The Science Experiment

Real Transformer

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

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The Vampire Squid is an extreme example of a deep-sea cephalopod, thought to reside at aphotic (lightless) depths from 600-900 metres (2,000-3,000 feet) or more. Within this region of the world’s oceans is a discrete habitat known as the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Within the OMZ oxygen saturation is too low to support aerobic metabolism in most higher organisms. Nonetheless, the Vampire Squid is able to live and breathe normally in the OMZ at oxygen saturations as low as 3%; a feat no other cephalopod—and few other animals—can claim.

In order to cope with life in the suffocating depths, vampire squid have developed several radical adaptations. Of all deep-sea cephalopods, their mass-specific metabolic rate is the lowest. Their blue blood’s hemocyanin binds and transports oxygen more efficiently than in other cephalopods (Seibel et al. 1999), aided by gills with especially large surface area. The animals have weak musculature but maintain agility and buoyancy with little effort thanks to sophisticated statocysts (balancing organs akin to a human’s inner ear) and ammonium-rich gelatinous tissues closely matching the density of the surrounding seawater.

At the shallower end of the Vampire Squid’s vertical range, the view from below is like the sky at twilight: The highly sensitive eyes of deepwater denizens are able to distinguish the silhouettes of other animals moving overhead. To combat this, the vampire squid generates its own bluish light (bioluminescence) in a strategy called counterillumination: The light diffuses the animal’s silhouette, effectively “cloaking” its presence from the watchful eyes below. Its own large eyes detect even the faintest of gleams. A pair of photoreceptors are located on top of its head, perhaps alerting the animal to movements above.

Like other deep-sea cephalopods, Vampire Squid lack ink sacs. If threatened, instead of ink, a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light is ejected from the arm tips. This luminous barrage, which may last nearly 10 minutes, is presumably meant to daze would-be predators and allow the Vampire Squid to disappear into the blackness without the need to swim far. The display is made only if the animal is very agitated; regenerating the mucus is costly from a metabolic point of view.

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If you love robots…

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007

…then you’d better get a change of underwear ready before watching this:

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NEWS: New Apple Products!

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
250GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory

Ships: 5-7 business days

Free Shipping

$1,199.00

or as low as $29 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB memory
320GB hard drive¹
8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory

Ships: 5-7 business days

Free Shipping

$1,499.00

or as low as $36 a month

20 inch | 24 inch

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Anti-Gravity Gyro Toy

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

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Sight & Sound Experiment

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

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Robot of the Week: Scooter (GoBots)

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Faction: Guardian

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Coke-Sponsored Mars Rover

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Headline News:

Coke-Sponsored Rover Finds Evidence Of Dasani On Mars

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March Madness

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Nik Caner-Medley
Scientists outline theories behind NCAA picks

In the upcoming scientific journal Nature, TSE scientists discuss in depth the theories and calculations that guided their NCAA tournament bracket selections. Their theories are predicated upon seemingly unimportant details such as campus size, gym temperature, and school rivalaries. Teams of volunteers and a handful of 443tx robots were necessary to sufficiently cover the breadth of the data collection.

Parkway Mac labs was solicited (initially without agreement) to provide the unique technology to process the raw data. Their so called “blue collar” scientists oversaw the processing of the eclectic set of variables such as jersey color, rebound to slam dunk ratio, sneaker sponsor, number of black players, average age of player, cheerleader ratings, three point percentage, pyramid height, and free throw ability. The results of the three month long scientific expedition can be viewed at scientificNCAApicks.com. It is noted in the conclusion that the scientists were requested to withhold their results until moments prior to the start of the tournament to avoid the likely scenario where amassive amounts of capital ventures are initiated predicated on their findings. Having declared midway through experiment that scientific freedom was to be considered the uttermost priority it is highly doubtful that the TSE scientists gave the request any heeding. “It is only coincidence”, the lead scientist proclaimed convincingly at the heavily attended Doubletree reception, “that our thesis was delivered twenty minutes before the first tipoff. “
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New species of leopard with largest fangs in cat world discovered

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

VIDEO: It is a modern-day sabre-tooth tiger with fearsome fangs capable of killing its prey in a single bite. This clouded leopard which feasts on monkeys, deer and pigs has been discovered living deep in the Borneo rain forest.

Video…see the clouded leopard in its natural habitat
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Leopard New species: The Bornean clouded leopard

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The Science Experiment

Archive for 2007

Real Transformer

Deep Sea Squid

If you love robots…

NEWS: New Apple Products!

Anti-Gravity Gyro Toy

Sight & Sound Experiment

Robot of the Week: Scooter (GoBots)

Coke-Sponsored Mars Rover

Headline News:

March Madness

New species of leopard with largest fangs in cat world discovered

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