Two New Jupiter Moons Discovered

Cosmologists and astronomers recently released a new model of our early solar system that has Jupiter and Saturn wildly careening through a variety of orbits. In theory the two gas giants roared in towards the sun on a vane of gas, terrorizing the then-developing rocky planet Mars. The gas ran out before Jupiter was swallowed up by the sun, but her path through the inner solar system may have messed everything up, orbitally speaking.

Where The Solar System Came From

Imagine you’re standing over a bathtub full of water, looking down. A bubble slips from around the drain at the bottom and slowly, lazily works it way to the surface. The bubble follows a path through the water, but it takes time to get from the drain to the surface.

Elements of Life

Humans are complex multicellular organisms. As such a person requires many nutrients, minerals and amino acids to function at peak efficiency. These can be provided by food and it is through food that other components such as vitamins are created. Dietary intake is important to sustain the life of the human body. In a diet there are a few necessary components which are required by the body.

Celestial Events to Add to a Skywatching Calendar

May 6 – Haley’s Comet Meteor Shower

On May 6 early risers will be able to experience the return of Halley’s Comet. The best watch time is just before dawn. A seventy six year cycle, the early birds will get to see the dynamic event of profuse activity produced by a type of sand that this comet sheds in its path of orbit, along with blazing meteorites crossing the night sky. This is a once in a lifetime event for most people.



Image via Wikipedia

As many people know, famed author and satirist, Mark Twain was born on the year of Haley’s comet. He always said that by the next time this famous comet comes around, he would be leaving the same way he arrived on earth. He passed away the day after.

Mysterious Dwarf Planet Haumea Might Have Been a Major

The rules for being a major planet are simple; it must orbit the sun, it must have enough gravitational pull to form a spherical shape, and it must clear its orbital path of major debris. That last rule is the one that knocked poor Pluto into the dwarf league.

Sad though Pluto’s plight may be, it is nothing compared to that of Haumea, discovered in 2003. Haumea orbits the sun in the Kuiper Belt, that vast field of planetary bits and pieces that lies beyond the orbit of Neptune.

Here Comes the Sun

Haumea is about as big as Pluto, but only on her longest side. She isn’t round, but football shaped – a tapered cylinder 1,200 miles tall. And she tumbles end-over-end, making a complete tumble about once every four hours. Standing at one of the poles you’d see the sun, from there a very bright star, rise from below and in front of you, soar overhead, and set below and behind you.

Endangered Species – Birds – Part Two

Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)

Status: Near-threatened (IUCN), Endangered (ESA)



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The resplendent quetzal is a forest bird, regarded as one of the most beautiful bird in the western hemisphere due to its colorful plumage. It usually stays high in the canopy of the cloud forests of Central America (from Southern Mexico to Panama). Since the quetzal has been designated as Guatemala’s national bird, the cloud forests are now protected in various areas in Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica in the hope that its population will eventually stabilize.

Endangered Species – Birds – Part One

Crested Honeycreeper (Palmeria dolei)

Status: Critically endangered (IUCN), Endangered (ESA)



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The crested honeycreeper, called the ’akohekohe in Hawaiian, is a small songbird that were once common on the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Maui. It has been extinct on Molokai since 1907. On Maui, it is confined to a narrow area of upland rain forest. Its population decline is attributable to the introduction of non-native plants that outgrew plants that it normally feeds on, and animals that grazed on the bird’s food sources. Large areas of its forest habitat have also been cleared to create farms and other human settlements.

Nasa Spots Asteroid Collision

Scheila, officially called 596 Scheila, is about 70 miles in diameter – that’s miniscule by planetary standards but a significant size when compared to many objects in the Asteroid Belt. The Asteroid Belt is that vast, rocky plain that orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Astronomers noticed in late November that Scheila suddenly and noticeably brightened – doubled in intensity and took on a comet-like glow. Telescopes and instruments were quickly brought to bear on the event.

Five Great Ways That Your Body Will Amaze You

The human body is a complex structure that is designed to accomplish that task that is sustain life. How life is sustained is itself fascinating. However, there are a few things fir the obvious to obscure that give an interesting take on how the body works.
1. Acid Production

When it produces HCl for your stomach it does so in two separate parts. It produces hydrogen ions in the cell using an enzyme then it releases that ion into the lumen of the stomach via a channel and gradient. Cl ions then meet the H ion there as they are carried there through the cell from the bloodstream. Once them meet stomach acid is formed.

Space Shuttle Endeavor to Retire

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The space shuttles are arguably some of the most successful aircraft in history, let alone most successful spacecraft. Their unique ability to glide from the very top of the atmosphere and land on a conventional runway qualifies them as aircraft, while, of course, their ability to orbit the planet makes them spacecraft as well.

Endeavor (officially designated OV-105) has done a masterful job of transferring goods and people from earth to the International Space Station and back. She shows well over 116 million miles on the odometer, and has orbited the Earth over 4,423 times. She’s docked with the Russian space station Mir once and with the International Space Station 11 times.

