The Secret of Fire Tornado

Blazing ... fire tornado in Alice Springs, Australia. (Picture from: http://www.thesun.co.uk/)

Fire tornado as high as 30 meters that recorded a video camera Chris Tangey of Alice Springs Television on 16 September 2012 is a rare phenomenon. Incidentally, Tangey, which is conducting the survey location near Curtin Springs in Australia, saw a vortex of fire that rose high into the sky.

"Tornado sounded like a jet fighter aircraft that pass, but there's no wind around Us," said Tangey told the Northern Territory News.

The fire tower was dancing on the landscape for nearly 40 minutes. Tangey and his team from the TV station motionless witness the rare natural events. Although rare, a fire tornado also occurred in several other regions of the world, including in Aracatuba city, Brazil. Drought experienced during the three months the city created the perfect conditions for the fire tornado.

This rare event occurs when the fire stirred by a strong flow of dry air to form a vertical vortex. Tornadoes can form a vortex of hot air around or in the pillar of fire.

The phenomenon is often dubbed as the fire demon can be revoked as high as 15 feet up a tree root. Generally, tornado of flames reaching 30-50 meters tall with a diameter of several meters and lasted a few minutes. But the huge fire tornado can reach hundreds of meters with winds of 160 kilometers per hour. Tornadoes of this magnitude can take more than 20 minutes.

Most tornadoes form when the fire fire fire met with warm air moves upward. Large fires can create a vortex of fire the size, intensity, and duration were varied.

In 1923, the Great Kanto earthquake in Japan triggered a storm of fire and a city-wide fire vortex generating enormous. Within 15 minutes the giant fire tornado that killed 38 thousand people. *** [REUTERS | LIVESCIENCE | KORAN TEMPO 4005]

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Maternal Genes Found in Mice

Maternal feelings shown holding her son apparently formed by a gene. Researchers from Rockefeller University in New York, USA, have discovered the existence of genes that are responsible for feelings of maternal rats.

Mouse in a laboratory. (Picture from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/)

They found that mice engineered to suppress the expression "maternal gene" spend a little time to lick, feeding, and cleaning up their child. These conditions contrast with the rats from the control group who care for her child.

"There is a single gene responsible for motivating the parent to protect, feed, and raise their children," said study leader, Ana Ribiero, in findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday September 19, 2012.

Previous research shows that there are regions in the rat brain called the medial preoptic, in charge of controlling aggression, sexual acceptance and care by the parent. However, what about the chemical mechanisms that affect the behavior, it is yet unclear.

Ribiero says, citing previous research, the nerve cells respond to estrogen, a female sex hormone-containing receptor alpha and estrogen in high levels. These chemicals are linked to the behavior of rat maternal care and sexual behavior.

"We lowered the level of the receptor in the medial preoptic female rats to examine the response of those without it," he said, as quoted by the Telegraph. The research team conducted experiments based on this fact.

As a result, mice with low levels of receptors in the brain to spend less time caring for their children. However, it did not affect the aggressiveness.

According Ribiero, manipulation of specific genes in specific nerve cell groups can drastically alter the expression of important biological behavior. *** [TELEGRAPH | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4002]

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The Reason People are Unhappy at Work

Do not rush to blame the boss when you feel stressed and anxious in the office. A research conducted by Timothy Judge, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business at Indiana, USA, found that health problems, satisfaction, and high stress due to work pressure strongly influenced by genes.

Judge studied nearly 600 identical and fraternal twins, who both grew up in a family and grew apart. He discovered that grew up in the same neighborhood almost no effect on personality, stress, and health. In contrast, genes that apparently held four times more important than the environment.

He gave the example of two employees in the same business can report different levels of stress. But that does not mean that an employee work more stressful. "Our study shows that there are very strong hereditary factors on work stress and pressure that it generates," said Judge. "That means the influence of environmental conditions on the stress experienced by employees is far less than the individual's genetic code."

Research published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes showed that people who try to relieve the stress in your life Do not think of changing jobs to overcome the problem. Unless, they can receive their own tendency to stress. Judge says this does not mean workers should not be trying to avoid a stressful job.

"We also should not assume that we are a blank slate, so too optimistic about the effect of work environment on the level of stress," he said. "It has more to do with what is in us than what we encountered outside the workplace." *** [LIVESCIENCE | KORAN TEMPO 4000]

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Is It True That More of Extraterrestrial Life?

Is there life outside the Earth? A lot, that's the answer of a group of scientists who gave a presentation of their findings on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen.

