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mr.d

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    Tom Tato Lives! Frankensteinian Plant Grows Both Tomatoes And Potatoes

    in Go Gardening and Nature

    Posted

    TomTato lives! Frankensteinian plant grows both tomatoes and potatoes

     
    8C9172235-tomtato4x3.blocks_desktop_larg
    Morgan-Thompson
    You say to-MAY-to, they say tom-TAY-to.

    NBC NEWS SCIENCE, SEPTEMBER 26,2013-----Britons are booking orders for a double-crop wonderplant called the TomTato, that puts out cherry tomatoes on the vine, while growing whole white potatoes underground.

    "It's the perfect marriage," Michael Perry, new product manager at Thompson-Morgan, who is taking TomTato orders for next April, told NBC News. "Why wouldn't someone want to buy one?"

    Tomato lovers can chop up the fruit for a season's worth of salads, and then harvest the potatoes at the end of the year, Perry promised.

    It sounds crazy, but the science is legit. Tomato and potatoes are members of the same plant family, which makes them ideal candidates for being grafted together. That's how the company creates their new line, and a technique fruit growers and horticulturists have been using for centuries

    Insect With Interlocking Gears On Legs Dicovered

    in Go Gardening and Nature

    Posted

    Creature with interlocking gears on legs discovered

     

    gears_620x350.jpg

    The intermeshing gears on the hind legs of a planthopper insect are shown in this scanning electron micrograph image. / Image courtesy of Malcolm Burrows

     

     

    LIVESCIENCE.com, SEPTEMBER 13,2013-------Gears are ubiquitous in the man-made world, found in items ranging from wristwatches to car engines, but it seems that nature invented them first.

     

    A species of plant-hopping insect, Issus coleoptratus, is the first living creature known to possess functional gears, a new study finds. The two interlocking gears on the insect's hind legs help synchronize the legs when the animal jumps.

     

    "To the best of my knowledge, it's the first demonstration of functioning gears in any animal," said study researcher Malcolm Burrows, an emeritus professor of neurobiology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

     

    Burrows and a colleague captured the gears' motion using high-speed video. As the young bug prepares to leap, it meshes the gear teeth of one leg with those of the other, like cocking a gun. Then, the insect releases its legs in one smooth, explosive motion. [See Video of the Insect Gears in Action]

     

    Hopping in sync

     

    Each leg sports a curved strip of 10 to 12 gear teeth that attach to the trochantera on the insect's legs. These structures were described in 1957, but no one had demonstrated that the gears were functional, Burrows told LiveScience.

     

    Insects' hind legs can be arranged in two ways. The legs of grasshoppers and fleas move in separate planes at the sides of their body, whereas those of champion jumping insects, such as planthoppers, move beneath their body along the same plane. Thus, planthoppers' legs need to be tightly coupled.

     

    "If there were to be a slight timing difference between the legs, then the body would start to spin," Burrows said.

     

    The gears synchronize the movement of the hind legs to within about 30 microseconds of each other -- much faster than the nervous system could achieve, according to the study findings, detailed in the Sept. 13 issue of the journal Science. [The 7 Most Amazing Bug Ninja Skills]

     

    Sometimes, Burrows observed that the gears slipped past one another, but when they finally engaged, the two legs became synced.

     

    Burrows did an experiment with a dead planthopper: When he pulled one of its legs, both of them extended rapidly. Thus, the mechanics of the skeletal system alone can synchronize the legs, he said.

     

    Gears are for kids

     

    The cogs are only found in immature planthoppers, or nymphs, and are lost during the final molt. Adult planthoppers use friction between their legs to achieve the same effect as the gears.

     

    Adults may ditch their gears partly because gear teeth can break, jeopardizing the insect's survival, Burrows said. Nymphs shed their exoskeleton five or six times before reaching adult size, and could correct the damage, whereas adults are stuck with one body.

     

    Adults also have larger, more rigid bodies, so friction could be a more effective way to sync up their legs.

     

    "It's very exciting to see one after another component of human mechanical engineering being discovered in the living world, too," said Alexander Riedel, curator of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe in Germany, who was not involved in the research.

     

    Riedel suggested another reason the adult insects lack gears could be that unlike nymphs, adults have wings, which could help direct their flight.

     

    There are a few other animals that possess structures resembling gears. The cogwheel turtle, as its name suggests, has a gear on its shell, which is purely decorative. Some reptiles have cogwheel heart valves that increase the resistance to blood flow. And some insects have gearlike knobs that are used to produce chirping sounds. But none of these structures functions as a gear, per se.

     

    Burrows originally came across gear-legged insects in a colleague's garden in Germany. He searched in vain for them at home in England.

     

    "Then, I asked my 5-year-old grandson if he could find them, and he found some in the garden," Burrows said.

