A sperm whale’s head is actually an oversized nose (which in mature males can make up a third of the animal’s body!). Sperm whales use their uniquely shaped nose to generate sound. Here’s how.
© AMNH/5W Infographics
WHALE LASER PEW PEW PEW
That whole THING
is its NOSE
The GIFs above are from this beautiful video (made with footage shot by NASA and ESA using the Cassini spacecraft).
Planetary scientist (and UCLA alum) Dr. Ashwin Vasavada participated with the Cassini mission to Saturn: he played a major role in science planning for Saturn atmospheric imaging.
IT LOOKS LIKE B SCI FI MOVIE SPECIAL EFFECTS
(via fredgodof)
The number of places in our solar system that could have ever supported life now stands at 2!
The first, of course, is Earth, because … well, us. According to an awesomely exciting announcement today by NASA and JPL, we can add Gale Crater to that list!
What they found: Curiosity’s rock drill recently uncovered clay-like minerals below Gale Crater’s rusty red surface. These muddy minerals, pictured above, hint at a “Gray Mars” era, when Gale Crater and the ancient stream bed it holds could have been home to intermittent lakes. When the onboard instruments scanned the chemical makeup of the clay, it found carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur compounds, a group of elements known as “CHONPS” that have to exist in order to create life as we know it. Most importantly, the minerals were pretty neutral in pH and were found in forms that point to a possible chemical energy system (another key ingredient for life).
What remains unknown: This does NOT mean that anything ever actually lived there. But it is the first time that the ingredients for the evolution of microbial life, and the correct conditions to support it, have been found beyond Earth. Mars still has water frozen at its poles, and once had quite a bit of water above and below the surface. The rover will poke around this site, called Yellowknife Bay, for a while longer before heading toward the mountainous center of Gale Crater. There, it will study the multiple layers of rock present on the hillside in order to piece together an even clearer picture of Gale Crater’s muddy, moist, maybe microbial Martian past.
Maybe. Just want to emphasize that part.
this is HUGE
(via tea-inthetardis)
"Chris Ruane MP argued that unemployment was a problem as it has “physical effects on the brain”. As everything has a physical effect on the brain we are left none the wiser but it is interesting that not having a job was not considered problem enough."
The recent unprecedented video footage of a giant squid filmed in its deep ocean habitat has renewed interest in the enormous — and yet still mysterious — species. It’s believed that giant squid (genus Architeuthis) can grow up to 55 feet long. The individual captured on video via a small submarine located in the North Pacific Ocean was about 30 feet long and silver and gold in color, marine biologist Edie Widder, who helped to shoot the footage, said. Her colleague Tsunemi Kubodera added that the squid was missing its two longest tentacles. Cephalopod experts are intrigued by the world record footage.
[x]
SCREECHING
(via fredgodof)
In the early years of space flight, both Russians and Americans used pencils in space. Unfortunately, pencil lead is made of graphite, a highly conductive material. Snapped graphite leads and particles in zero gravity are hugely problematic, as they will get sucked into the air ventilation or electronic equipment, easily causing shorts or fires in the pure oxygen environment of a capsule.
After the fire in Apollo 1 which killed all the astronauts on board, NASA required a writing instrument that wasn’t a fire hazard. Fisher spent over a million dollars (of his own money) creating a pressurized ball point pen, which NASA bought at $2.95 each. The Russian space program also switched over from pencils shortly after.
40 years later snide morons on the internet still snigger about it, because snide morons on the internet never know what they are talking about.
Bu-huuuuurn!
Aaaaaah, I love this.
phyz:
Why is it Dark at Night?
Have you ever wondered why you look up and see a dark sky at night?
What a good video!
(via phyz)
Bill Nye’s Warning To Parents of the Day: Bill Nye, the knower of all things, is out with a new video in which he encourages creationist parents to embrace their “crazy, untenable, inconsistent” world view — just so long as they don’t force it on their offspring:
If you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them.
We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can… we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.
“You know, in another couple centuries that world view I’m sure will be… it just won’t exist.”
You mean it’ll evolve away? :)
Bill, you give me hope.
(via dragonsroar)
