Science

Beautiful Fields of Crops as You’ve Never Seen Them Before

If this image looks oddly familiar, it’s because its a series of crop fields seen from the air—just as a wonderful, colorful radar composite image. The images that were used to make the picture were captured by Japan’s ALOS satellite. The different colors show changes in the fields between image acquisitions—like harvesting at different points…

I can’t have enough of these incredible fly-by Hubble videos

I don’t know about you, but I can’t have enough of these fly-by videos of the Hubble space telescope. I wish the visualization teams at NASA and ESA made this for each and every single galaxy and nebula out there. https://gizmodo.com/the-most-amazing-hubble-videos-yet-in-one-single-place-1552823933

Big Brown Bats Call Dibs On Their Dinners

You probably can’t tell, but there’s quite a bit of bat chatter going on in the American night sky. We knew that bats use echolocation to find food, but researchers have recently realized that they also have a variety of social calls. At ScienceNews, Scicurious reports on new research that describes one function of that…

Crows Understand a Fundamental Part of Logical Reasoning

Crows are far more rational than we had realized. New research shows that wild New Caledonian crows can compete with 7-year-old children when it comes to understanding causality, or how one action causes another. Round objects always roll down hills. Dense objects sink. What goes up must come down. Researchers have used various experimental methods…

Why Does This Tiny Asteroid Have Two Rings?

Forget moons — the asteroid 10199 Chariklo is stepping up decorative accessories for small bodies. It has two rings. This tiny rock in the outer Solar System joins the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as the fifth and by far smallest object with an observed ring system. Artist impression of the view from…

All About the Military Dolphins of the US (And Now Russia)

In what is easily one of the stranger twists in the military takeover of Crimea, the Russians have seized control of Ukraine’s navy dolphin fleet. Yes, dolphins. The annals of dolphin military history is actually teeming with improbable tales, so let this be your guide to the cetacean Cold War. The “dolphin arms race” started…

Watching 24 Hours of Someone’s Heartbeat Is Weirdly Mesmerizing

As visualizations go, this is a simple one: it simply shows the heartbeats of Jen Lowe from the last 24 hours, gently pulsing as a big, bold, red screen. And it is insanely mesmerizing. Over the course of the day, the big circle fills out with readings. Lowe uses a Basis watch to record the…

This Map Shows All the Antineutrinos Spewed Out By Nuclear Plants

Antineutrinos are fascinating things, and they’re spat out in uncommon quantities by the nuclear power plants around the world. This map shows just how many are churned out each year. The map was put together by Barbara Ricci at the University of Ferrara in Italy. The arXiv blog explains how it was made: These guys…

Russia Now Commands A Dolphin Army

Perhaps you’ve heard that Ukraine had a small battalion of dolphin soldiers, trained to sniff out mines and patrol the border. Since the dolphins were housed at an aquarium in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, they now answer to the Russian Navy. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti is reporting that the dolphin training program,…

This Is What It’s Like to See the World as a Fly or a Chameleon

Ever wondered how weird-eyed animals like flies and chameleons see the world? Now you can take a look for yourself. We’ve shown you simulations of how different animals—cats, dogs, rats, hawks and bees—see the world before. But this time, the videos show footage taken from real-world devices that replicate the visual capacities of animals with…

Soyuz Thruster Malfunction Has ISS Crew Running Two Days Late

Yesterday afternoon’s Soyuz launch has hit a snag. A thruster misfire means the planned six-hour flight, delivering U.S. astronaut Steven Swanson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev to the International Space Station, will now take two days. Talk about a terrifying flight delay. https://gizmodo.com/what-a-hellish-mess-a-rocket-launch-can-be-1551860086 The intended 24-second engine burn would have adjusted the…

How Do Pandas Eat So Much Bamboo?

For members of the taxonomic order Carnivora, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) eat surprisingly little meat. They’re nearly entirely herbivorous, subsisting almost exclusively on bamboo. What’s strange about the panda is that it isn’t really very well designed for a plant-based diet. At least not at first glance. Other herbivorous mammals have specialized adaptations in their…

This Amazing Flexible Heart Cover Could Replace Pacemakers For Good

This amazing 3D piece of silicone dotted with electronics looks like something out of the future—because it is. In fact, this potential pacemaker replacement fits over the human heart and is capable of monitoring and, soon, responding to, its vital signs. Developed by researchers from the University of Alberta and the University of Illinois, the…

How Malaria Defeats Our Drugs

In the war against malaria, one small corner of the globe has repeatedly turned the tide, rendering our best weapons moot and medicine on the brink of defeat. Ed Yong reports. The meandering Moei river marks the natural boundary between Thailand and Myanmar. Its muddy waters are at their fullest, but François Nosten still crosses…

More Reasons To Stop Watching Animal Planet

You already knew that Animal Planet had a way of distorting reality. They present documentaries about the existence of mermaids and Bigfoot and only barely acknowledge that it’s all nonsense. But now evidence is mounting that some of the shows they air actually harm animals. http://gawker.com/your-favorite-animal-planet-show-is-fake-and-super-abu-1506776931 Earlier this year, Mother Jones published the results of…

This Gorgeous Sea Star Larva Is Your Next Desktop Wallpaper

You’re going to want to expand this gorgeous, high-resolution photo to full screen, and use it as your desktop wallpaper. This transparent critter is a brachiolaria, which is the second larval stage of many types of sea stars. The photo was taken by Alex Semenov in July 2013, in Russia’s White Sea. Most sea star…

Why Roller Coaster Loops Are Never Circular

Many extreme roller coaster these days have vertical loops. Have you noticed that these loops are never circular? Why is this? They all, also, seem to have the same similar ‘inverted teardrop’ appearance. Why is this? Clearly there is the same physics and mathematics involved in their designs. Let’s take a look and see if…

Vote For The Design Of NASA’s Next Spacesuit

NASA’s next spacesuit is currently up for public voting—and the weird new designs are unlike anything you’ve seen from NASA before. Drawing on ideas from bioluminescence, contemporary sportswear, and some speculation on the street fashions of tomorrow, whichever suit gets built will change our image of astronauts forever. https://gizmodo.com/you-can-decide-how-the-nasas-next-spacesuit-prototype-1550405152

Here’s your daily dose of mysterious steel structures direct from Kazakhstan. NASA’s chief photographer, Bill Ingalls, got up early yesterday to capture this stunning sunrise scene at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. You can see the empty Soyuz launch pad with its support booms and trusses wide open, shortly before the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft was rolled out…

Being a Celebrity Astronaut Is Tougher Than It Sounds

For a brief period in the American saga, the astronaut was the man of the moment. No profession commanded as much awe and admiration. Widely regarded as the personification of all that was best in the country, the first astronauts were blanketed with the adulation usually accorded star quarterbacks, war heroes, and charismatic movie stars.…