Fridaygram: tech for nonprofits, immortal animal, Martian moons
By +Scott Knaster, Google Developers Blog
Editor
In 2011
Points of Light and Google got
together and started
HandsOn
Tech, an organization designed to help US nonprofits learn to use technology in
their work. HandsOn Tech connects nonprofits with expert volunteers who really want to help
make the world better.
Devin
Rucker and Marcia Webb-Hayes at a HandsOn Tech training
HandsOn Tech helps with all kinds of programs, including improving literacy and making
information accessible. This fall, HandsOn Tech starts its third year of programs. Want to
volunteer? You can
apply to join
the team until August 31. If you’re selected, you’ll receive a week of training here
at Google in Mountain View, California. If you make it, let us know when you’re in town by
sharing a post with
+Google
Developers.
You could do a lot of good if you lived forever. While that might not be feasible yet,
scientists are on it with research into
Hydractinia
echinata, an
Irish
sea creature that doesn’t age and can regenerate any part of its body. Dr. Uri Frank
of
NUI Galway says the marine animal is
“perfect for understanding the role of stem cells in development, aging and disease”. Humans
are probably too complex to regenerate body parts this way, according to Dr. Frank, but
there’s lots to be learned from humble
Hydractinia.
Finally, here’s a sight that previous generations could only dream of viewing:
Phobos crossing in front of Deimos, as seen from the
surface of Mars. The video, poetically titled “Two moons passing in the Martian night”, was
shot from Mars by the
Curiosity rover. It’s
short, so you can enjoy it over and over again.
This week Fridaygram
notes a couple of spacey milestones: happy 5 years in low-earth orbit to the Fermi Space
Telescope, and congratulations to NASA’s Juno spacecraft,
which passed the halfway point on its journey to Jupiter: 1,415,794,248 kilometers down,
1,415,794,248 kilometers to go.
