Life Science News – Peraves Mono Tracer which used battery-powered called E-Tracer (Now It’s called Mono Tracer E) before and now uses gasoline as fuel is the winner of Progressive Automotive X-Prize in Alternative level.

Although the fuel of Mono Tracer is gasoline, this motorcycle only spends 1 liter for every 30 miles and will still support Go Green as one of primary mission. This motorcycle is sold for $75,000.

Life Science News – The car that is called ‘Ghost Car’ is Pontiac Deluxe Six, because the whole body of this car is covered by glass material. It’s created in 1939 by General Motor and Rohm and Haas chemical company with $25.000 cost and becomes the first transparent car, made in America.

The car is the only one made of glass and will soon be auctioned. It’s expected to be sold for $500.000.

These are some pictures of the car….

Life Science News – The researchers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) create an electronic device that is able to control mind. The device which is put on the head like a helmet has been tested on mouse.

The Mind Control Device is consisted of two circuit boards and an antenna. When it’s tested on mouse, the researcher can control the behavior of the mouse from a distance only by using light. “Light has function to activate specific neuron within neural network,” said a researcher of Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science MIT, Christian Wentz.

Innovation that is committed by Wentz and his research team is a part of optogenetics. It combines optic and genetic which is useful in studying the control of cell using light.

In order to control mind, researchers examine specific protein and nerve cell that are sensitive to light stimulation. Protein will be opened when is exposed to light, allowing ion into nerve cell.

By attaching protein at the right point, researchers can turn certain parts of the brain. This method allows them to arise sexual behavior or aggressiveness, which makes animals run in circle.

This mind control device doesn’t use battery as energy source. Wentz utilizes magnetic field to induce the antenna which is attached to the head of mouse.  This magnetic induction is the only one that gives power to 16 LED which are placed on the helmet. The light of LED is enough to control certain neuron on their brain.

Software is also planted on the circuit board and connected to a computer. Wentz programs the software so that the blue light shines on the part of brain which controls the activity of mouse. The mouse will move to the left if the blue light is on. “In this way, we can control the movement of a mouse”, he said.

Not only controlling the movement of mouse, the researchers also record all the activities of nerve cell which is exposed to light. This record will be used to uncover the sensitivity of mouse.

Life Science News – The fingers which become wrinkled when they’re wet can be an adaptation so we can hold something stronger in wet condition. This hypothesis is stated by Mark Changizi, an expert in evolutionary neurobiology in 2AI Labs, Boise, Idaho, United States.

The result of Changizi’s research which is published in Brain, Behavior, and Evolution is contrary to general belief that the fingers become wrinkled because they absorb water.

According to Changizi, Wrinkles on wet finger have the same function with the grooves on tire. The wrinkles form canal for water flow when we press our fingertip on a wet surface. This is the reason why our grip on wet surface becomes stronger.

Changizi and his team study 28 photos of wrinkled fingers due to water. The team finds a common pattern of unconnected long canal which is a ramification of the point above finger. When we press our finger, the pressure occurs from fingertip to the back. It’s different with the finger side where the water can flow easily. The flat part of finger which looks like plateau is where water can be stagnant. “That’s where the canal is formed to drain the water,” said Changizi.  He will test his hypothesis to see whether the person whose fingers were wrinkled can hold better in wet condition.

Life Science News – Pristine Lake in Oregon, United States, had been dried just because a man had peed in the lake. Although the experts said that urine would not affect the quality of water, but the draining was still done.

David Shaff, the responsible person of Portland drinking water bureau, said that the lake should be dried immediately. It’s not health problem, but people felt disgusted to drink the water from the lake which was urinated by Joshua Seater.

“I can’t imagine many people say that they make orange juice using the water of the lake this morning. Will you drink urine? Many people will be angry,” said Shaff, quoted by The Telegraph.

The draining of the lake which held eight million gallons of water was cost $36,000. The experts said that this was too much for something like that. They said that peeing in lake would not affect the quality of water. They also added that urine which was only eight ounces would rapidly be decomposed in water.

