“A team of scientists…have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say.

The phenomenon, described as thermopower waves, “opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare,”…Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave — a moving pulse of heat — traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current.

The key ingredient in the recipe is carbon nanotubes — submicroscopic hollow tubes made of a chicken-wire-like lattice of carbon atoms….” Full Slice

The insanely deep fractal zoom, courtesy kottke.
About ten minutes long and trippy so prepare yourself.

Meet Mark Roth

“…I have learned how to reduce the oxygen consumption of many animals, including mammals. And there are instances where we have generated states of suspended animation – that is, where we do not see any movement as judged by high-resolution microscopy . . . and have shown that if you then place those animals into a refrigerated cold environment, they’re able to survive. But if they were animated like you and I are now, they would be dead….” Full Slice

Evidence for the shattering of another paradigm which sounds like something from The Firesign Theatre

“A team of…chemists have made a major contribution to the emerging field of quantum biology, observing quantum mechanics at work in photosynthesis in marine algae.

“There’s been a lot of excitement and speculation that nature may be using quantum mechanical practices…Our latest experiments show that normally functioning biological systems have the capacity to use quantum mechanics in order to optimize a process as essential to their survival as photosynthesis.”…it means that quantum mechanical probability laws can prevail over the classical laws of kinetics in this complex biological system, even at normal temperatures….” Full Slice

“A collaboration led by researchers…has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the…researchers engineered a strain of Escherichia coli bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids….” Full Slice

A bit over the top title I suppose but important anyway. Mirror away !

“…neuroscientist Vilayanur Ramachandran outlines the fascinating functions of mirror neurons. Only recently discovered, these neurons allow us to learn complex social behaviors,..” Video Slice

An idea by William Calvin that he presents in this book might also be part of this.

“…Stressful conditions cause misfolded proteins to accumulate in the ER. Cells try to recover by slowing down translation and increasing production of their protein folding machinery. But if the stress continues, prolonged expression of a transcription factor called CHOP promotes cell death instead. The apoptotic machinery is triggered by calcium released from the ER, but how CHOP induces this step wasn’t known….” Full Slice

“Study links restless leg syndrome with [redacted] dysfunction in older men…more common in older men with restless leg syndrome (RLS) than in those without RLS, and the magnitude of this association increased with a higher frequency of RLS symptoms….” Full Slice

“…The mountains were discovered by a Soviet team during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-8. Their detection was a complete surprise because the rock bed in the middle of the Antarctic continent was assumed to be relatively flat….” Full Slice

Specular reflection on Titan

…for example, the beauty here.

Lots in this one and well worth follow up

“…The study was so comprehensive that the team could see signatures of an undiscovered system of DNA repair, reducing the mutations in highly active genes, suggesting the genome seeks to preserve these regions above many others.

However, as previous studies suggested, there was not one mutation that stood out as ‘the lung cancer gene’. One gene - CHD7 - was found to be mutated in several SCLC samples. This gene is part of an emerging pattern that cancers often contain mutations in genes that are generalists in regulating genetic activity alongside more specific changes….” Full Slice

The Milky Way, at lengths.

“Some of the highest growing trees in the world are also the oldest—bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) from the Great Basin in the western United States (eastern California, Nevada and Utah). The oldest example is more than 4800 years old. Because of their longevity and growth at high elevations (where the growth of trees is generally known to be limited by temperature) bristlecone pines have been of particular interest to dendroclimatologists (paleoclimatologists who study tree rings to reconstruct past climate). Numerous ecological studies carried out at treeline sites all over the world show that temperature imposes a critical limitation on the ability of trees to produce new tissue; mean daily temperatures of 8-9°C are required, so recent warming will have particular benefits for those trees that have managed to eke out an existence for so long, living “on the edge”….” Full Slice

“…These findings foreshadow a new catalytic system available for applications both in academic laboratories and in industry, allowing stoichiometric reductions mediated by Fe or Na2S to be performed in a catalytic fashion and greatly reducing subsequent waste production. Moreover, the catalyst developed here could replace expensive precious metal catalysts, therefore offering the potential benefit of lowering cost and diminishing the environmental impact from heavy-metal pollutants….” Full Slice