The Cool Science Stuff Thread

[Comshaw]

Virtual tour of the cockpit of the B-29, Enola Gay.


http://www.davidpalermo.com/data/sli...gay/index.html




Comshaw

[phrodeau]

Originally Posted by Byron In Exile

Minus the Latin?

Stop splashing around in the shallow end with water-wings.

Dolfette just introduced me to the fact that some Trilobites had eyes.

Isn't that amazing?

They couldn't focus like ours, but they didn't need to. They used multiple lenses.

Jesus holy fuck! Who in the hell thought up that idea??

Did trilobites sleep? That's the next big question.

[Bacigalupo]

http://scienceblog.com/42652/univers...body-can-read/

[islandman]

Ancient Cannibals Crafted Cups from Human Skulls

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...llbnRjYW5uaQ--

It seems as though ancient cannibals had a "waste not, want not" attitude, suggests the discovery of Ice Age cups made from human skulls — what may be the earliest ones known, scientists say.

Human skulls have been made into macabre cups and bowls for thousands of years. For instance, in the fifth century B.C., ancient Greek historian Herodotus portrayed the Scythians as people who drank from the skulls of their enemies, and similar traditions have been described by the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian sometime in the first or second centuries B.C.

Still, archaeological evidence of how skull cups were made is extremely rare. Now scientists have discovered three skull cups in England that are roughly 14,700 years old, the earliest ones that researchers have confirmed ages for and the only ones known so far from the British Isles.

In a site known as Gough's Cave in Somerset, England, skull fragments from at least five people were found — a young child about 3 years old, two adolescents, an adult and an older adult. There were signs that their lower jaws had the marrow sucked out, suggesting cannibalism occurred.

Cut marks and dents on the bones suggest they were scalped and scrupulously scraped clean of skin and flesh with flint tools shortly after death. The crafters then removed the face bones and bases of the skulls from the adults and the 3-year-old, meticulously chipping at the broken edges of the resulting cups, possibly to straighten their rims.

"Possibly the most surprising thing is how skilled at manipulating human bodies these early humans were," researcher Silvia Bello, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, told LiveScience. "It was a very meticulous process that just proves how technologically advanced this population was. It also demonstrates a very complex funerary behavior."

"It's impossible to know how the skull cups were used back then," said researcher Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum. "But in recent examples, they may hold blood, wine or food during rituals."

A precise cast of the skull cup from the adult individual will go on display at the Natural History Museum in London on March 1 for three months.

The scientists detailed their findings online Feb. 16 in the journal PLoS ONE.

[Mike_Yates]

Anomalous Bioelectric Manifestation

[rosco rathbone]

The Anti Laser

[Bacigalupo]

Science!

http://www.cracked.com/funny-1934-spiders/

[stephen55]

More cool science stuff...

[islandman]

Originally Posted by rosco rathbone

The Anti Laser

An invisibility cloak can't be too far behind.

[neci]

Originally Posted by islandman

An invisibility cloak can't be too far behind.

it's already been posted!


i have one on back order.
in my dreams

[islandman]

Originally Posted by neci_please_me

it's already been posted!


i have one on back order.
in my dreams

I wonder what that means when you dream about becoming invisible.

[HB1965]

My current Cool Science entry:

Solar Dynamics Observatory.

[islandman]

Originally Posted by HB1965

My current Cool Science entry:

Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Very cool.

With apologies to kybele's bent over, taken from behind shot, the following is now my new wallpaper:

[HB1965]

Originally Posted by islandman

Very cool.

With apologies to kybele's bent over, taken from behind shot, the following is now my new wallpaper:

That's the wallpaper on my phone right now. It's pretty cool stuff. What they are doing with that project is actually groundbreaking.

[neci]

Originally Posted by islandman

I wonder what that means when you dream about becoming invisible.

i would be everywhere and nowhere.

hiding in plain site
blowing smoke rings on the subway
turning lights off behind people
watching
lots of watching
and recording
then poof!
no more

[neci]

http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/

[islandman]

Originally Posted by neci_please_me

i would be everywhere and nowhere.

hiding in plain site
blowing smoke rings on the subway
turning lights off behind people
watching
lots of watching
and recording
then poof!
no more

We'll miss you when you poof.

[Bacigalupo]

Brody: Hey, what day is this?
Hooper: It's Wednesday...eh, it's Tuesday, I think.
Brody: Think the tide's with us.
Hooper: Keep kickin'.
Brody: I used to hate the water.
Hooper: I can't imagine why.


http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene..._up_prey#video

[stephen55]

Originally Posted by Bacigalupo

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene..._up_prey#video

Speed eater.

Reminds me of a notoriously fast premature ejaculator.

[Bacigalupo]

Originally Posted by stephen55

Speed eater.

Reminds me of a notoriously fast premature ejaculator.

Well sure, what with the amount of suction. If it helps, just think of water polo.

[rosco rathbone]

Nano Hummingbird

[December]

This is cool. The video is pretty neat.

http://www.oddee.com/contrib_11826.aspx

The domestic transformer!

[Bacigalupo]

E.P.A. Pah! Who needs you?

http://news.discovery.com/animals/fi...on-110217.html

[trysail]

Halyomorpha halys

These goddamn things are all over the place. Invasion by a non-native species!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_marmorated_stink_bug

[Bacigalupo]

Craptastic.

http://hplusmagazine.com/2011/02/06/...ical-bestiary/