Earth to Rosetta, Time to Wake Up

After napping for a little over two years, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta is ready to stretch her…panels. On the 20^th of January this year the ESA held a competition to see who could issue the best wake-up call to the hibernating spacecraft. While I don’t know who won I do know they are quite lucky, as they win a free trip to Mission Control in Germany to see what Rosetta discovers.

In 2008 it passed a comet while flying by Mars. While 2867 Šteins had been discovered in 1969, this was the first time clear images of the comet were transmitted and its massive 5.6 km size could be clearly determined. In 2010 she flew by another one, 21 Lutetia, once again transmitting crystal clear images of an asteroid discovered in 1852. How was it discovered in 1852 with the limited technology available you ask? Probably because it’s over 1,000 km in diameter. That’s astronomically huge! (pun intended)

What makes this spacecraft so unique an sets her apart from other satellites is that Rosetta is the first one to be powered solely by solar technology! As it hibernated during its orbit around the sun to gain momentum its instruments were powered down in order to conserve energy. But while it was powered down it was gaining energy from the sun by gathering it on its massive solar arrays. Hopefully this will give Rosetta the extra “umph!” she needs to survive her mission out in deep space where she will only receive 4% of the sun’s power.

It’s been awhile since we’ve flown out into the deep reaches of space here at To Infinity And…In Theory. So let’s strap on our rocket boots, throw on some Elton John, and climb aboard the red eye to see what Rosetta and her little buddy Philae the Lander have in store for scientists at the ESA.

Comets, Asteroids, and Meteoroids

Yay! We get to start with terminology. I know what you’re saying, “my favorite…” but it’s important to understand there are very important differences between comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. The only reason I do this is because technically these words aren’t really interchangeable like so many others in Astronomy. There are a few key variances.

Let’s start with a comet.

Quite possibly one of the most well-known comets is Halley’s. It was discovered in 1531. Then discovered again in 1607…and again in 1682. It wasn’t until a man named Edmond Halley dug through the various reports of these sightings that he came to one very important conclusion. This comet was the same one. He also predicted that it would come back in 1758. While he didn’t live long enough to see that he was right, plenty of other astronomers did, which led to this comet being named after him.

So what makes a comet a comet? A comet is defined as a relatively small solar system body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail. But what creates the tail on a comet?

As it passes by the sun (which as we know is pretty darn warm…) it begins to burn gases and ice off the surface of the orbiting rock. These superheated gases trail behind the asteroid, sometimes miles long, as it rockets through space. This is what turns the space rock from an asteroid into a comet.

Speaking of asteroids, let’s talk about those next.

That’s Ceres. I know, I know, you’ve seen Armageddon and you’re saying “woah dude, that isn’t an asteroid, that’s totally a planet.” Well you’re half right. It was discovered in 1801 by Sicilian astronomer Giuseppi Piazzi. Originally he thought it was a comet but upon further observation it was determined that it was indeed a planet. Well…a dwarf planet. (They prefer to be called “Little Celestial People”) But seeing as it floats within the asteroid belt, it’s earned its moniker as an asteroid.

Asteroids are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun. Made of rock and metal, they can also contain organic compounds. Asteroids are similar to comets but do not have a visible coma (fuzzy outline and tail) like comets do. It floats happily between Mars and Jupiter and actually contains one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. (Once again…huge) That’s not to say that if it broke orbit and passed close enough to the sun it couldn’t develop a tail, after all, the surface is believed to be made of dust and ice, perfect conditions to grow a coma. However that scenario is quite unlikely considering it’s been content with its lot in life to this point.

The third space rock type we’re going to talk about now is the Meteoroid. This particular floating stone actually has three forms like a Dragonball Z villain. Meteoroids are the first stage, Meteors are the second, and Meteorites are the last. We’ll break down all three in the next section.

A meteoroid is a small rock or particle of debris in our solar system. They range in size from dust to around 10 meters in diameter (larger objects are usually referred to as asteroids). But don’t mistake their smaller diameters for cute and cuddly. Once they enter the atmosphere of Earth they become known as a Meteor. Most of the time they’ll burn up in orbit, but as the blast in Chelyabinsk, Russia in February of last year showed us that’s not always the case.

Once a Meteoroid enters our atmosphere and becomes a Meteor about to cause an impending strike it is officially classified as a Meteorite. The effects of a Meteorite impact can be devastating, equivalent to several nuclear megaton blasts. (Time to call in Bruce Willis) That’s why NASA’s new Near Earth Object monitoring program is so important so we are able to identify threats like this long before they enter our atmosphere in the future so we don’t end up embedded in the crust of the Earth next to the dinosaurs.

So why am I telling you all this? Because the ESA is looking to land on a comet and it’s important to know the extreme challenges they face in doing this. Comets slingshot through the solar system gradually gaining speed as they play off the gravitational forces of the bodies they orbit. Asteroids like Ceres are essentially locked in orbit unless a huge impact was to send them rocketing out of alignment. (Typically that’s how an asteroid becomes a comet or a meteoroid)

Next we’ll talk about the challenges the ESA faces, how they intend to overcome them, and what they expect to learn from this unique mission into the far reaches of space. Let’s start with the biggest one of all, how exactly they intend to make contact with this orbiting mass. The details are far more intricate than you may think.

