SCIENCE IS SO COOL LIKE

martinlkennedy: Future was a 1970s magazine that mixed science...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:01:39 -0400

Future was a 1970s magazine that mixed science fact, speculation and fiction and often featured amazing artwork commissioned just for the magazine. But it lost its way and folded in 1981.

astronomerinprogress: Orrery An orrery is a mechanical device...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:01:14 -0400

astronomerinprogress:

Orrery

An orrery is a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons in the Solar System in a heliocentric model. Though the Greeks had working planetaria, the first orrery that was a planetarium of the modern era was produced in 1704, and one was presented to the Earl of Orrery — whence came the name. They are typically driven by a clockwork mechanism with a globe representing the Sun at the centre, and with a planet at the end of each of the arms.

physicscaucie: Animation showing the Crab Supernova explosion...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:46:15 -0400

physicscaucie:

Animation showing the Crab Supernova explosion and its remant.

Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

pbsthisdayinhistory: June 18, 1983: Sally Ride Becomes First...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:33:29 -0400

pbsthisdayinhistory:

June 18, 1983: Sally Ride Becomes First American Woman in Space

On this day in 1983, at the age of 32, astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Her voyage came 20 years after Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. After the voyage, Sally Ride received many honors for her contributions to the field of science and space exploration.

In May 2012, Sally Ride became the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

On July 23, 2012, Sally Ride died at the age of 61 after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.

Visit PBS NewsHour to learn more about Sally Ride.

Photo: Courtesy of NASA

approachingsignificance: Embryonic Bat Skeleton 1st...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:01:48 -0400

approachingsignificance:

Embryonic Bat Skeleton

1st image: Image (still needs credit)

2nd image: Scott Weatherbee, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

izzgood: “because when i look up at the universe, i know i’m...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:01:21 -0400

izzgood:

“because when i look up at the universe, i know i’m small. but i’m also big. i’m big because i’m connected to the universe, and the universe is connected to me”

neurolove: [Image Source] This all leads us into talking about...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:01:21 -0400

neurolove:

[Image Source]

This all leads us into talking about the observed action potential. If you put in some electrodes to measure voltage across the membrane, this is what you would see. In phase 1, “leak” channels are open and the Na-K pump is maintaining the negative potential.

Phase 2 is when the ligand-gated Na+ channels have opened causing the voltage-gated Na+ channels to open and sodium to rush into the cell. The ball closes the pore and phase 3 is then caused by the slow to open voltage-gated K+ channels opening and K+ leaving the neuron.

Phase 4 is caused by the slow K+ VG channels being slow to close. Too much K+ has left! Resting state (labeled phase 1 here) is restored when those channels have closed and the Na-K pump sets to work!

howstuffworks: The Top 10 Inventions of Sir Isaac Newton When...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:01:32 -0400

A telescope Newton built. Image via http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4hdjqr

One of Isaac Newton's notebooks. Image via http://preview.tinyurl.com/c22ksvo

howstuffworks:

The Top 10 Inventions of Sir Isaac Newton

When he wasn’t envisioning space cannons and figuring out what holds the universe together, Isaac Newton applied his considerable intellect to other problems — possibly including ways to keep the cat from scratching on the door.

Born the son of an uneducated farmer, Newton died a true polymath — a celebrated master of astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and theology. His many inventions, discoveries, and harebrained notions provide a glimpse into a legendary mind. Here are our 10 favorites.

Keep reading…

wolfgirlskye: Ernst Haeckel pieces.

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:01:02 -0400

wolfgirlskye:

Ernst Haeckel pieces.

“As a small child in England, I had this dream of going to...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:01:30 -0400

“As a small child in England, I had this dream of going to Africa. We didn’t have any money and I was a girl, so everyone except my mother laughed at it.”

jtotheizzoe: “Glory to the first female cosmonaut!” reads the...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:10:21 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

“Glory to the first female cosmonaut!” reads the top poster. June 16 marks the 50th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova’s trip to space, the first woman to make the leap beyond Earth.

Find out how her mission aboard Vostok-6 worked.

thenewenlightenmentage: This Day in Science History Valentina...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:04:37 -0400

thenewenlightenmentage:

This Day in Science History

Valentina Tereshkova: First Woman in Space

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 16, 1963, Valeriy Bykovsky was in Earth orbit. He’d been up a little under a day, safely inside his Vostok 5 capsule, when he gained a companion: Valentina Tereshkova in Vostok 6. The two cosmonauts’ joint mission was similar to the joint Vostok 3/4 mission that had flown the previous August, but this mission had a twist. Tereshkova was the first woman in space. On Sunday, she’ll be celebrating the 50 year anniversary of this historic feat.

Continue Reading

Photo

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:01:05 -0400

womeninspace: Time Magazine celebrates 50 yrs of women in...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:27:55 -0400

Valentina Tereshkova (Bettmann / CORBIS)

Sally Ride (NASA)

Claudie Haignere (Robert van der Hilst / CORBIS)

Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (NASA)

Roberta Bondar (NASA)

Liu Yang (Wang Jianmin / Xinhua Press / Corbis)

womeninspace:

Time Magazine celebrates 50 yrs of women in space

There was less global hoopla when Yang flew than when Ride did, and much less than when Tereshkova did. The fact that human beings travel in space continues to be—and should be—something that delights and even surprises us. The fact that women are among those explorers is, at last, becoming routine.

