Beautiful Timelapse Of Photosynthesis Seen From Space

And the dancer notes the ballroom

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Asteroid Terms: Explained

There are interesting asteroid characters in our solar system, including an asteroid that has its own moon and even one that is shaped like a dog bone! Our OSIRIS-REx mission launches at 7:05 p.m. EDT today and will travel to asteroid Bennu.

Scientists chose Bennu as the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission because of its composition, size and proximity to Earth. Bennu is a rare B-type asteroid (primitive and carbon-rich), which is expected to have organic compounds and water-bearing minerals like clays.

Our OSIRIS-REx mission will travel to Bennu and bring a small sample back to Earth for study.

When talking about asteroids, there are some terms scientists use that might not be in your typical vocabulary…but we’ll help with that!

Here are a few terms you should know:

Orbital Eccentricity: This number describes the shape of an asteroid’s orbit by how elliptical it is. For asteroids in orbit around the sun, eccentricity is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 being a perfectly circular orbit and 0.99 being a highly elliptical orbit.

Inclination: The angle, in degrees, of how tilted an asteroid’s orbit is compared to another plane of reference, usually the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Orbital Period: The number of days it takes for an asteroid to revolve once around the sun. For example, the Earth’s orbital period is 365 days.

Perihelion Distance: The distance between an asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is closest to the sun.

Aphelion Distance: The distance between the asteroid and the sun when the asteroid is farthest away from the sun.

Astronomical unit: A distance unit commonly used to describe orbits of objects around the sun. The distance from the Earth to the sun is one astronomical unit, or 1 AU, equivalent to about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

Diameter: A measure of the size of an asteroid. It is the length of a line from a point on the surface, through the center of the asteroid, extending out to the opposite surface. Irregularly shaped asteroids may have different diameters depending on which direction they are measured.

Rotation Period: The time it takes for an asteroid to complete one revolution around its axis of rotation. For example, the rotation period of the Earth is approximately 24 hours, or 1 day.

Spectral Type: The classification of an asteroid, based on a measurement of the light reflected by the asteroid. 

Watch live launch coverage of OSIRIS-REx to asteroid Bennu starting at 5:30 p.m, on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

I second wanting prints of these

Alejandro Guijarro photographs the chalkboards of some of the brightest minds in quantum physics for his continuing series Momentum. He went to research facilities like CERN and many of the top universities in the world to find them.

Most of that is the same in the US, though we have slightly different divisions, and more dances because of the Arthur Murray-standardized American Style. I’m just a collegiate Silver Standard dancer, though someone please correct me if I’m off, and I’ll barely mention Open.

Dance Styles: International Standard (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz), International Latin (Cha cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive, Paso Doble), American Smooth (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Viennese), and American Rhythm (Cha cha, Rumba, Swing, Mambo, Bolero). The biggest difference between Standard and Smooth is that the couple can break frame in Smooth.

Divisions: There’s really two sets of divisions: Syllabus and Open. Syllabus divisions have specific figures they can do at their level, and go Newcomer, Bronze, Silver, Gold (or Newcomer, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced). Open has less restrictions on figures, essentially follows Syllabus once Gold starts to get boring, and goes Novice, Pre-Champ, Champ. USADance has also created Same-Sex divisions separated by gender of pairing and Open vs. Syllabus (these divisions would have Newcomer couples compete against Gold-level couples), but in collegiate competitions these couples are not separated out from the rest. For the most part the next division is achieved by points, but Newcomer at all competitions and Bronze at some collegiate competitions are also determined by time. 

The number of dances you compete per style increases as you ascend levels as dances become paired, though some like Viennese Waltz and Paso Doble are typically separated out on their own. Same-Sex dances are currently not paired.

Costumes are pretty much the same, though there isn’t a standard for non-traditional dance roles. I’ve seen lady leaders do black tops and leotards with either pants or skirts, and male follows typically follow leader costume rules.

Ballroom

@carmodance for your anon and for other dance fans who knows nothing about ballroom

I saw a lot of people asking about ballroom, so I’ll try to explain few things (it’s gonna be long).

I’m from Russia and I didn’t compete last 4 years, so rules maybe slightly different. Also I probably forgot a lot of things. And my english isn’t the best.

Read it all under the cut

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IS SCIENCE EATING ITS YOUNG?

Background.  Scientists and policy makers around the world increasingly worry about the plight of young researchers in academia, and for good reason. Competition for tenure-track positions has surged, and some early career researchers face tough odds in the quest for funding.  This week Nature pleads the case for the young in a special issue.

Design challenge.  How do we visually convey the idea that science is eating its young? We felt it was important to represent a system that has gone wrong, with various consequences, in an engaging way. The metaphor of a video came to mind, as young scientists find themselves trapped in framework, playing along.

We gave this brief to Megapont, an artist that specializes in isometric pixel art, and he created a fantastic scene for the cover. The retro gaming vibe gives a sense of an aging system that needs an overhaul. The detail in the artwork rewards the observant reader, with hidden treasures and references to iconic games and other worlds. And check out the tiny rat fleeing the scene - only a few pixels!

Have your say. Perhaps you are a young scientist who identifies with a cover character? Maybe the one slouched in dispair on the floor, or the one cutting out in bunny slippers? We’d like to hear your story – here’s a tumblr just for you: researchrealities.tumblr.com

-Kelly Krause

prayer circle for elder scrolls 6

RoboAction

Painting series by Dragan Ilić features abstracted mark-making using an industrial robot, sometimes carrying and guiding the artist himself:

The artist constantly transposes into the third dimension his decade’s long-running conceptual practice based on the usage of pencils as the basic draftsman’s tool, starting primarily with the media of performance art, installation and sculpture in extended field. Gradually, over the years, his expressive and mechanical compositions have become even more advanced with the development of modules, diverse in shape and sizes, devices designed for the task of mounting and holding his drawing tools, which has led ultimately to the construction of an appropriate drawing machine. Construed for non-artistic purposes, these robots have been reshaped into special draftsmanship implements with which the author is capable of processing his ideas at far greater speed and with considerably greater precision. The metamorphosis of the artistic work is positioned at a point where human and machine activity intersects, resulting in an interaction that is essentially based on the need to transcend the limitations of the human body. 

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hey man at least I can keep my feet while I’m turning a girl o-kay

Elevated walkway and visitor centre added to 12th century abbey ruins by Binario Architectes »

Cutler Anderson Architects. Newberg Residence. Bellevue. Washington. USA. photos: Cutler Anderson Architect - Beautiful family residence & guesthouse with a strong connection to the living world.