Space Darts

We’ve all played darts, but space agencies around the world have adapted the game to a whole new level. Think of it like this. When you look at a dart board you select the spot you want to hit. You close one eye, pull your arm back, take a couple practice swings and release it. If you’re experienced, nine times out of ten you hit what you’re aiming at.

Now imagine that dart board is several million miles away. It takes more than closing one eye and a deep breath to hit what they’re aiming for. It takes a series of complicated mathematical equations, physics, and a whole plethora of very expensive technology. Luckily, the ESA has all three down to a…well…a science.

When Rosetta was initially conceptualized in 1993 they were aiming at a different dartboard altogether. Comet 46 P/Wirtanen was caught in the crosshairs but due to postponements and complications with the rocket Ariane 5 ECA they switched it up. So in 2004, when Rosetta was launched its new target was designated 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

But in order for Rosetta to “dock” with this comet certain parameters needed to be met at the outset. First and foremost speeds have to be matched. But 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been orbiting for a long time. It’s had thousands upon thousands of years to gather the speed it moves at. Unfortunately, we don’t have thousands of years to follow it in orbit trying to play catch up. So how are they going to dock with it?

Through a process called a Gravity Assist Maneuver or Gravitational Slingshot. What it’s doing is moving around the sun and using its gravitational mass in order to gain momentum. The process can be used to accelerate or even decelerate depending on the arc of the object in motion. During its approach vector it makes a wide loop first, then, in order to garner further velocity, the orbit gets smaller and smaller on each approach until finally it’s commanded to break free toward its target.

Think of it in terms of a tether ball. The ball tied to the end of the string in this analogy would be Rosetta; the pole that the string is attached to is the sun. When the ball is struck hard enough it makes a lazy, slow loop around the pole. As the string gets shorter and shorter the speed at which the ball is moving begins to increase until it reaches its terminal velocity. If the ball were to be released from the string it would rocket off in the direction of its trajectory until outside factors like gravity and resistance pulled it down.

However, as we all should know, the voids of space have no gravity or atmosphere; therefore there is no resistance to slow the object down until it enters the gravity of another celestial body. Because of this the object maintains its velocity and is able to quickly get up to the speed of its intended target. But this is just the first problem the ESA has to overcome, the second one, believe it or not, is far more difficult in comparison to that.

The gravity on 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a million times less than that of Earth’s. In other words, one wrong step and you’re floating off into deep space. (Yikes!) This poses a huge obstacle to the European Space Agency in getting Rosetta’s lander Philae to catch a piggyback ride through space.

With the gravity being so low on the surface of this comet one misstep could destroy over two decades of hard work and effort. Because of this Philae was outfitted with some special equipment to help it “stick” to the comet. Two harpoons will inject themselves into the surface to anchor it in place. Philae has also been equipped with self-righting landing gear to make sure he doesn’t tip over and once the feet make contact they will drill into the surface, further ensuring this multi-million dollar piece of tech doesn’t just fling off into space.

Outfitted with several different instruments including radio-spectrographs and sub-surface drills to take samples of the rock to determine the composition, this may be one of the most ambitious projects launched in recent years. But what exactly are they intending to learn from this mission? Would you believe me if I told you they’re looking to answer the question of where we came from? I hope so, because it’s basically the goal here.

But how exactly will some barren ice rock in space tell us where the complicated diversity of life on our planet originated from. Glad you asked. Let’s briefly explore that next in our final section today.

From Space Rocks to Building Blocks

Comet’s, Asteroid’s, and Meteoroids are all capable of containing a variety of materials. Certain classes of the space rocks contain mostly metals, some have been found to be highly dense carbon (diamonds), and some are even stranger still, because they contain organic compounds. If you don’t know, we’re organic compounds, and if you subscribe to the theory of evolution such as I do, then you know we all evolved from single celled organisms that likely were transported here by these tourists of the solar system.

Our planet didn’t start out as a planet. It started out as superheated gasses that formed into heavy elements. As gravity pulled those elements together it formed a solid mass. That solid mass slowly became heavier and generated more gravity and passing comets, asteroids, and meteoroids were pulled into its gravity. That is how we ended up with such a diversity of elements on the planets in our solar system…well, theoretically anyway.

But if some of the bacteria and organic compounds hitching a ride on the backs of these objects survived the entry into atmosphere that would certainly explain how we got here. That’s why landing on this comet is so important. By studying the subterranean composition of it and the formation of its coma as it passes the sun it will give scientists a much clearer understanding of exactly how comets play into the evolution of our solar system.

Philae is expected to make its daring descent onto the surface of 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko later this autumn. I’ll be following this mission closely in the news and when new information develops I’ll be sure to write a follow-up blog on Rosetta and Philae. Until then, good morning, good morrow, and Godspeed Rosetta. I hope you enjoyed your nap, because now it’s time to get down to business.

