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aamukherjee Entropie -
alchymista Alchymista -
crownedrose Hymn To The Sea -
epistemophobiarunsdeep Falling Over Myself. -
expose-the-light Quarks to Quasars -
ikenbot cwl -
pieceinthepuzzlehumanity This Is The Right One -
project-argus Hello, Universe. -
torgothegreat God Delusion
Uniting the Planet for a Journey to Another Star
Former astronaut Mae Jemison (and living legend) will spearhead the audacious 100 Year Starship plan to send mankind on an interstellar adventure.
(via discoverynews)
ikenbot
50 years ago, Scott Carpenter flew the second American manned orbital flight on May 24, 1962. He piloted his Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth.
In this photo, taken on May 24, 1962, Astronaut M. Scott Carpenter looks into his Mercury-Atlas 7 spacecraft, the Aurora 7, before being inserted to begin the launch.
Occupy the Neolithic: Social Immobility in the Stone Age
Even the most democratic societies are rife with social and economic inequalities, as the current tension between the poorer “99 percent” and the richest “1 percent” vividly illustrates. But just how early in human events such social hierarchies became entrenched has been a matter of debate. A new study of skeletons from prehistoric farming communities across Europe suggests that hereditary inequality was an early feature, going back more than 7,000 years ago.
Most researchers agree that social hierarchies began with the advent of farming. The earliest known farming communities are found in the Near East, dating back almost 11,000 years. Archaeologists have looked for evidence of social stratification in these societies with mixed results. Some early farming societies show signs that people played different roles and that some were buried with greater ritual — shuffling off this mortal coil with a number of elaborate “grave goods,” including pottery and stone tools. However, there is little evidence that social inequality was hereditary or rigidly defined.
Continue Reading “Occupy the Neolithic: Social Immobility in the Stone Age” »
Albert Einstein’s office at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., photographed on the day of his death, April 18, 1955.
Watch How Life Recovers from Devastation
If a portion of Earth underwent a major cataclysm, how long would it take for life to recover?
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens is giving scientists an unprecedented opportunity to witness a recovery from devastation, as the eruption leveled the surrounding forest, blasted away hundreds of meters of the mountain’s summit, and claimed 57 human lives.
Landsat satellites have tracked what has happened on the mountain, and how the forest was reclaimed — all on its own.
(via wespeakfortheearth)
![matthen:
Visualising extinctions over the past million 531 years. The size of the circle shows how the biodiversity of the earth differs from the long-term trend. The resulting fluctuations seem to repeat every 62 million years or so, with 5 main extinction events in total. The most recent was of course the end of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. Does this mean the Earth is due another?! [This follows the analysis of an interesting nature article] [more] [code]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m42vf5KFA81qfg7o3o1_400.gif)
Visualising extinctions over the past million 531 years. The size of the circle shows how the biodiversity of the earth differs from the long-term trend. The resulting fluctuations seem to repeat every 62 million years or so, with 5 main extinction events in total. The most recent was of course the end of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. Does this mean the Earth is due another?! [This follows the analysis of an interesting nature article] [more] [code]
(via ikenbot)
Did you know the Easter Island heads have bodies?
Yup it’s true. And some are as tall as 10 meters (33ft)! The Moai have overly large heads (3/5 the size of their bodies), and because of photographs taken in the 50’s of the slopes of Rano Raraku (where the statues are buried to their shoulders) many (including me) are lead to believe that they are only heads!
Check out the Easter Island Statue Project (http://www.eisp.org/) for more info on the excavation, Easter Island history, and more pictures!
Oldest Mayan Astronomical Calendar Discovered
The oldest-known version of the ancient Maya calendar has been discovered adorning a lavishly painted wall in the ruins of a city deep in the Guatemalan rainforest.
The hieroglyphs, painted in black and red, along with a colorful mural of a king and his mysterious attendants, seem to have been a sort of handy reference chart for court scribes in A.D. 800 — the astronomers and mathematicians of their day. Contrary to popular myth, this calendar isn’t a countdown to the end of the world in December 2012, the study researchers said.
“The Mayan calendar is going to keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future,” said archaeologist David Stuart of the University of Texas, who worked to decipher the glyphs. “Numbers we can’t even wrap our heads around.”
1880’s Biology Book… With A Bite!
These pieces of artwork are from a book called Sea and Land, written by J.W. Bruel in 1887/1889 (anyone know which year it was exactly?). There are many illustrations showing ways animals and plants can kill humans. (post inspired via)
Check out the Flickr page for 121 illustration scans!
crownedrose
People have been punching holes in each other’s skulls, for medicinal purposes or magic, since at least the middle part of the Stone Age. Now, researchers have found what may be the first evidence this complex surgical operation took place in the lost civilizations in the Sahara and Nubia, too.
The surgical procedure known as trepanation is arguably the oldest known medical operation in history, with the earliest known evidence for it found dating to about 12,000 BC in Morocco. A portion of the skull was removed for therapy or thaumaturgy — for instance, to reduce pressure within the skull, or to release evil spirits.
Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman, the founders of The Planetary Society at the time of signing the papers formally incorporating the organization. The fourth person is Harry Ashmore, an advisor, who greatly helped in the founding of the Society. Ashmore was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and leader in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and 70s. (source)
Up for Bid: Classic Soviet Space Propaganda Posters
Here’s a cool look into Wired’s recent photo gallery showcasing the ‘Up-for-Bid’ Soviet Propaganda posters revolving space:
Science and communism are inseparable! That is the basic message of this amazing collection of Soviet space propaganda posters that will be auctioned off on Apr. 22.
Featuring Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov, the first and second humans to reach space, along with Krushchev, and of course Lenin, these posters glorify the the Soviet Union’s technological prowess and importance in the world, and in the universe. Many of the posters focus on the role the workers played in the space race, and the ordinary citizen’s duty to feel immensely proud of Mother Russia’s accomplishments.
Subway Science - A Whistle-Stop Journey Through Modern Science
The map primarily includes modern scientists who have made significant advances to our understanding of the world, however I have also included many present day scientists who fuel a passion for, and advances in, science through communication and science popularisation.
Man, this is neat. Taking inspiration from the London Underground, this map guides us through the centuries and introduces us to better-known contributors to science. We begin our journey in the sixteenth century. Click through the names to learn more about them!
project-argus