Who you calling a shrimp?
Would you pay $3,300 to name a new species of shrimp? That’s just what ’90s-era Chicago Bulls basketball player Luc Longley paid to name a tiny, spotted shrimp discovered in 2005 off the coast of Australia by Anna McCallum. McCallum discovered the little guy aboard the research ship Southern Surveyor shortly after finishing her undergrad. Now a graduate student, McCallum thought that auctioning the right to name the shrimp on eBay would be a good way to raise money and attention for marine conservation, a cause she felt strongly about. Longley is passionate about conservation too: he grew up in Western Australia, not far from where McCallum discovered the shrimp, and has helped in conservation efforts aimed at the fragile coral reefs of the South Pacific. The name he chose? Lebbeus clarehanna, a present to his daughter Clare Hanna on her 15th birthday. Awwwwwww.—Lia Cardarelli
Source: The Scientist
Here comes the Sun
A Japanese solar-power space station worth approximately $23 billion could soon become a space-based power plant. Now endorsed by Mitsubishi and Sharp, the gigawatt power station composed of four kilometres of solar panels could begin orbiting 36,000 kilometres above the earth by 2030.
The solar energy power plant would be constantly exposed to the sun’s rays, and could thus transmit power via microwaves throughout the year. While this constant solar energy production may be attractive, the power produced would only provide sufficient energy for 300,000 out of 47 million Japanese households. Though ground tests have already demonstrated that 180 watts can effectively be beamed through the atmosphere, a test satellite will be launched in 2015 to evaluate if the space station could efficiently transmit the solar power to earth.
Scientists in America have considered solar energy-producing space programs since the 1960s, however the exorbitant cost of $1 billion per megawatt has hindered such programs’ development.—Alexandra Irena Eremia
Source: Scientific American
Special contact lenses allow diabetics to see their blood glucose levels
Research to help diabetics monitor their blood sugar level already provides them with personal glucose meters that instantly analyze blood droplets for glucose content. But Professor Jin Zhang from the University of Western Ontario felt that pin-pricking and drawing blood was outdated for the 21st century, so he took blood glucose level monitoring to a whole new level. Specially developed contact lenses now allow patients to actually see their glucose level. This fast, non-invasive approach is possible due to nanoparticles embedded in the hydrogel lenses that react with the glucose molecules in tears. The chemical reaction that results warns patients of plunges or spikes in their blood glucose level by changing the lenses’ colour. Nanoparticles are without any doubt the technology of the near future. Being very versatile, they can be employed to enhance biodegradation of plastics or detect cancer cells. They may one day even target these cells as a means of fighting cancer.—Albert Razvan Gheorghita
Source: Popular Science
A handy dandy dandelion
Until now, dandelions have been used as an unusual culinary ingredient (or as entertaining childhood plants), but have seldom been considered for commercialization. A recent study of a Russian species of dandelions may change the common perception of the pesky lawn-covering pest.
Dandelion sap contains molecules of rubber, which have the potential to supplement and replace Hevea brasiliensis, commonly known as the rubber tree. With the production of synthetic rubbers under the thumb of rising oil prices, and the time- and space-consuming methods of rubber tree growth posing a hindrance to the rubber industry, the rapidly growing dandelion weeds could become usable crops yielding two annual harvests.
Rubber can be extracted from the plant’s roots through manipulation of the polyphenoloxidase enzyme responsible for the sap’s coagulation. Further cultivation and cross-breeding of species could produce a new dandelion to surpass the Hevea and become the world’s primary rubber source.—AIE
Source: The Economist
