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Facts, Science World Ads (Museum of Science, Vancouver)
“OpenDyslexic is created to help with some of the symptoms of dyslexia. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to indicate direction. You are able to quickly figure out which part of the letter is down which aids in recognizing the correct letter, and sometimes helps to keep your brain from rotating them around. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent confusion through flipping and swapping.” This new font was developed specifically to help those with dyslexia.
For more of this morning’s roundup, click here.
Go ahead and think we’re the only intelligent life out there. You go right ahead.
A male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish.It is the first time one has been seen using a tool to hunt.The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja, where apes are rehabilitated into the wild after being rescued from zoos, private homes or even butchers’ shops. Via Imgur
Consider that you can see less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum and hear less than 1% of the acoustic spectrum. As you read this, you are traveling at 220 km/sec across the galaxy. 90% of the cells in your body carry their own microbial DNA and are not “you.” The atoms in your body are 99.9999999999999999% empty space and none of them are the ones you were born with, but they all originated in the belly of a star. Human beings have 46 chromosomes, 2 less than the common potato.
The existence of the rainbow depends on the conical photoreceptors in your eyes; to animals without cones, the rainbow does not exist. So you don’t just look at a rainbow, you create it. This is pretty amazing, especially considering that all the beautiful colors you see represent less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum.”
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Super Moon
— June 23, 2013
Be sure to look out for the Moon these next few months as it approaches Perigee, because the full moons during these times will appear exceptionally large. The Moon will be at its Perigee, or closest approach, in July 23 and it will reach full moon only a few minutes after it passes this point in its orbit.
These ‘super moons’ not only appear larger because they are physically closer but, combined with a full moon, the mind can play tricks on you to think they are much larger. This phenomena is called the Moon Illusion. Try to catch these full moons as they rise/set because the illusion works when there is an object in the foreground, like a tree, building or mountains.
Tim Holt on why we still see the number of females in STEM fields fall way behind their male counterparts. Also see how geography paved the way for women in science. (↬ gender and science)
It’s true the amount of popular female scientists and researchers is comparatively lacking - but having a solid role model shouldn’t be the only motivating factor in young girls pursuing STEM fields. A recent Smithsonian Magazine article revealed that 49% of female STEM college students say they chose their field because of a desire to make a difference, compared with34% of male STEM students, and there are just as many women are pursuing STEM fields as undergraduates - but once they graduated college, 73.2% of science and engineering jobs were held by men.
I did not pursue a STEM degree as an undergraduate because I did not think there was any room left for individual input, interpretation, or creative control. Obviously now I see how absolutely incorrect that thinking is, but what that has taught me is this: if high school graduates see these fields as stagnant and unappealing spoon-feedings of rudimentary knowledge, we desperately need to change how work in the field is presented. We need to emphasize the need for creativity and innovation. And I don’t think there’s any argument that young women aren’t fully capable of being able to do this, but we have to keep them in the workforce. The truth is, ladies, that your inclination to join the field in the hope that you can make a difference or even change the world is absolutely accurate. That is exactly the kind of motivating self-initiative that the world needs.
Smithsonian Magazine’s: Infographic: Where a STEM Education Can Take You
one guacamole is equal to 6.0221415×10²³ guacas
This miniature ecosystem has been thriving in an almost completely isolated state for more than forty years. It has been watered just once in that time.
The original single spiderwort plant has grown and multiplied, putting out seedlings. As it has access to light, it continues to photosynthesize. The water builds up on the inside of the bottle and then rains back down on the plants in a miniature version of the water cycle.As leaves die, they fall off and rot at the bottom producing the carbon dioxide and nutrients required for more plants to grow.
Minute physics: There is no pink
Nope, none. Pink does not actually exist. I’m a fan of pink, as you may have noticed from the design of this website, but it doesn’t actually exist. It’s your brain inventing the color because it doesn’t know what else to put there. So… tada.
I recently found that I have a number of blind followers, and I want to do right by them: I will record and tweet more sounds of the Station.
This is a Space Station Caution tone – not as bad as Warning or Emergency tones, but still never good news.
sleepmurder:psychedelic-physicist:
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer (Father of the atomic bomb)
Truly the face of a haunted man.
Possibly the most poignant sound byte ever.