Seater admitted to be guilty in what he had done. He confessed not to know that the lake was water reservoir. “I have done something stupid. I don’t know if it’s water reservoir, I think it’s only a water channel”. Peeing in the lake didn’t make him taken to the jail, but he would be fined.

Life Science News – Black hole can swallow every single celestial thing. The more it swallows, the greater its suction, but the risk is not only that. The Black Hole is a space zone which can swallow gas, dust, stars, planets, and every celestial object which is in a galaxy because of its strong gravitation. Planet that passes around it won’t survive against black hole.

Many astronomers worry about what will happen if it becomes out of control. They’re afraid that the black hole will be able to swallow Earth. So, why can the Black Hole swallow objects around it?

Actually, there is a theory which explains that the suction power of Black Hole can be weakened and then will be in sleeping phase, where it stops to swallow celestial objects. According to George Helou of Spitzer Science Center NASA in California, the Black Hole in our galaxy is currently in sleeping phase.

The Black Hole called Sagittarius A is located in the center of the Milky Way. Scherbakov, an astronomer of Harvard Astrophysics Center, says that the Black Hole in Milky Way takes only 0.01% stars around it.

But then the researchers also find a fact that Black Hole constantly evolves, so that it will be active again someday. The more it swallows stars, the sooner its evolution.

According to the data gained using space telescope, over the last few years, there are more black holes which swallow celestial things. In addition, the more it swallows celestial things, the stronger its suction power. It’s caused by the increasing ionic element in the black hole.

But, not only evolving, recently it’s known that the black holes which are in different galaxy also join with each other. Various celestial things which are swallowed into the black hole contain a lot of energy in a large quantity.

So the combination between black holes will also increase the amount of energy it has. This energy can control the out and in flow of gas and dust through a hole.

Not only dust and gas, astronomers believe that the suction power of black hole also release much X-ray and radioactive wave. But the amount of X-ray radiation which they observe can’t still be explained. And the result, it affects the progress of galaxy where the black hole is located.

Understanding the process, the method, and the evolution of black hole is important to explain the formation of the Milky Way and the integrity of the earth in the future. By studying about radiation and the interaction of intergalactic, can help us understand the magnitude of the gravitation field, magnetic force, and the process of black hole’s radiation.

“We have been studying the data from space telescope over the last few years, and have found that the faster the black hole devours space materials, then the higher its ionization power,” said David Ballantyne, the assistant of physics professor of Georgia Institute of Technology.

The space physicists do not currently have an enough explanation about the suction power of black hole and its growth or what makes certain black hole to stop to grow. But, the black hole and the disc around it will affect surrounding celestial objects.

Life Science News – Recently, some scientists have created microscopic robot from DNA molecule which can move, walk, and even create itself in nano-scale.  The revolutionary device which is describe in Nature journal is expected to be able to lead a squad of surgeon robot which can clean human artery or develop computer component in the body.

Quoted from DailyMail, one of the project proponents from New York Columbia University has developed robotic spider which is only 4 nanometers or it’s about 100 thousand times smaller than the diameter of human hair. Robotic spider is expected to be able to get into DNA lane. By using the right lane, robot can be made to move, turn left or right depending on DNA lane.

The robotic spider’s body is consisted of protein called streptavidin. There is also enzymatic DNA which is attached to its three legs, and the fourth leg is the strand which brings the spider to the starting point.

“After the robot is released from the trigger, then it will tie and then cut the strands of DNA,” said Milan Stojanovic, chairman of the project team. After the strands are cut, the legs of the robot begin to gain the lane and match the DNA. By doing that, the robot is guided to the lane set by the scientists.

In order to see the moving of the robot, the scientists use an atomic power microscope. This robot can record the signs of illness on the surface of cell. Determining the cell is a cancer, it will destroy it, even it can give some compounds to kill the cancer cell.

Apparently this “Moving DNA” had been developed since a long time ago, but it seemed that they had never reached this step. “The robot can move up to 100 nanometers or about 50 steps,” said Professor Yan of Arizona State University.

“This is the first time for nano-scale machinery system used to perform operation. This could be an important advance in the evolution of DNA technology”, said Lloyd Smith of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. It’s nearly to 6 billion pounds which is invested in the research and development of nano product whole the world.

