Click through to this link, and you’ll put your happiness into orbit.
Orbital patterns and time-scales of the planets of the Solar System, set to wonderfully hypnotic music.
(via whitevinyldesign)
(Source: jtotheizzoe, via proofmathisbeautiful)
Science lesson in six tweets from Neil deGrasse Tyson.
More important news that no one will hear - Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct
Well shit, that’s fucking sad. The Western Black rhino of Africa has officially been declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Good night, sweet rhino species. We’re sorry if we fucked things up for you.
Well, this fucking sucks.
A Murder of Crows
I hadn’t heard of the New Caledonia crows or their meta-tool use before watching this Nature documentary. I knew corvids were smart, but never at this level. Watch this if you love birds.
A day late, but I loved the Google masthead from yesterday, in honor of Gregor Mendel’s birthday.
Speaking of snakes, these photographs by Guido Mocafico are incredible. Check out the entire collection. My favorites are the albino boa constrictor (pictured above, lower right) and the bush viper (the imbricate scales look so neat). I would love to know more about the behind-the-scenes snake handling process. Some of the mambas in the collection sound pretty deadly.
npr:
Agra vation. Abra cadabra. Khruschevia ridicula. Johnny rotteni. Pinus rigidus.
What do these words have in common? They’re among the many creative scientific names that have been assigned to animals and plants over the years. Yes, their official scientific names.
You can’t make this stuff up. Unless, of course, you’re a biologist with the privilege of naming new species. In that case, please keep up the good work.
red cage fungus (Colus sp.) | +
Man, how is this real?
Oh, but it is. Here is an excerpt from mushroomexperts.com on Colus fungi:
Fruiting Body: Initially a whitish “egg” up to 2 cm across, attached to white cords; rupturing, with the stinkhorn emerging as a cage-like structure, 5-8 cm high, of about 10 corrugated, scarlet arms that are roughly triangular in cross-section and that fuse into a stem-like and slightly paler base composed of vertical columns; the inner surfaces of the cage covered with foul-smelling, olive brown slime; the egg tissue creating a whitish volva.
Fascinating! (Photo by Patchouli Patch)
proofmathisbeautiful:ichrider:fuckyeahengineers:problemsolver:vanillacherries:unmaskedfear:dartt:devincastro:
These wonderful shapes are caused by hitting a nail against a piece of clear acrylic while being charged with electricity, the result is a charge being stuck inside for a good amount of time.Watch the incredible video, here.