Urban Wilderness: Humans and Wild Animals in The City

Urban Wilderness: Humans and Wild Animals in The City: "


The wild creatures that occupy the urban wilderness are not like the wild creatures that live in the natural wilderness away from people. They won’t eat the same food drink from the same streams, climb the same trees, build their nests from the same materials, den in the same hollows or interact with man in the same manner as normal wild animals do. While they may look alike, keep in mind that they’re not the same, at least not in their manner of thinking or habits.

Endangered Species – Insects

Endangered Species – Insects: "

Australian Ant (Nothomyrmecia macrops)

Status: Critically endangered (IUCN)



Image source

Australian ants, also known as the Dinosaur ants, are found only in the Australian state of South Australia, and occupy several sites in an area measuring less than 0.4 square mile. Major threats to their survival include habitat destruction due to increasing population in the Australian ant’s limited range and bush fires at night. Although small in size, measuring only about 0.4 inch long, workers are able to carry large prey such as a caterpillar.

Endangered Species – Arachnids

Endangered Species – Arachnids: "

Bee Creek Cave Harvestman (Texella reddelli)

Status: Endangered (ESA)



Often called daddy longlegs, harvestmen are slow-moving predatory eyeless spiders that inhabit the underground caves of Texas. The primary threat to the harvestmen and other cave invertebrates in the area is the loss of habitat due to rapid urban expansion, resulting in many caves having been paved over or filled in.

Einstein Provides View of Ancient Object

Einstein Provides View of Ancient Object: "
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted it first. The W.M. Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea confirmed the results. The light coming from a tiny galaxy 13.5 billion light years away was not the most distant ever seen, but it was the oldest.

The distant galaxy in question appears to be quite mature – light emitted from it shows the spectra of fully formed and mature stars. It is the age of the galaxy that has physicists and astronomers scratching their heads: the Big Bang is theorized to have happened 13.7 billion years ago. The newly found galaxy appears to have formed just 200 thousand years after that. The galaxy is the oldest object, and conversely the youngest, spotted to date. Even though the thing is 13.5 billion years old, astronomers refer to it as young because it developed at the very beginning of the known universe, when all that we know and understand was young.

Roots and Shoots in a Plant World

Roots and Shoots in a Plant World: "
In general the three main components to a plant are the root system, the shoot system, and the leaves. In general the roots collect nutrients and the shoot collects carbon dioxide. Working together these systems allow for plant growth to exist under multiple conditions.

Most roots have a section called a taproot and a lateral roots which are analogous to the tributaries of a river. The roots help to hold a plant in the soil while preventing soil erosion. It is also common for the roots to make up most of a plants mass and streach for large distances underground. In many places the roots of a plant will allow a plant to reappear after a situation such as a fire. Roots may also act as a place for plants to store food such as starch.

Plant Form in a Diverse World

Plant Form in a Diverse World: "
Plants are among the most interesting organisms as the are able to undertake photosynthesis and for the base of many food chains. When you consider that it is this process which allows for plant life to exist it is a wonder that life can change form a simple process into something that is more complex. This also means that plants continue to grow throughout their lives through a process called indeterminate growth.

Unlike animals most plants stay in one spot. Using roots and leaves, it then obtains the nutrients that are reuired to sustain life. The two major systems of a plant are the root system and the shoot system. The rtoot system allows the plant to take in water and nutrients from the soil, while the shoot system harvests light and carbon dioxide.

Serving Freshwater Pike

Serving Freshwater Pike: "


The Pike is a family of voracious freshwater fish. This fish commonly has a long body with a flattened back and small scales that cover the body. It has a large mouth with many sharp teeth and bottom jaws that protrude. All of the members of this family are sport fish and can put up quite a fight. The pike eats other game fish and often will eat small animals.

Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Gone Cold

Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Gone Cold: "
Space exploration is a fickle thing. From Earth Saturn’s moon Titan appears to be a cold and lifeless ball. From the Voyager spacecraft she appeared to have an atmosphere. From the Huygens probe, which actually landed on the surface, we learned that the atmosphere is a nasty mix of methane and hydrocarbons. Huygens also brought us the intriguing possibility that Titan is volcanically active.

Volcanism on Titan could be triggered as it is on Earth, by the inward pressure of its mantle on its rocky core coupled with the gravitational pull of other bodies, in our case the moon. Titan is so far from the sun, however, that volcanoes there would most likely be shooting water instead of molten rock.

Juno to Provide Window Into Jupiter

Juno to Provide Window Into Jupiter: "
Jupiter is a wild and exciting place. What used to be considered just a giant gas cloud hovering around the sun has turned out to be a dynamic, vibrant planet with horrific storms, planet-Earth-sized lightning discharges, and a terrible death grip on its moons. As our ability to examine the planet grows, the number of strange and unimagined Jovian features increases.

For example, we now know that Jupiter’s magnetic field charges up the moon Io like a battery. Io then blasts the gas giant with a electrical zap from 262 thousand miles away creating lightning that dashes through the Jovian clouds in bolts that are tens of thousands of miles long. We know that Jupiter’s magnetosphere is the largest object in the solar system, and that it puts an incredible strain on Jupiter’s moons, grinding some to dust while blowing the surface off of others.

Biodegradable car made from rattan and bamboo

Biodegradable car made from rattan and bamboo: "

While the metal bodywork of cars certainly can be melted down and recycled, the process requires a lot of energy, and therefore isn't entirely eco-friendly.