How to 3-D Print the Skeleton of a Living Animal: Amazing story from Wired Science about a grad student working in an imaging lab who figured out how to take a CT scan of a rat and turn into into a 3D-printed skeleton!
I would gladly get shot with radiation if one of you would print my skull.
(via Wired Science)
(via itsokaytobesmart)
Dance of Development
I enjoyed the fruit fly embryonic development video from this post so much, I decided to animate it. Grow, little alien … grow like the wind!!!
Check out this ferroputty devouring a magnetic cube. It’s very simple, as the iron-infused putty is being pulled around the magnet using physics we’re all familiar with. But this is pretty much exactly how I would imaging a Gumby-themed alien horror film going down, and that give my nostalgia the willies.
Coolest use of magnets since these trippy ferrofluid music videos by Afiq Omar.
Find out more (and where you can buy your own ferroputty) at PsVid. As usual, Tumblr’s GIF rules prevent me from posting the cool one above, but here is the animated gulp:
Certain species of fruit bats have figured out some pretty interesting mating tricks in order to prolong the magic, and … umm … well, one rhymes with “Horatio” and the other sounds like the name for someone who is clever with words.
By putting their money where their mouth is, both males and females prolong the mating experience (which can increase the odds of fertilization) and they prevent their competition from getting a chance with the same mate. They may even be getting a taste of how compatible they are with their mate, literally. Think of it as making an oral argument in order to increase your odds of reproduction and carrying your genes to the next generation.
At any rate, understanding the various mating behaviors of the world’s animals provide key insights to evolution. Bats, who make up a quarter of all mammal species, are crucial to that understanding. We knew they were creatures of the night, but this takes it to another level, eh?
I’ll just let you guys take the conversation from here, because I’m a gentleman. Read Ed Yong’s full coverage for more. And of course …
flaming slow motion tennis
here you go: physics porn
SCIENCE
(via blessphemy)
there is an 18 pack (!) of those grow-your-own marine animal things where like you put these little pills in water and they slowly explode into shitty foam dolphins or whatever and it’s just sitting on one of the lab tables like all mixed in with the like random wires and dirty forceps and stuff and it is 100% empty??? i swear i will never understand science
Watch Your Tongue!
Anna Rothschild introduces you the hermaphroditic parasitic crustacean that infects fish, sucks their blood, becomes a prosthetic tongue, feeding on fish mucus …
That will surely stoke your hunger for more parasites, right? Be sure to check out one of the more weird and terrifying blogs I’ve run across lately: Parasite of the Day.
(by NOVA’s Gross Science, from PBS)
UGH UGH UGH WE JUST LEARNED ABOUT THESE IN MARINE BIO THAT CLASS KEEPS TEACHING ME THINGS I DON’T WANT TO KNOW
(via itsokaytobesmart)
The Odds of Finding Life and Love
You guys ready for the next episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart? This is a fun one, with a little Valentine’s Day theme.
It’s about what the search for extraterrestrial life in our galaxy can teach us about our odds of finding that special someone. Starting with the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation, we’ll explore the odds of finding a human to love that meets your criteria. There’s a special cosmic love story involving a couple named Carl and Ann that I think you guys will like too :)
If you’d like to learn more about the science behind the numbers that went into calculating the odds of alien life for this video, check this doc: http://dft.ba/-4bBW
Don’t forget to share it with every human being you know, and be sure to subscribe!
Richard Feynman; The Feynman Lectures on Physics (via astronomerinprogress)
Whoa. That’s, uh, a lot. I love you Feynman.
(via jtotheizzoe)
(via itsokaytobesmart)