You know what’s flippin’ awesome and a half? Science, that’s what. And Bruce Banner and Tony Stark agree. That’s right, superheros think science is rad, too. Put on your thinking caps, kiddos, it’s time to talk about some of the coolest scientific stuffs going on in the world (and universe!) right now.
...I read somewhere online once that we really missed the boat when we called them astronauts, because we COULD have called them "skyentists." Best job title ever.
On Tuesday, astronomers caught the BIRTH OF A MUTHAFRICKIN’ STAR ON CAMERA. Christ on a cracker, that’s so amazing. The wee baby star is intuitively named Herbig-Haro 46/47, and it is located in the southern constellation of Vela, 1,400 light-years from Earth. Thaaaaat’s pretty far away, Man, those cell phone cameras just keep getting better and better...
Here is a link to the article, and check out the pictures!
Let’s continue talking about space for a second. This is a spacewalk scheduled for TODAY, which you can watch live. This spacewalks comes less than a week after the same guys spent 7.5 hours outside of the ISS, setting a new world record for Russian Spacewalking (is that an olympic event or something? It should be.). Two Russian dudes, one with a name made up of some odd letters like F and Y, and the other named Alexander, are going on another chill stroll in the space vacuum today, and you can watch it live online at SPACE.com. Here is the article with more information:
SPACE.com is a pretty sweet URL. I wish I had it.
So, I wasn't planning to only talk about space stuff, but that seems to be what’s happening here. I am a HUGE fan and avid reader of space news. When I was a kid, I legitimately wanted to be an astrobiophysicist (the people who try to learn about the possibility of life on other planets. Via SCIENCE.), but it turns out I’m not what you might call a “math-y” person (I don’t think the math-y people call it that, though. Their loss, it’s a good word.). So, I ended up studying the science of us right here on our floating, spinning hunk of rock called Earth, about who we are, where we came from, the science of evolution and biology. Yep, I’m talking about Anthropology. Look it up, it’s pretty cool.
Speaking of Russians, which we were, not long ago. Just right there, up one paragraph, you’ll see it. This article has a pretty awesome title: “Humongous Russian Hovercraft Startles Beachgoers.” And in keeping with how ridiculous the Russians can be, here is the opening line of the article: “In Russia, you don't go to military base; military base goes to you.” At least one good thing is coming out of Russia right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Bgn7n3OPAqE
Putin has made it illegal to be gay in Russia, basically. It is illegal to acknowledge that gay people exist or teach anything about gay people to minors, and you can be fined and arrested and jailed if you are being a gay person in public. After signing in the law, Putin ignored (or allowed?) his police force to brutally beat LGBT protesters (there are pictures and video). It’s terrifying that this has actually become a law there, and Stephen Fry recently wrote a letter that is equating Putin's attack on the LGBT community to Hitler's all-out attack on the Jews. And no matter your thoughts on marriage equality, Putin's tactics ARE eerily similar to the way Hitler slowly and steadily made Jews the scapegoats for everything that was wrong in Germany. Fry wants the Olympics moved out of Russia for 2014, correctly claiming it being there makes it seem that the rest of the world is accepting Putin's actions. Remember what happened when the Olympics were held in Germany in the 30's? In case you don’t remember, it basically helped cement Hitler’s popularity and support with the German people.
Whoa, tangent there. I’m ok with random tangents simply because I can’t seem to help going off on them. On the other hand, I also think that it’s super important to know about stuff like that.
Ok, back to space-y science stuff!
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An apparently kamikaze comet flew right into the sun. Sounds like a bad idea, but an unnamed comet did it, and NASA got it on video!
Here is a cool diagram about exoplanets we’ve discovered:
For star wars geeks: This is an article about other types of exoplanets found, beyond the “goldilocks” planets that we’ve been searching for (those that orbit a star and are considered to be in the “habitable zone,” the right distance from their star, that could possibly support life). Includes Vulcan and Tatooine planets!
AND FOR THE LADIES!
Here is a PINK exoplanet, young and newly discovered! Ahh, youth is wasted on the young.
AND A PLANET MADE OUT OF DIAMONDS. Think of how ridiculously cheap diamond rings would be here! This one was discovered last year.
You see all the amazing stuff you miss when you don’t read the news??
YOU'RE WELCOME, PLEBEIANS.
(yes, that IS how it's spelled, I googled it.)
