17 6 / 2013

jtotheizzoe:

Peer into a Simulated Black Hole

The folks at NASA put together this awesome supercomputer simulation of the inner regions surrounding a black hole.

Stellar gas is accelerated to near-light-speed thanks to the incredible draw of the black hole’s gravity. You know how a hot iron bar will glow red? That’s emission in the visible and infrared regions of light. Gas surrounding a black hole gets so hot that it emits light with MUCH higher energy: X-rays!

Near the center, the event horizon marks where nothing, not even x-rays, can escape the pull of gravity. That’s the dark disk in the center. 

I think this is about as close as I ever want to get to a black hole.

(by NASAexplorer)

Black Holes

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17 6 / 2013

jtotheizzoe:

fuckyeahfluiddynamics:

Underwater explosions are, in general, much more dangerous than those in air. This video shows an underwater blast at 30,000 fps. During the initial blast, a hot sphere of gas expands outward in a shock wave. In air, some of the energy of this pressure wave would be dissipated by compressing the air. Since water is incompressible, however, the blast instead moves water aside as the bubble expands. Eventually, the bubble expands to the point where its pressure is less than that of the water around it, which causes the bubble to collapse. But the collapse increases the gas pressure once more, kicking off a series of expansions and collapses. Each bubble contains less energy than the previous, thanks to the loss of pushing the water aside. (Video credit: K. Kitagawa)

If you needed something to make a science GIF out of this weekend, here’s a good subject.

Whoa.

Fluids

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17 6 / 2013

odditiesoflife: Oldest Footprint Ever Found This fossil footprint found near Ileret, Kenya, is 1.5 million years old. These footprints are the oldest ever found of the human genus. That’s old!

odditiesoflife:

Oldest Footprint Ever Found

This fossil footprint found near Ileret, Kenya, is 1.5 million years old. These footprints are the oldest ever found of the human genus.

That’s old!

(via iiihorrible)

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17 6 / 2013

sabpie: Using the piece made in this post as a springboard, I made a poster…Although I really need work on my color choices, placement, and just…how to design in general. DESIGN, WHY. D8

sabpie:

Using the piece made in this post as a springboard, I made a poster…Although I really need work on my color choices, placement, and just…how to design in general.

DESIGN, WHY. D8

(via scientificillustration)

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17 6 / 2013

thatscienceguy: A red hot ball of Nickel placed on a block of ice.

thatscienceguy:

A red hot ball of Nickel placed on a block of ice.

(via physicsphysics)

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17 6 / 2013

mucholderthen:

CHEMISTRY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Clark’s Standard Cell
A form of wet-chemical cell [more informally, “battery”]producing a highly stable voltage once used as a standard for electromotive force

Clark cells use a zinc, or zinc amalgam, anode and a mercury cathode in a saturated aqueous solution of zinc sulfate, with a paste of mercurous sulfate as depolarizer.
_____________________________

Upper graphic:  X  - 1891:  Benson John Lossing, ed. The New Popular Educator (London, England: Cassell & Company Limited)

Lower graphic: X  -   1897:  Physikalisches Praktikum mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der physikalischen-chemischen Methoden - von Eilhard Wiedemann und Hermann Ebert;  Braunschweig, Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn; 1897
_____________________________

BATTERY:  a device that converts chemical energy directly to electrical energy.

MOST BASIC COMPONENT OF A BATTERY:  two half-cells that are connected by a conductive electrolyte.

  • One half-cell includes electrolyte and the electrode to which anions (negatively charged ions) migrate, i.e., the anode or negative electrode
  • The other half-cell includes electrolyte and the electrode to which cations (positively charged ions) migrate, i.e., the cathode or positive electrode.  [  X  ]

, 

(via scientificillustration)

