Friday, May 20, 2011
Sea Creature With Eyes of Rock
In the depths of the ocean, one probably wouldn't imagine discovering a sea creature with rocks as eyes. Surprisingly, you could find sea mollusks with calcium carbonate crystal eyes underwater somewhere. This mollusk with many eyes was actually found a few decades ago, but scientists were not sure what the eyes were made of or whether they could see properly. "It turns out they can see objects, though probably not well," researcher Daniel Speiser states. These fascinating creatures are known as chitons. Even though they were actually living on the Earth for the past five hundred million years, chitons didn't have these eyes until about twenty-five million years ago. They most likely had evolved in order to be able to determine their surroundings and defend themselves from predators. Researchers decided to study some three-inch West Indian fuzzy chitons to figure out how they defend themselves. They used hovering discs to see the chitons' reactions. They only seemed to clamp down when the hovering discs were one inch or larger. The researchers are still not too sure whether they were only responding to the removal of light. Still, the mollusks were able to see just enough to react. They have the same abilities in water and air, so they must be able to see underwater. These creatures are still to be further researched, and so far their abilities are interesting to think about.
http://www.livescience.com/13713-primitive-sea-creature-rock-eyes.html
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Dead Skin Cells Clean the Air
According to research, believe it or not, the amount of about five hundred million dead skin cells actually help clean the air that surrounds you. These cells that come off of your skin every single day really benefit your environment. The oil, squalene decreases the ozone level inside of your home from about two to fifteen percent. The bonds that are contained in the molecules break apart the ozone. It actually protects the Earth from harmful pollutants and cleans the air. The ozone is formed by many human interactions, and the amount just keeps on increasing. Skin cells are one of the things that are reducing the risk of the ozone from coming too close to the Earth's surface. Otherwise, people would be under severely dangerous conditions. The chemist, Charles Weschler and a few others had collected dust samples from many places and analyzed for the squalene. They figured out how much of a significant impact dead skin cells really have on the removal of the ozone. Other chemicals containing double bonds also can contribute to ozone reduction. Earlier research from an office states that about ten to twenty-five percent was removed from dead skin cells in a thirty cubic meter room. Of course, they also say it doesn't mean you should let your home collect dust. Overall, these are just some new facts about how skin cells clean the air discovered by some reasearchers. Squalene in dust will continue to remove the ozone the same way it has been.
http://www.livescience.com/14178-dead-human-skin-helps-clean-air.html
http://www.livescience.com/14178-dead-human-skin-helps-clean-air.html
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