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This Colorful Typography Was Made by Shooting Photos of Water on CDs

For his project Marmalade Type, Russian visual artist Rus Khasanov created colorful typography using his camera. The colors seen are due to interference patterns — not a single drop of paint was used in the project.

For a previous project titled Disctortion, Khasanov took CDs and DVDs and destroyed them in various ways (e.g. freezing, tearing, coating, bending). His goal was to see the way the colors and textures react to his alterations.

Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Has Officially Moved

Earth’s magnetic North Pole has drifted so fast that authorities have had to officially redefine the location of the magnetic North Pole. The extreme wandering of the North Pole caused increasing concerns over navigation, especially in high latitudes.

Earth’s magnetic field is known to have wandered and flipped in the geologic past. Earth’s magnetic field is a result of spinning molten iron and nickel 1,800 miles below the surface. As the constant flow of molten metals in the outer core changes over time, it alters the external magnetic field.

What we’ve seen in the past hundred years is that the location of the magnetic North Pole has moved northward. That migration of the magnetic North Pole was switched into overdrive in the past few years, causing the pole to rapidly move. The increased speed with which the magnetic North Pole has moved prompted authorities to officially update its location. The official location of the magnetic poles is specified by the World Magnetic Model, which acts as the basis for navigation, communication, GPS, etc. around the globe.

The tone of voice varies when cells communicate

How cells communicate is the focus of a new thesis from the University of Gothenburg.

“By studying mammalian , as well as fruit fly nerve cells, we’ve improved our understanding of how cells communicate,” says thesis author Anna Larsson.

In order to survive, the cells in our body need to be able to communicate with each other. One way for them to “talk to each other” is to send a from one cell to another by secreting molecules. The recipient cell interprets the message and can adapt depending on the meaning of the signal.

The Curious Story of the Muon-Catalyzed Fusion Reaction

Upon hearing the phrase “nuclear fusion,” many of us are quick to associate the phrase with an immense explosion leaving behind a mushroom cloud or a loud, deafening blast it produces which nothing standing a chance. When it comes to anything nuclear of the sort, we already have this expectation that it must have a destructive effect, but surprisingly it turns out, there is an area of nuclear research which explores reactions that takes exception to this. After the end of World War II, a few nuclear researchers from all around the world began exploring a new process which would be known as muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF). It would take years before this nuclear fusion reaction took notice but when it did, a new field of nuclear research was born and has been the subject of much research ever since.