Science this year...

We're virtually four months through the year and a lot has happened, so here is your four month round up of all the latest, and ever continuing developments in the world of science. 

Scientists have begun to start communication once more with the Philae lander on the Rosetta Comet. Last year scientists achieved the impossible as they managed to land Philae on the moving Rosetta comet. Unfortunately late last year the lander lost power but scientists are now hoping the lander will receive enough sunlight to recharge the batteries using the solar panels on the lander. 

Scientists have also commenced the #missiontohell, sending a probe inside the orbit of mercury, venturing well beyond what we've ever done before, all through enormously high temperatures! 

Lunar Mission One have also issued a status update on the 10 year long mission to the moon to study the full depth of the moon's surface. 

And only today in fact the king who changed the potential status of the whole monarchy was reburied. He gave us an incredible insight to the genes of the royals and they traced his genes though many generations to find a living descendent so they could in fact confirm this was Richard III. There were also surprising revelations over the King himself, that he did in fact have scoliosis, (curvature of the spine) 

Also today there has been revelations that the co-pilot of the crashed German wings plane wanted the plane to descend. This poses millions of questions as to why this actually happened, even should that kind of control go to the pilots? 

As we begin to look towards the second half of the year, British astronaut Tim Peake enters the final stages of his training to become an astronaut on the ISS for 6 months, doubtless following in the footsteps of Chris Hadfield. 

Whatever you think about science, this year, in its relatively early stages has brought up a whole load more developments and will continue to do so throughout the rest of 2015.

to be continued...  

#eclipse2015 - As it happened

Unfortunately the British weather let us down - it was very cloudy! Although it did get darker as 83% of the sun was blocked by the moon everywhere in the UK. Because we didn't actually see anything I thought I would round up some of the stunning images which have been circling on twitter and the internet today.

Here's a round up of what happened from the Telegraph

A-Level Revision - The Cell Surface Membrane

These revision notes refer to AQA AS Biology Chapter 3.5

 The cell surface membrane is another name for the cell membrane or plasma membrane.
- It surround the cell boundary between the cell cytoplasm and the environment (this is where there is different conditions inside and outside of the cell).

The Fluid Mosaic Model

Why is this called the fluid-mosaic model?
Fluid - The Molecules move relative to one another
Mosaic - means being made up of different substances, in this case proteins and phospholipids.

How do substances pass through a cell membrane?
(a very common exam question)

- the phospholipids form a bilayer
- the phospholipids are arranged with hydrophilic heads on the outside and hydrophobic tails on the inside
- There are two types of proteins, some are passing through and some are confined to one layer
- There are other molecules present, for example: cholesterol or glycoproteins
- substances are moved DOWN the concentration gradient (from a high to low concentration)
- water and ions move through the channel proteins
- lipid soluble molecules are passed between the phospholipids
- carrier proteins are involved in facilitated diffusion.

The Solar Eclipse

Before I start I will mention a huge safety warning - don't look directly at the sun without protection, this may damage your eyesight!

Tomorrow, we will have a solar eclipse, where the sun's light is partially obscured (or totally obscured) by the moon, here in England, around 94% of the sun's light is expected to be obscured, although in typical British fashion it's meant to be cloudy which makes viewing the eclipse very difficult! Having said that, we will still be in relative darkness for about 90 minutes. It's the first time this has happened for 15 years. 

If you're interested in actually viewing or photographing the eclipse then take a look at this information - http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcytpv4

If you're hoping the next one is fairly soon, it's actually in over 10 years time! You can view the next 7,000 years worth of solar eclipses here- http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html, although you might be in for a bit of a wait for the next one! 

How to Walk the Nile

The man who conquered the Nile, Levison Wood battled through blisters and exhaustion, he walked the length of the Nile, through war zones and completely deserted regions of Africa. He had to bypass a small section of the Nile because he found himself caught in the midst of a civil war in South Sudan, he also battled through temperatures as high as 62C, he raced to reach a well in the desert through dwindling water supplies, but he made it, 9 months and thousands of miles later. 

Lev had to stay hydrated, walking with guides and journalists covering his adventure, unfortunately an American journalist, Matthew Power collapsed due to heatstroke, hours away from help he died, Lev carried on, dedicating the rest of the expedition to Matthew and his wife Jess. The tragic incident was a stark reminder of the physical challenge which lay ahead, not only to get to the end of the Nile but simply to survive. 

Lev, a former British Army Captain was used to being around in war but he said this was like nothing he'd ever seen, he said "One guy tried to attack me, and threatened to kill me", in the Channel 4 series, he talked about the fact he became a target because they wanted to attack anyone accosiated with the UN, potentially supporting the other side. 

Months later he completed his expedition, although his hopes for being the first to walk the length of  the Nile were ended after he was forced to skip a 400 mile war torn stretch of the Nile. 

As he entered Egypt, he viewed it as a kind of respite, although he was consistently followed by two police cars and a personal bodyguard, all to protect him from extremist groups or any other problems which may have occured. Throughout the trip, he explored some of the treasures of Africa, even some pyramids that a Pharoh blew the tops off to hunt for treasure - all to no avail, as he found treasure in only one of the pyramids! 

