I feel more relaxed already.
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Posts Tagged ‘science’
Perseverance Rover sol 354
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, JPL, Mars, MarsPeserverance, NASA, science, Thoughts on February 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
In Case You Were Wondering
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, NASA, science, Thoughts on December 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I accumulate a lot of random facts. Here’s one I found interesting: Spiders can’t spidey so well when they’re on drugs.
Just say no, spiders, just say no!*
* Unless you have a constant source of delicious insects supplied by your organization’s graduate students and no pressing engagements, in which case, you do you, spideys.
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Uphill From Here
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, good news, science, Thoughts, Tom Hanks on December 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Today is the winter solstice, marking the Northern Hemisphere’s shortest day.
Why solstice? It’s science so there must be a Latin connection, right? Right.
During the course of a year, the subsolar point—the spot on the Earth’s surface directly beneath the Sun—slowly moves along a north-south axis. Having reached its northernmost point at the June solstice, it starts moving southward until it crosses the equator on the day of the September equinox. At the December solstice, which marks the southernmost point of its journey, it stops again to start its journey back toward the north.
This is how the solstices got their name: the term comes from the Latin words sol and sistere, meaning “Sun” and “to stand still”.
— December Solstice 2021: Longest & Shortest Day
The good news is that it’s all uphill from here.
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It’s All Relative
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun, science, tech hates me today, Thoughts on December 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Some days I feel like I am getting nothing done. Despite the fact that I have been working on a number of projects and fighting bad tech mojo on multiple fronts,* today is one of those days.
Am I am getting nowhere? Maybe, but I’m also doing it very, very fast. Thanks to the magic of plate tectonics (ok, that part’s pretty slow) and orbital mechanics, so are you.
If you’ve ever wanted to know how fast you are moving (even when you aren’t going anywhere), check out this fun site:
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* Really, keyboard, backup drive, laptop, and printer, you’d have me believe that this wasn’t all planned?
Venus de Trivia
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun facts, science, Thoughts, trivia on December 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »
The other day I found myself wondering, “Why does Venus spin in a different direction than most other planets?”
Short answer: Something Big Happened. We don’t know what but There Are Theories.
Longer answer, in case you need all the exciting details for trivia night:
Why does Venus spin the ‘wrong’ way round? – 2 Sisters In STEM
Venus – NASA Solar System Exploration
Bonus fact: The average surface temperature of Venus is 864°, perfect for baking pizza.
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Slow Time
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, geology, Pangea, perspective, plate tectonics, science on February 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Some days, time just seems to fly by. Those are usually days with new and interesting experiences, where every moment fires off new synapses. Other days not so much, particularly on days that call for the predictable.
If you, like me, are feeling the drag of Pandemic Mondays, you might find a little comfort in this new model of Earth’s tectonic activity over the last billion years. Because there’s time that feels like it’s crawling by, and then there’s sloooooow time.
“It’s mesmerising: like ill-fitting jigsaw pieces, bits of continents slam together and morph into supercontinents, break apart, and then crash back together in new formations – with each second of the video leaping forward 25 million years.”
— Tectonic timelapse – Cosmos Magazine
See the linked scientific paper for details, caveats, additional maps etc., or just sit back and watch the world morph like Play-Doh.
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While you’re at it, have fun locating modern day sites across millions of years, and by milestones like first flowers (120 million years ago!).
Ancient Earth (interactive; kind of like Jurassic Park, but with fewer teeth)
Finding Our Way
Posted in Other, tagged #ThingsILike, inspiration, persistence, science, Thoughts on April 7, 2020| Leave a Comment »
I’d like to say something inspirational, something supportive, something that will help you navigate the challenges we’re all facing these days. At the moment, though, I’m coming up a little short.
Instead, here’s an image that reminds me that even in the darkest times, our persistence, our knowledge, and our shared humanity will help us find a way forward.
Happy Solstice!
Posted in Writing, tagged #AnAnalemmaIsNotARodent, #summer101, #ThingsILike, NASA, nature, science, summer, Thoughts on June 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »
That’s right, today is the summer solstice. At 15:54 Universal Time (that’s 11:54 a.m. in my neck of the woods), summer officially starts in the northern hemisphere! For more on the analemma, or figure-eight described by the sun as it arcs across the sky (think the calendar Tom Hanks etched on a rock in Castaway, or check out this composite photo from NASA). And NatGeo has a nice, detailed piece on the solstice here: What is the summer solstice? The answer might surprise you.
What is summer? So many things, not least light, glorious light to do as you will. Or, you know, mess up bedtime;)
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.— Bed in Summer, Robert Louis Stevenson
Have a wonderful summer day!
Oh Hey, Spring!
Posted in Holidays, Likes, tagged #ThingsILike, home, science, snow, Spring, Thoughts on March 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »
(This is me, willfully ignoring the many, many feet of snow still camped out on my front lawn.)
Happy Spring!
Real-Life Superhero
Posted in Likes, Other, Science!, tagged #ThingsILike, #YouAreAHumanShield, books, history, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Library of Congress, measles, PSA, Roald Dahl, science, Thoughts, Today in History on February 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »
From the Library of Congress:
Today in History – February 7
On February 7, 1867, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, the author of the beloved semi-autobiographical Little House series, was born in Wisconsin, the second daughter of Charles and Caroline Ingalls.
Little House on the Prairie etc. were some of the first real books I read.* They were also where I learned (among many other things) to make candy from maple syrup and snow, twist straw into logs, cast bullets, make candles, that nails were once a precious commodity, and that life before modern medicine was often hard and sometimes deadly.
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Speaking of modern medicine, I’ve been following the new measles outbreaks. Here’s a little public service announcement:
“Are you feeling all right?” I asked her.
“I feel all sleepy,” she said.
In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.
— Roald Dahl, on his daughter Olivia and Measles
Now, some people can’t be vaccinated.** That’s why the rest of us should. “You are a human shield”! (I love that, and I love being a real-life superhero and all-around good neighbor.) Thank you to the researchers who made vaccines possible, to the public policies making it a requirement, and to my parental units for helping me be part of a healthy community by keeping my vaccinations up to date!
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* Ok, Hop on Pop and other such books are real too, but these had chapters and everything! Also Little House was only semi-autobiographical and had some race issues, but acknowledging that lets us know how far we’ve come.
** For more on the “don’t” rather than the “can’t,” check out this TED Talk: Why (Some) Parents Don’t Vaccinate.
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