-       Ryan Sanders

Thanks as always for reading and be sure to share this on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit and EVERYWHERE ELSE! J You guys and gals continue to make this one of the most enjoyable and ambitious undertakings for me to write and I hope they are just as enjoyable for you to read. Comments, questions, or corrections are always welcome so feel free to post them below. For further reading you can follow-up on any of the links listed below. Happy learning everyone!

-       Phys.org article on Philae Lander

-       Wiki entry on Rosetta

-       ESA overview of the entire mission, goals, and instruments

-       Information on the Chelyabinsk blast in Russia early last year

-       Space.com article on many unique facts of Halley’s comet

-       More information from the ESA on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

-       Information from NASA on Rosetta

Money May Not Grow ON Trees, But it Can Grow IN Them

Gold, Au on the periodic table of elements and the shiny metal that holds her diamond in place on her delicate little finger. Gold has been used to back our financial system, it has been used as a luxury item in trade for millennia, in more recent years it has been discovered to have medicinal properties! (You can read more about that in my past blog entry about Gold Nanoparticles here.)But the reality of gold is that like many other minerals and natural resources, the quantity of it is finite, meaning eventually, we aren’t going to find anymore.

For a long time it seemed that concern was quickly coming upon us with agencies like Cash 4 Gold springing up on every corner and commercials for jewelry trade-ins airing day in day out, it seemed everyone was desperate to get their hands on this miracle metal. But that may now be a thing of the past…for the time being anyway.

Today at To Infinity…and In Theory we’re going to talk about the prospects of prospecting gold from Eucalyptus trees. The golden goose may soon become the golden Koala. Let’s start by heading over to Australia to see exactly how scientists are harvesting their bumper crops of money trees.

I Got a Golden Ticket! …Oh Wait, Just a Leaf

Know what that is? That’s the cross section of a Eucalyptus leaf infused with gold particles. The question is, how in the heck did they get there? It’s quite simple really, and gold isn’t the only precious metal that gets pulled into foliage. The answer lies in the base of the tree where it all begins. The roots.

In the case of the Eucalyptus trees we’re talking about right now it turns out there was a giant gold deposit about 100 feet below the surface. What happened is some of the gold was flaking off and working its way up through the soil. At the same time as the tree grew the roots were reaching deeper down into the crust. When the root system of the tree meets the flaking gold particles in the soil it was sucked in along with nutrients and, like fat in the human body, it became lodged in the leaves of the tree.

“Finding such high concentrations of gold in the foliage of this tree growing over a gold deposit buried beneath 35 meters of weathered rock was a complete surprise,” said Melvyn Lintern, a geochemist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). But what a pleasant surprise this was, and one that opened a door to a new way of prospecting. Taking samples of leaves was much more eco-friendly than the other methods of searching for deposits of gold.

But what you may find most amazing of all is this discovery isn’t brand new. Like everything else it seems to take us way longer than we should to adopt a new way of thinking. This method of prospecting has been around for centuries! So why wasn’t it being employed before now?

There Be Gold in Them Hills…Err, Trees

The process of using flora to search for mineral and ore deposits is known as Biogeochemical or Geobotanical Prospecting. These are two very different processes and fields of study that we will discuss in further detail later. But first, let’s talk about the early days of these techniques.

Turns out the Chinese invented this method of ore hunting in 5^th century B.C. when they began noticing that certain plants grew only in areas where there were deposits. Perhaps the most notable of these specialized plants is the Copper Flower, which grows only over copper and nickel deposits in Africa.

See it started as an agricultural thing. They were looking for suitable areas of land to grow their crops and feed. Sometimes though, the plants would not take to the soil and just die. When all other possibilities (poor farming, environmental weather factors, predation) were rooted out they called in the scientists. That was when they discovered something that surprised them. Underneath a lot of the areas where crops wouldn’t grow were large mineral and precious ore deposits.

This warranted more observation, something the people of China were (and still are) very good at. They noticed that in areas where jade deposits were located, the branches of trees would droop significantly. What was happening is pieces of the mineral were being pulled up through the root system and weighing the branches down. They also began to note that when certain flowers were burned the ash was high in contents of Zinc, some even going so far as being 16%! Thus, Geobotanical Prospecting was born.

They began noticing that the stalks of some plants were yellow in certain varieties instead of green. This became an indicator that copper was abundant below. If the leaves of some plants were green but the stalks were red it meant there was a lead deposit beneath it. Considering these were the days before portable electronics like metal detectors, this new no-fail method seemed to be working pretty well.

However it wasn’t exactly a “no-fail” method as it didn’t involve the scientific process and it’s likely that some of the research in modern times would be discredited. After all, it wasn’t until 1421 that a Chinese author proved certain metals could be extracted from these plants in the book Precious Secrets of the Realm of the Keng and Hsin (symbols of metals and minerals). But all things considered, this was still a unique and quite possibly a lucrative method for would-be prospectors the world over.

