Digging through the web this week, I uncovered all this geeky goodness. You can find the thousands of links from previous weeks here.
I have marked my favorite links with a ∞. Enjoy.
Science to Read, Watch
If our sun was replaced by other stars
Gravitational waves discovery now officially dead
This Planet’s Rings are 200 Times Larger Than Saturn’s
Self-assembly of magnetic droplets on a superhydrophobic surface
∞ I was a SkyMall science vandal
Three-day-old chicks just uprooted the idea that a mental number line is a human invention
Very cool visualization of artificial gravity using a bag of tea on the ISS
The smallest snake is totally dorbs, a consequence of island evolution
We’ve pushed the dawn of snakes back a few millions years. The hunt for a four-legged snake is on
Jumping DNA turned our egg-laying ancestors into mammal moms we recognize
∞ Here’s why 76 beavers were forced to skydive into the Idaho wilderness in 1948
Can we take advantage of cheating cancer cells to help fight tumors?
Yes, the balls were under-inflated, but it didn’t really make a difference
What is happening inside a camera, at 10,000 fps
∞ The scorpion that can detach its anus and no longer poop
What if the world lost all its parasites?
Honey bees are their own source of heat in winter
A pod of dolphins surfing
A megamouth shark just washed ashore. It of course looks super weird
How Bill Nye and The Planetary Society are going to sail spacecraft on sunlight
What A Warming World Means for Major Snowstorms
We expected a blizzard like the last nor’easter. This is the new normal
Huh. The orchid mantis doesn’t mimic an orchid. It’s more complicated than that
This is what a laser pulse moving through the air and reflecting off stuff looks like
Why do we yawn and WHY DO I SHIVER WHEN I PEE?
Reading in the brain looks like speaking to yourself
Sounds like hell, looks like a fireworks show, actually blends: Neodymium magnets
Based on the data: “Maybe if we worried less about sex, we’d have more of it.”
∞ Will your medical treatment actually help you? You need to know the statistics
You can make lizards better long-distance runners if you train them
Another quirk of the brain touted by Malcolm Gladwell unsupported by new study
Gwyneth Paltrow says steam your vagina. Please. Please don’t listen to her
An animation of how SpaceX’s rocket reuse is supposed to work, with suitably badass music
What are the icebergs trying to say?
Emerging groundhogs aren’t looking for shadows. They are looking for sex
Extreme Nerdery
∞ A Navy SEAL’s Tips On How To Dominate Hide-And-Seek
Spider-Man would need a 60-900 egg-a-day diet to make all that silk
An analysis of all the deals on Shark Tank
∞ Thor should really be the god of momentum, considering how he flies, Because Science!
25 people could pull a rod of iron apart in tug-of-war
This effort to build Westeros in Minecraft is impressive
Watch comb jellies appear like ghosts in a LOTR swamp
Unnecessary Information: The U.S. Has Been Colder Than Hoth
You could circumnavigate the universe with a car using just a day’s worth of solar energy
How to destroy rock-paper-scissors opponents with game theory
∞ I calculated how much Link’s iron boots weigh because…well…do I need a reason?
A couple has a stop-motion fight ala Mortal Kombat and it’s awesome
What if Earth was a starship with a Star Trek-style dashboard?
Elon Musk fact-checked the Simpsons episode he was in
The best LEGO Enterprise you’ve ever seen
∞ This tiny jelly looks like the Tony Stark of the deep ocean
Sciencey GIFs and Images
Jupiter in the glow of moonlight
Paddlefish feeding remind me of Snuffleupagus for some reason
Finally, all the supercell thunderstorm GIFs in one place
Holy shit DO NOT throw firecrackers into sewers
∞ Still my favorite GIF: Striking a flint
Kansas farmer uses drone and feed to make cow art
∞ Ferrofuild amassing in slo-mo
A plane’s wake turbulence cuts through the clouds
brb trying this until i too get a water force field
∞ “Smokeless liquid hydrocarbon combustion for oil wells” OR hellscape doom machine
Zoom way in on this amazing print from Steve Miller of a snake that just ate
Umm should we use moose as snowplows?
∞ An atomic blast in x-ray and HD
I think the attack of the bobbit worm is so unsettling because of the second thrust to pull prey into the ground
Surfers bail on a ginnormous wave bro
I like reading, long walks on the beach, and someone who can handle a giant king cobra
Yeah, we definitely don’t spend enough on the military
I eat doughnuts like a goblin shark
Hollow point bullets are dangerous because of how they are slowed down by your body
I propose that we teach physics students about spring constants with cat videos
∞ The Audubon invites you to meet these owls, who stare right into your soul
Pop Culture Happenings
Roald Dahl’s Powerful Pro-Vaccination Letter (From 1988)
Sick Child’s Father Seeks Vaccination Requirement in California
The Onion’s timeline of the measles outbreak
Most Republicans Say They Back Climate Action
A subreddit that is only pictures of dead printers
Huh. There is “anti-climb” paint that stays perpetually wet
Ice-climbing Niagra Falls does look pretty awesome
Working past noon on a Friday
xkcd makes a very good point about friends during Super Bowl weekend
∞ America Likes Science. It Does Not Like Scientists’ Findings (as much as scientists do)
Least Cited Scientific Journals
I kind of really want pixel hair
FactCheck launches a section devoted to science-based claims made by partisans to influence public policy
Love the GIFs of the coloring of historic photos
∞ Gun ownership *does not* make you safer
Nonsense weight-loss product that Dr. Oz promoted fined 9 million for misleading claims
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