So how do you walk the Nile? The answer? Walking the Nile is a battle, a battle with the elements, a physical and mental battle and certainly not for the faint hearted,with temperatures averaging 50C it's about staying hydrated, drinking as much water as humanly possible - but as Lev has proved, it's all possible. 

Levison's book, Walking the Nile is available to buy from all well known book stores and Amazon

Meet the people who want to head to Mars... (part 1)

It's crunch time, the Dutch firm called Mars One have just a few months left to decide whether they will launch the first unmanned mission to the moon in 2018. The firm has whittled 200,000 entries down to just 50 men and 50 women. Now, they need to cut this down to just 40 people, with four travelling on the first mission. Of these entrants, five are from the UK, including Maggie Lieu who's studying for a PhD in astrophysics, she said it would be a privilege to be the first woman to give birth on Mars which would give her, a baby martian. 

The story of the final four, who begin their new lives in 2025 will feature in a reality TV programme, the company that's behind Big Brother. It's thought that this is going to be "Big Brother on Mars", showing the difficult selection process, documenting the thoughts of these aspiring pioneers every step of the way, this is a journey that continues and will continue to do so as the final four embark on a journey of a life time.

Part 2 coming soon 

Richard III and his right to rule...

Richard III (1452-1485), Monarch of England he died on the Battle of Bosworth field - written into the history books until a couple of years ago when a mystery skeleton was discovered in a car park in Leicester (UK) in 2012. The previous year DNA tests made him the oldest man to be identified by genetic analysis. Scientists are pretty sure that this is him they've dug up, although last year a paper was published in the journal "Nature Communications". The research says that a false paternity occured somewhere between the 14th an 19th Century - which raises a whole load of questions - is the Windsor monarchy illegitamate? 

He died on in the Battle of Bosworth, he was the last English monarchy to die in battle - but since he was dug up from the car park, he remains buried at the Greyfriars medival church. Since 2012, scientists at the University of Leciester have managed to unlock some incredible secrets. When the remains were first discovered, they immediately were able to identify that the person had a curved spine (scolioisis), they also used radioactive carbon dating to identify the skeleton was from the 15th Century. They then identified the skeleton was male and bore scars which fit with a death in battle. At this point - the signs pointed to Richard III but no one could be 100% certain until they had concrete, genetic evidence. 

Although there was a problem. Richard III didn't leave any descendents, which makes tracing a person with any kind of genetic link virtually impossible. So, scientists had to painstakingly trace his family tree back four generations to Edward III in the 12th Century, then back down to people living today but the scientists found someone, Michael Ibsen, a London cabinet maker. They compared the skeleton's maternal DNA with Michael's and it was an exact match. They even shared one of the rarest types of mitochondrial DNA which is given the very long name of "haplotype J1C2C", only carried by about 1% of the population. They also tested a descendent of Anne of York - again a match, not as close match, but close enough. 

As the issue of paternity goes, the scientists working on Richard III's skeleton say there MUST have been a "false paternity" at some point after the reign of Edward III, so at some point in 19 generations. Even multiple scientific surveys suggest that one in 50 children are not the children of their believed to be fathers. Of course the papers where quick to jump on the face Queen Elizabeth II may not be entitled to the throne, but whatever you believe this has unlocked huge secrets behind the human genome. 

Processes Explained: The Movement of Water Through Plants

Water needs to travel up through the roots of a plant for photosynthesis in order for a plant to survive. Roots, like everything have cells, these are root hair cells. These root hair cells are long and a thin extension of the root epidermal cell. They only live for a few weeks before they die and are replaced by others growing near the tip. Because roots absorb water, minerals and ions they constantly loose water by transpiration so this needs to be replaced.
Every root hair cell is adapted to its function because:

• They have a large surface area because there's thousands of branches which come off of each root. 
• The root has a thin surface layer (made up of the cell membrane and the cellulose cell wall) which allows material to move across the plant easier. 

In damp conditions when there's more water, a solution forms which contains minerals and mostly water. 

In areas of high water potential in the soil means water moves by osmosis from the soil into the root hair. 

Once it's in the root hair cell it takes one of two paths - 

• the apoplastic pathway
• the symplastic pathway

To be continued...

This is based on AQA AS Biology Chapter 13 Movement of water through plants. 

Song lyrics you just Can't Get out of your Head...

To quote a famous song, Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head to be precise, there are just some song lyrics that you just can't get out of your head. They just play and replay over and over. Scientists call this phenomena an 'ear worm' (sometimes called involuntary musical imagery)- it can last for minutes or sometimes hours. They say these can be triggered through a whole number of ways, from stress to simply recalling a memory where perhaps the song was last played. Polls across the internet name Kylie, Adele, Abba and Queen as some of the worst offenders. A scientist called James Kellaris conducted research which found that up to 98% of individuals experience earworms  although they tend to last longer in women and are more irritating! Although we might see these as intrusions, songwriters love them because after all, it's what makes us buy the record!

Kylie Minogue one of the worst ear worm offenders performing on her Aphrodite Tour
in 2010