Purple and Nine's Blog

Connie Britton’s hair secret

Source: spinosaurus-the-fisher

Name: Xianshanosaurus shijiagouensis

Name Meaning: Xianshan Lizard

First Described: 2009

Described By: Lü et al.

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Plateosauria, Massopoda, Sauropodiformes, Anchisauria, Sauropoda, Gravisauria, Eusauropoda, Neosauropoda, Macronaria, Titanosauriformes, Somphospondyli, Titanosauria

Xianshanosaurus is a titanosaur known from limited material and was found in the Ruyang Basin, Shijiagou, Henan Province, China. It lived around 100 million years ago, in the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous (right on the border between the Early and Late epochs). In a 2013 study it was found to be a titanosaur, though the Eusauropod wikipedia page has yet to be updated, as it used to be considered a Eusauropod of indeterminate placement. However, it was found to be a titanosaur, with Malawisaurus and Trigonosaurus as sister taxa. 

Sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianshanosaurus

http://www.dinosaurier-info.de/animals/dinosaurs/pages_x/xianshanosaurus.php 

Adam Summers Dyes Fish Specimens to Reveal Their Anatomy

image © adam summers

Washington-based professor adam summers uses marine specimens collected from fishing operations as the medium in an artistic project revealing the anatomical structure of sea creatures. using two dyes – alcian blue to stain cartilaginous elements and alizarin red to turn tissue a shade of crimson — summers then lightly bleaches the species to remove dark pigments, leaving a snow-white fish. the stained skeletal tissues create visibility through the skin and flesh, exposing the biological innards as vibrantly colored matter. images are captured while the examples are fully submerged in glycerin; a large reservoir the compound is placed on a color corrected LED light table and the fish is posed in place. in its final stage, the still shots are not only mesmerizing on an aesthetic scale, but also gives a rare glimpse of the underlying structure of the animal, visualizing their vertebrates, skeletons, and soft tissues. 

In 1976, it was removed from one fire station and installed in another, and they severed  the cord out of fear that unscrewing the bulb would break it. It was moved with a full police and fire truck escort.

The bulb has a dedicated live webcam that refreshes every 10 seconds, which you can see here.

EnChroma reactions keep getting better and better

Japan’s jumping pink dolphin is one of a kind

Angel the bottlenose dolphin, pictured above, is the world’s only albino dolphin in captivity.

Researchers create computer model that simulates anesthesia’s impact on brain

A team of researchers working at the University of Pittsburgh has created a computer model that simulates in some interesting ways, the process that occurs when anesthesia causes the human brain to essentially shut down. In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes how they built their model, which aspects of consciousness it represents and the ways in which it mimics human anatomy.                                

Despite huge advances in the development of drugs used to anesthetize people during surgery, scientists still do not know how or why it works, which is irksome because if it could be explained than we might make some inroads towards understanding the nature of consciousness itself. In this new effort, the team in Pittsburgh created a computer model framed around nodes that are meant to mimic neurons or whole parts of the brain and the signals that are sent between them. The model is based on an idea that suggests sudden changes in consciousness brought about by the introduction of an anesthetic are caused by a global change in the network responsible for carrying signals through a neural network—a sudden restoration of the network would then correspond to the sudden awakening that occurs with patients coming to after surgery.

Robots!

Some interesting robotics news:

1. The makers of the roomba are making an automated lawnmower - though radio astronomers are afraid its wireless signals are gonna mess with their research.

2. Scientists have made fish-shaped microbots that may one day swim through our blood to clean up toxins and help deliver medicine. (Yes, this is real.)

3. New study finds that autonomous trucks could help lower grocery bills: “trucks without humans at the  wheel could deliver savings to the haulage industry of between £19.5bn and  £47.5bn over a decade, which if passed on to consumers could cut their bills  by the equvialent of one and a half week’s grocery shopping every year.”

4. Hospitals have already started experimenting with robotic “nurses” to do things like deliver meals and medication, now it seems this is starting in the service industry as well, with some hotels experimenting with similarly functioning robots.

5. This robot’s doing a pretty decent job bartending (and helping around the house), while these robots are learning to bartend dynamically as a team (with applications beyond pouring spirits as well).

6. Speaking of smart robots, RoboHow is a sort of wikipedia for robots, providing step by step instructions on how to perform a task. The idea is that robots can be programmed to learn from this system, so one needn’t program each task (e.g. how to make waffles); instead, the robot can teach itself from the RoboHow instructions. Or, if the robot is experimenting to learn, it can share its findings on RoboHow, providing the basis for a new skill for another robot to learn from those notes.

The happiness molecules!

On the left: dopamine; on the right: serotonin.