So why are we just hearing about this now? While this method has been known about since ancient Chinese times it wasn’t widely researched or even written about in the West until around the 18^th century. Why? Because gold was still readily available at the time all over the world trapped within the Earth and searching for gold deposits wasn’t quite the difficult task it is today. But as reserves began drying up it was time to look for new ways to skin the proverbial cat.

The Western Seeds of Geobotany Take Root

North America didn’t really get into the Geobotanical or biogeochemical fields until just a few decades ago. However you could say biogeochemistry began to rear its head around the mid-nineteenth century. In 1841 Russian geologist Karpinsky proposed that when drawing a parallel between plant life and the geological substrate the flora took root in that the entire species of that plant needed to be taken into account as a whole. Let me give an example.

Say you have a green three leaf clover growing in your backyard. Since there is no mineral deposit underneath it, that clover grows naturally, normal coloration and no deformities. That same species of clover is found growing wild in someone else’s backyard in Japan. After testing it, everyone is satisfied it is the same species, however, this clover is red. It’s later discovered a large copper deposit is underneath that patch of clovers and when the test Japanese clovers are burned the ash content is high in copper content.

While green clovers and red clovers could exist the above is just a hypothetical example to put it in perspective.

Now we flash forward to the 1920s, still in Russia. Following the example of Karpinksy and his proposal, a scientist named S.P. Aleksandrov noticed that plants outside of an ore zone were high in concentrations of Vanadium, Radium, and Uranium when their ashes were analyzed. Guess what they found beneath the plants? I’ll give you a hint, it was yellow-cake and it wasn’t a Twinkie.

Soon after this discovery the first Biogeochemistry lab was constructed in the USSR and the search for ore, minerals, and precious metals began by analyzing the flora. America wouldn’t make a contribution to this field until the late 1980’s.

It’s important to note that there are two key differences between Biogeochemistry and Geobotanical prospecting. Biogeochemical prospecting involves digging into the relationship of plants and animals to the chemical structure of their environment. In other words, the same species of tree in one area of the world may have different chemicals or elements trapped within it due to the composition of its soil.

Geobotany is the study of plants and their relationship to the environment. It studies the effect has on the environment, not the effect the environment has on the plant. Only time will tell if either of these methods prove to be fruitful for further exploration in prospecting. One thing however is quite certain. Money may not grow on trees. But it certainly can grow in them.

-       Ryan Sanders

Thanks for reading! Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, there’s a wicked flu going around and I’ve been laid up in bed recovering but the blog is back now! If you would like to know more about any of the things we talked about above today you can by following any of the links available below. Happy learning everyone!

-       Methodsof prospecting (past and present)

-       PopularScience article on Eucalyptus trees found with gold

-       Blogentry by user Nitish Priyadarshi about Uranium prospecting

Steel Yourself. Silk Worms Are Spinning the Army's Armor

Silk is a highly sought after, gloriously soft fabric. For centuries it has made its way into the hands of artisans, courts of kings, and closets of the rich and famous. But where does this substance come from? For those of you who get squeamish around entomology you probably aren’t going to like this, but you’re technically wearing worm juice. More technically its cocoon, produced in the salivary glands. In other words, spit.

There are a few kinds of silk worms out there but the one that we’re going to be talking about today isn’t one you’ll find in the wild. In fact, most silk worms that are harvested are usually called Bombyx Mori, or domesticated silk worms, so it’s rare you’d find those in the wild either. Although if you find one of these guys pictured above and it has red eyes, you might want to contact University of Wyoming, and quick. You may have a body armor builder on your hands.

So what’s so special about worms and silk? Well I’m glad you asked. Researchers at University of Wyoming are currently marketing a new kind of silk. Well, it’s not a new kind of silk, so much as it’s a new way of spinning it. Using genetics scientists have found a way to splice in the genes that produce Dragline silk in spiders, into the genetic structure of worms. (We’ve talked about genetics a little bit before here at TI&IT. You can read the past article “PhotoshoppingDNA: The Art of Molecular Editing”)

Now this may not sound like such a big deal until you find out that harvesting this silk in mass quantities from a spider isn’t an option. We’ll talk about why they can’t do that today, as well as these neat little pet worms that blossom into beautiful Silk Moths. We’ll also break down the how and why of their silk spinning abilities, a little bit about the history of silk, the reasons they don’t use goats to produce steel thread (Yes…you read that correctly) anymore, and the crazy little proteins that would make Spider-Man drool.

That’s One Shiny Loincloth

Okay, so that’s not a loincloth, but it is really old, and at one time if you had held it up to the light, it would have had a shimmering effect like a diamond. Back then they probably chalked the phenomena up to the Gods…or something else along those lines as the reasons this happens would not have been understood. (And if they were nobody decided to share it.) But however they figured out it occurred it certainly wasn’t divine intervention.

