exoplanet B) Nebula

4. Although it never flew in space, what was the name of the first space shuttle? A) Discovery B) Enterprise

5. What is a light-year a measurement of? A) Time B) Distance

6. When looking for habitable worlds around other stars, we want to find planets that are what? A) Goldilocks zone planets B) Class M Planets

7. Olympus Mons is the largest known volcano in our solar system. What planet is it on? A) Mars B) Earth

8. Which NASA satellite made an appearance in Star Trek the Motion Picture? A) Voyager B) Galileo

9. Who was the first American woman in space? A) Sally Ride B) Janice Lester

10. While developing life support for Mars missions, what NASA Spinoff was developed? A) Enriched baby food B) Anti-gravity boots

11. What technology makes replication of spare parts a reality on the International Space Station? A) Closed-Loop System B) 3-D Printer

12. What two companies are contracted by NASA to carry astronauts to and from the space station? A) Boeing and SpaceX B) Amazon and Virgin Galactic

ANSWERS: 1:B, 2:A, 3:A, 4:B, 5:B, 6:A, 7:A, 8:A, 9:A, 10:A, 11:B, 12:A

Now that you’ve tested your own space knowledge, find out how Zachary and Chris did at NASA Trivia: 

Learn more about NASA + Star Trek at: http://www.nasa.gov/startrek

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

- Excuse me. For the fractal geometry? - At the end of the corridor.