Their conclusion was obtained after a number of new model equipment designed to test whether a planet capable of supporting life, by looking for evidence of underground water.

As quoted by BBC News page, appliances new model developed by scientists is indeed powerful. Instead of finding the water surface, the equipment was actually more astute to identify the presence of water constantly hot molten core of a planet due.

Scientists should not exclude planets that reside in colder regions. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

"This development could mean more planets are found to be able to sustain life forms," said a spokesman for the research team. Their opinions challenged Goldilocks theory that has been recognized by a space.

Goldilocks theory. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

• A planet is warmed by two sources of heat - solar energy and internal heat.
• The further away a planet is from its sun the less energy it receives and surface water freezes.
• As the distance increases underground water also starts to freeze.
• But if the planet is large enough and produces enough internal heat, it could still contain deep reservoirs of liquid water capable of supporting life, no matter how far away from the sun.

Goldilocks theory states, the planet must be within an ideal distance from the sun to support life. "Ideal distance from the sun allowing the planet is not too cold so that life in it could freeze, or too hot so that it can melt," said Sean McMahon, a doctoral student from the University of Aberdeen.

In fact, says Professor John Parnell, lead researcher from the University of Aberdeen, there are other important habitats for microorganisms that is located a few kilometers below the earth's surface, "Many scientists believe most microscopic life on Earth could live in that location."

McMahon said the latest research on this could be an important breakthrough for the search for signs of extraterrestrial life. Parnell added that the idea of ​​the habitable zone is not defined narrowly only to the conditions on the surface of a planet. Conditions inside the planet layer also noteworthy. "This point of view will bring up a number of other habitable planets," he said. *** [BBC | TELEGRAPH | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3994]

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The Ancestors of the Computer

As traditional calculators and important discoveries in the Ancient China, the abacus is widely used before the invention of Arabic numerals in the world. In English, known as abacus. The use of the word abacus has been started since 1387, borrowed a Latin word abakos derived from the word abax which in Greek means "the calculation table."

Before the invention of the abacus, the ancient people use a small wooden stick. Along with the increased number of calculations, the use of small wooden sticks failed to meet these demands.

Therefore, poeple finds the first calculator, the abacus. The origin of the abacus can be traced back to 600 BC during the period of spring and autumn. Inventors weave beads 10 in one group and put in the trunk and then framed.

Calculations can be done by moving the beads. Rectangular abacus with wooden frames. In this frame, there is a rod beads. Beam in the middle of the frame dividing each bar into two sections. The beads at the top symbolizes the five, and the rest at the bottom symbolizes the one.

In the application of the abacus, people make a lot of tips to help speed up calculations. Types of calculations using the abacus called abacus calculation method. By the Ming Dynasty, abacus calculation is not only applicable to the operation of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but also to measure the land, the shape and size of various objects.

Since the making of a simple abacus, it's cheap, and the calculation is easy to remember and do, the abacus is used widely in China. This makes abacus spread to Japan, Korea, United States, and Southeast Asia, and other countries. Even in the general use of modern electronic calculator, the abacus is still used in addition and subtraction for comfort.

It added that the abacus has been regarded as the ancestor of the computer. In other words calculator, Play Station, PC, laptop, mobile phones would not exist if the abacus was never found. *** [SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 30082012]

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Disagreement of the Battery Invention

Batteries are devices that store electrical-chemical energy and release energy in the form of electricity. A battery usually consists of three essential components, namely carbon rod as the anode (positive pole of the battery), zinc (Zn) as a cathode. (The negative pole of the battery), and paste as the electrolyte (conductor).

Event the battery is very interesting discovery, not only because the battery is an important discovery, but also because it raises the debate between two great scientists, namely Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, who in turn involve many scientists of the world.

Luigi Galvani. (Picture from: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/)

Alessandro Volta. (Picture from: 
http://www.wired.com/)

Starting in 1780, Luigi Galvani, a professor of anatomy and physiology from the University of Bologna conducted a series of experiments over the past 11 years on the frog's leg muscle tension electricity generated by static electricity machine.

Galvani discovered that muscle tension in the frog's leg can be caused by other means, when a brass hook pressed into the spinal cord of frogs and then hung to the iron rails that also touches the frog, the leg muscles tensed again.

Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist was skeptical of the Galvani work. Although Volta immediately continue and develop the research, Volta is still hesitant about the idea of ​​Galvani on animal electricity. Volta believe that the power source is not derived from animal nerve, but the contact between the two metals. Volta, Galvani thought the statement can only be rebutted by replacing the sensitive frog legs with inorganic materials. To reinforce the view of Volta that the contact between the two metal causing frog muscles tensed. Volta have to connect the two metals are not the same in an electroscope and observe the separation of pieces that show the potential difference.