     

    Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.                                                                                                                                                      See video;    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57602821/creature-with-interlocking-gears-on-legs-discovered/

     

    Area 51 Exists, Declassified CIA Documents State

    in Unknown Paranormal Forum

    Posted

    Area 51 Exists, Declassified CIA Documents State

     

     
     

    LAS VEGAS, AUGUST 17,2013(AP) ------- UFO buffs and believers in alien encounters are celebrating the CIA's clearest acknowledgement yet of the existence of Area 51, the top-secret Cold War test site that has been the subject of elaborate conspiracy theories for decades.

    The recently declassified documents have set the tinfoil-hat crowd abuzz, though there's no mention in the papers of UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings.

    Audrey Hewins, an Oxford, Maine, woman who runs a support group for people like her who believe they have been contacted by extraterrestrials, said she suspects the CIA is moving closer to disclosing there are space aliens on Earth.

    "I'm thinking that they're probably testing the waters now to see how mad people get about the big lie and cover-up," she said.

    For a long time, U.S. government officials hesitated to acknowledge even the existence of Area 51.

    The CIA history released Thursday not only refers to Area 51 by name and describes some of the aviation activities that took place there, but locates the Air Force base on a map, along the dry Groom Lake bed.

    original.jpg

     

    It also talks about some cool planes, though none of them are saucer-shaped.

    George Washington University's National Security Archive used a public records request to obtain the CIA history of one of Area 51's most secret Cold War projects, the U-2 spy plane program.

    National Security Archive senior fellow Jeffrey Richelson first reviewed the history in 2002, but all mentions of the country's most mysterious military base had been redacted. So he requested the history again in 2005, hoping for more information. Sure enough, he received a version a few weeks ago with the mentions of Area 51 restored.

    The report is unlikely to stop the conspiracy theorists. The 407-page document still contains many redactions, and who's to say those missing sections don't involve little green men?

    It's not the first time the government has acknowledged the existence of the super-secret, 8,000-square-mile installation. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush referred to the "location near Groom Lake" in insisting on continued secrecy, and other government references date to the 1960s.

    But Richelson, as well as those who are convinced "the truth is out there," are taking the document as a sign of loosening secrecy about the government's activities in the Nevada desert.

    The site is known as Area 51 among UFO aficionados because that was the base's designation on old Nevada test site maps. The CIA history reveals that officials renamed it "Paradise Ranch" to try to lure skilled workers, who can still be seen over Las Vegas flying to and from the site on unmarked planes.

    Beginning with the U-2 in the 1950s, the base has been the testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the SR-71 Blackbird, F-117A stealth fighter and B-2 stealth bomber. Some believe the base's Strangelovian hangars also contain alien vehicles, evidence from the "Roswell incident"

    The Buzz On Carpenter Bees

    in Go Gardening and Nature

    Posted

    The Buzz on Carpenter Bees ---How to build a trap that will put an end to their destructive doings.

     

     

    An easy-to-build trap will help control a growing carpenter bee population.

    An unwelcome buzz is in the air. Spotted hovering along deck rails or under house eaves, an all too familiar pest has returned. Often mistaken for bumble bees, carpenter bees can be distinguished by its smooth and shiny-black abdomen. Although the males have no stingers, they aggressively patrol the area around their nests as the females busily prepare their favorite nesting spots. It

    10 MacGyver Type Tricks For Home

    in From Scratch

    Posted

    10 awesome MacGyver tricks that speak for themselves

     

    via LifeHacker

    Some life hacks require a complete how-to guide just to understand. Others are so genius in their simplicity that they speak for themselves. Here are 10 of our favorite self-explanatory MacGyver tricks.

    10. Make perfect pancakes with a squeeze bottleLifeHacker

    It doesn't have to be a ketchup bottle, any kind of squeeze bottle will work

    Dessert Recipes

    in Recipe Forum

    Posted

    Microwave Cake  ---- 1-2-3 Cake found on www.pinterest.com       On cake mixes on one site said 1 cake mix had to be Angel Food. Not bad for some thing quick.                                                              

     

    1-2-3 Cake. Mix one box of any flavor of cake mix and one box Angel Food cake mix in a lg ziploc bag or in a sealable bowl. Store mixture until you get the urge for dessert. Put 3 tbs of the mixture in lg coffee mug and stir in 2 tbs water. Microwave for one minute for a single serving of cake! Top with fruit, ice cream, whipped cream, etc.

     

    Scientists Probe Mystery Of Venus Fly Trap

    in Go Gardening and Nature

    Posted

    Scientists probe mystery of venus fly trap

     

     

    INSIDE SCIENCE NEWS, NOVEMBER 24,2012------Plants aren't typically known for their speed.

     

    But the carnivorous Venus flytrap can close its jaw-like leaves in the blink of an eye. Charles Darwin once referred to the Venus flytrap as "one of the most wonderful plants in the world." But despite the plant's notoriety, its closing mechanism remains a mystery 250 years after its discovery.

     

    Biophysicists at the Ecole Polytechnique Universitaire de Marseille, in France, are investigating the cellular process behind the Venus flytrap's rapid response to prey. The researchers have already thrown out one popular explanation for the Venus flytrap's quick motion, that water movement within the plant makes its jaw snap. They announced this finding in San Diego at a meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics.

