Chromoscope, Cadaverine and Putrescine, How do astronauts scratch their nose?

[Nostromics Newsletter]

Nostromics Newsletter

Nostromics science gifts product news, educational resources & science tidbits

Nostromics Newsletter, 29 September 2010 - You are welcome to share this mail

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Chromoscope: watch the sky with different eyes

How would the sky look like if your eyes were sensitive to X rays or radio waves? You can see for yourself with Chromoscope, an online tool for exploring the sky at different wavelengths.

The main screen shows the whole sky seen in visible light, more or less as with your eyes. Click and drag the slider at the top left to change wavelength. Click the "+" and "-" buttons below to zoom in or out. The irregular bright and dark horizontal patch stretching across the sky is our Milky Way galaxy.

Light is a particular instance of a phenomenon called electromagnetic radiation, which has an important property known as wavelength. Electromagnetic radiation of varying wavelength is called in different ways such as Gamma rays, X rays, visible light, infrared, radio waves, and so on.

Cadaverine and Putrescine

Cadaverine and Putrescine are organic chemical compounds. If their names sound a bit uncomfortable, it's because these substances are responsible for the odor of putrefying flesh. Cadaverine and Putrescine are produced by the breakdown of amino acids during the putrefaction of tissue in living and dead organisms.

The Cadaverine Women's T-Shirt, Putrescine dark T-shirt, and other apparel with the same designs in the new Chemistry section of Nostromics Store, display the molecular formulas and names of these compounds. Halloween horror stories often mention dead bodies and flesh. And these products are original Halloween ideas with a touch of science.

More science gifts and products at Nostromics Store.

How do astronauts scratch their nose?

During a space mission, astronauts do not wear a space suit most of the time. They use it only during spacewalks and critical situations, like launch and reentry. But when they do wear a space suit, mobility is very limited. When their nose itches, they can not raise the helmet's visor and scratch it with a gloved hand.

So, if astronauts can't use the hands, how do they scratch the nose while wearing a space suit? They rub the nose against a small Velcro patch inside the helmet. A curious picture shows Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan scratching his nose in this way while suiting up for a ground test exercise.

-- Paolo Amoroso & Mauro Arpino (Nostromics), science educators - Milan, Italy

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Copyright (C) 2010 by Paolo Amoroso and Mauro Arpino