Sir David Attenborough demonstrates the accuracy of the Mozambique Spitting Cobra’s venom streams by wearing a chemically treated visor that makes the venom turn purple on contact.
From Life in Cold Blood
The brightest star in the constellation Leo is Regulus, and it is also one of the brightest stars in the night sky, with only 21 stars brighter. Regulus is strictly speaking a star system, composed of Regulus A, the source of its brightness and a white dwarf companion that has not yet been observed, and to other stars too dim to be easily visible. Also known as Alpha Leonis for its primary position in the constellation, the name Regulus means ‘little king’ or ’kinglet’ and also occasionally prince. Regulus derives from the Latin word rex, regis, taking the diminutive form.
Regulus A is a large, hot star, about 4 times as wide as our sun but much brighter and with over 1000 times the energy output. Regulus A is also spinning about 1000 times faster on its axis and shooting through space like a bullet! Scientists are unclear what the source of this energy and movement is.
Image of the constellation Leo from Wikimedia commons, in the public domain.
Constellation map by Torsten Bronger, used with permission under Creative Commons 3.0 license.
Computer generated image of Regulus A by Chandra, used with permission.
The VLT Survey Telescope at ESOs Paranal Observatory in Chile has captured this richly detailed new image of the Lagoon Nebula
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Hedyphane
Varying from white to yellowish with occasional reddish or green specimens, it was named after its discovery in Sweden in 1830 from the Greek words for ‘appearing beautiful’. It is a rare critter, only forming in manganese or zinc ore deposits that have been metamorphosed by heat and pressure deep within the crust, or when intruding granites bake the surrounding rock. It is a part of the apatite group (see http://bit.ly/2akYWkg)and includes lead and calcium combined with arsenic and oxygen in its composition, being an analogue of another pretty mineral called mimetite (see http://on.fb.me/1zo1vvI).
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Transition Signals:
Transitions are words and phrases that connect ideas and show how they are related.
To repeat and ideas just stated:
In other words,
That is,
To repeat,
Again,
To illustrate an idea:
For example,
For instance,
In particular,
To illustrate,
In this manner,
Thus,
To announce a contrast, a change in direction:
Yet,
However,
Still,
Nevertheless,
On the other hand,
In contrast,
Instead of,
On the contrary,
Conversely,
Notwithstanding,
In spite of this,
Time:
At once,
In the interim,
At length,
Immediately,
At last,
Meanwhile,
In the meantime,
Presently,
At the same time,
Shortly,
In the end,
Temporarily,
Thereafter,
To restate an idea more precisely:
To be exact,
To be specific,
To be precise,
More specifically,
More precisely,
To mark a new idea as an addition to what has been said:
Similarly,
Also,
Too,
Besides,
Furthermore,
Further,
Moreover,
In addition,
To show cause and effect:
As a result,
For this reason,
Thereafter,
Hence,
Consequently,
Accordingly,
Conclusion:
In short,
To conclude,
In brief,
On the whole,
In summary,
To sum up,