What the effect actually is attributed to is very similar to gem stones referred to as “Cat’s Eye”. It’s called Chatoyancy. While this generally refers to stones cut in a certain way so as to make them more appealing to consumers, it works on silk too. When light hits the surface of the fibers it’s reflected in a triangular-prism format. That’s what gives it the shimmering effect as you move it around in the light.

The oldest silks can be traced back to between 3000 and 4000 B.C.  Do you know where they came from? China of course! For a few thousand years China held dominance on the silk market. That was until the Silk Road opened up and other countries across the world got into the game. Unfortunately though, for the rest of the world silk industry, issues with silkworm disease and production halted the spread of the silk industry across Europe and once again China came out on top.

But how did they figure out that this curious cocoon could be used to clothe the rich and fabulous? According to sources it started with a young Chinese empress named Xi Ling Shi. (Multiple spellings abound all over the Internet) Her palace garden was filled with these trees called Mulberry that silkworms just absolutely adore. Legend says she touched one of the cocoons causing a strand of silk to fall loose. Shortly after the tailors discovered the tensile strength of this textile and decided to put it to use for the royals. Anyone caught in those times smuggling this closely guarded imperial secret was put swiftly to death! (Yikes!)

It wasn’t until the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) that the silk trade really took off. A road was opened up (called the Silk Road by historians surprisingly…) that led them from China to many other nations, starting with Persia and culminating in Europe. They had a hit.

(Land routes are in red, sea trade routes are in blue)

The secret was out. Silk was in. For centuries it dominated the global market’s economy, anybody who was anybody had to get their hands on this strong, soft, pliable material. Its uses ranked from everything to clothing and blankets, drapes and curtains, and many other luxurious items. It took an Empress to figure out that silk was pretty; it took an industry to realize it could make them rich. But how do you get a worm to make something created accidentally as a byproduct of nature by innate self-preservation mechanisms?

                                                                                                    

Make Checks Payable To Wormy, 302 Mulberry Ln.

Left in the wild, silk worms will do their thing. They’ll eat their Mulberry leaves, spin their cocoon, hibernate inside, and through metamorphosis become a flying silk moth. But somewhere along the lines their plans were changed. People began cutting the cocoon’s open, removing the worms, and spinning the delicate fibers into clothing using various machines. Don’t worry about the worm either, they aren’t just thrown away. In fact, most places where silk is harvested, the worms are cooked into various delicacies after de-cocooning them.

If the worms are allowed to enter their moth phase they destroy the silky cocoon on their way out. Proteolytic Enzymes are the reason this happens. It can cause the silk to fall away in strands of random length instead of the cocoon being unraveled as one continuous piece. As you can probably imagine this won’t do for clothing makers. Not only does it shorten the length of the silk strands, it compromises the integrity as well. That’s not good for an industry looking to market silk as some of the most durable stuff around.

Once the cocoon is boiled, de-wormed, and unraveled it’s sent to a machine called a Doubler. This machine does just as the name implies, it doubles the thickness of silk by weaving strands of it together thereby increasing its tensile strength. While silk is strong, it still can break. The Doubler just increases its longevity.

Some of you may be wondering what Tensile strength. Tensile strength just refers to the amount of stress a material can handle before it breaks or snaps. Think in terms of a fishing line, different lines come with different strengths and thicknesses. You wouldn’t go shark fishing with a line rated for Smallmouth Bass. Any kind of material capable of stretching has a tensile strength and, as you can imagine, some are much higher than others.

After the Doubler comes dying the silk. Various Acetic Acid mixtures (found in vinegar) are used to help the dyes bond better to the silk. From there it’s sent to a weaving loom, where it can be spun by a craftsman into a new dress, a soft bed sheet, or even a flowing pair of curtains for your new office room.

(Models wearing dresses spun from fine silks)

But there are other silks out there with higher tensile strengths than that produced by Bombyx mori, (The domesticated silkworm) that are much more highly sought after. Silks produced by the webs of spiders. Yet, it isn’t the clothing industry looking to capitalize on the strong, durable, luxury good. It’s actually the military, and no, not because they want Versace to make uniforms that “pop” and “shimmer”.

Peter Parker’s Haberdashery

Silkworms may have been the first species we commercialized the silk trade through, but Spiders have been doing it better for eons. Spiders produce several kinds of webs. Some are for their internal nests, some are used to catch themselves should they fall, others are used to make the intricate lattices that form their deadly nets, and some are even used to protect their young inside an egg sack. But whatever kind of web the spider spins there is one thing that remains constant. It’s a form of silk.

The strongest silk that a spider is capable of producing is known as Dragline silk. This fiber is so strong that scaled up, it makes Spider-Man seem plausible. (Aside from the radioactive bite to create the acquisition of his powers.) If humans could produce the proteins capable of spinning this material however, and if adjusted for ratios, it would be strong enough to support them. (Think Nylon on steroids)

Dragline silk is used to make the outer connection points for a spider’s web. Because it’s so strong it’s capable of withstanding bombardment from the elements, large prey snags, and constant traversal by our eight-legged arachnids. Some species, such as the orb weaver, have very large abdomens that are relatively weak. They will die if they were to fall from a great height. To avoid this scenario, they use Dragline silk to keep them suspended in the air. Ever seen a spider just dangling there? The fibrous tendril he’s hanging from is what we’re talking about here.

