houseblew

jtotheizzoe:

Flipping Cats!

Smarter Every Day investigates cat physics, or the mechanics of why cats always land on their feet. Complete with vintage footage of weightless felines! 

No cats were harmed in the making of this video. Stuck the landing.

jtotheizzoe:

Voyager I, Where Are You?

An uptick in a certain kind of deep-space cosmic particle on Voyager I’s detectors this week means that it is thiiiiiiiiiiis close to leaving the Solar System. The probe has been in transit from Earth since 1977, and now sits 17.9 billion kilometers from Earth. Its radio signals take seventeen hours to reach Earth at light speed!

It sits now at the border of the heliosphere, which is not really a border at all but more of a large fuzzy transition zone. This is the point at which hydrogen and helium carried by the solar wind are overtaken in force by interstellar cosmic particles. It’s the “outer” in “outer space”.

This humble hunk of electronics was built by us. We packed it with a golden message from Carl Sagan. We strapped it to a tube of fire and shot it to the edge of interstellar space (with the aid of a few complex math problems). What will happen when it enters the beyond? Like the marks we left on the Moon, will this be mankind’s footprint on the dusty surface of the unknown?

We don’t know what to expect. But I can’t wait to find out.

(More at The Atlantic)

jtotheizzoe:

How 3 vaccines can save us $63 billion, in an infographic.

Of course, four could save us more. And five, well that means even more are alive.

Six, seven, eleven? Polio goes to heaven.

Ignorance and fear drive some immunizations to nil, celebrities and parents buck the herd and kill.

(via Co.Design)

jtotheizzoe:

The most telling chart from the last post.

wtf. Who decided to make this chart using 3 different shades of green? On another note. REALLY?

jtotheizzoe:

A New Gallup Poll On Americans’ Belief in Evolution Is Out Today …

… and it’s full of rather sad figures. A full 46% of those surveyed believe that God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years. The number has essentially remained unchanged for the past 30 years (44% in 1982).

You can check the Gallup report for the detailed results, but a few things jumped out at me:

• Among people who never attend church, a full 25% still subscribe to creationist views.
• There’s only a 17% difference (58% vs. 41%) between Republicans and Democrats
• Almost four out of five Americans believe God had a hand in creating humans in some way

Now, I’m not bothered by the existence or acceptance of religion, when used for good. Nor do I believe that accepting evolution means that you must deny all other religious beliefs. Sure, the more one learns about science and the universe the more one will experience the pangs of cognitive dissonance and questioned faith. But those feelings and questions are part of the human journey. They carve the unique facets of your identity that make you truly you. 

What bothers me is that evolution is at the core of so much of science, and to dismiss its truth is akin to a mathematician dismissing that 1 is half of 2 or a chemist refusing to acknowledge the existence of electrons. You simply can not fully immerse your brain in the workings of our living world without evolution. Medicine, biology, nature … any of it.

And in thirty years of bloody knuckled work to bring science into people’s lives, it feels like we still haven’t gotten anywhere.

(via Gallup)

oy. 

jtotheizzoe:

Dear Einstein, Do Scientists Pray?

A young girl named Phyllis wrote to Einstein in 1936 on behalf of her Sunday School class, asking if scientists pray. He wrote her back.

An excerpt from his response (read the whole letter here):

… everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive. 

To me, he is capturing that intangible feeling of curiosity and discovery combined. That the awareness that our world is ruled by natural laws is a constant “spirit” in itself, and one that we can access at will. Maybe not traditional religion, but an idea that I think we can all agree is worth exploring.

(↬ Letters of Note)

jtotheizzoe:

24 Hours of the Sun, Stars and Earth in a Single Panoramic Image

A stereographic projection of an entire day stitched together to provide the view of one rotation of the Earth. Wow.

(via Colossal)

jtotheizzoe:

brooklynmutt:

Tongue stud device uses iPod to drive wheelchair - Futurity.org

There’s a dirty joke in here somewhere. But awesome idea. Simply awesome.

Science is awesome.