The winners of the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year rival even Hubble’s finest.
Tracks
Neil Armstrong: A giant among men. (x)
Skinny Circuits
Rubbed on like a temporary tattoo, these ultra-thin electronics bend and stretch with the skin. Their development paves the way for sensors that monitor heart and brain activity to take the place of bulky equipment and taped-on electrodes. Electronic components shrunk to the size of tiny bumps on the skin are connected with serpentine wires that meander like rivers, straightening rather than snapping when stretched. The whole thing is mounted on a rubbery sheet that mimics the elastic properties of skin. Known as epidermal electronics, the technology can even control computer games from voice commands. Worn on the gamer’s throat, the patches detect the electrical charges associated with the muscle movements of speech. The potential applications of linking electronics and biology in this way seem boundless.
Written by Mick Warwicker
Sun Jifa lost both his arms in China. He couldn’t afford prosthetic arms the hospital offered.
SO HE MADE HIS OWN ARMS. It took him eight years, but he did it.
I control them with movements from my elbows and I can work, love normally and feed myself just like anyone else…The only drawback is that steel is quite heavy so they’re tiring to wear and get hot or cold in the extremes of summer and winter.
Stories such as this always make me wonder: What if this man had the benefits of the education that I’ve been so privileged to receive? People think I’m smart. I’m alright. Mostly, I’m educated. But give my education to THIS GUY- someone so clearly a genius (albeit one who made bombs to go fishing)… and man. Imagine the possibilities of unleashing that potential. Or what if those open-sourced online classes were available 10 years ago, and he had access to the internet? Or if he has access to lightweight steel and fancy technology?
Does anyone care? Has anyone asked what he would do with a million dollars, an education, if he could do or have anything he wanted, besides his plan to “develop the design for other similarly disabled people.” Hope someone’s helping out with this effort…
(also, what journalist first stumbled upon this story, and how?)
A mechanical engineer designed a prosthetic beak for an injured Bald Eagle, the prosthetic was manufactured via Stereo Lithography. The beak let’s this Eagle, nicknamed Beauty, to drink, eat and preen herself rather than rely on volunteers to help keep her alive.
Very awesome.
(via 3ders.org - Injured bald eagle Beauty gets bionic beak | 3D Printing news)
Golden ratio discovered in uterus
Astronauts Shooting Pigs Into Space
No really. That happened. More photos here.
The woman who made your Wifi working.
Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-born American actress. Max Reinhardt called her the “most beautiful woman in Europe” due to her “strikingly dark exotic looks”.
Mathematically talented, Lamarr came up with an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary for wireless communication from the pre-computer age to the present day.
OMG I read a BUST article on this woman like a year ago. She was SO COOL. She was like, “Damnit, no one in the government will hire me to invent shit. FINE. I WILL MARRY FELLOW INVENTOR WITH GOVERNMENT CONNECTIONS AND DO MY OWN RESEARCH. Oh shit. How am I going to pay for my own research? What can I do that doesn’t take up too much of my time and pays me lots of money? OH, I GUESS I’LL JUST BE A FAMOUS ACTRESS. IF I HAVE TO BE.”
Wow. I had no idea. Thank you Tumblr, this is amazing!
*Jaw hits floor* This blows my mind.
YES
The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean has increased a hundred fold over the past 40 years.
A land bridge made out of crap may be in our lifetime…
As imaging studies by the U.C.L.A. neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger show, the same areas of the brain that register physical pain are active when someone feels socially rejected. That’s why being spurned by a lover hurts all over the body, but in no place you can point to.
But a loving touch is enough to change everything…If you’re in a healthy relationship, holding your partner’s hand is enough to subdue your blood pressure, ease your response to stress, improve your health and soften physical pain. We alter one another’s physiology and neural functions.
Diane Ackerman, on love’s impact on the brain.
Reminded me of one of my favorite podcasts of all time, Radiolab’s “This is Your Brain on Love.”
Near the top of my bucket list: see the Northern Lights. I think this solidified during my Phish phase.
GREENWAY The Aurora Australis is seen between Antarctica and Australia from aboard the International Space Station. (Photo: Andre Kuipers / European Space Agency / NASA via Reuters / The Telegraph)
The data also show that humans and gorillas differ in only 1.75% of their DNA, much less than previously believed. Humans and chimps, our closest living relatives, differ in only 1.37% of their genomes.
Image: Lucy the Chimpanzee
Scientists have decoded the DNA of the western lowland gorilla, a feat that could boost conservation efforts for the endangered apes as well as broaden researchers’ understanding of human origins.
Now go and listen to Lucy, one of my favorite podcasts, and also one of the most moving, enlightening, and saddest episodes from any radio program.
Voyage to the bottom of the Mariana Trench: Graphic
WHOA.
wnyc:
No matter how long the slinky is, the bottom of the slinky will stay still (hover) until the top reaches it. Even if the slinky is over 1000 feet long.
This kind of shit is why I love physics.
Science!
Woah.
Is this for real? Any physics fans have more info and can possibly explain this without too much jargon?
Update: More info at blogs.discovermagazine.com
P.s. Source seems to be the youtuber 1veritasium’s science channel. Seems pretty good, check it out!
Whoa.
Wha? —A.P.
