Science! | J.R. Johnson

Archive for the ‘Science!’ Category

Look What We Did!

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, accomplishments, cool projects, creativity, history, inspiration, Thoughts on December 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Last month marked 25 years of humanity’s continuous presence in orbit around this fair planet.

25 years, one website: ISS in Real Time captures quarter-century on space station

Two NASA contractors, working only during their off hours, have built a portal into all of those resources to uniquely represent the 25-year history of ISS occupancy.

ISS in Real Time, by Ben Feist and David Charney, went live on Monday (October 27), ahead of the November 2 anniversary. In its own way, the new website may be as impressive a software engineering accomplishment as the station is an aerospace engineering marvel.

It’s a good story about persistence and creativity, and it’s great to have all of this history and knowledge in one place.

It’s also easy to get bogged down in the trials of life and forget what’s good. But really? Our adventures in space are pretty incredible. For most of our species’ existence we’ve looked up at the stars and dreamed. And now?

Look! Look what we did!

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Say Hello!

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, astronomy, inspiration, meteor shower, space on November 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We Earthlings are in the middle of the Leonid meteor shower. It takes place this year from November 6th through the 30th, but will peak overnight tonight. Even better, the moon is only 9% full, so the only competition will be from human light sources.

Leonid meteor shower: All you need to know in 2025

The Leonid meteor shower is back! Leonid meteors are already flying. The peak is on the morning of November 17.

Love this animation!

Meteor Showers 2025 – 2026 – American Meteor Society

So tonight, if you find yourself in a place with clear skies, look up.

The Universe is saying hello.

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Yours in Syzygy

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, space, supermoon on November 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Tonight, friends, we have yet another supermoon, the brightest of the year. This month is the Beaver Moon.

The biggest, brightest Supermoon of 2025 rises Tuesday night – The Weather Network

Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, November 4-5, the Sun, Earth, and Moon will align in syzygy, with the Earth-facing side of the Moon fully illuminated by the Sun.

So last night, tonight, and tomorrow all showcase the moon at its best. I don’t know about you, but I do not get tired of that big bright ball in the sky getting even bigger and brighter.

If you don’t either, look up!

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Writers Learn the Darnedest Things

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #BakingSortOf, random facts, Writers, writing on October 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Powdered sugar is a kitchen staple.

For whatever supply chain reason, we went through a powdered sugar shortage up here a while back, grocery store shelves with sad empty spots where this baking essential should be. That led me to wonder who uses it, and for what.

Need to make icing for that birthday cake? Or a batch of shortbread? Or dust the top of your chocolate cake or French toast or Beaver Tails or Swedish pancakes? You’ll probably need powdered sugar.

Some readers may know this already, but powdered sugar is also a key ingredient in a product that you probably want to keep far away from your kitchen: grenades.

To make grenades, the Army needs 30 tons of powdered sugar

It turns out that sweet powdery sugar, the same you might put on funnel cake at a state fair, is a major ingredient to make things go boom, or at least hiss and spray smoke.

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Though powder sugar’s use in industrial weapons making isn’t an obvious leap of logic, the chemistry is fairly simple… Explosives need an oxidizer, ignition source and fuel, and sugar is an excellent fuel.

And that is another interesting fact for your “writers learn the darnedest things” file.

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Baddaboom, Shroom

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, music, nature, science on October 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Ok, this is amazing.

And if you wired other nearby plants and trees, would they all play in synchrony?

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Curiosity Knows

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, MarsCuriosity, NASA, science, space, Thoughts on September 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Some days the day job is a little hectic, and what I’d really like is a moment to get away from it all, you know?

Curiosity knows. The intrepid rover has been on Mars since 2012 and is still very much out of the office.

In fact, let’s check in. Where is that little bundle of human ingenuity is now?

Curiosity Rover Location Map – NASA Science

And what has it seen? So much!

Photos: 13 Years on Mars

Being away from the rest of us doesn’t mean Curiosity isn’t getting the best dirt. In fact, its latest discovery has the potential to stir up what we know about life on Mars!

Here’s Neil deGrasse Tyson to break it down for us:

As Neil asks, “Could we have Martian neighbors?” If yes, would they fancy a mid-afternoon coffee break?

I know I could use one.

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A Little Perspective

Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, space, Thoughts on September 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Because some days it’s helpful to remember that even the biggest challenges are literally small.

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For Thee, If Not For Me

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, astronomy, lunar eclipse, planetary stuff, science on September 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse visible for most of humanity (just not for we Western Hemispherians; here’s a map of viewing locations). The moon has been very bright the past few days, and tonight it will be full. As the Earth’s shadow blocks the sun, the moon will turn red.

What to expect during the ‘blood moon’ total lunar eclipse on Sept. 7-8 | Space