rakasha | Entries tagged with science

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alexaloraetheris:

neat-deadandlive-things:

howieduet:

neat-deadandlive-things:

kit6:

derinthemadscientist:

lynati:

neat-deadandlive-things:

neat-deadandlive-things:

neat-deadandlive-things:

neat-deadandlive-things:

Well my week has been exciting so far.

I had some other work to do this morning (Figuring out some algae stuff involving 1000 L mesocosm up a mountain) so mystery species has been sitting alone in the lab all morning…..

Made it up to the lab today to find this. It’s probably from the fridge defrosting and not the creepy “algae”.

June 13th Update.

According to a few colleagues it’s either a plant, an algae, or a fungi. So that’s been helpful.

After a day with some sunlight I think I might be seeing some chloroplasts.

It seems to like the nutrient solution I added yesterday though!

I for one welcome our new plant, algae, or fungi overlords.

I was about to say “in a sensible lab people wouldn’t waste time with this, they’d autoclave the bottles and move on” but on reflection I can’t think of a single bio lab I’ve been in that wouldn’t immediately go “ooh, mystery algae, that sounds like a fun challenge; let’s devote multiple hours to identifying it for no reason”.

I need updates tell me about the algae

The mystery algae/plant/fungi/alien is stuck in the university growth chamber. With everything going on I probably won’t get to check in on it until September, possibly not until 2021.

So by that time it will have developed what, writing?

God I hope so, then I can train it to write my thesis!

This entire post is the most on-brand biologist thing I have seen in my entire godforsaken life. The moment this pandemic is over these guys have another crisis ready for us.
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biggest-gaudiest-patronuses:

legomagplayer:

biggest-gaudiest-patronuses:

sunflowers feed on radiation

Isn’t it all flowers?

bitch did i stutter

sparklecryptid Interesting facts on sunflowers…
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lost-incyber-space:

skyakafreckles:

samthe-onion-nigga:

freewillandphysics:

teal-deer:

witchyroses:

art–felt:

I remember first learning that you can cry from any emotion, that emotions are chemical levels in your brain and your body is constantly trying to maintain equilibrium. so if one emotion sky rockets, that chemical becomes flagged and signals the tear duct to open as an exit to release that emotion packaged neatly within a tear. Everything made sense after learning that. That sudden stability of your emotions after crying. How crying is often accompanied by the inability to feel any other emotion in that precise moment. And it is especially beautiful knowing that it is even possible to experience so much beauty or love or happiness that your body literally can’t hold on to all of it. So what I’ve learned is that crying signifies that you are feeling as much as humanely possible and that is living to the fullest extent. So keep feeling and cry often and as much as needed

SHIT WHAT

Also let yourself cry. It really is a biochemical release valve to dump out all the chemicals that make you feel stuff.

I honestly think one reason men in western culture have so many problems is that we don’t let them cry, and literally their brains get stuffed with all this crap that doesn’t have a release valve. Men, please cry. You’ll feel better. It’s ok. You are not lesser for taking care of your health.

This is why tears from different emotions look different under an electron microscope. They’re literally made up of different things.

Happy tears are structurally different than sad tears than angry tears than overwhelmed tears etc.

I looked it up, cuz that tidbit was dope to me and..

Never would have known

Ah yes, the emotions: grief, change, onion, humor
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chiamoi:

syolen:

poetry-protest-pornography:

elodieunderglass:

ambris:

ultrafacts:

Source: [x]

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts!

This is pretty meta

The peer reviewer’s comments are the best

I ghost-didn’t-write this

and you say scientists don’t know how to have fun…

Professional BSery at it’s finest
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yup-that-exists:

There is a plant called the Hemlock Water-Dropwort that leaves it’s victims with a smile on their face at the time of death…

@poplitealqueen
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bundyspooks:

Xylaria polymorpha, commonly known as Dead Man’s Fingers is a type of saprobic fungus that can be found growing in wooded areas. In the 1800s, a large cemetery was closed down due to church-goers believing the fungus was a pair of human hands, attempting to clamber out of a grave.

