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Don’t let the hippies hear that wood may make a better artificial bone than titanium. We’ll never live it down.

Italian scientists have developed a new “wood-derived bone substitute” that promises to be better than ceramic or metal implants. They start with a block of wood like red oak, burn it until the block is essentially charcoal and then coat the substance with calcium.

The “bone” takes about a week to produce at a cost of around $850. And while it’s not quite as cool as titanium, the spongier structure handles natural impact better, and other bones prefer the calcium carbon mix to space shuttle alloys.

So much for my awesome robot legs. [Discovery]

From Astronomy Picture of the Day .

Diamonds in a Cloudy Sky
Credit & Copyright: Óscar Martín Mesonero (OSAE), SAROS Group
Explanation: Cloudy skies over Wuhan, China hid the delicate solar corona during July’s total eclipse of the Sun. Still, the Moon’s silhouette was highlighted by these glistening diamonds as the total eclipse phase ended. Caused by bright sunlight streaming through dips and valleys in the irregular terrain along the Moon’s edge, the effect is known as Baily’s Beads, named after Francis Baily who called attention to the phenomenon in 1836. The dramatic appearance of the beads at the beginning or end of a total solar eclipse is also known as the Diamond Ring effect. In this remarkable image, a small, pinkish solar prominence can also be seen along the edge, below the diamonds.

Pictured: Spaceship-shaped cloud hovering over Earth is captured by astronauts | Daily Mail Online.

A giant, anvil-shaped cloud bubbles up towards the Earth’s stratosphere, looming over West Africa.

The amazing formation would be invisible to anyone on the ground and would even be obscure from a regular passenger jet since they can reach up to 75,000ft.

But astronauts captured the astonishing picture from hundreds of miles up as they orbited the globe on the International Space Station.

Anvil clouds are formed mostly from ice and normally form in the upper parts of thunderstorms. They get their shape from the fact that rising warm air in thunderstorms expands and spreads out as the air bumps up against the bottom of the stratosphere.

Streaks of snow are often seen falling out of the edges of anvils. This light snow usually evaporates as it falls through the relatively dry air surrounding the upper part of the thunderstorm.

From Astronomy Picture of the Day.

The Milky Way Over Devil’s Tower
Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (TWAN)

Explanation: Was Devil’s Tower once an explosive volcano? Famous for its appearance in films such as Close Encounters, the origin of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, USA is still debated, with a leading hypothesis holding that it is a hardened lava plume that probably never reached the surface to become a volcano. The lighter rock that once surrounded the dense volcanic neck has now eroded away, leaving the dramatic tower. High above, the central band of the Milky Way galaxy arches across the sky. Many notable sky objects are visible, including dark strands of the Pipe Nebula and the reddish Lagoon Nebula to the tower’s right. Green grass and trees line the foreground, while moon-illuminated clouds appear near the horizon to the tower’s left. Unlike many other international landmarks, mountaineers are permitted to climb Devil’s Tower.

What is happening now is really amazing. The atmosphere above us has warmed substantially during the past 24-h. Seattle is 5F warmer than it was a day ago and the air aloft (measured by the Sand Point profiler) is about 6F warmer. The minimum temperatures this morning are considerable warmer this morning compared to yesterday morning. Clearly, today will be substantially warmer and SEA-TAC will get close to 100F today. Some warmer Puget Sound locations will get to the century mark. And remember, the Willamette Valley got to 100F yesterday…although they have done that many times (they don’t have the cooling influence of the water that the Puget Sound region enjoys).

We way well break another major record….the high low temperature record…which until now has been 69F. Will know in a few hours whether that record is gone.

Probcast is still going for over 100F tomorrow…and Thursday as well.

One unusual aspect of this heat wave…and something that has made it feel much worse….is the humidity. Dewpoints are very high for around here…generally in the 60sF and in some places close to 70F. Feels like an east coast summer. Dewpoint is a good measure of the amount of moisture in the air (much better than relative humidity which varies during the day as temperature changes). More moisture in the air makes us feel warmer by lessening our ability to evaporate water from our skin (sweat) and the moisture partially blocks the infrared radiation leaving the surface….thereby keeping the temperatures up.

Anyway, this is a very serious weather event, and the National Weather Service has upped their predictions to the century mark. People don’t think about heat waves in the same vain as storms, but heat kills more people around the world. So drink lots of liquids and check on the elderly, who are particularly vulnerable. Another risk is for kids in sports camps, where heat prostration can strike even the young. I am going to bike to work as usual, but will go early and my route is in the trees.

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Ever wonder why projector systems and televisions doesn't use laser illumination? It isn't for safety reasons, and it isn't for efficiency reasons—laser diodes have efficiencies ranging from 30 to 50 percent. No, the problem is green light. We have red laser diodes, and blue laser diodes turned up nearly 15 years ago. But green—where the heck is the green laser diode?

A group of Japanese researchers have answered that question: in our lab. Yes, they have the first “true green” laser diode. It doesn’t work that well yet but, based on past history, expect rapid progress from here and commercial laser diodes before the end of next year.

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