from the fool's gold mouthpiece...

molecularlifesciences: 5 Reasons Why CLARITY Will Change the...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 20:48:37 +0100

5 Reasons Why CLARITY Will Change the Life Sciences

We’ve all seen the gorgeous 3D constructions of the brain created by Karl Deisseroth’s group using a technique called CLARITY. This technique is more than just the eye candy we love so much on Tumblr. I recently attended a lecture by Deisseroth, and his work is nothing short of Nobel prize worthy.

Here are 5 reasons why CLARITY will change the molecular life sciences.

CLARITY clears fatty molecules. Fats and other hydrophilic molecules absorb and diffract light, and by washing away the molecular structures that screen light, micrographs can be clear and crisp. These images show a visible difference.

CLARITY links proteins in a mesh-like gel. Most of us know about formaldehyde and its ability to preserve biological matter. Using a similar chemical reaction, proteins are kept in tact in their relative position by being linked to each other. This means that even with the fatty parts washed away, the proteins will maintain their spatial organization.

CLARITY holds on to proteins. As a consequence of the chemical linking, the proteins of interest stay in place even when the sample is washed. The amount lost is incredibly low compared to other methods of clearing, which means that the researcher will have a more realistic amount of protein in the sample. More proteins means more gorgeous micrographs.

CLARITY means no more sectioning. One of the greatest challenges for neuroscientists has been capturing whole neurons in vivo. A single neuron can run the length of your leg. CLARITY creates “never-sectioned” samples, removing the guess work of reconstructing slices. Personally, sectioning is my least favorite activity.

CLARITY allows for multiple labels. Drumroll please. Finally, Deisseroth’s group has shown that samples can be labeled multiple times with high reliability. The meshwork is tight enough that immuno-staining (i.e. labeling with antibodies) can be done multiple times with washing. Most techniques are limited to 2-3 molecular probes at a time. This provides an opportunity to visualize many protein targets. By stacking 3D images of each protein marker, the researchers create the colorful visuals seen above.

As you can guess, CLARITY resolves many of the largest challenges of molecular biology and related sciences, but there is one more bit of great news. The Stanford-based group released their protocol for everyone to use!

Viva la scientific revolution!

Read the original paper here, watch the video here, or view the Nature News article here.

More like this at molecularlifesciences.tumblr.com

References:
Chung, K., Wallace, J., Kim, S. Y., Kalyanasundaram, S., Andalman, A. S., Davidson, T. J., … & Deisseroth, K. (2013). Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems. Nature 496.151

Note:
CLARITY is the method used to prepare samples, it makes tissue see-through. It is the confocal microscopy that focuses a laser on the sample an excites the fluorescent tags added by the researcher.

thescienceofreality: 10 insects that look like they belong in...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:07:56 +0100

Puss Moth Caterpillar

Devil’s Flower Mantis Idolomantis Diabolica

Brazilian Treehopper

Extatosoma Tiaratum

Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar

Atlas Moth

Tailed Emperor Butterfly Caterpillar

Spiny Flower Mantis - Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi

Scorpionfly

Calleta Silkmoth Caterpillar

thescienceofreality:

10 insects that look like they belong in an alien world. [Click images to enlarge & for descriptions.]

10. Puss Moth Caterpillar

With their soft bodies and high protein content, caterpillars are usually incredibly vulnerable. To fend off predators, they often resort to scare tactics. Sometimes it’s in the form of bright, flashy colors; sometimes it’s in the form of mimicry—looking or acting like another, more dangerous insect. The Puss Moth caterpillar opts for mimicry, forming a bizarre looking “face” that resembles a vertebrate face scary enough to send most curious predators the other way.

The caterpillars are bright green and will often have a row of white spots on either side of their body. On the head is a pair of black “eye spots”—directly above a gaping “mouth” through which the true head of the caterpillar protrudes. The effect is startling, but it’s even creepier in action: if the caterpillar is touched anywhere on its body, it will instantly turn its “face” directly towards the attacker. Touch it somewhere else, and the head follows you, like a Mona Lisa from hell.

And if that doesn’t work, it can always spray out a mist of formic acid from the two horns on its back.

