Frozen Smoke - Miracle Solution?

It is expected to rank alongside wonder products from previous generations such as Bakelite in the 1930s, carbon fibre in the 1980s and silicone in the 1990s. Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said: “It is an amazing material. It has the lowest density of any product known to man, yet at the same time it can do so much. I can see aerogel being used for everything from filtering polluted water to insulating against extreme temperatures and even for jewellery.”

Aerogel is nicknamed “frozen smoke” and is made by extracting water from a silica gel, then replacing it with gas such as carbon dioxide. The result is a substance that is capable of insulating against extreme temperatures and of absorbing pollutants such as crude oil.
- TimesOnline

But They Don't Inhale

Find Mae Wong

OK, I dare you to try this one (it's really not all that hard if you find the reference): Somewhere in the Hong Kong Protest panorama at this site is the lady in the picture above. Your assignment: find her. Double dog dare ya.
Tip: Shift key and Control key zoom in and out within the panorama photo.

Tank Chair

German Graffiti

Modern Woody

Plants "Recognize" Kin?

A new study suggests that plants will work to your advantage if you’re another plant and a family member.

Susan Dudley: Mostly we think about plants as passive, just the victims of their environment and just growing in response to the physical environment. But they actually actively sense and respond to the environment, including what is specifically the presence of other plants, and I think that’s a really neat thing.

That’s Susan Dudley, at McMaster University in Ontario. She’s a biologist and evolutionary plant ecologist, which means she wants to understand what about a plant makes it good at growing. Research in the past showed that plants can sense and respond to the presence of other plants. It made Dudley wonder if plants can recognize their own kin.

Plants are considered siblings if their seeds came from the same “mother” plant. Dudley studied the roots of plants growing in different living situations. She found that the plants living with other unrelated plants grew more roots to try to edge out the other plants for water and nutrients.

But those living alongside family were distinctly less aggressive. Their roots were the same as plants living alone, so it seems that competition among plants is less along family members.
- Earth & Sky

Where'd E Go?