Nanosized cages may play a big role in reducing energy consumption in science and industry, and machine-learning research at Oregon State University aims to accelerate the deployment of these remarkable molecules. Since the ice bucket challenge went viral in , raising awareness and funding for ALS research, scientists have learned much about a disease that disconnects muscles from nerves, leading to muscle atrophy and eventual Biosurfactants with the ability to replace harmful petroleum based surfactants in everyday products are a step closer to becoming the norm.
For decades, scientists have searched for effective ways to remove excess carbon dioxide emissions from the air, and recycle them into products such as renewable fuels.
But the process of converting carbon dioxide into useful In , scientist Michael Cashel was analyzing the compounds produced by starved bacteria when he noticed two spots appearing on his chromatogram as if by magic. Today, we know one of these "magic spots," as researchers Today, sugar has a villainous reputation. And while too much of the sweet stuff should be avoided, all living things need sugar to survive.
Levi and Qiuhan Li, Vlad II, his father, was indoctrinated into the Order of the Dragon around and was thereafter known as Vlad Dracul. Those who preferred to avoid the "impaler" title instead called him Dracula, which translates to "son of the Dragon. The historical Dracula, however, was never associated with vampire lore until Stoker's novel, Paul Barber notes in a Skeptical Inquirer essay entitled "Staking Claims: The Vampires of Folklore and Fiction.
Video: Mummies, ghosts and vampires: A 'Spooking' of Chemistry special
An Internet search on the words porphyria and vampire results in hundreds of links to Web pages explaining — and often debunking — the association between the group of rare blood disorders and the origins of vampire myths. Porphyrias are characterized by irregularities in the conversion of chemical compounds called porphryins into a substance called heme, an iron-rich pigment in the blood. This irregularity causes a buildup of porphryins. Symptoms of some forms of porphyria include sensitivity to sunlight, a la Dracula, that causes skin rashes such as the one shown here.
Heartthrob vampires are drawn from a rich history of myth and reality
A few scholars have suggested that vampires of folklore actually suffered porphyria and sought to treat themselves by drinking blood. Barber notes in his Skeptical Inquirer essay that this idea is widely perpetuated "even though we have no evidence either that drinking blood would alleviate the symptoms of porphyria or that any live people were accused of drinking blood — it was always corpses.
Perhaps sucking sounds sexier than licking — but truth be told, vampire bats lick their victims' blood instead of sucking it down, according to scientists who study the creatures.
The bats use heat sensors to locate veins and cut into them with sharp teeth. As blood oozes out, the mammals lick it up. One of the central questions is described here. Vampires are observed not to cast a shadow, and it is also well documented that they do not produce a reflection in mirrors Stoker, The lack of a shadow indicates that vampires do not absorb or scatter any of the light impinging on them, or at least not in the visible portion of the spectrum.
This would appear to preclude any form of traditional absorption spectroscopy at visible wavelengths. We would note, however, that there is essentially no information on whether vampires absorb light at other wavelengths. Thus, absorption spectroscopy remains a future possibility at non-visible infrared, x-ray, etc. It should be noted that the fact that vampires do not cast visible shadows raises a dilemma.
If vampires do not absorb or scatter visible light, i. The only possible solution is that vampires must emit light while in both their solid and gaseous forms. Given their propensity to lurk in shadows, it is likely that vampires fluoresce or phosphoresce with fairly short triplet lifetimes to allow prompt intersystem crossing as opposed to behaving like a blackbody. This suggests it may be worth considering various forms of emission spectroscopy. If ever there were something that vibrates and has a permanent dipole, it would be vampire g!
Thus vibrational and rotational emission spectroscopy of vampires should be particularly fruitful once appropriate standards are measured in the laboratory. Since there are multiple reports of the possibility of vampires in space e. Unfortunately, we anticipate that such measurements will ultimately be very difficult to make. Again, since vampires do not produce a reflection in mirrors, they will be invisible to many of the optical elements found in devices that measure spectra. Summary Of course, the issues we have discussed here represent only a partial list of the possible properties of gas phase vampires, and we have done more to illuminate our ignorance of vampires in this state than to quantify their properties.
A host of additional questions easily come to mind.
Myths and scientific realities about vampires
For example, are vampiric gases combustible? Can multiple vampires mix with each other in the gas state? What do gaseous vampires smell like? How does vampiric gas react with ozone? Could they cause ozone depletion? Are vampires in the gas phase subject to any environmental or OSHA regulations? What is the LD 50?
Having dug up these issues and exposed them to the light of day, it is our hope that the scientific community will now consider ways in which we can nail down the lid on these problems.
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Note that this effort only addresses a small portion of the questions we have in regards to vampires. For example, we know a vampire creates another vampire by biting a person, but is saliva-to-blood the only pathway for transmission? If a vampire spits in your eye or kisses you, do you catch vampirism? Suppose you share needles with a vampire?
Can a vampire slayer catch vampirism if he has an open sore on his hand while driving the wooden stake? What if a mosquito bites a vampire and then bites you? Another issue of interest: They take in blood, they grow hair, and they bleed. What happens if a vampire pees in running water? What happens if you pee on a vampire? If water or food contaminated with vampire urine is consumed does one become a vampire? Oh, and one more: