Se colocarmos uma larva de uma mosca da fruta no vácuo, ela rapidamente morre.
No entanto, se a colocarmos num nano-fato, então ela sobrevive. Os cientistas conseguiram isso bombardeando a larva com electrões, formando uma “nuvem” à volta da larva e permitindo-lhe sobreviver no vácuo.
Uma das possíveis consequências disto é talvez no futuro produzir destes fatos para os astronautas humanos.
Outra possível consequência é conseguir tirar fotografias com muito melhor resolução a nano-organismos.
Carlos F. Oliveira é astrónomo e educador científico.
Licenciatura em Gestão de Empresas.
Licenciatura em Astronomia, Ficção Científica e Comunicação Científica. Doutoramento em Educação Científica com especialização em Astrobiologia, na Universidade do Texas.
Foi Research Affiliate-Fellow em Astrobiology Education na Universidade do Texas em Austin, EUA.
Trabalhou no Maryland Science Center, EUA, e no Astronomy Outreach Project, UK.
Recebeu dois prémios da ESA (Agência Espacial Europeia).
Realizou várias entrevistas na comunicação social Portuguesa, Britânica e Americana, e fez inúmeras palestras e actividades nos três países citados.
Criou e leccionou durante vários anos um inovador curso de Astrobiologia na Universidade do Texas, que visou transmitir conhecimento multidisciplinar de astrobiologia e desenvolver o pensamento crítico dos alunos.
Scientists from the Natural History Museum London are facing the challenges of mass digitization of museum specimens by inventing a creative, functional and most importantly quite cheap way to capture old and fragile specimens.
Whoever said scientists are not creative will think twice at the face of the new LEGO® pinned insect manipulator (IMp).
The idea came to life after years of using commercial manipulators which come in standard sizes and set up and are often hard to use with some groups of insects.
Available DIY on the other hand are also not convenient as they are made from materials and tools that are not readily available to everyone. Furthermore most DIY setups are specifically designed for a particular group of insects and may not be of an appropriate size for other insect groups.
So what will make for a good, easy to use and customizable pinned insect manipulator? This is where creativity kicks in for Dr. Steen Dupont and colleagues from the NHM London. To answer the challenges of mass digitization in their day-to-day digitization tasks they invented a pinned insect manipulator (IMp) made entirely of LEGO® bricks.
The new invention holds several advantages among which are universal applicability, availability, affordability and the opportunity to customization for the need of each case at all times. Most importantly they ensure minimum handling of fragile specimens to take the risks of damage to a minimum.
“We believe the LEGO® insect specimen manipulators are a valuable addition to any entomologist’s toolbox and that the use of any insect manipulator is in the interest of anyone dealing with valuable specimens as the actual handling of the specimen is reduced to a minimum during examination.”, explains Dr. Steen Dupont.
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É muito interessante este artigo…
Sugestão:
When scientists play with LEGO: A new creative version of pinned insect manipulator
http://www.technology.org/2015/02/06/scientists-play-lego-new-creative-version-pinned-insect-manipulator/
Scientists from the Natural History Museum London are facing the challenges of mass digitization of museum specimens by inventing a creative, functional and most importantly quite cheap way to capture old and fragile specimens.
Whoever said scientists are not creative will think twice at the face of the new LEGO® pinned insect manipulator (IMp).
The idea came to life after years of using commercial manipulators which come in standard sizes and set up and are often hard to use with some groups of insects.
Available DIY on the other hand are also not convenient as they are made from materials and tools that are not readily available to everyone. Furthermore most DIY setups are specifically designed for a particular group of insects and may not be of an appropriate size for other insect groups.
So what will make for a good, easy to use and customizable pinned insect manipulator? This is where creativity kicks in for Dr. Steen Dupont and colleagues from the NHM London. To answer the challenges of mass digitization in their day-to-day digitization tasks they invented a pinned insect manipulator (IMp) made entirely of LEGO® bricks.
The new invention holds several advantages among which are universal applicability, availability, affordability and the opportunity to customization for the need of each case at all times. Most importantly they ensure minimum handling of fragile specimens to take the risks of damage to a minimum.
“We believe the LEGO® insect specimen manipulators are a valuable addition to any entomologist’s toolbox and that the use of any insect manipulator is in the interest of anyone dealing with valuable specimens as the actual handling of the specimen is reduced to a minimum during examination.”, explains Dr. Steen Dupont.
Pelo título, pensei que o fato dos astronautas protegia-nos de insetos quando estamos no espaço. 🙂
Se bombardearmos um astronauta com electrôes, o que é que lhe acontece? Para além (obviamente) de ficar um bocadiiiinho chateado.
Na alta atmosfera tem pequens microorganísmos.
E lá também tem grande radiação, positrons e outros.
Será que alguma criatura teria se beneficiado dessa característica para sobreviver na alta atmosfera?