So if it’s so strong, why use silkworms at all? Why not just switch over to using spiders as the main method of harvesting silk? In theory it sounds like a good one but in practice it doesn’t really work so well. See, spiders are extremely territorial, so when one wanders into their neighborhood it becomes a cannibalistic version of the Bloods vs. the Crips. Not a pretty sight. Darn those gangster spiders…

So that rules out spider farms.  

As a result scientists turned to splicing the genes into bacteria. This met with failure. So they tried putting it into Tobacco plants. That didn’t work either. Finally they thought maybe we can put the gene into goats and cows! …I’m sure you can guess that went over like a turd in a punch bowl as well…

Part of the reason it’s so hard to generate spider silk in the lab is that it starts out as a liquid protein that’s produced by a special gland in the spider’s abdomen. Using their spinnerets, spiders apply a physical force to rearrange the protein’s molecular structure and turn it into solid silk. Goats, Tobacco plants, and single-celled organisms can’t do this; they don’t have the biological structure capabilities.

(Spider-Silk “milking” harness)

In 2009, textile expert Simon Peers used 70 people and four years of his life to milk spiders to produce a golden tapestry in Madagascar. While the final result is absolutely gorgeous, (you can read the full article and see what the tapestry looks like here on Wired.) it wasn’t very practical. Nobody wants to wait four years for a rug. It seemed scientists were at an impasse because no other animal had the necessary equipment.

But silkworms do. Silkworms use silk all the time. So if scientists could isolate the right gene for the silk they wanted, maybe they could put it into the body of a worm and it could produce it for them. That was exactly the kind of thinking that led Donald Jarvis, a researcher at University of Wyoming, to this brand new kind of super silk.

Silky Smooth Troops

Because silk is so strong for it’s incredibly miniscule diameters the textile industry wasn’t the only one who wanted to use it. In fact, the military, medical professionals, and architects had their eye on this remarkable material. But before it could be used for these various applications, there first had to be a way to produce it abundantly.

That’s where Jarvis comes in. Using genetics (gotta love genetics) he was able to piggyback the DNA sequence of spiders responsible for creating silk proteins into the makeup of silkworms. Through trial and error they managed to come up with some worms capable of producing various new kinds of silk with even more variable tensile strengths. Just last year this went into production.

But the gene didn’t transfer over to all worms. If there is one thing we know about genes it’s that they are hereditary, which means they are passed on. But not all genes are passed down at once; it seems some of them are selective. (Morgan’s fruit flies anyone?) So how did the scientists determine which worms carried the spider DNA and which ones didn’t?

By using fluorescent dyes they created a mutant worm with glowing red eyes, (that’s a terrifying feature) and used these as an indicator for which ones the gene was present in. After separating the red eyes from the black eyes and breeding them they finally ended up with a stable colony of steel spinning silkworms.

This technology is useful in biodegradable sutures. If you need internal surgery, chances are something inside the body cavity is going to get stitched up. Manufactured sutures, while they can be made biodegradable, still aren’t natural, so harmful chemicals (even though they aren’t deadly ones) get transmuted back into the body. With spider sutures, the proteins will break down naturally and be transformed into other substances the body can either use or safely discard through waste. (Spider poo)

Another particularly interesting use would be for ligament repair. Currently production methods of artificial ligaments are costly, require multiple painful surgeries throughout the patient’s life, and lack the tensile abilities of the real thing. Spider silk on the other hand is extremely pliable, and if woven together into the thickness of a ligament, could require only one surgery to install and last the rest of a patient’s life. Another use they’re looking into is for gauze that can aide in wound healing, (although to be totally honest I’m not sure how that one works.)

While all of these uses will better mankind in the long run, perhaps the shortest-term technological use for this stretchy super string is in body armor.

Currently body armor is bulky, cumbersome, and while it has advanced since the early days of Vietnam, it has a long way to go before it creates perfect protection. Silk is flexible, lightweight, it breathes rather easily and when combined with Dragline Spider-Silk DNA, it’s virtually indestructible. You can see the implications here.

While all these technologies are still in the R&D phase, silk has inadvertently redefined itself and once again is at the top of the pile. Time will tell if we’ll see Spider-men running around the deserts with Orb-Weaver tendons but there is one thing I’m certain of. Science has shown us that silk is much more than just a pretty face.

-       Ryan Sanders

Thanks for reading! If you would like to know more about anything we talked about above in the article feel free to follow any of the links below. Also don’t be afraid to share this around on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to head over to Facebook and Like To Infinity And…In Theory by clicking here. Thanks again everyone! And happy learning!

