“Science Nation Army” - Inside Knowledge Blog.
This is a Seven Nation Army cover using things found in a laboratory. It’s awesomeness made, if possible, even more awesome!
Trapping Lightning
The above image is of a Lichtenberg Figure which is both a real life example of a branching fractal and also the result of electrical discharge (double awesome). These “lightning trees” are created by the movement of electricity through an insulator such as plexiglass. As the electricity discharges it alters the structure of the insulator which causes its path to be clearly outlined and preserved within the material. This of course is a great way of analyzing the shapes of plasma filaments and was an important step in plasma science.
Lichtenberg figures can also often be found burnt across the skin of lightning strike victims or people who were in the vicinity of a lightning strike. Which as uncomfortable as it sounds seems pretty awesome to me.
If the Life of the Earth was reduced to a 24 hour clock
Underground river discovered beneath the Amazon
Subterranean river is nearly as long as the Amazon River and is twice as broad.
A newly discovered alien planet that formed from a dead star is a real diamond in the rough.
The super-high pressure of the planet, which orbits a rapidly pulsing neutron star, has likely caused the carbon within it to crystallize into an actual diamond, a new study suggests.
The composition of the planet, which is about five times the size of Earth, is not its only outstanding feature.
Picture of the forepart of a mite. It was taken with an electronic microscope and won the 3rd place of the 2011 FEI Owner Image Contest.
Picture of the capillary net of an alveolus, showing the erythrocytes within the blood vessels. Taken with an electronic microscope, it won the second place of the 2011 FEI Owner Image Contest.
Picture of a microscopic crack in a piece steel after multiple bending tests taken with an electronic microscope. It won the 2011 FEI Owner Image Contest.