9. Devil’s Flower Mantis Idolomantis Diabolica

One of the largest types of praying mantis, the Devil’s Flower Mantis is also one of the strangest. And that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about praying mantids. Females of the species can measure up to 5 inches (13 cm) long, and have developed a range of natural coloring that allows them to mimic the Devil’s Flower, a type of orchid.

Mantids are predators, and their hunting style usually involves sitting motionless until their prey comes within reach, and then whipping their forearms out at lightning speed to snag flies, beetles, even, in some cases, birds. The Devil’s Flower Mantis uses color patterns that mimic a flower to actually lure its prey within reach.

8. Brazilian Treehopper

The image shown here is a model created by Alfred Keller, a German sculptor, in the 1950′s. But don’t let the fact that it’s a model fool you—the Brazilian Treehopper is definitely a real insect, and it’s barely even the strangest looking member of the treehopper family.

Similar to cicadas, treehopper insects are sort of like the Addams family of the insect world. Many of them sport some sort of odd structure on their backs, and we’re still not sure what the point of most of them are. In the case of the Brazilian Treehopper, the ball-like appendages are hollow chitin, and may be for the sole purpose of making it harder to eat.

7. Extatosoma Tiaratum

Anybody who’s ever seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom should instantly recognize this monstrosity, commonly referred to as the Giant Prickly Stick Insect. As the largest known stick insect, the extatosoma tiaratum can reach lengths of 8 inches (20 cm) and is usually covered with large thorny spikes, which double as both camouflage and defensive armor.

Most of the time this insect attempts to blend in with its surroundings, but if it feels threatened it will rear up on its hind legs and spread out its front legs, like a scorpion. Interestingly enough, it also releases a chemical that is meant to scare away predators. To humans, it smells like peanut butter.

6. Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar

The Pipevine Swallowtail is a beautiful fluorescent blue butterfly that’s commonly found in North and Central America. Its larvae, on the other hand, is an armored congealed-blood-red caterpillar with tinted visor shades for eyes and a quadruple row of blunt horns running across its body.

The caterpillars live in groups while they are young, but over time they will wander off on their own before entering the chrysalis stage. They also change color as they grow, shifting from red to black, while their horns take on a bright orange hue. The bright colors are a warning—Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars feed primarily on the Pipevine, a poisonous plant, and retain the toxins from the leaves in their own bodies.

5. Atlas Moth

Most of the time, it’s the caterpillar of a moth species that looks the strangest, while the moth itself is drab and uninteresting. Apparently, the Atlas moth didn’t get the memo. With a 10 inch (25 cm) wingspan, Atlas moths are believed to be the largest moth species on the planet. They also have a very unique trait—the front tips of their wings almost perfectly resemble a snake head poised to strike.

Nicknamed the Cobra moth for obvious reasons, Atlas moths are found in Southeast Asia, where they’re farmed for their silk.

4. Tailed Emperor Butterfly Caterpillar

Take a trip to the east coast of Australia around March or April and you might run into one of these strange creatures. The caterpillar of the Tailed Emperor butterfly looks pretty normal—from the neck down. Its head, though, definitely secures it a spot on this list.

From a broad, armor-plated forehead extend four bizarre horns that would be more at home on a dinosaur than anything from this millenium. The butterflies lay their eggs in groups, usually on Illawarra Flame trees, and the alien caterpillars emerge sometime around late March.

3. Spiny Flower Mantis - Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi

Another incredible looking mantis, the Spiny Flower Mantis (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi) is, again, a flower mantis, pulling its bizarre ornamentation from the appearance of a flower. This mantis is very small, measuring only 1.5 inches (38 mm) and is found in select locations in Southern Africa.

And like most mantids, the Spiny Flower Mantis is a voracious cannibal, and the older they get the more likely they will be to eat other mantids that come across their path. Another interesting fact is that the female’s egg sac can be nearly three time larger than its own body.

2. Scorpionfly

While this insect looks like the result of some bizarre genetic experiment that spliced a scorprion stinger onto a wasp, that “stinger” is actually something much more innocuous: the fly’s genitals.