-       Phys.org article on spider silk for medical applications

-       Scientific article on the makeup of Dragline Spider Silk

-       Article on spider silk gene isolations

-       Wired article on UoW’s spider silk program

-       Kraig Biocraft Laboratories main website(where spider silk is created for various applications.)

-       Spider cannibalism article from LiveScience

-       Spider silk for ligament repair article from LiveScience

-       Bombyx Mori entry from Wiki

-       History of Silk entry from Wiki

-       Why goats don’t work for Spider-Silk harvesting

Sing a Song of Science! - The Magic Pipes

We’ve talked about music before here at To Infinity And…In Theory with last month’s installment on the Theremin, a touchless instrument designed by Russian inventor Léon Theremin. (If you want to know about how he went from bomb designing to musical aficionado who played Carnegie Hall, check out the blog here – “Sing a Song of Science! – The Theremin”) This month we’re going to continue the music of science with a new instrument. This one does involve touch, and it’s called a Magic Pipe.

No, I don’t mean your grandparents Magic Pipe from the box in the attic labeled “Make Love Not War”, I mean that strange conglomeration of wires, bass strings, metal pipes, and electrical relays pictured above. But what makes this instrument so unique? The variety of sounds it can produce is enormous; with the relays it’s capable of looping them. And a master of the instrument such as “That 1 Guy”, (its inventor) pictured above is going to show you how.

While it’s called a Magic Pipe the way it works is anything but by the graces of Hogwart’s. It’s actually just science. (I say that a lot, don’t I?) So just how does this bizarre looking instrument work and what does it sound like? Well first I would check out the video below, and then follow me here at TI&IT today as we see just what it is that makes this one man band capable of touring the globe.

Ya Know… He’s… “That 1 Guy”…

Yep… You guessed it, that’s a saw. He also has a boot that accompanies him in his show. But who is this strange man who made all these things? It seems like he’d fit right in at a mental institution judging by the smile on his face as he holds the toothed side of a saw to his jaw. But he’s actually not insane, just brilliant.

Even though they say it’s a fine line between the two, above all the man is an artist and a performer. Various accounts and interviews disclose he was influenced heavily by music as a child. He grew up performing the upright bass also known as a double bass. It eventually landed him a solid home with The Fabulous Hedgehogs in the 90s. (Don’t know who they are, that’s cool, check out their AWESOME song UpChuck here – Live Performance of UpChuckat LaVals Pizza Parlor in Berkeley California.)

While The Fabulous Hedgehogs are no longer a band, Mike Silverman, the bass player, luckily didn’t drop out of the music scene. Instead he went his own way, but he mastered his instrument. He was starting to feel constrained, and this is never healthy for a creative mind. So what does a brilliant man like him do? Change his name to That1Guy and build his own instrument.

Now, four albums, a couple world tours, and millions of American and Australian fans later, That 1 Guy is going from cultural obscurity, to multi-national fame. (Ya know, no big deal) Mike claims Dr. Seuss as an inspiration for his unique writing style, and also the whimsical and fantastical appearance of his Magic Pipe. Seuss may have inspired his visual presentation, but the musical genre influences of funk, jazz, and rock were always prevalent.

But just how does this unique instrument produce all these crazy sounds?

Ya’ll Don’t Know Diddley Squat ‘Bout No Gutbuckets

Washtub basses are pretty simple concepts. A big stick, a pliable string of some kind to use as a tensioner, and an old washtub to use as a resonator. It doesn’t take a physicist to figure out that by moving the stick around and increasing or decreasing tension you can raise or lower the pitch of the instrument. The gutbucket is its colloquial name, and is typically a rhythm instrument, in the hands of an artisan though it can truly be a force to reckon with.

The washtub bass was usually part of a jug band and was popularized in the early 1900’s by the lower economic classes in Southern areas. (Let’s face it; it’s a stick, a bucket, and a string. I’m poor, I get it.) It wasn’t the first incarnation of this instrument however, the washtub bass is known all throughout the world by many different names and actually has its roots in the ground harp. But how do these simple little wonders work?

It’s something called Acoustic Resonance. When the string (or strings in some cases) of the gutbucket are plucked, and the tension is greatened or lessened it produces different patterns of vibration. These vibrations are transferred over to the metal container via the string it’s touching and as a result produces sound waves. These sound waves are trapped in the container and bounce around inside, ricocheting until they hit their peak frequency. When you stop plucking the string the waves stop being produced but the sound keeps going until an effect called damping (the gradual reduction of a sound wave followed by its dissolution entirely) happens and eventually the washtub goes quiet. The next part of the instrument is just as simplistic in its design.

You don’t get much simpler than a whipping paddle an Altoids tin, and a discarded guitar string. Throw them all together and Voilà! You officially have a Diddley Bow. This was an instrument made popular by the blues circuit, but as I’m sure you can already guess, it’s another one popular amongst the common folk with a little time and creativity. While an ethnomusicologist would refer to this instrument as a monochord zither, I prefer to call it what it is, a cheap alternative, but it isn’t too far off.

