Petrichor Today’s topic sits at the center of the Venn diagram comprised of “fascinating science,” “fun vocabulary,” and “fantastic aromas.” This trio might rest near the top of the rankings for possible The Mountains Are Calling Venn diagrams. Some scents occupy unique positions in our experiences and memories. We all have things we enjoy smelling, but most […]
Yoda Cave The otherworldly landscapes of Iceland provide fantastic backdrops for films and television series. The gorgeous island seems to appear to the human eye as something simultaneously gorgeous, yet unrecognizable. Just in the past two decades, blockbuster movies such as Batman Begins, Die Another Day, and Interstellar have employed the beauty of Iceland. Perhaps most famously, large
Space Arrows Sagittarius is the archer of the firmaments. A sky pattern identified by the ancients, Sagittarius was one of second-century astronomer Ptomelmy’s 48 constellations. The Latin word for “archer,” the grouping is still one of the 88 significant constellations by modern standards. We often represent Sagittarius as a centaur – half human, half horse
Freya, the Boat-Sinking Giant The title of today’s article might lead you to believe we’re in for a tale of mythological proportions. A boat-sinking giant would not be out of place in the spheres of ancient gods. Fans of Norse mythology will recognize the name Freya, as one of the prominent goddesses in that world.
Freya, the Boat-Sinking Giant Read More »
The Hole Story Seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with oceans. Eighty percent of those tempestuous seas is completely unexplored. We like to think of outer space as the final frontier, but that’s a large swath of our home about which we know very little. And with all those murky regions, unmapped and
Kilimanjaro “No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.” –Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro Africa’s tallest mountain – Kilimanjaro – looms like an icy sentinel over the surrounding savannas of northern Tanzania, just south of the border with Kenya. Kilimanjaro towers over the grasslands of Tana – photo by Volodymyr
They Can Talk When we think of animals and speech, the paragon is the bird. Our avian friends are the only other creature on the planet that can produce human speech. Though they cannot currently ape human vocalizations, gorillas and chimpanzees can employ sign language. Despite the fact that we can intuit how many species feel
Necrobotic Grippers Perhaps no other topic to date better fits the dual classification of “science” and “horror” better than today’s case. If you’re like us, you’ve never before encountered the term “necrobotic.” You’re not behind the curve; this phrase is a neologism. The prefix “necro” is from the Latin for “death, corpse, or dead tissue.”
Necrobotic Grippers Read More »
Mustang Sally On 26 May 1951, in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, a political science professor and a counselor welcomed a daughter to their family. Dale and Carol likely had high hopes for their child, but they probably had no idea they had just birthed the most fittingly-named astronautic superstar in history: Sally Ride. Despite
Chronostasis To the younger readers out there, the following statement may shock you: in the Dark Ages, clocks were not on phones and their faces contained things other than numbers. Timepieces were, bizarrely, not digital at all. For the vast majority of the existence of clocks, they were mechanical creations of analog wonder. Clocks