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
Can an animal’s name help protect it?
Wonderful and unsettling: Hundreds of Cassini mission images sequenced and set to music
Pyura chilensis: the closest thing to getting blood from a stone
∞ “Have you tried turning it off and on again? Sorry, I mean, it sounds like you’re intolerant to wheat.”
Watching ants move about with augmented reality
We’ve discovered life that eats raw energy
∞ Every single time Carl Sagan said “million,” “billion,” or “trillion” in COSMOS, in order
The Vancouver Aquarium studies orcas via drone and takes pictures that look like paintings
Here’s how you can catch light in a bucket
The Amazon River flows with *way* more water than you think
The Declaration of Independence is covered in dog wiener emojis
This is what 2,000 calories looks like
The sleeping patterns of great minds
∞ Cholera bacteria are predator-cannibals, because THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE
Some proteins edit other proteins. We had no idea!
This gene is a obesity risk only in people born after World War II
Want to see a rubber ducky crushed with 100,000 pounds? Why did I even ask
Maybe dinosaurs talked with their *feathers*
You could watch underwater fireworks, like this mass surgeonfish spawning, maybe?
What Animals Appear Most on National Geographic’s Covers?
The lovely mimicry in a juvenile deep-sea squid
This fern uses tiny catapults to spread itself
More clues as to where Ebola comes from
World’s second longest insect insect is a stick
We recognize snakes better than spiders
Maybe we should make a Cloud City in the Venusian atmosphere. We already have a plan
∞ Kleptothermy: When animals are heat thieves
Ants aren’t like Zoolander — they prefer to turn left
Scientists got little birds drunk to see if they would sing differently
Extreme Nerdery
The commandments of Star Trek and Star Wars
ELI5: How are video game AIs programmed?
The Scoville Scale explained with DBZ
∞ The pop-culture captain matrix
Fairy population dynamics based on Peter Pan
∞ Real worries vs. Movie worries
You could kill a lot of people with all the caffeine consumed over the course of Friends
It’s 2015. We have a hoverboard. I rode it!
10 Futurama Jokes That Will Make You Smarter
Why are we so intrigued by zombies?
∞ Here are my top 5 science stories of 2014, in talk-at-your-face form, Because Science!
Dude solves world’s hardest Rubik’s Cube in 7 hours
If the Earth fell straight into the Sun, how long would we have and what would happen?
∞ In an all-out war, Star Trek would annihilate Star Wars
The Nerdist logo is also a warning not to get your eye fluid boiled
LEGO Star Wars teaser trailer is better than you think
Redditor visits Tunisia, is disappointed with lack of multiple suns
Ralph McQuarrie was the first person to visualize Star Wars. The art was incredible
Sciencey GIFs and Images
The Radio Police Automaton by Hugo Gernsback
∞ A few days ago, Redditor null_value captured Io and Europa casting shadows on Jupiter
A slight change in athleticism over the years…
∞ Redditor Matt_Dave captures the perfect moment before a great white breaks the surface
Terrible idea #84979389: Feeding a wild crocodile
6 billion geotagged tweets light up our world
The chemical reaction of nitrates of zirconyl barium and glycerine, or hell in a bottle
The first stage separation of Apollo 11
BREAKING: Giant bird creature terrorizing city
The animal photography of Tim Flach captures our cousins in an amazing way
∞ Rusty piece of metal? Lasers can help!
A tiger makes an incredible leap for its food
Need (scary) visual proof that birds are dinosaurs?
A visualization of wifi strength throughout a floor plan
Watch Comet 67P spin in this Flickr gallery
∞ Your scientifically accurate horoscope for 2015
A horn shark’s egg case is a biological screw
Half a billion years of evolution in one GIF
The stabilized gallop of a dog is something to see
A deadly, salty “brinicle” descends to seal sea star doom
∞ Can’t unsee: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s abs are Batman’s face
Those circle centers are never going to touch. C’mon brain you can do this.
Seen this GIF for years, finally believe it: Car makes flaming smoke rings
A gallery of pseudo perpetual motion machines
Terrible idea #7868987: Treating a tiger shark like a puppy
Let’s go crabs, let’s go!
Have you ever seen a spinning rocket that makes a double helix on its way up?
∞ Vertical structures cast shadows on Saturn’s B ring
Pop Culture Happenings
What will the first new words of 2015 be?
Some friends set up a 140-camera Matrix-style rig, take full advantage of it
A totally truthful in-flight announcement
∞ The MacGyver intro without the music is wonderful
All these images were totally fake in 2014
∞ You don’t need to idle your car before winter driving
Despite the high-profile cases, we’ve had the fewest number of plane crashes in decades
Airline sues kid for making a website around fares that are actually cheaper
New Year’s eve is the WORST
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