January '19

Happy 2019!

🎶 Listen to the sunrise on Mars

Inspired by the 5000th Martian sunrise taken by NASA's Opportunity rover. It's called Mars soundscapes, and was created by sonification of an image of the sun rising. Soni-what? Yeah, I had to look that up too. Apparently it's the use of non-speech audio to convey info or perceptualize data. Either way it's creepy, but beautiful.

🌿 How plants sense temperatures 

Scientists are interested in figuring out how plants experience temperatures. This will help us predict not only future food availability but also help develop new technologies to help them cope with rising temperatures. Fun fact: plants grow following the circadian clock, which is controlled by the seasons. All of a plant's physiological processes are partitioned to occur at specific times of day.

🦏 How mathematical models help endangered species 

Professor Fernando Colchero's research focuses on mathematically recreating the population dynamics. He constructs population models that predict how a certain endangered species will change over time, by taking into account the species' environment, survival rates and reproduction rates to determine population's size and growth.

🌅 Have you seen the green flash at sunset?

I've heard about it, but I've never seen it. Here's the science behind how and when that happens. Typically near flat terrain, and sometimes by the water 

🛠️ Nature is greater than the sum of its parts 

An opinion piece on how we've learned about the many parts of nature's system, and how much we still have to learn and discover.