Life Science News – Motorcycle can fly. This concept is no longer a fantasy or dream, it is real now. Chris Malloy is the person who manages to create a flying motorcycle called Hoverbike.

In the air, Hoverbike which is built by Malloy for the last two years can dash up to 150 knots or 278km/h.  This flying motorcycle which can only carry one person is made of carbon fiber frame which is strengthened with lightweight Kevlar material. Using 4 stroke engines with 1170cc capacity, it can deliver power up to 80 KW and fly to 10.000 feet height.

It has two big vanes instead of wheels to make it fly. The principle of these vanes which replace wheels actually is not complicated. According to Molley, this flying motorcycle is built by following the principle used by Chinook helicopter with tandem-rotor.  Both rotors of vines rotate with opposite direction to eliminate torque effect of the two rotors.

And about controlling Hoverbike, it just looks like the general motorcycles. Each control can be done using the handlebar. The right grip serves to increase the thrust while the left grip controls the angle of motorcycle to move forward, backward, up, and down. For its safety feature, Malloy says that he will put two parachutes on the bike just in case if the vanes are damaged in the air.

Chris Malloy claims that his flying motorcycle can fly up to 148 km with 30 liters of gasoline which fill its tank. If he uses the gasoline in the secondary tank, then the motorcycle will be able to reach longer distance.

Malloy hopes that he can produce Hoverbike in a large numbers, at least 100 units per year with price about $40.000. If the price can be lowered, Malloy even sure that there will be 1.000 units sold annually.

According to Malloy, this motorcycle can be used for various purposes such as searching and rescuing when there is disaster, accident, aerial survey, filming, inspection of power lines and military, or emergency service.

In order to help the owners from regulatory obstruction to fly, Hoverbike can be classed as Ultra-elite vehicle. It means that it doesn’t require any pilot’s license to drive it.

Life Science News – For some people, remote control car is just a toy. But who will have thought if a remote control car’s speed can reach 260 km/h. A man named Nic Case seems not to assume remote control car is something trivial. Case then tries to make the strongest and fastest in the world.

As reported by topspeed, remote control car which is known as Schumacher Mi3 is built by Case in order to make a world record. It takes 6 months to create this remote control car.

He is willing to use $4000 to create Schumacher Mi3 which can reach 161.76 mph or 260km/h. He makes it runs like a bullet.

The chassis of the remote control car is made of carbon fiber which is his handmade and is run by a motor with 11hp. The power of this motor is stored in a 12 cell battery.

But although he is able to create a remote control car which can reach 161.76mph, he seems to want to make another faster remote control car. Now, he is creating a remote control car which is targeted to be able to reach 200mph or about 321.86kmph.

Schumacher Mi3

Nic Case and His Schumacher Mi3

Life Science News – Sun flame erupted on Tuesday morning (June 07, 2011). Uniquely, the eruption didn’t spout the flame to space, but returned it to the Sun, so the flame looked like a rain that formed a crown.

Jack Ireland, a researcher of NASA, claimed to have never seen anything like this before. The eruption size was medium, but the plasma which was thrown by flame called filament could be 10 times the Earth’s size. The eruption happened only within a few hours.

“Large filament is normally released from the Sun’s magnetic field and aims to space. But this time, the filament returns to the Sun. We conclude that the filament might not have enough energy so it returns to the Sun,” said Alex Young, another researcher from NASA.

The rain of plasma didn’t fall perpendicularly to the Sun, but to follow invisible magnetic field line. Some materials were pulled to the bright spot of magnetic activity called active area. “Magnetic field of the active area pulls the plasma. It’s something that I had never seen before,” said Young.

The phenomenon was recorded by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. It won’t also affect the Earth. “No need to worry, just enjoy the beauty,” Said Young.

Life Science News – Nyos Lake, a lake in Cameroon, West Africa. The depth of this lake reaches 157 meters with deepest area 208 meters. There were many people living in the valley around the Nyos Lake.

But, in 1986, there was a peculiarity there, about 1700 people died suddenly and simultaneously. Strangely, all the people died while doing their daily activity.

