Robbie Gonzalez, Author at Gizmodo

Fifty Meteors Light Up the Night Sky

This year’s Geminid meteor shower peaked Friday, igniting early morning skies in one of the most spectacular cosmic light shows of 2013. Astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado captured 50 meteors in this composite image of the shower raining over the Canary Islands’ Teide volcano. Geminid meteors flooded skies the world over Friday night, shining bright even…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 17

There’s no evidence antibacterial soap is more effective

And that, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is a problem. Antibacterial soap products contain potentially harmful ingredients you won’t find in regular soaps – and the risks of those ingredients could outweigh antibacterial products’ unproven benefits. http://gawker.com/fda-to-decide-if-anti-bacterial-soap-is-actually-terrib-488126696 Top photo by siljegarshol via Flickr. The FDA called the safety of over-the-counter antibacterial soap products…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 17

Make your own scientifically-accurate Earth ornaments!

Building on this instructional from Maker Mama, datavisualization expert John Nelson has created a template you can use to craft your very own paper globe ornaments out of satellite imagery from NASA’s Visible Earth team (the same imagery used to create this animation of a breathing Earth). https://gizmodo.com/this-gorgeous-world-map-depicts-all-of-earths-hurricane-5937261 https://gizmodo.com/the-earth-breathes-and-it-is-beautiful-953552239 According to Nelson, you’ll need a…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 16

This man had his hand surgically attached to his ankle

Xiao Wei lost his right hand in an accident, but surgeons couldn’t re-attach it right away. His arm needed time to heal. But his hand was in desperate need of a blood supply – so surgeons attached it to arteries in his left ankle. Warning: Graphic hankle imagery below the fold. Hand-reattachment surgery of this…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 16

Do boys get better breast milk?

In many mammals, humans included, the composition of a mother’s breast milk varies with the sex of her offspring, with sons receiving nutritionally richer milk than daughters. Interestingly, the opposite has been found to be true in impoverished mothers. SciAm’s Marissa Fessenden explains: Researchers at Michigan State University and other institutions found that among 72…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 16

Watch China’s Chang’e 3 land on the Moon!

This weekend, China became the third country in history to put a spacecraft on the Moon with the soft-landing touchdown of its Chang’e 3 probe and deployment of the Yutu rover. Here now for your viewing pleasure is the footage of its picturesque lunar arrival. https://gizmodo.com/chinas-change-3-rocket-launch-is-one-of-the-sexiest-y-1474782565 https://gizmodo.com/heres-what-chinas-yutu-rover-is-doing-on-the-moon-1483746967 The video lasts six and a half minutes…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 16

Happy Monday. Have some moth “protuberances.”

Above: A moth, shown here deploying its “relatively large protuberances.” Just imagine those things wriggling their way up your nostrils and tickling the backs of your eyeballs. As RAIJU points out in the comments, these protuberances are in fact the pheromone-dispersing androconial organs of a male moth. The technical term is coremata (from the Greek…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 16

This real-time global wind map will completely devour your weekend

It’s high time you met earth, a plainly titled, interactive datavisualization that offers visitors a realtime glimpse of global wind patterns. WARNING: If you’re into this sort of thing, this visualization is a major, major time-suck. Seriously, it’s utterly hypnotic. The stunning interactive visualization was designed by software engineer Cameron Beccario, and while it bears…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 13

This dog and cheetah are best friends and it is the best thing

What’s more fun than watching a cheetah romp around in freshly fallen snow? Watching a cheetah romp around in freshly fallen snow with her best friend WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE A DOG. Oh wow, am I seriously tearing up right now? This footage was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo’s “cheetah yard,” where Savanna the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 13

Putting an age on Saturn’s ring system

When, exactly, Saturn acquired its iconic ring-system is a longstanding point of debate among planetary scientists. Some maintain the structures formed relatively recently, while others argue they formed long ago. Now, newly collected data suggest the rings likely formed 4.4-billion years ago, lending strong support to the latter camp. https://gizmodo.com/if-earth-had-a-ring-like-saturn-508750253 https://gizmodo.com/this-rare-view-of-saturn-is-among-the-most-awe-inspirin-5969581 Above: Saturn, as photographed…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 13

Yellowstone’s Megavolcano is more than twice the beast we feared

Beneath Yellowstone National Park lurks a vast caldera – a high-pressure volcanic cauldron brimming with enough gas and magma to make Mount St. Helens’ 1980-eruption look like a middle school science project by comparison. Now, newly reported findings suggest this megavolcanic reservoir is even bigger than previously believed. Much, much bigger. https://gizmodo.com/further-evidence-that-the-yellowstone-megavolcano-could-5940099 https://gizmodo.com/what-will-really-happen-when-yellowstone-volcano-has-a-508274690 Above: Grand…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 13