As you can see from that image above (a two octave zither) there are some rather notable differences between the blues oriented Diddley Bow, and the zither known the world around. (Seriously, China, Africa, Slovenia, like everywhere has their own version of a Zither!) They can range anywhere from one string to fifty, and is played with either the fingers or a special kind of tool called a Plectrum. Guitars use these too, although most musicians generally refer to them as “picks”. Here’s what a Zither pick looks like:

While the Diddley Bow’s sharp and tinny sound gives it that folksy twang that finds a home in modern day country, it actually has a rather rich history in the blues. The Diddley Bow was an instrument brought over to America between the 16^th and 17^th century from Africa. And if there was one thing folks coming off the boats in those days had to sing about, it was the blues. The inspiration for the Diddley Bow and other single stringed instruments like it is thought to have come from the mouth bow. The mouth bow is just a simple hunting bow, but when held up to the mouth and plucked with a piece of bark or a stick, it utilizes the skull as a resonance chamber. To see both of these unique instruments in action check out the video here.

It’s a bit different from the gutbucket in that it doesn’t have much of a resonance chamber. In fact they used to just screw old wire down to a plank of wood and use a beer bottle as a bridge. The bridge would amplify the sound a bit, acting as a resonance chamber, while the player would use a slide to modify the pitch. Some are so big in their construction it takes two people to play it, but when you consider the fact that these used to be considered children’s toys and starter instruments, that isn’t really so peculiar.

So how exactly are That 1 Guy’s Magic Pipes similar to these two very distinctly different instruments? I’m glad you asked that question. The pipes are used as a resonance chamber in order to pick up the sound waves produced through percussing of the instrument. (The washtub part of the gutbucket) and it has strings on it that are fashioned along the pipe, but because of the way they are fashioned into the bridge they don’t have much of a resonance chamber (The Diddley Bow/Zither) which is why we need to start with the most obvious difference first. The electronics.

Just a Small Sample Please

Mike Silverman’s Magic Pipes are like a seven foot tall steampunk Dr. Seussian wet dream. It has two orchestral bass strings on it, the front one plays host to lower notes while the back string achieves tenor pitches. With 13 trigger points that map to various pedals and loops to produce a variety of pre-programmed sounds, the diversity of music this instrument can produce is limited only by the artist’s imagination. (And sampling rights to certain musical pieces…as Vanilla Ice discovered the hard way.)

Perhaps the most interesting addition to this whole ensemble, in my humble opinion anyway, is the electronic drum kit setup. Capitalizing on his unique ability for multi-tasking, That1Guy has incorporated a bass kick and a snare setup into the entire entity.

The electronic drum kit isn’t exactly a new innovation (another invention Léon Theremin aided in the creation of, the Rhythmicon.) but to me personally, as a musician myself, I have to give the man a hat’s off for being able to play so many intricate and very different instruments all at once, and sing at the same time. Not only does he do this, he does so with great ease. It’s clear the right side of Mike Silverman’s brain is functioning properly.

But the Diddley Drum Gutbucket wouldn’t be complete without its synthesizer sampler. Whether Mike records the sounds himself or finds the sample elsewhere, the 13 trigger points on the pipe are where the magic happens.

The way a sampler works is a sound is recorded by the user and saved on a machine like the one picture at the top of this section. After all the sounds have been saved into the sampler, with the press of a button the user can play those sounds back in any order they so choose. While this tactic has been around since the 1960’s and the conceptualization of the Synthesizer has roots older than you’d think, it was made truly huge during the era of Hip-Hop music through the 80s and 90s. (Techno, Pop, and unfortunately Dubstep all rely almost solely on sampling.)

 The trigger points on the pipes act like the buttons on the sampler. Whether Mike slaps them, plucks the string above, or occasionally uses a drum stick to activate them, the end result is the same. A sample loop is played through an amplifier and, when strung together in a particular order, produce the macabre sounds that give us albums like “The Moon is Disgusting.”

I for one applaud Mike Silverman. In a world populated by hipster teenage crap like Dubstep it’s nice to see somebody out there still has an innovative bone. Mike’s on tour this year and is picking up more and more of a following every day, (and no…not in a Kevin Bacon kinda way.) For news, album information, tour dates, or anything else about Mike and his Pipes you can head on over to his website by clicking here. Hope you enjoyed the blog today everyone!

-       Ryan Sanders

Thanks for reading! As always feel free to share this around on Facebook and Twitter! Hope you all had a great time learning about the history of a few unique instruments! If you want to know a little bit more about some of the unique stuff I talked about today you can by following the links below. Happy learning!

-       How to make your own Diddley Bow (The owner of this blog is not responsible for damage or injury resultant to yourself or personal property. Any DIY project requires a certain amount of skill. If you undertake a project you are not equipped to handle and are injured I take no responsibility.)

-       How to make your own Washtub Bass (The owner of this blog is not responsible for damage or injury resultant to yourself or personal property.)

-       Wiki entry on That1Guy

-       Wiki entry on the Mouth Bow

-       In depth history of Zithers and some different ones found all around the world.