Success is what ultimately sustain the theory of Volta. Then, Volta had created the Volta Battery (Voltaic Pile). For his services, a unit of electric potential difference called volt. *** [SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 16082012]

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Why Hunter-Gatherers are not Overweight?

Members of the Hadza culture of Tanzania dig for   
 tubers. One woman wears a monitor that measures 
her heart rate and her movement with GPS.  
(Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

The more the world's population is getting fat, Western lifestyle is considered as the cause. But many people who consider it odd for a lifestyle that a lot of meat, and sugar is a genetic inheritance from our ancestors who lived as hunters and gatherers.

To find out what causes the differences occurred, a number of scientists from Yale University in the United States studied the Hadza lifestyle, modern hunter-gatherers who live in the savannas of North Tanzania.

"Given no viable populations of species that is a perfect model of our past, Hadza lifestyle is very similar to our ancestors in the Pleistocene," said a team of scientists. "If present correct modeling of obesity, Hadza, a natural diet and limited mechanization, should spend more energy than people in Western countries are more sedentary lifestyle and have a diet high in sugar."

However, comparison of the metabolism of 30 Hadza population with population groups from around the world indicate that not the case. Hadza are more physically active than the West, but they do not spend more energy. After measuring their body size, the analysis showed that the average daily energy expenditure Hadza people are no different from the West.

A Hadza man climbs a tree to get wild honey. In spite of this strenuous life style, a new study has found that these hunter-gathers burn no more calories than more sedentary Westerners. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

"Our hypothesis, daily energy expenditure may be a developmental nature of human physiology that is free from cultural differences," said a team of scientists in a report published in the journal PLoS ONE, July 25, 2012. *** [LIVESCIENCE | KORAN TEMPO 3969]

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The Lighter Comes Before the Match

Dobereiner's Lamp, the first 
lighter. (Picture from:
http://www.chemgapedia.de/)

Did you know that first lighter was invented before the commercial match? Lighter was invented in 1816, better known by the name "Dobereiner's Lamp", according to the name of its inventor, Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner (1780-1849). These lighters used a fine platinum wire to ignite hydrogen gas in the lighter.

Another difference is that these matches using platinum as a catalyst (used to initiate the chemical changes of the fuel to the fire).

In 1908, then created a match small enough to fit in a pocket. Flint which is cheaper than platinum shifts the position of the lighter in the middle to lower.

The first Zippo lighter.

With advances in technology, Flint replace platinum as the catalyst. In the 1920s, still a little lighter for wealthy middle-class smokers. This is a serious setback for the average smoking blue-collar workers.

But at the year 193O's, George G Blaisdell make a change. He improved ergonomics mild cases. He designed a perforated hood for the axis, a windproof lighter.

In addition, it modifies the fuel chamber to be more efficient, and adding a flip-top hinged lid. And then enter the world of Zippo lighters / gas lighters. After the emergence of Zippo, similar companies began to appear.

This competition causes prices to fall dramatically. Fuel used in most of the lighters in the 1930s was naphtha, liquid oily derived from petroleum.

Piezoelectric lighter. (Picture from: http://faculty-science.blogspot.com/)

The technology used then is piezoelectric which were first discovered in the early 1800s, but its potential was first discovered by French scientists, Ronson wherein the piezoelectric effect is used in this machine to make an igniter for lighters which convert the energy into an electric spark. *** [SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 02082012]

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First Glasses Have No Stems

Glasses are no longer just a tool to read, but has evolved into a part of fashion and style. Many people use glasses to protect eyes from the direct beam of sunlight, but many also use it to look more okay.

Ancient eyeglasses.

Do you know when glasses are found and how the development of glasses since been found to display like its present form? It is said that Emperor Nero (37-68 AD) used a magnifying glass to see the gladiator games. At that time, used a magnifying glass gemstones that Nero is specifically geared to be a kind of lens.

Theories about the eye that develops until the 10th century states that the eyes of issuing some sort of signal or beam to detect objects around him. That theory a full blown away by Alhazen or Abu Ali Hasan Ibn al-At-Haytham (965-1039) by stating that people see as a bright light into the eyeball.

Alhazen also explains the usefulness of the lens to zoom in to see the object. Arab mathematician is an expert first do a thorough research on the eye. However, it is not too penelttian note until the 13th century an English monk named Roger Bacon (1214-1294) developed the study.

