Skye’s Stash

what is a soul and why should I care?

Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series, on Instagram

Artist’s Temporary Decaying Art Brings Enchantment To The Forest

British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is known for his phenomenal and temporary, installations which involve using natural elements, ranging from sticks, stones, leaves and twigs and anything that grows out of the earth. Sharing a special connection with the land ,which he celebrates in all his sculptures, Goldsworthy shows the world that nature cannot be contained, but only its beauty can be held on a canvas for precious few moments before the land recalls what it once grew.

Scientists have launched a major new phase in the testing of a controversial genetically modified organism: a mosquito designed to quickly spread a genetic mutation lethal to its own species, NPR has learned.

For the first time, researchers have begun large-scale releases of the engineered insects, into a high-security laboratory in Terni, Italy.

“This will really be a breakthrough experiment,” says Ruth Mueller, an entomologist who runs the lab. “It’s a historic moment.”

The goal is to see if the mosquitoes could eventually provide a powerful new weapon to help eradicate malaria in Africa, where most cases occur.

“It’s very exciting,” Mueller says.

NPR was the only news organization allowed into the lab to witness the moment the releases began in early February.

Scientists Release Controversial Genetically Modified Mosquitoes In High-Security Lab

Scientists develop first fabric to automatically cool or insulate depending on conditions

Despite decades of innovation in fabrics with high-tech thermal properties that keep marathon runners cool or alpine hikers warm, there has never been a material that changes its insulating properties in response to the environment. Until now.

University of Maryland researchers have created a fabric that can automatically regulate the amount of heat that passes through it. When conditions are warm and moist, such as those near a sweating body, the fabric allows infrared radiation (heat) to pass through. When conditions become cooler and drier, the fabric reduces the heat that escapes. The development was reported in the February 8, 2019 issue of the journal Science.

The researchers created the fabric from specially engineered yarn coated with a conductive metal. Under hot, humid conditions, the strands of yarn compact and activate the coating, which changes the way the fabric interacts with infrared radiation. They refer to the action as “gating” of infrared radiation, which acts as a tunable blind to transmit or block heat.

“This is the first technology that allows us to dynamically gate infrared radiation,” said YuHuang Wang, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UMD and one of the paper’s corresponding authors who directed the studies.