The Cool Science Stuff Thread

[Sean]

Not so cool. R.I.P Kepler.

 

[Phelia]

Not so cool. R.I.P Kepler.

Aw man. I got so excited when I saw you'd bumped this thread, too.

In happier space news, you can send your poetry to Mars! NASA is selecting three haikus to take a trip to the red planet aboard the MAVEN. You can submit poems here.

And a super sweet view of Saturn's giant polar hurricane and the bizarre hexagonal weather pattern that surrounds it:

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18m84lggizxzljpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

 

[islandman]

Property of Rarest Element on Earth Measured for 1st Time

A fundamental property of the rarest element on Earth, astatine, has been discovered for the first time, scientists say.

Astatine occurs naturally; however, scientists estimate much less than an ounce in total exists worldwide. For a long time, the characteristics of this elusive element were a mystery, but physicists at the CERN physics laboratory in Switzerland have now measured its ionization potential — the amount of energy needed to remove one electron from an atom of astatine, turning it into an ion or a charged particle.

 

[Saint Peter]

Vacuum sucks.

 

[thør]

Vacuum sucks.

Absolutely no such thing.

 

[Cleopatra]

Absolutely no such thing.

-snicker-

 

[Saint Peter]

Absolutely no such thing.

It does not matter.

 

[phrodeau]

A few new craters:

http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/20...k-slams-into-moon-sparks-giant-explosion?lite

http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=bill-m--finkF48564D0-2A7B-C233-7727-59609F02AB51.jpg&width=380

 

[Sean]

We may actually be close to a GUT:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/23/eric-weinstein-answer-physics-problems?CMP=twt_gu

 

[Rolando2]

Vacuum sucks.

Geez! an oxymoron?

 

[Rolando2]

check this out!

 

[Phelia]

Image of a hydrogen atom's orbital structure taken with a quantum microscope.

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18oo5vy38t4zupng/ku-xlarge.png

Wo-o-o-o-o-ow.

More, for those of you into photoionization microscopy and wavefunctions (very kinky).

 

[Dionysian Beast]

That's pretty awesome.

Now if we had these back at the quantum physics course in the university...

 

[Phelia]

This one's for the ladies: self-assembling nanoflowers. Microgardens grown by Harvard material scientists.

http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/nanocarnation.jpg

The gallery has even more.

 

[thør]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/935089_10151667098235390_1766170334_n.jpg

 

[thør]

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/976129_602521736435508_2144280760_o.jpg

Link

 

[islandman]

Futuristic High-Speed Tube Travel Could Take You From New York to Los Angeles in 45 Minutes

 

[SalviaDivinorum]

This map of Pangea is truly stunning. It shows the once upon a time single land-mass with modern national borders.

For me, the most striking thing is that India and Tibet are nowhere near China. They're tucked in next to Antarctica, in between East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Australia.

https://plus.google.com/+BuzzFeed/posts/FGAh9ZHcXDe

You'll see more details if you click on the map and use the scroll wheel to zoom in.

 

[islandman]

Someone please explain the physics of this to me. I'm just not getting it.

Wind-powered Blackbird vehicle up for sale after rewriting physics

Rick Cavallaro has been called an idiot more times than he cares to remember. After posing the theory that a wind-powered vehicle can travel downwind faster than the wind, negating centuries of scientific belief, the Internet and its readers pointed, laughed and ridiculed the mad scientist. But on July 3, 2010, Cavarallo and his cronies silenced the doubters by constructing a wind-powered vehicle that travelled close to three times faster than the wind itself.

 

[SkAoUt]

He is a wizard. It's the only reasonable explanation really, old sport.

 

[Sean]

Someone please explain the physics of this to me. I'm just not getting it.

Wind-powered Blackbird vehicle up for sale after rewriting physics

Rick Cavallaro has been called an idiot more times than he cares to remember. After posing the theory that a wind-powered vehicle can travel downwind faster than the wind, negating centuries of scientific belief, the Internet and its readers pointed, laughed and ridiculed the mad scientist. But on July 3, 2010, Cavarallo and his cronies silenced the doubters by constructing a wind-powered vehicle that travelled close to three times faster than the wind itself.

Did you ever have a toy car as a kid that, when you pushed it along the floor, made a radar dish or something on the top turn? It's the same principle. The wheels power the prop and the prop pushes the car along. The wheels turning along the ground power the prop.

 

[crazychemgirl]

science, YAY

 

[Kitty_Schrödinger]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/935089_10151667098235390_1766170334_n.jpg

 

[crazychemgirl]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yGS-cLjNeUc/TmmtdUGnvKI/AAAAAAAAAAg/5jDJYFPJDRo/s760/Science-cat-Chemistry-Jokes.jpg

 

[Sean]

Anyone remember the film Firefox with Clint Eastwood? Think Russian?

Well: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22774499#?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter