Fluids form simple structures

By Andrew Grant

Web edition: July 18, 2013

News in Brief: Under magnet's sway, fluids form simple structures
Droplets wiggle, split and coalesce into simple and dynamic configurations

Dollops of magnetic fluid can assemble themselves into both simple structures and constantly changing complex formations, researchers report in the July 19 Science.

In nature, molecules such as proteins can autonomously warp and fold themselves into new arrangements. Scientists want to create self-assembling synthetic structures that are as dynamic and versatile as the natural ones that drive life.

Physicist Jaakko Timonen at Aalto University in Finland and colleagues figured they could do that with ferrofluids, liquids that contain suspended magnetic nanoparticles and behave in strange ways when exposed to magnetic fields. The researchers placed a droplet of ferrofluid atop a nonstick surface and gradually moved a magnet toward the surface from below. The strengthening magnetic field caused the droplet to split into simple, evenly spaced daughter droplets.

Then Timonen and his team oscillated the magnet horizontally, moving it increasingly faster and over longer distances. At certain thresholds of speed and distance, the droplets suddenly coalesced into elongated globules that changed shape as the magnet yanked them back and forth.

Timonen says the demonstration should help scientists better understand and exploit dynamic self-assembly.

Tata Nano may move upmarket to juice sales

By John LeBlanc, Postmedia News April 16, 2013

The Tata Nano is an entry-level car built in India and meant primarily for that market. But its $2,500 price captured the imagination of people worldwide.

"Where can I buy one?" is a question I am sure every automotive journalist must have heard repeated. The manufacturer has responded to the demand by confirming a version will be available for Europe in the near future. There has been no word if the car will ever be sold in North America.

But that's not to say we in the West won't be touched by this emerging manufacturer -- it purchased Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2009.

Can a new car be too cheap? That’s what a report from Bloomberg asks, as India’s Tata Motors is looking at offering more expensive models of its Nano compact to raise flagging sales.

When the $2,500-plus Nano went on-sale in India in 2009, Tata anticipated annual sales in the hundreds of thousands, but has only sold just over 250,000 since. And last month, sales were off 86% from the year before.

The problem? Tata Managing Director Karl Slym says scooter drivers didn’t buy the Nano because peers “don’t think I’m buying a car, they think I’m buying something between a two- wheeler and a car.” Slym thinks the answer is to make the Nano more attractive, add features — and ultimately — raise its dollar store pricing.

Despite a price as low as $2,500 in its Indian home market, the Tata Nano hasn’t been the massive sales hit analysts and sooth-sayers predicted when it was announced in 2008. Yet four years later, the Indian automaker is saying it wants to offer a redesigned Nano for U.S and European buyers, According to a report from Inside Line, the Westernized Nano won’t be had for $2,500. Try four times that. Tata says a larger engine than the current car’s 37 horsepower 0.6-litre two-cylinder, “more bells and whistles,” and features like power steering and traction control will jack the price up to around $10,000 — still less than the cheapest new car you can buy in Canada today, Nissan’s $11,878 Versa Sedan.

© Copyright (c) Driving

Slym cited the 2011 Pixel concept (seen above) as an example of what he has in mind.
© Copyright (c) Driving

Invasive Python Snakes Moving into California Areas

In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.

The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.

The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.

The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco.

"We have not yet identified something that would stop their spreading to the Bay Area," Rodda said.

If pet pythons were introduced into the wild in California by irresponsible pet owners, as happened in Florida, they could become established here even faster, without need of a cross-country journey.

The Burmese python is one of several nonnative giant constrictor snakes - believed to be former pets - that have been introduced and then established themselves in Florida's Everglades National Park. Biologists estimate 30,000 nonnative giant snakes live in the Everglades, perhaps more. Some have begun appearing in areas outside the park, alarming biologists and also people who don't care for snakes.