The First spectacles made by 
Silvano d'armato. (Picture from: 
http://www.history-of-the-microscope.org/)

Manufacture of modern eyeglasses Salvino d'Armato was initiated to introduce his work in Florence, Italy, in 1268. Glasses does not have a handle which is attached on either sist the user's face. Salvino glasses work at the base of the nose and positioned to be balanced by the user.

Stalk the new glasses were introduced in the 18th century in Paris, France. The shaft is still short and simply measuring both sides of the head clamp. Stem glasses with the size of the ears reach new users created in 1727 by a British ophthalmologist, Edward Scarlett.

Dual focus lens to help see the long-distance and short distance trusted discovered in 1784 by American scientists Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Later proved that the finding was made by Samuel Pierce from England in 1775. *** [SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 19072012]

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Why do People Want to Give Donation?

Set aside some property for others is the social interaction that commonly done by humans. Sociology and psychology researchers from Erasmus University, The Netherlands, investigated the behavior of why people are willing to give their wealth to others.

As many as 85 percent of donors do so at the request directly. Requests can come from friends, beggars who came to the house, or through advertisements in the media. As a result, most generous people are the most frequently asked for alms.

"A person compelled to maintain the reputation of charity," said researchers from Erasmus University, Pamala Wiepking, in an interview to Newscientist Tuesday. "They do not want to ruin that reputation."

Among the donors, religious people are the most generous. Various studies have previously shown that the true generosity of faithful around the world culture. Encouragement comes from the cultivation of the values ​​of free-wheeling since childhood that impact as adults.

A devout environment has also forced a person to be generous. Considered the nature of love to give that noble nature, to go into that environment, one must often charity.

Age influence a person's generosity. The older a person, the greater the tendency to give. But this can be decreased when a person past the age of 75 years. The reason, the elderly are considered not to have excellent physical ability that is rarely asked for donations.

The trend was also influenced by gender charity. "Women are more generous," he said. This is caused by a high sense of empathy and concern for women. Charitable man to the party or political group and tend to be more generous if higher education.

Surprisingly, the poor accounted for more than the rich portion of his property. *** [ANTON WILLIAM | KORAN TEMPO 3938]

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Where the Origins of Native Americans Came From?

In the most comprehensive survey 
of genetic diversity in Native Americans 
so far, the team took data from 52 
Native American and 17 Siberian groups, 
studying more than 300,000 specific 
DNA sequence variations called  
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms 
to examine patterns of genetic similarities 
and differences between the population 
groups. (Picture from: http://www.terradaily.com/)

The origins of Native Americans revealed. An international research team discovered the Native Americans made ​​up of three groups of migrants coming from Asia. They arrived in America in three waves of migration, crossing the land bridge 15 thousand years ago.

The findings, published in the journal Nature shows all the group originally came from Siberia, then across Beringia, a land bridge connecting Asia and the American continent during the ice age. This land bridge now gone, and transformed into the Bering Strait.

The first migrant group known as the "First Americans" to inhabit most areas of North and South America, followed by two subsequent groups inhabiting the same area. DNA from the second and third groups can still be found in Native Americans today.

By studying DNA sequence variation in Native Americans, the team found most of them are from the first group of migrants. While the two subsequent migration plays an important increase of genetic variation.

"Native Americans do not originate from a single migration," said Professor Andres Ruiz-Linares, lead researcher from University College London, Tuesday (July 17, 2012). "This study reveals the pattern of spread of human as well as in America."

The analysis revealed two populations of genetic material inherited from the first group of migrants, aka "First Americans". This reflects that the second and third groups of migrants mingled with the first group that they encounter after they arrived in North America. "At least, there are three deep lineages in Native American populations," said professor David Reich, another researcher who is also a geneticist at Harvard Medical School.

The team also found an indigenous population menyebandan split from north to south along the coastal route. *** [DAILYMAIL | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3944]
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Eye Was Not a Lie Detector

Many people believe that a person's eyes could not lie. For example, when someone is lying, eyes tend to blink or reluctant eye contact with his interlocutors. However, recent research by academics at two universities in the UK showed it was just a myth.

In his research, they tested the theory that is believed to lie psychologists as a sign of nature, such as when one speaks as he glanced to his right, he probably is lying. Whereas if you glance to the left, defined by a sign showing honesty.

"The results of the tests we did find that the theory is wrong," said the experts from Edinburgh University and Hertfordshire University. The research is published in the journal Public Library of Science-ONE.

The link between eye movements and honesty are key elements of neurolinguistic programming (HIP), a method to improve the quality of life of people with a psychological approach.