     

    "This is the first time someone has looked at how Venus flytraps move on the cellular level," said biophysicist and lead researcher Mathieu Colombani. "We are looking for an explanation that's both biologically and physically possible."

     

    Venus flytraps are native to the coastal bogs of North and South Carolina. The bogs' soil lacks the proper nutrients -- particularly nitrogen and phosphorus -- for plants to grow. The plant manages to survive in this tough environment by trapping and digesting insects in order to fulfill their nutritional needs.

     

    "In these bogs you see a lot of carnivorous plants that rely on animals and insects for nutrients," said biophysicist Jacques Dumais of the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez in Chile.

     

    When an insect is drawn into one of the plant's traps, it tickles a small, hair-like outgrowth on the inside of the leaf. When two different outgrowths are triggered in short succession, a rapid process triggers the leaves to shut, trapping the insect in as little as one-tenth of a second.

     

    As the insect struggles to escape, it triggers even more outgrowths, causing the Venus flytrap to tighten its grip and release enzymes to digest its snack. Each "mouth" can only snap shut four or five times before it dies, whether it catches something or not.

     

    In 2005, scientists discovered the large-scale principle behind the plant's bite. Each leaf pops from convex to concave as it closes, like a jumping popper toy or an inverted contact lens.

     

    "A Venus flytrap is like two popper toys put together," said Colombani. "Once the process is started, the two leaves snap together very quickly."

     

    When the plant's leaves are separated, the trap is in a stable equilibrium and remains open. Once the plant's prey springs the trap, some internal process in the plant upsets the system, causing the two leaves to quickly snap together. Identifying this internal process is the focus of Colombani's research.

     

    "The Venus flytrap's movements are as much a biological process as a physical process," said Dumais. "Colombani's work is a really wonderful attempt to understand everything from beginning to end."

     

    Currently there are several theories on how the Venus flytrap's leaves become unstable.

     

    The researchers were able to rule out one popular theory, which suggests that cells on the inside of the plant's leaves transfer water to cells on the outside of the leaves. The resulting cell size change would alter the shape of the leaves, possibly causing them to quickly destabilize and pop together. Colombani's team looked at the pressure change inside a single cell as the leaves snapped shut.

     

    "It's difficult because you need to stay focused on a single cell and the plant's leaves move very quickly," said Colombani.

     

    To solve this problem, the researchers creatively used blue dental paste to glue one of the Venus flytrap's leaves to an anchored plastic fork. This setup kept the leaf from moving and made focusing on a single cell possible. They found that the movement of water between the inner and outer cells was far too slow to be responsible for the plant's rapid movements.

     

    "It takes a few seconds for each cell to relax, which means that it would take about two minutes for the plant to close," said Colombani. "This doesn't seem like a good candidate for a mechanism that takes less than a second."

     

    The researchers are currently testing another popular explanation that says the elasticity of the plant's cell walls changes, causing the leaves to destabilize and snap together. Colombani says that whatever the mechanisms behind the remarkable plant's bite are, they could have potential applications in medicine or other fields.

     

    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/11/24/scientists-probe-mystery-venus-fly-trap/?intcmp=features#ixzz2D9R3bEgR

    Harris Du Bois Theatre

    in Local History Forum

    Posted

    One weekend we went to see the Disney movie " Old Yeller" in 1957.  It was about a family ,a youg boy and an old stray dog. Sunday afternoon showings had very long lines. We were lucky was able to get into 1st show. In the end Old Yeller died protecting the boys from a wild animal.  When we came out of the movies my Aunt,Uncle and cousins were waiting in line to see the second show. My younger brother told them there was no sense in going in because Ol Yeller was dead.

    Brookville Photos

    in Local History Forum

    Posted

    Interesting pictures of Brookville.  If you are interested in pictures and other items in the history of Brookville there is the Jefferson County Historical Society-Museum located at 172-176 Main Street in Brookville,hours are Tuesday-Saturday 12 Noon to 5 PM.  Call 1-814-849-0077 for more information. They have many interesting and historical items to see including the Bowdish Train Display. The Historical Center is on same side of Main street the Courthouse is on ,about 3 doors down from the traffic light at Pickering & Main Street would be across from Angelo'sPizza.

    gardening yet?

    in Go Gardening and Nature

    Posted

    Now that this thread is in the gardening forum you can get all of your problems cheerfully solved.

    Mr. d let us know about the rhubarb seeds. It never occurred to me to start then that either. Usually it is root divisions.  My daughter has strawberry plants that she started from the seeds on the outside of the strawberry. Who would have every thought to try that one either?

    Over the weekend my uncle gave me rhubarb seeds I just put them in some Miricale-Grow potting soil on Monday. Wait see how long it takes for them to sprout. My uncle said he never tried it from seed. Last year I bought 1 rhubarb plant and it did not really grow very much. I just checked last night and the rhubarb plant is just starting to come up fom last year.Probably should have gotten a couple of plants.
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