One died while pumping water, other while cooking and even there was one while drinking water. The survivors of this incident told what was happening that day. They said that the night before the incident, the air suddenly felt warm and smelled like rotten egg, but the people wasn’t too concerned about it. And the result, the next morning, many corpses found while being busy with their daily activity.

Nobody knew what the reason why people died in this incident was. But the experts found that the color of Nyos Lake’s water changed from clear to bright orange.

Nyos Lake Changes Color

In order to find the answer, the experts then researches Craten Lake in Oregon. This lake is the 7^th largest lake in the world. The extent reaches 50 km² with 594 meters depth. So, if Empire State put into this lake, it will surely sink. Craten Lake holds about 19 trillion liters of water.

About 7700 years ago, Mount Mazame erupted and threw the top of the mountain. This crater then formed Craten Lake.

However, the volcanic activity in Mazame Mount actually still affects this lake. Because actually there is still former magma pools which is still hot.

The experts find that the water temperature at the bottom is a few degrees warmer, its salinity is also 10 times stronger and contains a lot of CO₂. Then the CO₂ seeps from the crevices of Earth’s crust into the crater which has become lake.

Craten Lake

However, the presence of water has prevented CO₂ to rise into the air. Even if there is a little released, it can be eliminated by wind. So it won’t be too dangerous.

The changing of season also affects it so much. In winter, the water rotation will be pushed down because the temperature is warmer below. On the contrary in the summer, the water rotation will go up.

This cycle then brings out water layers with different density level. The lowest water layer is more concentrated than upper layer. The Co₂ which flows from the Earth’s bottom is restrained at the lowest water layer.

Degassing Nyos Lake

The CO₂ can’t go higher because of the different density level in the upper level. So it’s gathered and accumulated over decades in the lowest water layer. This phenomenon is also found in Horseshoe Lake which is smaller than Craten Lake. The trees growing around the lake dry up and finally die.

After further research, the CO₂ level in this lake reaches 100 tons/day and soaks into ground. This is the reason why many trees die. The experts then conduct an experiment by digging the soil around the lake and try to light a fire.

But, due to the strong CO₂ level, the fire is immediately extinguished when it’s brought to the ground. The fact that the accumulation of CO₂ which has been so much in the lake finally overflows and causes the lake to become extremely dangerous.

However, the CO₂ level in Horseshoe Lake doesn’t overly harm human, because the harmful level limit is 1.75 million tons. Ant it only happens when a mountain erupts. Later, these findings are the ones to help the experts to conclude what had happened at Nyos Lake.

Horseshoe Lake

The night before the incident, there was cliff on the bank of the lake which collapsed and went into water. It’s estimated that the ruin of the cliff had shaken the water layers. So the lowest layer which was filled with CO₂ ruptured and drained the CO₂ in a large amount to the surface.

The next morning the flow of CO₂ then entered the residential area. And because of its colorless and odorless, the people don’t realize its existence. That’s why many people died while doing their daily activity.

CO₂ is like a killer that lurks in silence. Maybe only a few people that realized the danger of Nyos Lake which looked really nice. Without realizing the risk, they had inhaled CO₂ which came from the lowest water layer, which is actually had been accumulated for decades. And plenty of people had died because of this.

The animals were Death

Life Science News – Tullis Onstott, scientist of Princeton University, and his colleagues from South Africa, Belgium, and Netherlands, found a new species of worm called Halicephalobus Mephisto. The scientists found this worm lives in 900-3600 meters depth on a gold mine in South Africa.

Onstott said that he was surprised and didn’t expect to find worm in such depth. “It’s frightening to see the worm moving at first. It looks like small black object moving around in circle,” said Onstott, quoted by Dailymail.

Previously, many scientists think that only microorganism can live in such depth. Why? Because oxygen and nutrient are limited, and of course because the extreme temperature. However, Onstott has proven that multi cellular organism can survive in that condition.

In his publication in Journal Nature, Wednesday (June, 01 2011), Onstott explained that Halicephalobus Mephisto is included in Nematoda phylum. It has small size, about 0.55 mm and also can tolerate high temperature up to 48^O Celsius. It reproduces asexually and eats bacteria in the subsurface.