See the complete gallery and read the complete article

Four Incredible Photosynthetic Animals We all know that plants...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:01:37 -0400

Four Incredible Photosynthetic Animals

We all know that plants are photosynthetic - they can create their own energy by harnessing sunlight through chloroplasts or carotenoids. However, in recent years, a small number of photosynthetic animals have been discovered that process sunlight through symbiosis with algae and even generation of their own electric current.

jtotheizzoe: mazikins: A propaganda poster for Bill Nye, the...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 14:01:09 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

mazikins:

A propaganda poster for Bill Nye, the man who taught me most of what I learned about science in elementary school. And middle school. And high school.

ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS LEADER!!!

BILL! BILL! BILL! BILL!

astrogasmic: Brian Cox using a £1,000,000 diamond to...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:01:32 -0400

astrogasmic:

Brian Cox using a £1,000,000 diamond to demonstrate Richard Feynman’s Path Integral Formula. The diamond came with its own security guard, watching it like a hawk. Of course, that didn’t stop Brian joking about stealing it!

The formula shows that the diamond could, given a long enough amount of time, jump out of its box on its own.

How long a time? 3x10²⁹ seconds to be precise. Or put another way, 600 billion times the current age of the universe!

Photo

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:02:51 -0400

scinerds: On The Necessity of Geology There is an urgent need...

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:01:06 -0400

scinerds:

On The Necessity of Geology

There is an urgent need for talking and teaching geology.

Many people don’t know it. They think geology is rocks, but if they’re not rock aficionados, it’s nothing to do with them. So our K-12 schools inadequately teach the earth sciences. People don’t learn about geology, and they grow up to move to hazardous areas without being aware of the risks. They grow into politicians who feel it’s smart to sneer at volcano monitoring. They become people who don’t understand what geologists can and cannot do, and imprison scientists who couldn’t predict the unpredictable.

So we need to talk geology, anywhere and everywhere we can.

A while ago at work, we got on the subject of earthquakes. I don’t remember how it happened, but suddenly, I was surrounded by a gaggle of people whilst I pulled up a diagram of the local subduction zone and delivered a mini-lecture on how it works.

You’d think such pontification would drive people away. It didn’t. They were riveted.

Granted, it’s a fascinating subject. But there’s a huge amount of misinformation floating about in the aether. I had to do some gentle correction – and a bit of putting the fear of Cascadia into folks. It reminded me how critical it is to be aware of what’s going to hapen here – and how few people realize it.

One of my coworkers had vaguely heard that there was a dangerous fault that could lead to a big earthquake near Oregon. He didn’t realize Washington was also at risk – and we’re not ready for something so huge. Everyone I was speaking to looked extremely surprised when I told them we will get hit with a subduction zone earthquake on the order of the Tōhoku Earthquake that devastated Japan in March 2011 – and that we are far more vulnerable than Japan was, because we haven’t done what they have to prepare.

That’s when the fear started. It’s a healthy fear, a realistic one I wish more citizens shared. We don’t need paralyzing fear, but the galvanizing kind, the kind that forces us to get informed and do what it takes to prepare for the inevitable.

We discussed some of the risk we’d face here in our particular corner of the Seattle area. We’re far enough inland and high enough in elevation that we won’t have to worry about being washed away by a tsunami. But some folks were under the impression we’d be safe from earthquake damage here. That’s not true. We won’t suffer the worst of it, unlike the coast, but a look at the shake map shows we’re going to get a shaking strong enough to cause damage; we’ll experience several minutes of severe shaking, and those earthquake waves have a terrible potential to get trapped and amplified by the basin we’re in, making that shaking worse. We are going to get hit: that’s a certainty. It could be today, tomorrow, months or years, but the Cascadia subduction zone will eventually slip catastrophically. And many of the residents don’t even know it’s there. Most of our emergency services aren’t prepared for an event of that magnitude. They don’t realize that “The Big One” isn’t going to be a single event, but a series of severe shocks that could go on for years after the 9.0. Ignorance of geology will lead to a greater catastrophe, because we didn’t know enough to prepare our cities against seismic threats.

Ordinary people who are not rock-obsessed have a need for geology. It’s a necessity, not a luxury. Here’s what a basic knowledge of geology can do for a person:

It allows you to make wiser choices in deciding where to live. You may not buy that beautiful house on the unstable hill, and end up losing everything in a landslide, for instance. You’ll be able to figure out what geological problems you should be on the lookout for in your area.

It alerts you to the necessity of determining geologic hazards, and how to prepare for and/or mitigate them. In earthquake country, you’ll know to get your structures retrofitted, and what to do in case an earthquake hits. In karst country, you’ll know to watch for the signs that a sinkhole may be opening beneath your property. You’ll ensure you know evacuation routes in case of tsunami warnings.

You’ll be better able to assess the importance of government programs for geological hazards monitoring, and know to scream at politicians when they do asinine things like cut 74% of the state geological survey budget, or hack and slash at the USGS Natural Hazards budget.

You’ll be prepared to participate in municipal, state, and federal land use decisions. You’ll know when plans to mine could contaminate a national treasure, or if a planned action could pollute the groundwater in your region. All that, plus more, and your appreciation for Earth will be enhanced!

Those of us who know geology need to talk about it, write about it, wax lyrical over it and fight for it. And for those of us who’ve given it short shrift in the past, it’s time to reassess our relationship to the rocks beneath our feet. It’s never been more important than now.

Text and Image Source

laughingsquid: Astronaut Chris Hadfield to Retire From the...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:11:21 -0400

laughingsquid:

Astronaut Chris Hadfield to Retire From the Canadian Space Agency