Autumn Colors

Leaves are typically green due to the high chlorophyll content. Chlorophyll captures sunlight and uses this energy to make simple sugars from which the plant feeds (photosynthesis). Chlorophyll is lost during this process and is continuously replenished by the plant. As summer days come to an end, the veins that carry the chlorophyll into the leaves gradually close and the hidden yellow and orange pigments are revealed. As a result, beautiful colored leaves, as the ones below, are observed at the beginning of fall.

 

 

Water lilies, Lotus, and surface wetting

Last weekend I visited Hughes Water Gardens located near Wilsonville, OR

This nursery specializes in water plants and it was very interesting to see the large number of plants they had. However, I had the most fun looking at the leaves from the water lilies and the lotus plant. Their surface exhibit superhydrophobic characteristics. This means that when water comes into contact with the leaf surface, it beads up and rolls off the leaf.

When water rolls off, it cleans the surface of the leaf. This is why these leaves always seem to remain clean in murky ponds. This behavior is known as the Lotus Effect.

The Lotus Effect is attributed to both micro-scale surface bumps and nano-scale hair like structures present on the leaf surface. These surface structures trap air underneath the water droplets and create the superhydrophobic characteristics.  

 

Source: [1]

Reference:

[1] Cheng, Y., Rodak, D., 2005, “Is the lotus leaf superhydrophobic?”, Applied Physics Letters, 86, 144101

edX: An MIT and Harvard Partnership

Free online classes from MIT and Harvard. Doesn’t get much better than that! I encourage all of you to take advantage of this new resource. As a current MITx student enrolled in 6.002x, I can tell you first hand that these online education opportunities will eliminate geographical and socio-economical boundaries for education and will revolutionize they way we all learn.

 

Linus Pauling Science Center

In October 2011 Oregon State University (OSU) opened the doors of the new Linus Pauling Science Center. This four story 105,000 ft^2 building houses the Linus Pauling Institute, as well as classrooms and laboratories for scientists, researchers, and students.

 

Today, the Linus Pauling Science Center is OSU’s largest-ever academic building project with a cost of $62.5 million and several more million devoted to support the educational and research programs that will occur within the building. State of the art NMR and Electron Microscope facilities are currently located inside the building.

In addition to the state of the art research facilities, the building houses displays of information about the life of Linus Pauling, including replicas of his two Nobel Prizes  as well as other intriguing displays.

Building Human Organs

Here is an interesting National Geographic documentary about artificially building human organs. This is a great example of how the knowledge that we have learned and gained in all fields of science and engineering have come together to challenge the inner workings of our own body.

 

River Mouth Mixing Visualization

During periods of heavy rain, rivers appear “dirty” because they carry large quantities of soil sediments. This change in the river water color provides a great opportunity to visualize the turbulent mixing that goes on at the river mouth, where the river meets the ocean. This type of mixing is commonly seen at a much smaller scale when one stirs milk into a black cup of coffee. Naturally occurring large scale turbulent mixing is not commonly seen in our everyday life. Here is a picture that I took over the pacific coast of Central America during the rainy season where one can visualize the mixing from a few different rivers as they meet the ocean.

CO2 Laser Inscription

This past weekend I attended the Willamette Veterinary Hospital open house. This Vet Clinic located in Corvallis Oregon offers a broad range of services for companion and small exotic animals including a 24 hour urgent care. I currently don’t have a pet; however, learning about biological science and its applications in diverse fields such as medicine has always interested me. I especially enjoy learning about fields that bring engineering and bioscience together. I was very impressed to see how much technology is currently involved in veterinary medicine. X-ray machines, dental equipment and many surgical tools. This clinic was very well equipped. One of the devices that caught my attention was a CO₂ surgical laser. This laser emits a high power infrared laser beam which can be used in several surgical procedures. For example, sometimes it is used as a scalpel to create small incisions. An incision performed by a laser burns the capillaries as it cuts, which reduces bleeding, pain and healing time. To demonstrate the technology during the open house, the laser was being used to write on tomatoes and tongue depressors. I was lucky to get my name written in a tongue depressor.

The operator of the laser must wear proper eye protection and since IR radiation is not visible to the human eye, the machine was equipped with a red guiding laser beam as well. In order to write on the tongue depressor without burning it all the way through, the hand movement speed used was very similar to regular hand writing speed with a pen.