-FUPPETS- For Readers XXXVI - Science Compendium

-FUPPETS- likes to aim your mind's-eye squarely in the direction of interesting scientific discovery. With the world's supply of top-shelf researchers at such a high number, it is surely a steady stream of new science being discussed on a daily basis. Remember, for every question answered, at least ten questions appear. This is the way of the Multiverse. With this in mind, here are some of the latest scientific endeavours that -FUPPETS- is keeping an eye on.

Scientists have discovered the first animals that live without oxygen. Deep under the Mediterranean Sea, small animals have been discovered that live their entire lives without oxygen and surrounded by 'poisonous' sulphides. The above image is of one such multi-cellular organism, the only one found so far that exists without mitochondria which uses oxygen to process energy sources. ( Science Daily )

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Scientists create world's smallest micro-laser. (Click the image above for a larger version.) "It's 30 micrometers long -- that's 30 millionths of a meter -- eight micrometers high and has a wavelength of 200 micrometers. This makes the laser considerably smaller than the wavelength of the light it emits -- a scientific first. After all, lasers normally can't be smaller than their wavelength, the reason being that in conventional lasers light waves cause an optic resonator to oscillate -- much like acoustic waves do to the soundbox of a guitar. In doing so, the light waves basically "travel" back and forth between two mirrors. The principle only works if the mirrors are larger than the wavelength of the laser. Consequently, normal lasers are limited in terms of their size. Other researchers have endeavored to push the boundaries; "But by developing a completely new laser concept we were able to go quite a way below the limit," says Christoph Walther." - ( Science Daily )

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SLIDESHOW: A Cretaceous Menagerie Preserved in Amber. Man, this is some cool shit. As mentioned previously on -FUPPETS- , an amazing amber deposit has been found in Ethiopia which contains animals, plants, fungi, and insects from the Cretaceous period. The link above will take you to a slide show of some of the amazing finds trapped in amber tens of millions of years old. - ( Science Now )

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Cold Atoms and Nano-Tubes Come Together in Atomic "Black Hole". The image above is an artist's representation of a newly discovered phenomenon. "Physicists at Harvard University have found that a high-voltage nanotube can cause cold atoms to spiral inward under dramatic acceleration before disintegrating violently. Their experiments, the first to demonstrate something akin to a black hole at atomic scale, are described in the current issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. "On a scale of nanometers, we create an inexorable and destructive pull similar to what black holes exert on matter at cosmic scales," says Lene Vestergaard Hau, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard. "As importantly for scientists, this is the first merging of cold-atom and nanoscale science, and it opens the door to a new generation of cold atom experiments and nanoscale devices." - ( Science Daily )