China’s air pollution as seen from space

Via NASA’s Terra satellite comes a staggering view of China’s pollution problem. Via NASA: China suffered another severe bout of air pollution in December 2013. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image on December 7, 2013, thick haze stretched from Beijing to Shanghai, a distance of about 1,200…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 12

NASA Captures Unprecedented View of Moon Orbiting Earth

On October 9th, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made a close pass of Earth on its way to Jupiter. The flyby, which helped boost Juno’s speed by almost 9,000 miles-per-hour, was captured from the spacecraft’s perspective by a low-res camera optimized to track faint stars, giving us a never-before-seen view of the moon orbiting Earth. “If Captain…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 12

Can you guess the subject of this photo?

Schlieren photography, a technique used to visualize shockwaves, is used to great effect in this image of a [YOUR GUESS HERE], captured by researchers Kim Vandiver and Harold Edgerton. (Hit the jump for the answer, as well as the full image.) Answer: It’s a .22 caliber bullet, piercing a soap bubble. Did you guess right?…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 12

Meet Valkyrie, NASA’s “Superhero” Robot With a Glowing Blue Heart

NASA’s entrant in this year’s DARPA Robotics Challenge is a 1.9-meter tall, 125 kilogram, 44-degree-of-freedom battery-powered humanoid robot named Valkyrie (or “Val” for short). And yeah, she’s pretty badass. Officially designated “R5” by NASA, Val was designed to be a high-powered rescue robot, and is capable of traversing uneven terrain, climbing ladders and using tools.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 12

Will Your City See Snow on December 25th?

December 25th is fast approaching — but will yours be snow-laden? This map, released by NOAA and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), gives the probability of a “White Christmas” across the continental United States. A White Christmas, according to the NCDC, is one with an inch or more of snow on the ground at…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 12

Pneumonic “deadlier-than-bubonic” plague reported in Madagascar

The Pasteur Institute of Madagascar confirmed yesterday that a Madagascar village had lost at least twenty people to a deadly outbreak of the bubonic plague. Today, the BBC confirmed with officials that two cases of pneumonic plague – considered deadlier and more virulent than bubonic plague – have also been reported. Above: Yersinia pestis, by…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 11

NASA’s hovering lander looked beautiful at yesterday’s test-launch

NASA’s Morpheus Lander hovers above the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at a free-flight test launch held yesterday afternoon. Hit the jump to see the photo (and video of the launch) in its full glory. According the NASA, the vehicle carried out its pre-planned flight trajectory flawlessly, executing a 15-meter ascent, hovering, and…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 11

Everything you need to know to catch this year’s Geminid meteor shower

The Geminid meteor shower is consistently the most impressive celestial light show of the year. 2013’s display peaks Friday night/Saturday morning, and while this year’s shower will be competing with a fair bit of moonlight, it’s still shaping up to be one hell of a show. Here’s what you need to know to spot as…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 11

Scientists are close to solving one of 2013’s greatest mysteries [UPDATING]

Earlier this year, graduate student Troy Alexander discovered an oddly intricate maypole-like structure in the Peruvian Amazon. Since then, nobody has been able to conclusively say what made it. Now, a team of biologists says it’s close to solving the mystery. https://gizmodo.com/we-have-absolutely-no-clue-what-built-this-crazy-comple-1243871592 The first major update on the structures came yesterday evening from Phillip Torres…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 11

Robbie Gonzalez

Fifty Meteors Light Up the Night Sky

There’s no evidence antibacterial soap is more effective

Make your own scientifically-accurate Earth ornaments!

This man had his hand surgically attached to his ankle

Do boys get better breast milk?

Watch China’s Chang’e 3 land on the Moon!

Happy Monday. Have some moth “protuberances.”

This real-time global wind map will completely devour your weekend

This dog and cheetah are best friends and it is the best thing

Putting an age on Saturn’s ring system

Yellowstone’s Megavolcano is more than twice the beast we feared

China’s air pollution as seen from space

NASA Captures Unprecedented View of Moon Orbiting Earth

Can you guess the subject of this photo?

Meet Valkyrie, NASA’s “Superhero” Robot With a Glowing Blue Heart

Will Your City See Snow on December 25th?

Pneumonic “deadlier-than-bubonic” plague reported in Madagascar

NASA’s hovering lander looked beautiful at yesterday’s test-launch

Everything you need to know to catch this year’s Geminid meteor shower

Scientists are close to solving one of 2013’s greatest mysteries [UPDATING]

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