Nevertheless, it makes for a bizarre looking creature. Scorpionflies, or mecoptera, can be found all over the world, and have been around since the Mesozoic age. In fact, they’re believed to have been the forerunners of most of our modern moths and butterflies, collectively grouped in the Lepidoptera order.

1. Calleta Silkmoth Caterpillar

If Jackson Pollock and God had a design meeting, they would probably come up with something similar to the Eupackardia calleta larva, also known as the Calleta silkmoth caterpillar. With a massive color range and dangerous looking barbs, the Calleta silkmoth caterpillar is something most predators stay away from.

The moth is found in the Southern US, and the color pattern of the caterpillar changes based on age and environmental factors. It feeds mostly on the Mexican jumping bean, a plant found throughout Mexico, Texas, and Arizona.

laughingsquid: Dada Day, A Comic That Celebrates the Art of...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:58:42 +0100

laughingsquid:

Dada Day, A Comic That Celebrates the Art of Childish Nonsense

"If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to..."

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 09:33:09 +0100

“If he had smiled why would he have smiled?
To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imaging himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas, he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.”

- James Joyce, Ulysses

____________________

HAPPY BLOOMSDAY!

(via borjen)

jtotheizzoe: Peer into a Simulated Black Hole The folks at...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 09:16:57 +0100

jtotheizzoe:

Peer into a Simulated Black Hole

The folks at NASA put together this awesome supercomputer simulation of the inner regions surrounding a black hole.

Stellar gas is accelerated to near-light-speed thanks to the incredible draw of the black hole’s gravity. You know how a hot iron bar will glow red? That’s emission in the visible and infrared regions of light. Gas surrounding a black hole gets so hot that it emits light with MUCH higher energy: X-rays!

Near the center, the event horizon marks where nothing, not even x-rays, can escape the pull of gravity. That’s the dark disk in the center.

I think this is about as close as I ever want to get to a black hole.

(by NASAexplorer)

explore-blog: NeuroKnitting – knitted garments that visualize...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:43:54 +0100

explore-blog:

NeuroKnitting – knitted garments that visualize the wearer’s affective states while listening to the aria and the first seven variations of Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Pair with Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects.

tastefullyoffensive: Floor Plans of Famous TV Apartments...

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 15:28:00 +0100

tastefullyoffensive:

Floor Plans of Famous TV Apartments [nikneuk]

tastefullyoffensive: [frankrause]

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 09:55:30 +0100

tastefullyoffensive:

[frankrause]

Explore – Instructions: 1) Go to an instant print shop run...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 23:46:45 +0100

Explore – Instructions: 1) Go to an instant print shop run...

jtotheizzoe: Happy Manhattanhenge 2013!! I’ll let Neil deGrasse...

Wed, 29 May 2013 00:16:36 +0100

jtotheizzoe:

Happy Manhattanhenge 2013!!

I’ll let Neil deGrasse Tyson set this up:

What will future civilizations think of Manhattan Island when they dig it up and find a carefully laid out network of streets and avenues? Surely the grid would be presumed to have astronomical significance, just as we have found for the pre-historic circle of large vertical rocks known as Stonehenge, in the Salisbury Plain of England. For Stonehenge, the special day is the summer solstice, when the Sun rises in perfect alignment with several of the stones, signaling the change of season.

For Manhattan, a place where evening matters more than morning, that special day comes twice a year …

Today is one of those special days, when the setting sun lines up perfectly with Manhattan’s street grid. Look to the west at sunset TONIGHT, May 28, and you’ll see a show that would make Stonehenge’s Druids bow to their sun god. So get outside and go experience the coincidental alignment of manmade structures with solar phenomena!! Don’t worry if you’re stuck at your desk tonight, it will happen again on July 13, 2013 as the sun makes its way south in the sky after the summer solstice.

The sun will touch the horizon at 8:16 PM ET, so get those cameras ready! It sounds like the weather kind of sucks today, but maybe you’ll get lucky.