The snake that managed to slither 100 miles turned up on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida. Another python made it as far as Vero Beach, Fla., on the Atlantic coast. Vero Beach is the spring training site for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the team has not reported any casualties, although its pitching staff could use help. Other on-the-move pythons have journeyed to Key Largo, where Humphrey Bogart once battled Edward G. Robinson.

At 20 miles a month, a determined Burmese python from Florida could arrive in San Francisco as early as August 2020.

"It would be exceptional for one animal to be that unidirectional in its movement, but it's mathematically possible," Rodda said.

The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way, Rodda said.

"Beavers would be a very tasty treat for them," Rodda said. "No beaver would be safe from a python."

The natural enemies of the python are lions, tigers and other large cats. There are few free-roaming African lions and tigers between Florida and San Francisco, the geological survey said. And the absence of alligators outside Florida can only help the snakes on their journey west, although it's a complicated relationship - while pythons eat alligators, alligators also eat pythons.

"A large alligator will eat a small python," Rodda said. "But we are not recommending you import alligators into California. That would not be a good idea."

Along with the climate map, the geological survey also released a fearsome photograph showing just what the Bay Area is in for. In the picture, a 20-foot-long python is encircling and attempting to strangle a full-grown alligator, while the alligator is doing its best to swallow the python. It is not for the faint of heart.

The snakes also like to eat rodents, deer and other mammals. Small Florida deer have been turning up inside the digestive tracts of Everglades pythons, which has alarmed deer lovers and also the deer.

As for other potential prey, human beings - like rodents, beavers and deer - are mammals, government scientists confirmed.

According to the new USGS map, the python would find about one-third of the United States - including much of California - to be comfortable for its expansion. In California, the only safe places to avoid the migrating pythons would be the colder areas - the Sierra, the Cascades or the North Coast. Such remote areas, however, could not support every panicked Californian seeking to avoid the giant snakes.

The control of nonnative species is an increasing problem for local biologists, who are currently battling the dread zebra mussel and the voracious northern pike. The mussel is threatening to clog Bay Area reservoirs, and pike are gobbling Northern California salmon and trout. Some studies have said the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the most-invaded ecosystem on the planet, with hundreds of introduced species that endanger native critters.

USGS researchers say pet owners must be responsible about snakes, especially when they no longer want them. There is nothing bad about snakes, the misunderstanding in a certain garden notwithstanding. Snakes are just being snakes. It's up to people to exercise their free will about snakes, which is the oldest lesson in the book.

"Americans are wealthy enough to possess exotic pets and ethical enough to decide the right thing to do when they can no longer keep them," Rodda said.

Releasing them into the wild is a very bad idea.

"Nobody wants to screw up the environment," Rodda said. "But that's what's happening."
Burmese python facts

Size: They can grow to 250 pounds and stretch over 23 feet.

Popular pets: They're often released into the wild by irresponsible owners.

Lifestyle: When young, the pythons spend much of their time in trees. In adulthood, their weight makes tree-climbing too difficult.

Food: They survive on small mammals and birds but have been known to eat deer and alligators.

Eggs: They lay up to 100 at a time.

Why Yolo County Sheriff's Department Profile their citizens?

WOODLAND CA (IFS) -- Driving in Yolo County is very complicated when you are a person of color.  Yet, Yolo Sheriff's most of whom are Hispanic and some Samoan.  It's no mystery that these officers who pull you over, and the first thing they ask you, "Do you have a felony?"

Now, the officer has your drivers licenses, registration, insurance information, and he also has your history in one radio-telephone call to the dispatchers office.

It's absolutely insulting that a peace officer has the balls to ask one, if he or she has a felony or not.  I find these guys a little off their rocker, or just wanting to pick a fight.

I was taught to respect the uniform.  I don't have to like the person in the uniform at all.  I wish them all a good day and a safe day.  Other than that, I really don't give a hoot about lawmen in Yolo Sheriff's department that patrol Dunningan, California.