Friday, November 22. 2019NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission
The number of Indian space enthusiasts who submitted their names to NASA to be carried to Mars onboard the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heart Transport) mission to the Red Planet, which launches on 5 May 2018. They were provided online ‘boarding passes’ for the mission. The names are being etched on a silicon wafer microship using an electron beam to form letters with lines one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair. The chip is affixed to the InSight lander deck and will remain on Mars forever. The US had the most number of people (6,76,773) sending their names followed by China with 2,62,752 names. India stands at number three. Space experts attribute India being ranked among the first three nations to the excitement and interest in Mars flights triggered by India’s ground-breaking Mangalyaan mission. “Mars continues to excite space enthusiasts of all ages,” said Bruce Banerdt, the Insight mission’s principal investigator. “This opportunity lets them become a part of the spacecraft that will study the inside of the Red Planet.” Insight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface, studying the planet’s interior by listening for marsquakes. These quakes travel through geologic material at different speeds and give scientists a glimpse of the composition and structure of the planet’s inside.
Picture Credit : Google Friday, November 22. 2019Rainbow peacock spiders produce ‘nature’s smallest rainbows’
Two species of miniature peacock spiders have been found to use an entire rainbow of colours while courting females, in the first known instance of such a display. Scientists call the spectacle “nature’s smallest rainbow”. Maratus robinsoni and Maratus chrysomelas have two types of visually distinct abdominal scales: rainbow-iridescent scales and velvet black scales. The black scales are brush-like and randomly oriented, while the rainbow-iridescent scales are more orderly aligned, cling to the cuticle surface and have bulky 3D shapes. Each of these bulky, iridescent scales contains a series of three-dimensional, parallel grates used to split different wavelengths of light a different angles. By studying the remarkable patterns packed into the 5 mm small body of the rainbow peacock spider, scientists say it could be possible to harness similar ‘super iridescent’ qualities for new colour technology.
Picture Credit : Google Friday, November 22. 2019If music gives you chills your brain might be special
Does music give you the chills? Have you got a few favourite songs that leave you with goose bumps? There’s scientific name for it: ‘frisson’. And not everybody gets it. If you do, it means your brain works a little differently. University of Southern California scientists examined the brain scans of 20 students, half of whom had intense reactions to music and half didn’t. Researchers found that those who experienced the ‘chills’ have more neural connections between their auditory cortex, in charge of emotional processing centres, and the prefrontal cortex, involved in ‘higher-order cognition’ such as listening and understanding music. More fibres and increased efficiency between the two regions means that there is more efficient processing between them. This means if you do get chills from music you are more likely to experience stronger and more intense emotions.
Picture Credit : Google |
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