The Buddy System: Two Fish Swimming Side-by-Side by Birgitt Boschitsch ‘13, Peter Dewey (GS), Alexander Smits (fac) of the Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. (As seen in Princeton’s Art of Science 2010 Gallery.)

A sculpture by Luca Pozzi based on the String Theory, which will be featured in the Higher Atlas exhibition, at the Marrakech Biennale, from February 29th to June 3rd. Read More

Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)

In 1811, Mary Anning’s brother spotted what he thought was a crocodile skeleton in a seaside cliff near the family’s Lyme Regis, England, home. He charged his 11-year-old sister with its recovery, and she eventually dug out a skull and 60 vertebrae, selling them to a private collector for £23. This find was no croc, though, and was eventually named Ichthyosaurus, the “fish-lizard.” Thus began Anning’s long career as a fossil hunter. In addition to ichthyosaurs, she found long-necked plesiosaurs, a pterodactyl and hundreds, possibly thousands, of other fossils that helped scientists to draw a picture of the marine world 200 million to 140 million years ago during the Jurassic. She had little formal education and so taught herself anatomy, geology, paleontology and scientific illustration. Scientists of the time traveled from as far away as New York City to Lyme Regis to consult and hunt for fossils with Anning.

A view of Coca-Cola magnified under a high-tech laboratory lens by Florida State University’s Chemistry Department. The different colors and patterns are created by the drink’s crystalized sugars, making every liquid observed in this study unique. 

In honor of John Glenn’s February 2nd, 1962 flight in Friendship 7, which made him the first American to orbit Earth. He ended up circling the plant three times during his 4 hours and 55 minutes in orbit, thus seeing three sunsets and sunrises from an altitude of 162 miles. Now, at the age of 90, when described as a “hero” for his legendary and amazingly successful journey, Glenn remains humble, saying

I don’t think of myself that way. I get up each day and have the same problems others have at my age. As far as trying to analyze all the attention I received, I will leave that to others.

Read more about his journey and a personal interview at the New York Times.

Resin cast of the lungs displaying the branching out of bronchi, in addition to the pulmonary arteries and trachea. The bronchi and pulmonary arteries work together in using inhaled air to oxygenate blood and exhale carbon dioxide.
Photograph by Martin Dohrn.

Pictured above is one of the many works of Santiago Ramon y Cajal, an artist whose relentless focus on the nervous system both displayed unmatchable views inside of our brains and led to remarkable findings within this previously misunderstood anatomical region. In the above illustration, Cajal depicted a diagram of the spinal cord with both individual cells and entire nerve tracts. According to his sketch, motor commands travel down the spine from the left side of the brain, while sensory feedback travels up the spine to the right side of the brain.

See more of his works and read an in-depth biography at Discover Magazine.

divingintotheclay:

Ray Finch 1914-2012

[borrowed from Hollis Engley’s blog]

Meteorite Pop-Art

Scientists use X-rays, dyes, fancy microscopes and other tools to see things we can’t capture with our naked eyes. But these tools aren’t just good for science, they can make art. An exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History explores the beauty in scientific imaging. These pictures illustrate the chemical composition of four meteorites, which was detected by scanning them with a beam of electrons. Red represents magnesium, green is calcium, and blue is aluminum.