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17 6 / 2013

wired: Earth has no shortage of animals that amaze, frighten, and perplex us. But what if we could combine species and create even more terrifying hybrids? This compilation of imaginary critter combos we’d love to see in the wild (from a safe distance) was inspired by our readers, who seem to be very interested in everything we write about spiders or sharks. Thus, the spidershark. With the help of friends, colleagues, readers and followers, the list grew to include a horde of monstrosities ranging from strangely adorable to intensely scary. But why sit around and argue about whether the spider shark would have eight fins or eight additional leggy appendages or eight eyes or all of the above? We needed artists to bring these hybrids to life, and we knew just where to find them. The Science Illustration Program at CSU Monterey Bay is a training ground for artists who love science and nature. We enticed 11 alums and current students to take on our fictional creatures and make them look real. Their awesome talent and creativity resulted in the beautiful, awe-inspiring, and sometimes terrifying visual creations in this collection. [MORE] Future species

wired:

Earth has no shortage of animals that amaze, frighten, and perplex us. But what if we could combine species and create even more terrifying hybrids?

This compilation of imaginary critter combos we’d love to see in the wild (from a safe distance) was inspired by our readers, who seem to be very interested in everything we write about spiders or sharks. Thus, the spidershark. With the help of friends, colleagues, readers and followers, the list grew to include a horde of monstrosities ranging from strangely adorable to intensely scary.

But why sit around and argue about whether the spider shark would have eight fins or eight additional leggy appendages or eight eyes or all of the above? We needed artists to bring these hybrids to life, and we knew just where to find them.

The Science Illustration Program at CSU Monterey Bay is a training ground for artists who love science and nature. We enticed 11 alums and current students to take on our fictional creatures and make them look real. Their awesome talent and creativity resulted in the beautiful, awe-inspiring, and sometimes terrifying visual creations in this collection.

[MORE]

Future species

(Source: mangycoyote, via scientificillustration)

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17 6 / 2013

humanisticscience:

Magdalenian Girl

Currently on display at The Field Museum, this is the name given to an anatomically modern human dating from the Magdalenian period. Although she is commonly known as the Magdalenian Girl, evidence suggests that she is more likely 25-30 years old, with some researchers placing her at age 35. Early researchers initially thought that she was much younger than that because her wisdom teeth had not ruptured, but new research suggests she is older than originally thought because of epiphyseal fusions of the femurs.

Unfortunately, she was discovered when a worker hit her skull with a pickaxe. This greatly damaged her skull and the black you see on her skull is a reconstruction that early researchers fused to the bone.

At the time that Magdalenian Girl was discovered, researchers believed that homo neanderthalensis was the direct ancestor to anatomically modern humans, and so when they reconstructed her skull they gave her Neanderthal features, which is incorrect. The reconstruction you see here was done by Elisabeth Daynès, who also did the most recent facial reconstruction of Tutankhamun.

Magdalenian Girl is currently on display at the Field Museum in their current exhibit Scenes from the Stone Age: The Cave Paintings of Lascaux. She is part of the museum’s permanent collection and is the most complete paleolithic skeleton in North America. 

(via scientificillustration)

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17 6 / 2013

jtotheizzoe:

PAY ATTENTION!!! The new episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart is all about how our brain deals with information overload.

It seems like every week someone tells us how the internet and the digital age are overloading our brains. Sure, sometimes it feels like we’re being fed more information than we can handle, and that we’re paying attention to the wrong things. Are we giving our brain a fair shot? I mean, it’s a pretty powerful device.

I explore some science that show how paying attention can definitely blind us to the world, but also some science about how paying attention can be a very helpful thing.

Oh and special cameos by Hank Green and Mike Rugnetta! Make sure to subscribe to It’s Okay To Be Smart on YouTube so you don’t miss an episode/

Paying Attention; just beneficial?

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03 6 / 2013

jtotheizzoe: This is where all our greenhouse gases come from … sources, users and the volume of gases. Also check a more in-depth analysis at Grist. One thing to remember is that while a gas like methane is only 1/5th of the emission volume, its greenhouse effect is 20 times that of CO2, pound for pound. 

jtotheizzoe:

This is where all our greenhouse gases come from … sources, users and the volume of gases. Also check a more in-depth analysis at Grist.

One thing to remember is that while a gas like methane is only 1/5th of the emission volume, its greenhouse effect is 20 times that of CO2, pound for pound. 

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