Through Picture: September 2013

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Royal Photographic Society: exhibition of science images

The Royal Photographic Society

is hosting the event alongside the Science and Technology Facilities Council;

where one hundred images form a stunning new photographic exhibition that demonstrates the role played by imaging across many areas of science.

The photographs included in the exhibition exploit a range of techniques, such as CT and MRI scanning, X-ray technology and refraction-measuring "Schlieren" imaging.

Some selected images from the exhibition:

(share courtesy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24078176)

The Dusty Spectacle of Orion, 2013, by Robert Hurt, Caltech, US. The nebula is pictured in infra-red and colour-coded according to wavelength. The data was captured by the Nasa Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft

Tardigrade, or Water Bear, 2010, by Nicole Ottawa, Eye of Science, Germany. A digitally coloured scanning electron micrograph image of the tiny invertebrate, found on moss in Crater Lake, Tanzania

Human Lymphocyte, 2011, by David Scharf, Los Angeles. A human "Natural Killer" lymphocyte, a type of cell that mediates the immune system. This image is from a scanning electron micrograph, with the colours taken from multiple secondary detectors in a technique invented by the photographer

Bat embryonic development, 2006, by Dorit Hockman, University of Cambridge. Development of embryos of the Black Mastiff Bat

Beauveria bassiana, 2012, by Nicole Ottawa, Reitlingen, Germany. This, believe it or not, is the base of a mosquito’s antenna. The image is from a scanning electron micrograph, and has been digitally coloured

Thursday, September 19, 2013

2014 Guinness World Records

These record holders appear in the 2014 Guinness World Records Book,

which was published on September 10.

The longest beard on a woman, belongs to Vivian Wheeler from the U.S. The beard was measured at 10.04 inches (25.5 centimeters) from the follicle to the tip of hair on April 8, 2011.

The smallest living dog, in terms of height, is a female Chihuahua called Milly, who measured 3.8 inches (9.65 centimeters) tall on February 21 and is owned by Vanesa Semler of Dorado, Puerto Rico.

Leilani Franco, representing UK and Philippines, traveled in a contortion roll a distance of 65 feet 7.2 inches (20 meters) in a time of 17.47 seconds at the Royal Festival Hall in London, on March 11. A contortion roll requires the contortionist to start with their feet on the ground before arching backwards and propelling forward in a chest down roll. Franco performed 25 full body revolutions while in the chest stand position in one minute at the Box Theater in Soho, London.

The largest living cat is Hercules, an adult male liger, lion and tigress hybrid, currently housed at Myrtle Beach Safari, a wildlife reserve in South Carolina. In total length, he measures 131 inches (3.33 meters), stands 49 inches (1.25 meters) at the shoulder, and weighs 922 pounds (418.2 kilograms).

The fastest female wearing high heels for a 100-meter dash was Julia Plecher from Germany. She ran 14.531 seconds on the set of Guinness World Records in Europa Park, Rust, Germany, on July 13, 2012.

The largest rideable bicycle has a wheel diameter of 10 feet, 9.92 inches (3.3 meters) and was built by Didi Senft from Germany, and measured at Pudagla, Germany, on October 2, 2012.

The smallest roadworthy car measures 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) high, 2 feet, 1.75 inches (65.41 centimeters) wide and (4 feet, 1.75 inches (126.47 centimeters). It was created by Austin Coulson, from the U.S., and measured in Carrollton, Texas, on September 7, 2012.

The fastest crossing of a tightrope by a dog was 18.22 seconds and was achieved by Ozzy, a Border Collie/Kelpie crossbreed, on February 1, at F.A.I.T.H. Animal Rescue, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

The tallest rideable motorcycle measures 16 feet, 8.78 inches (5.10 meters) tall from the ground to the top of the handlebars. It was constructed by Fabio Reggiani, from Italy, and the motorcycle was ridden over a 100-m course at Montecchio Emilia, Italy, on March 24, 2012.

The shortest donkey in terms of height is KneeHi, born in 2007, a brown jack who measured 25.29 inches (64.2 centimeters) to the top of the withers at Best Friends Farm in Gainesville, Florida, on July 26, 2011. A registered miniature Mediterranean donkey, KneeHi is owned by Jim and Frankie Lee.

The largest walking robot measures 51 feet, 6 inches (15.72 meters) in length, 40 feet, 5 inches (12.33 meters) in width, 26 feet, 10 inches (8.20 meters) in height and was made by Zollner Elektronik AG, in Zandt, Germany. It was displayed in Berlin, Germany, on September 27, 2012.

#thankfully shared from: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/12/living/gallery

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Romance of Indian rail in hilly terrain of Chhattisgarh state in India

Chhattisgarh (Hindi: छत्तीसगढ़ Chattīsgaṛh is a state in Central India. The state was formed on
1 November 2000 by partitioning 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking south-eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh.
A state rich in steel, coal, electricity production and forest wealth.

http://throughpicture.blogspot.in/2013/03/architecture-with-endemic-flavour.html

Location of Chhattisgarh in India

India's first 5.6-ft broad gauge (BG) engine (the standard in India now) commissioned on 18 February 1853 by Great India Peninsular Railway (GIPR). On 16 April, the country's first passenger train was flagged off from Boribunder in Bombay.

©Anjani Kumar Tripathi/Indian Railways

Trains have always given a flight to the human imaginations.
The GIPR is mentioned in Jules Verne's 'Around the world in eighty days'. In 1872, protagonist Phileas Fogg and his French servant Passepartout went on a trip around the world. India was connected from Bombay to Calcutta via the GIPR with a break in between. Yet, the journey was finished in three days. Vernes mentions that the 80-mile (128 km) rail journey from Allahabad to Benares was covered in two hours - an average of 64 kmph. Well, some of our fastest trains today average only about 65 to 70 kmph.

http://throughpicture.blogspot.in/2012/03/train-through-hill.html

http://throughpicture.blogspot.in/2011/12/hill-call.html

©Anjani Kumar Tripathi/Indian Railways

Poets have found trains irresistible. Steam's mucky glamour may only exist now between the covers of The Railway Children, but the romance of the railway lives on. Certainly, there's something compelling about the environment to which the train exposes you - it's the train's ability to suspend you between here and there - outside regimented time, away from the quotidian - that attracts. There's something regenerative in the act of boarding a train in one place and disembarking in another, without having actively engaged in the process at any juncture; it transports, in both senses of the word (Sarah Crown/theguardian.com).

The train is running on the track, track, track

And I’m sitting in the carriage at the back, back, back
For we’re going on a journey that is fast, fast, fast
The fields and the cows whizz past, past, past
We’re going to the seaside very quick, quick, quick
And I’m listening to the wheels as they click, click, click
And we’re going over the hills to the top, top top
But slowly, very slowly, we come to a station and we stop, stop, stop..sssshhhhhhh

(by Brenda Williams)

And gradually came the station Boridand, where train entered the much awaited borders of the state, greeting passengers with a sudden change of air with mist, crystal blue sky,
thick Sal forest trees beside the rail track,
and people moving alongside....busy in their daily scores..!!

Augustine of Hippo, also known as St. Augustine

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

― Augustine of Hippo