One aspect of NLP that teach someone about the relationship between eye movements and thoughts. According to this theory, when one glance to the right instead of left-handed, they are likely to visualize the events were "built" or imagined. Conversely, if they glanced to the left, chances are it will visualize a memory in his brain.

The scientists examined the behavior of two groups of respondents and the first group to record eye movements when telling the truth or lying. Respondents from both groups were asked to watch the tape and trying to detect lies by observing eye movement of the first group.

"The first results showed no relationship between lying and eye movements," said Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist from Hertfordshire University.

Caroline Watt, researchers from Edinburgh University, said the theory of the eye and lie was no longer relevant. *** [PLOSONE | DAILYMAIL | BBC NEWS | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3943]

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Bees Can Reverse Brain Aging

Honey bee is one of the smartest 
insects. A honey bee can learn 
complex connections between 
time, odors, colors, shapes and 
positive or negative experiences. 
Honey bees can also understand 
numbers up to and including 4. 
(Picture from: http://livasperiklis.com/)

Mindset was to determine the length of the honey bee age. Scientists at Arizona State University, and Norwegian University of Life Sciences, led by Gro Amdam, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Life Sciences, presented findings that show that tricking older, foraging bees into doing social tasks inside the nest causes changes in the molecular structure of their brains.

"Honeybees are relatively preserved during its stay in the nest and care for larvae (baby bees). But they ripen very quickly so get through this," said Gro Amdam. The research is published in the journal Experimental Gerontology.

During experiments, scientists removed all of the younger nurse bees from the nest - leaving only the queen and babies.

When the older, foraging bees returned to the nest, activity diminished for several days. Then, some of the old bees returned to searching for food, while others cared for the nest and larvae.

Young bees take care of larvae. A bee 
larvae looks somewhat like a croissant, 
and each baby has her own hexagonal 
compartment inside the nest of the 
colony. The young bees patrol the nest 
and inspect each compartment to 
clean and feed the larvae. (Picture 
from: http://www.sott.net/)

Researchers discovered that after 10 days, about 50 percent of the older bees caring for the nest and larvae had significantly improved their ability to learn new things.

Seeing these differences, the scientists decided to compare the scanned their brains. They found elevated levels of protein in the brains of bees Prx6 treating larvae.

Prx6 protein is also found in humans and is known to have important functions to
protect brain function against disease, including dementia and Alzheimer's.

Prx6 protein being studied, says Amdam, can spontaneously respond to certain social experiences. These findings are very useful for humans. Because honey bees have a similar brain cells with humans. Humans can learn from honeybees on how to adjust the social life to help the mind, so stay young as they grow older.

"Social intervention is something we can do today to help your brain stay young," says Amdam. "Change the way you relate to your environment."

Bees, like humans, are unable to live alone. Bees will experience stress and usually will not survive more than 7-10 days in isolation rooms. "Honeybees are also included social animals, like humans," says Amdam. *** [DAILYMAIL | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3935]

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Why does the Heat Makes People Cranky?

Hot weather isn't just uncomfortable,
 it also makes many people cranky.
(Picture from: http://news.discovery.com/)

Mood was found to be influenced by temperature. This was revealed by a recent study shows that hot weather can trigger one's emotions.

Hot and humid weather also limits to human activity. One becomes difficult to sleep, dehydrated, and confined all day in the house to avoid the scorching sun.

"All that can affect the mood worse," said Nancy Molitor, a clinical instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA.

Not infrequently, the hot weather makes a person difficult to think clearly. Molitor suggested that a decision is not important if the stress of hot weather conditions.

Lack of control behavior due to the hot weather also trigger a person's behavior so crazy. Emotions of each person, whether at work or on the road, are affected by hot weather. "The axis of the emotions of each person to be shorter," said Molitor.

Most of the people "just" to feel depressed or grouchy during the summer. But some other small, about 1-2 percent of the population, the influence of seasonal disorder. This amount will increase over a period of hot weather.

In addition to discomfort and distress, people with seasonal effect disorder feel very anxious during the summer. For them, there is virtually no compromise with the word sun. "It could even lead to suicide," said Molitor.

Molitor urged all people of common sense to train during the summer. The recipe, stay hydrated and always consider the condition of the body. If you want to be healthy through exercise, he suggests exercising in the morning or evening, not midday.

"If undergoing treatment are diuretics, such as blood pressure medication, you need to drink more water to stay hydrated," says Molitor. *** [LIVESCIENCE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3935]
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