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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThis Map Is the Most Complete Catalog Ever Made of Everything in Our Sky
We look up into our sky and we think what we see there—the stars, the planets, the sun, the moon—is incredible, but it’s just a small fraction of what lies beyond. The Max Planck Institute has released a brand new version of its all-sky survey, which is revealed in a new article in Astronomy & … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech News
Now There’s a Better Way to Image Crystals with X-Ray Lasers
There is now a better way to image the internal structure of biological molecules at the atomic scale, using powerful x-ray lasers. This could eventually lead to important new innovations in clean energy technologies and drug development, among other uses. Crystals are defined by their regular, lattice-like arrays of atoms, and scientists typically rely on … Continued
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ScienceHealth
The Site Where Doctors Share X-Rays of Weird Things in People’s Butts
You and me, we have Wikipedia. Radiologists, they have Radiopaedia. If you can get past the clinical language, you can see it for what it really is: An amazing cache of images that show the human body at its extreme limits. And a place to find (and share!) x-rays of weird stuff people have put … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
io9
The Mystery Of What This Toddler Swallowed Was Quickly Solved
A 16-month-old boy was recently taken to the hospital after he appeared to swallow an object. Looking at the X-ray, the doctors were surprised to see a rather familiar face staring right back at them. Yup, that’s SpongeBob, all right. When the toddler arrived at the hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the doctors didn’t know … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Here Are Two Galaxies With Supermassive Black Hole Hearts Colliding
Hey there, human, want to feel some awe? Look at this newly released NASA image set of two galaxies, each with a supermassive black hole at its heart, colliding in a violent spiral of star stuff. Space is awesome, and thanks to improved telescope technology, we’re seeing more and more of it every day. These … Continued
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io9
Behold Your Next Desktop Wallpaper: NuSTAR’s First Picture Of The Sun
This new shot of the sun shining through in high-energy x-rays is so ridiculously gorgeous it’s actually making us angry. This is officially the first picture of the sun taken by NASA’s NuStar, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array. The image, which covers the west limb of the sun, was overlaid on a picture taken by … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
X-rays of the weird things that vets find inside pets
I just knew about They Ate WHAT? A competition where vets send X-rays of animals with weird things stuck within their bodies. These are some of the winners—some images look kind of harsh but don’t worry, all the animals were treated appropriately and they are fine and hungry again. First place: More than 30 ornamental … Continued
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ScienceBiology
5 X-Rays That Reveal The Craziest Things Pets Have Ever Swallowed
Veterinarians see some crazy things come through their office doors. But perhaps the most entertaining – at least in cases where the animals come out just fine – show up on x-rays. Owners bring their pets in because they’re acting weird or not eating, and then you find out that Fluffy swallowed an alien. Whoops. … Continued
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Tech NewsX-Ray Reveals Real Human Teeth in 300-Year-Old Jesus Statue
During an otherwise routine restoration, researchers at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (NIAH) made an unprecedented discovery. As it turns out, the 18th century statue of Christ they’d been X-raying was fitted with actual, 100% human pearly whites—totally intact all the way to the roots. Historians will often X-ray old works of art … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Cheap toys look surprisingly cool through X-rays
Photographer Brendan Fitzpatrick uses both chest X-ray and mammogram machines in his photography, a technique he learned when he had to develop an X-ray like look for a client—it turned out the best way was to use actual X-rays. He told us about his work. I’ve been working on the X-ray project for about three … Continued
By James Baker -
Tech News
South African miners used to be inspected by X-ray for stolen diamonds
In 1919 many black South African diamond miners were inspected by X-ray each and every day as they left. The mine owners were looking for diamonds that the miners would swallow or hide in self-inflicted wounds. As I wrote back in 2013 for Pacific Standard magazine: New technologies can do a tremendous amount of good. … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Researchers Develop a Way to X-Ray Rocks To Find Hidden Diamonds
It’s no surprise that the diamond industry is willing to spend whatever it takes to make the process of mining precious gems even more profitable. And while it already relies on X-ray technology for spotting diamonds on the surface of mined ore, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute’s Development Center for X-ray Technology EZRT have developed … Continued
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Tech News
Using X-Rays To Peer Inside Ancient Art Objects
Photographer David Maisel—widely known for his incredible aerial work, including a breath-taking project recently shot in Spain—has opened a new show in New York exploring the otherwise invisible insides of culturally important art objects. Called History’s Shadow, it is on display at the Yancey Richardson Gallery until May 10, 2014. As Maisel describes it, the … Continued
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Tech News
These Are the First X-Rays of a Living Cell
To get a super-detailed X-ray view inside a cell—right down to the individual molecules—scientists dunk the cell they’re looking at in preservative chemicals. That not only kills the cell, it changes its internal structure ever so slightly, meaning researchers aren’t getting an exact look at the cell’s natural state. Now, scientists at Germany’s DESY Research … Continued
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Tech NewsPipe Crawling Underwater X-Ray Machines Find Leaks Before They Happen
They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but when it comes to an underwater pipeline carrying oil or natural gas, staying ahead of leaks can actually help prevent a billion dollar cleanup. So researchers at GE are developing an underwater submersible that uses X-rays to check pipelines for signs of … Continued
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io9
Small Black Holes Are Deadlier Than Previously Thought
There’s a black hole in a galaxy 22 million light-years away that’s incredibly bright and energetic. Astronomers naturally assumed it was a supermassive black hole. But new observations show it’s actually quite tiny — throwing many conceptions of what we thought we knew about these things completely out the window. Black holes come in two … Continued
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io9
Stained glass windows filled with macabre X-ray images
Wim Delvoye has created a series of stained glass windows with subjects that are both gothic and unexpected, filling the spaces between the lead with X-rays of human intestines and skeletal forms of people kissing. In 2001, Delvoye and a radiologist friend snapped a series of erotic and scatological X-ray images. Some of the pieces … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
io9X-ray videos of people doing ordinary and extraordinary things
Video footage of X-ray images offer a perspective on bodily movement we simply can’t find in static images. Whether we’re talking, eating, or performing some truly bizarre anatomical stunts, these gifs and videos show off the mechanics of the human body. Singing and Speaking MIT professor Kenneth Stevens was a great contributor to the field … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
X-Rays Of Super Luxury Products Reveal The Tech Behind The Glitz
Every once and awhile I have to get dressed up for a wedding or something. And it’s kind of fun, but it always reminds me that I’m just not fancy on the inside. No matter how decked out I am I’m still a jeans and a tshirt person deep down. But hopefully that’s not true … Continued