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..!!

©Anjani Kumar Tripathi/Indian Railways

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

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Call from the misty, mystical mountain

Mainpat: a fantasy world in real

Mainpat is a group of 62 plateaus perched at 1100 m/3200 ft
in Sarguja District of Chhattisgarh State in India.
It is a new home of Tibetan Refugees living there
for the last five decades, along with local inhabitants.Some pictures follows to show the typical life and climate of the place..

30 kms drive from the base of the foot hill takes us to Mainpat

Village life in the misty mountains

The wind went on from West to East;

All movement in the forest ceased.

But shrill and harsh across the marsh,

Its whistling voices were released.

The grasses hissed, their tassels bent,

The reeds were rattling—on it went.

O'er shaken pool under heavens cool,

Where racing clouds were torn and rent.

Now call we over the mountains cold,

'Come back unto the caverns old!'

Here at the gates the king awaits,

His hands are rich with gems and gold.

Buddhist temples and monasteries

lush green fluorescent forest

some tourist resort to stay therein

*poem thankfully shared from: 'over the misty mountains cold' by R R Tolkein

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Falling stars

Best Pictures of Perseids Meteor Shower

"Falling Stars"

LOOK! right there by your feet...
A fallen star and it's all yours.
Once resting softly in it's place,
then with the blink of an eye,
it slowly began to loose it's strength....
lower, lower, and still lower it falls....
the BAMMM!!! there it is resting beside you.

Author: Timothy Sides

view from Mojave
Photograph by Wally Pacholka, TWAN

view from Armenia

Photograph by Oshin D. Zakarian, TWAN

view from Canada
Photograph by Darryl Van Gaal

view from Japan
Photograph by Yuga Kurita,

view from Hungary
Photograph by Peter Komka, European Pressphoto Agency

view from Quebec
Photograph by Michel Tournay

view from China
Photograph by Jeff Dai

Every summer about this time of year, the Earth passes through the orbital path of the Swift-Tuttle comet. That might sound a little alarming, but don’t worry—the closest we’re likely to come to the comet itself will be 1 million miles, and astronomers calculate that won’t be until 3044. (Still, a near miss by cosmic standards.) But bits and pieces that have broken off from the tail of the comet do collide with the Earth’s atmosphere, creating one of the most reliable and spectacular star shows of the year: the Perseid meteor shower, so called because the meteors, as they streak across the sky, seem to originate from the constellation Perseus.

This year the shower was intense, with as many as 100 separate shooting stars—cosmic matter burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere—tearing across the sky per minute. (An average meteor shower might have as few as one shooting stars per minute.) The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for some 2,000 years. Catholics used to call the shower the “tears of St. Lawrence,” since the martyred saint’s feast day of Aug. 10 often coincided with the show.

2013′s meteor shower has been particularly impressive because the lunar calendar ensured that the moon had all but disappeared from the sky during peak viewing hours. Of course, those of us who live in cities and near other sources of light pollution won’t be able to make out the full power of the Perseid shower—assuming you can stay up late enough to see it. But the images that follow give you a taste of what you might be missing.

*pictures thankfully shared from 'National Geographic'/13th July 2013
*poem 'Falling Stars' thankfully shared from 'Timothy Sides'
*text courtesy:http://science.time.com