Special note to New Yorkers: Here’s some good streets to aim for. If anyone would like to share their photos (assuming you can see anything through the clouds) from tonight’s Manhattanhenge, feel free to email them to itsokaytobesmart at gmail.com or tweet me. Or send me a message on Tumblr! I even accept carrier pigeon?

More about the images above: The sketched tribute to Manhattanhenge was drawn by Dr. Tyson himself! Read more about it at Brain Pickings. The rest are courtesy of Flickr/Creative Commons: asterix611, @NYCphotos, 4rilla, Randy Le’Moine)

laughingsquid: Celebrating Maru the Cat’s Sixth Birthday With a...

Tue, 28 May 2013 16:20:27 +0100

laughingsquid:

Celebrating Maru the Cat’s Sixth Birthday With a Maru Supercut

tastefullyoffensive: 9 3D Latte Animals

Sun, 26 May 2013 23:01:26 +0100

tastefullyoffensive:

9 3D Latte Animals

Today's Best Videos (May 17, 2013)

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:07:42 +0100

tastefullyoffensive:

The Baby Bachelor

Young Fox Plays With a Man’s Golf Ball

Kids Singing and Dancing in Cars Compilation

World’s Tiniest Monkey Eating a Noodle

Dog Sings Along to Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’

Pancake the Flat-Faced Kitten Noms on Watermelon

The New Periodic Table Song

ATTENTION ALL DOCTOR WHO FANS

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:48:43 +0100

likethebookshop:

dickdickdickdickdickdick:

Step I; Open this
Step II; Open this
Step III; Have fun for hours

well that’s my day done

jtotheizzoe: Oh, and one more treat to celebrate the end of the...

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:13:41 +0100

jtotheizzoe:

Oh, and one more treat to celebrate the end of the Cmdr. Hadfield era on the ISS as he readies for his return tomorrow.

Here he is singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, in space.

Your head now has permission to explode.

jtotheizzoe: Col. Chris Hadfield returns to Earth tomorrow...

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:13:34 +0100

jtotheizzoe:

Col. Chris Hadfield returns to Earth tomorrow after nearly five months in command of the International Space Station. Here are his touching personal reflections on the mission.

His stay on the ISS has captured the imagination and the curiosity of millions of people on Earth, thanks to this wonderfully interconnected world we call social media. Not only do we have the technology to send men to space for months at a time, but they can share that experience so richly with all of us.

I am truly grateful for his hard work, the hard work of people like his son Evan (who managed his dad’s Tumblr and much of his other social media) and the hard work of those who continue to support the mission. He went to space so we could ALL go to space.

Celebrate with the ten best videos from Commander Hadfield’s time aboard the ISS. I know what my favorite was (also in GIF form).

"We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is..."

Sun, 12 May 2013 01:06:44 +0100

“We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.”

- Richard Feynman, born on May 11, 1918, on the role of scientific culture in modern society – timeless, remarkably timely read.

Pair with how ignorance drives science.
(via explore-blog)
This is my guy. Thanks for the inspiration Dr. Feynman.
(via jtotheizzoe)

fileunder: Berio Sequenza III study guide (by Nick Redfern)

Sun, 12 May 2013 01:05:49 +0100

fileunder:

Berio Sequenza III study guide (by Nick Redfern)

Today's Best Videos (May 8, 2013)

Thu, 09 May 2013 08:26:16 +0100

tastefullyoffensive:

John Krasinski vs. Jimmy Fallon Lip Sync Battle

Kittens Take Their First Sips of Water

38 Common Spelling and Grammar Errors

Pug Puppy vs. Blow Dryer

Suits That Fly (Justin Timberlake/Iron Man Mashup)

Yo Mama Battle (of Compliments)

Dog Dances to Eminem’s ‘Shake That’

jtotheizzoe: staceythinx: Modern science meets traditional...

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:05:28 +0100

Nucleus

Binary Fission

Synthesis

Synapse

Internal cellular structure

jtotheizzoe:

staceythinx:

Modern science meets traditional craft in these art quilts by Betty Busby available in her Etsy store. Click on the images to see what each quilt represents.

When I say that you should go check out the rest of these quilts, GO CHECK OUT THE REST OF THESE QUILTS.

My favorite: Purkinje