Pure Magnetism: The Unseen Lives of Magnetic Fields Magnetizer

Pure Magnetism: The Unseen Lives of Magnetic Fields Magnetizer

Magnetic fields surround us invisibly, though we don’t often think of them being there. Filmmakers Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt (as Semiconductor) wondered what magnetic fields might look like, and they set out to animate their spirited dance. Their short film “Magnetic Movie” was filmed at the NASA Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley. VLF (very low frequency) recordings are paired with audio of space scientists discussing their findings about planetary and solar magnetic fields.



But the visual portion of the film is what makes it so remarkable. The whistles, pops and various noises captured by the VLF recordings are animated with a sense of humor. The pictures bring to life perfectly the fields described by the scientists, and the shapes twist and dance in sync with the VLF recordings. Altogether, it’s a surreal 4.5 minutes watching something that the human eye wouldn’t normally be able to detect.





The magnetic fields look alternately like caged animals, wild elemental spirits and ever-changing children’s scribblings. But somehow, they seem to capture exactly how we would picture them…if we’d ever thought to imagine how dancing magnetic fields would look. The award-winning film was purchased in 2008 for the permanent collection at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington.

Source : www.gajitz.com

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Vicious Veggie? World’s First Herbivorous Spider Identified

Vicious Veggie? World’s First Herbivorous Spider Identified

Spiders are known as vicious predators. They have a voracious appetite for insects and even other spiders, and they spend most of their lives just looking for food to ensnare and devour. But one Central American spider has a rather more laid back life, which it spends lounging in acacia trees and dining on stolen vegetarian fare. The Bagheera kiplingi is the only known (mostly) vegetarian spider.



A well-documented symbiotic relationship between acacia trees and a certain species of ant produces tiny, protein-rich nubs at the end of the acacia leaves call Beltian bodies. The ants eat these tasty buds, and in return they guard the trees from leaf-eating insects. But Bagheera kiplingi have a taste for the Beltian bodies as well, and they go to great lengths to steal them from the guardian ants. Being a type of jumping spider, the B. kiplingi often employ their powerful legs to jump away from the ants if they are spotted, but they have also been known to hide by dangling on a line of silk until an ant patrol has passed.



While over 90% of the B. kiplingi’s diet is vegetarian, they do occasionally dine on ant larvae or other B. kiplingi. When their body composition was studied by Christopher Meehan of Villanova University, the spiders’ chemical composition indicated a predominantly vegetarian diet, confirming scientists’ observations. Even more interesting is the fact that scientists had been observing the relationship between the acacia trees and their guardian ants for years, but none had noticed the spiders that also benefit from the relationship. It took a group of student naturalists to notice the spiders and bring them to the world’s attention.



What’s most remarkable about the spiders’ diet is that it has long been thought that spider anatomy wouldn’t allow for a high-fiber diet. They digest their food externally by liquidizing it with digestive juices before slurping it up. Just how the B. kiplingi deals with its mostly-vegetarian menu is still being investigated. And with all of the free time the spiders have – since they’re not building webs to trap prey – they build elaborate nests for their young, where even the male of the species pitches in to help with family duties. This trait is another that’s completely unprecedented in the world of spiders. The B. kiplingi is one unique little arachnid. Source : Gajitz

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