Why Do We Not Discuss Clouds More?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So, what I'm getting is metric vs. imperial is a states' right issue

The United States, much to my own surprise, does use the metric system. But only at the Federal level. The Drug Enforcement Administration seizes kilos of cocaine. Soldiers determine distance by “klicks” or kilometers. The Federal Government of the United States officially works in metric. Adoption of the metric system over the imperial system was left up to the individual state governments, who chose freedom (and not having to pay to re-survey all their land).

New Evidence Found which Matches Legendary Founding of the First Dynasty of China

A archaeological team from Beijing University have found new evidence that surprisingly fits the ancient Chinese histories’ accounts of the founding of the Xia Dynasty. Previously, historians had dismissed all accounts of the first, second, and third dynasties as fabrications. They were written to glorify the dynasties which came later, not to document what had really happened. But archaeological findings over the last century provided evidence that the second and third dynasties had really existed. The Shang Dynasty you likely heard about in schools. Yup, we had once thought it was a myth. Now science and archaeology may be confirming the earliest dynasty written about existed as well. Read more

audience member: what do you respect about each other

clinton: i respect that trump's children haven't stabbed him yet. i'm consistently shocked and amazed by it

"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a giant nuclear furnace. Where HYDROGEN is built into HELIUM..." Main reason I remember that, thank you They Might Be Giants

I started stoichiometry today and began with the difference between nuclear and chemical reactions. I drew this equation on the board and asked where this reaction takes place and why it’s important to life and the universe. Blank stares and crickets…the entire class of 45 first-year college students had no clue WTF I was talking about.

Do they even teach earth space science in high school anymore?

Huh, it’s almost as if diversity in backgrounds/abilities results in greater diversity of thought

follow @the-future-now

How is the source for this returnofkings, a MRA site?

If men stopped working…the world would continue on.

If women stopped working, then things would get ugly.

Something a little more frivolous

I have been all of these at one point or another.

Science Aesthetics

I was feeling inspired last night, so I decided to make this purely for fun.

To the moon and back: Cold, dark nights clutching thermos flasks of hot coffee. Machinery whirring as telescopes trace a star across the sky. Intricate, geometric drawings of the celestial sphere. A messy bun and a NASA t-shirt. Filling in the logbook while punk rock blares in the background to keep you energised and awake. Pictures of nebulae and galaxies everywhere, because pretty space pictures is half the fun. Annoyed huffs every time someone mentions their star sign.

Natural Philosopher: Long, intellectual debates in coffee shops about mathematics, physics, philosophy. Chalkboards covered with equations and calculations in a precise, curving handwriting. That Eureka moment while deep in thought, expressed only with a small smile and a scribbled proof on the back of a serviette. Chaotic desks in front of bookshelves groaning with old textbooks. Antique lab equipment as functional decor.

“Trust Me, I’m a Scientist”: Large computer screens running freshly-typed code. Neat lab books and PDFs of journal articles. The smell of whiteboard markers. Polished new equipment in a tangle of cables, hooked up to a digital oscilloscope. Exact amounts of chemicals in rows in metal shelves. Resting your feet up on the bench after a long day in the lab. The satisfying hum of your colleagues as they work on their experiments around you.   

Science Expedition: Dirt under your nails and a loosely-bound collection of field notes. Plant clippings carefully taken to be analysed back in the lab. Soft fur on tough, wild animals. The bitter smoke from eco-friendly firewood while you roast marshmallows and listen to a supervisor’s witty stories. Free-handing diagrams while looking through a microscope. Sketching flowers and that gorgeous ocean view from your last field trip. Reading Darwin on the bus home but falling asleep on your lab partner’s shoulder out of sheer exhaustion after the first three pages.

Life is a Science: Scrolling past an anti-vax facebook post and resisting the urge to burn down the internet. Shiny dissection kits and the sharp smell of formaldehyde. Making time to work out and pack a healthy lunch because your mind is sharpest when your body is well. Debunking the latest superfood fad with peer-reviewed journal articles. Making friends with some of the nicer med school kids in anatomy class. Colour-coded, neatly labelled diagrams and a thousand different terms memorised. Getting a double-helix DNA sculpture for your desk.      

What they show on TV isn’t real hacking: Rubbing your eyes after staring at a screen for five hours straight. Having a blank keyboard because all the letters are rubbed off already. Energy drinks in strange colours at strange hours. Being fluent in four different coding languages. Circuit boards and printouts. Ones and zeroes. Running jokes about turning everything off and on again. Rage-quitting when you realise you forgot a comma or a colon somewhere. Black screens with brightly coloured lines. The comforting click-click of fingertips tapping keys. Applying to intern at Google every three months because maybe they’ll take you this time. Writing a piece of code to do something simple just because.

Hugh Herr: The new bionics that let us run, climb and dance

Yes