Category: The Other Things
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Buzz Pollination or Sonication
Buzz pollination or sonication is a technique used by some bees, such as solitary bees to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers. The anthers of buzz-pollinated plant species are typically tubular, with an opening at only one end, and the pollen inside is smooth-grained and firmly attached. With self-fertile plants such as tomatoes, wind may be sufficient…
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🝖 Alchemical Symbol For Horse Dung
Ah, the alchemical symbol for horse dung! Let’s gallop into this steaming pile of esoteric wisdom, shall we? 🐎💩✨ Picture this: An alchemist, eyes wild with the fever of discovery, realizes that the key to unlocking the universe’s secrets lies not in rare metals or exotic herbs, but in the humble excrement of Equus ferus…
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Sonication
Sonication is the act of applying sound energy to agitate particles in a sample, for various purposes such as the extraction of multiple compounds from plants, microalgae and seaweeds. Ultrasonic frequencies (> 20 kHz) are usually used, leading to the process also being known as ultrasonication or ultra-sonication. In the laboratory, it is usually applied using an ultrasonic bath or an ultrasonic probe, colloquially known…
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What is Immunoprecipitation (IP)?
Immunoprecipitation (IP) is a technique used to enrich protein antigens from a complex mixture using specific antibodies. To carry out an IP, antibodies must be coupled to a solid substrate, such as agarose resin or magnetic beads, to allow for purification of the target antigens. Immunoprecipitation (IP) is the technique of precipitating a protein antigen out of solution using an antibody that…
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Symbols for Sulfur and Mercury
Symbols for sulfur and mercury 1F70D 🜍 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR SULFUR = brimstone 1F70E 🜎 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR PHILOSOPHERS SULFUR 1F70F 🜏 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR BLACK SULFUR = sulfur nigra, dye 1F710 🜐 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR MERCURY SUBLIMATE → 263F ☿ mercury → 1F75E 🝞 alchemical symbol for sublimation…
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The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the modern title[a] given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. It has been housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain since 1939. Bosch painted three large triptychs (the others are The Last Judgment of c. 1482 and The Haywain Triptych of c. 1516) that can be read…
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The Goldfinch in art
The goldfinch is a widespread and common seed-eating bird in Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. As a colourful species with a pleasant twittering song, and an associated belief that it brought health and good fortune, it had been domesticated for at least 2,000 years. Pliny recorded that it could be taught to do tricks, and in the…
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Goldfinch in art
The bird that repeatedly, almost obsessively, turns up in Renaissance religious painting is the European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis, almost always in the hands of the Infant Jesus, and symbolising variously the soul, resurrection, sacrifice and death, but with a particular further dimension of meaning, following the plagues of the fourteenth century, as an augur (and hence…
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Thistle tubes, thistle feeders, distelfinks and goldfinches
A thistle tube is a piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a shaft of tube, with a reservoir and funnel-like section at the top. Thistle tubes are typically used by chemists to add liquid to an existing system or apparatus. Thistle funnels are used to add small volumes of liquids to an exact position. Thistle funnels are found with or without taps. Since they’re…
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Virgil was a sorcerer?
Publius Vergilius Maro (traditional dates 15 October 70 – 21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars consider his…
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Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Herculaneum (Neapolitan and Italian: Ercolano) was an ancient Roman town, located in the modern-day comune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of Pompeii, Herculaneum is famous as one of the few ancient cities to be preserved nearly intact, as the ash that blanketed the town protected it against…
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The Grotta di Cocceio is an ancient Roman tunnel connecting Lake Avernus with Cumae, dated 38-36 BC
The Grotta di Cocceio (Cocceius’ Tunnel) is an ancient Roman tunnel nearly a kilometre in length connecting Lake Avernus with Cumae and dating from 38-36 BC. It was burrowed through the tuff stone of Monte Grillo by the architect Lucius Cocceius Auctus at the command of Agrippa who was in the process of converting the Lake into a military port, the Portus Julius. The tunnel was wide enough to…
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The Bourbon Tunnel
The Bourbon Tunnel, Tunnel Borbonico or Bourbon Gallery (Italian: Galleria Borbonica) is an ancient underground passage, constructed for military purposes to connect the Royal Palace to military barracks in Naples, Italy. The monarchy in the era of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon was fearful of the revolution-prone populace of Naples. Errico Alvino was commissioned to construct a military passage for troops connecting the Royal Palace of Naples to Via…
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Crypta Neapolitana, Virgil’s Tomb and more
The Crypta Neapolitana (Latin for “Neapolitan crypt”) is an ancient Roman road tunnel near Naples, Italy. It was built in 37 BC and is over 700 metres long. The tunnel connected Naples with the so-called Phlegrean Fields and the town of Pozzuoli along the road known as the via Domiziana. Via Domiziana is the modern name for the Via Domitiana in the Campania region of Italy, a major Roman road built in 95 AD under (and…
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Catacombs of Saint Gaudiosus
Are you ready for a journey into the macabre underbelly of Naples? Welcome to the Catacombs of San Gaudioso, where the dead don’t just rest – they put on a show! Nestled beneath the bustling Rione Sanità district, these 4th-century catacombs are a veritable playground for the morbidly curious. Here’s what awaits you in this…