Carbon analysis shows that the water in its habitat is 3000-12000 years old. The scientists believe that the species first lived on the surface, but it was taken to the lower layer by rain in the past. This worm is similar to the worm that rots fruit.

This finding can indicate that the underground is more complex than expected. The finding of this multi cellular organism also gives important implication to the searching for organism living in underground on other planets in the Solar System.

Besides finding Halicephalobus Mephisto, Onstott and his colleagues also found other worm, including Plectus Aquatilis.

Life Science News – Bacteria, organism scattered in the air, evidently becomes an important element for the occurrence of rain, snow, even ice storm. Alexander Michaud, a researcher of Montana State University in Bozeman, finds a large number of bacteria in the center of an ice storm.

Previously, the researchers believed that the chemical compound or other mineral materials in the cloud became the main reason of rain, snow, or ice storm.

However, latest research has shown that bacteria, fungi, atom, and even algae, can also be the trigger of rain. The study of this phenomenon is called bioprecipitation.

“Previously, mineral believed to be the main substance in atmosphere to trigger rain. Bu t in fact, mineral isn’t as effective as bacteria,” said Brent Christner, a microbiologist who is studying bioprecipitation in Louisiana State University.

“In order to create ice nuclei (ice crystal around the cloud), it is needed a particle of water which is colder than normal in the cloud,” said Christner to LiveScience.

He added, “Bacteria and other organisms around the cloud also can be the trigger of rain, snow, or ice storm.”

Michaud had taken an ice cube as big as golf ball after a great ice storm which hit Montana in June last year. He then divided it into 4 parts. Surprisingly, he found a huge number of bacteria in the core of the ice cube.

“The Bacteria was found in the ice cube before the ice became a hurricane,” said Michaud. It proves that the trigger of ice storm is bacteria or other biological particle.

By determining the temperature when ice storm was formed, researcher team found that bacteria caused ice forming with warmer temperature than normal.

Previously, team lead by Christner found that Pathogen Pseudomonas Syringae played an important role in forming snow all over the world, including Antarctica. Pathogen is known to be good in forming ice below the normal temperature and at the freezing point.

Bacteria have a special substance that can bind water molecule. Furthermore, bacteria forms ice particle easily. On land, bacteria use this particle to damage tree. As the result, bark and its cell are opened and bacteria get in it easily.

Life Science News – Researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, finds the fact that there is a plant that can plant itself. It’s called Erodium Cicutarium, a plant with this uniqueness.

Erodium Cicutarium is a flowering plant that is related to Geranium. This plant generally grows in warm climate.

The seed which is also known as Redstem Filaree, buries itself by spinning. Redsteam Filaree moves down to put itself in ground.

This uniqueness was first published in ‘Journal of Experimental Biology’. This scientific journal explains that when the fruit grows, the seed is wet. But when the seed is dry, there will be a string of seed that will rotates like a drill.

Life Science News – Normally, the fastest speed of bike is only about 50-70 km/h and the fastest speed of motorcycle is about 80-120 km/h. But, this world’s fastest bike has speed about 133 km/h. It’s awesome.

The bike is produced by a company from Canada named Varna Innovation & Research Corporation. The fastest bike is ridden by Sam Whittingham and designed by Georgi Georgiev.

Apparently this company has almost become a record-breaking of fastest bike race every year and every category. The determination of the record-breaking was taken at Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA, 2009.

133.28 km/h was achieved on ‘200m men flying start category’. ‘200m men flying start’ was a race where the racers took 200 meters with a start that had been running in certain state and when reached start point, then the racers were allowed to drive their bike as fast as possible (Flying Start).

This bike has form like recumbent bicycle where the racer has to lie to drive it. There’s a handlebar which is aligned with racer’s chest or neck to allow them controlling the bike. It is just like F1 car.

Because of needing a good aerodynamic then it is covered with a light and flat fairing. The fairing even covers the wheels and only leaves ¼ parts visible.

However, the racer still can see the track because the fairing is also made of transparent material like used in jet fighter cockpit.