@poplitealqueen

Okay, now I can’t help but imagine Feemor cooing over them…
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freewillandphysics:

teal-deer:

witchyroses:

art–felt:

I remember first learning that you can cry from any emotion, that emotions are chemical levels in your brain and your body is constantly trying to maintain equilibrium. so if one emotion sky rockets, that chemical becomes flagged and signals the tear duct to open as an exit to release that emotion packaged neatly within a tear. Everything made sense after learning that. That sudden stability of your emotions after crying. How crying is often accompanied by the inability to feel any other emotion in that precise moment. And it is especially beautiful knowing that it is even possible to experience so much beauty or love or happiness that your body literally can’t hold on to all of it. So what I’ve learned is that crying signifies that you are feeling as much as humanely possible and that is living to the fullest extent. So keep feeling and cry often and as much as needed

SHIT WHAT

Also let yourself cry. It really is a biochemical release valve to dump out all the chemicals that make you feel stuff.

I honestly think one reason men in western culture have so many problems is that we don’t let them cry, and literally their brains get stuffed with all this crap that doesn’t have a release valve. Men, please cry. You’ll feel better. It’s ok. You are not lesser for taking care of your health.

This is why tears from different emotions look different under an electron microscope. They’re literally made up of different things.

Happy tears are structurally different than sad tears than angry tears than overwhelmed tears etc.

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animatedamerican:

scribefindegil:

odditycollector:

– Earl Maize, its project engineer @ JPL

current mood: emotional about a space probe

Cassini is the first spacecraft that was destroyed not from malfunction, or as a necessary end result of its mission… but out of love.

The probe was running out of propulsion fuel, but there’s no reason it couldn’t have been pushed into a stable orbit from where it could collect data and send back pictures for a long while yet.

Except it had detected that one of Saturn’s moons held liquid water and organic compounds: a world that might support life. A world that is, at the least, dreaming of life.

There is no orbit stable enough to be certain that the probe, carrying radioactive batteries and Earth’s bacteria, would never have come into contact with Enceladus. A delicate island of alien life could have been snuffed out or overrun. The sheep could have eaten the rose.

So instead - for the love of this fragile possibility, this potential that might yet never be realized - Cassini was brought into a final, intimate tango with Saturn.

But of course, all space probes are built for the sake of awe, which is nearly love. Science is rational, but scientists are driven to understand the universe just as the religious strive to know the face of God.

The Cassini probe was a 4 billion dollar machine for understanding Saturn. And yesterday, two decades after it launched from our planet, it was destroyed while sending us information about Saturn it never could have gathered from a distant, stable orbit: advancing its purpose, even knowing that it would be consumed.

A martyr to our hopes, Cassini dies,
A phoenix burning up without a trace.
Its own discoveries were its demise.

We order it to fall as it did rise:
A pilgrim made of metal, math, and grace.
A martyr to our hopes, Cassini dies.

Our quest for knowledge blazing in its eyes
Beholding clearly this far unknown place
Its own discoveries were its demise.

And through its sight, we, earth-bound, realize
The Eden that this pilgrim could deface.
A martyr to our hopes, Cassini dies.

The dream we saw and dreams we hold our prize,
We call the end of this two-decade race.
Its own discoveries were its demise.

So rest well, pilgrim-prophet of the skies!
In splendor of Saturnian embrace,
A martyr to our hopes, Cassini dies.
Its own discoveries were its demise.

#do u ever get emotions about a space probe and then have to write an impromptu villanelle? #or is that just me?

THE EMOTIONS PART IS NOT JUST YOU ;_________________;

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doomsniffer:

mikkeneko:

tilthat:

TIL that a cat once co-authored a physics paper. In 1975, a physicist had just finished writing a paper and was ready to publish but realized that he had used ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ throughout, despite being the sole author. Not wanting to edit the paper, he listed his cat, Chester, as a co-author.

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This is the cat, by the way:

I trust him

Ok but the best part is, physicists loved the joke. When people called the author’s university and he wasn’t available, they’d ask to speak with the co-author instead. The author issued a limited number of copies of the article signed by both authors. (Chester’s was obviously a pawprint.) And to this day, physics papers will often have F.D.C Willard (Felix Domesticus, Chester Williard [Willard was the author’s father’s name]) mentioned in the footnotes thanking his “useful contributions to the discussion”.