astronomerinprogress:

How to Solve a Physics Problem

Basically my life story. But for “poet” substitute “journalist.”

I’m one of many people (and one E.T.) who would love to get their hands on a flying bike.

Unfortunately for us, only a very light dummy can ride this Czech helicopter-bike…for now. The prototype weighs about 200 pounds, and throwing a human on top of that would keep the bike firmly on the ground.

Still, I have hope. Hope that one day, CitiBank’s bike racks will be filled with flying vehicles. Even I wouldn’t mind braving Manhattan traffic if I could soar over it.

Via Popular Science

spaceplasma:

Successful start to China’s fifth human spaceflight

Three Chinese astronauts, led by a veteran of a previous space mission, soared into orbit Tuesday to begin a 15-day voyage to China’s Tiangong 1 space lab, a flight officials say will expand the capabilities of the country’s manned space program.

The 191-foot-tall Long March 2F rocket, powered by 1.4 million pounds of thrust, lifted off at 0938 GMT (5:38 a.m. EDT; 5:38 p.m. Beijing time) from the Jiuquan space base in northwest China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Less than 10 minutes later, after a dazzling launch broadcast on Chinese state television, the 8.5-ton Shenzhou 10 capsule arrived in orbit. A few moments later, the spacecraft extended its two solar array wings to generate electricity.

These images were taken from the official CCTV broadcast of the launch, showing views from cameras from both the ground and on-board the rocket. The images show liftoff, separation of the launcher’s emergency escape tower, jettison of the Long March’s first stage and four liquid-fueled boosters, and deployment of the solar arrays.

Photo credit: CCTV/Spaceflight Now

murrayed:

Bevshots are photographs of alcohol under a microscope. These high-quality photographs of your favorite beers, wines, cocktails, liquors, and mixers were taken after they were crytallized on a slide and shot under a polarized light microscope. As the light refracts through the beverage crystals, the resulting photos feature naturally magnificent colors and composition.

raptinawe:

When male superb lyrebirds sing, they often move their bodies to the music in a choreographed way, say researchers who report their findings in: Anastasia H. Dalziell et al., Dance Choreography Is Coordinated with Song Repertoire in a Complex Avian Display. The findings add to evidence from human cultures around the world that music and dance are deeply intertwined activities. Photo credit: Alex Maisey.

Video abstract:

Gif source with lyrebird mimicking many different sounds:

catafalques:

THE EMBALMING JARS OF FREDERIK RUYSCH

Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731) was a Dutch botanist and anatomist, remembered mainly for his groundbreaking methods of anatomical preservation and the creation of his carefully arranged scenes incorporating human body parts. These remarkable ‘still life’ displays blurred the boundary between the demonstrative element of scientific preservation and the symbolic and allegorical of vanitas art. As well as his larger more elaborate anatomical displays (as seen above) he would also keep his specimens of limbs, fetuses and the carcasses of small animals carefully embalmed in individual glass jars. Offsetting the macabre contents he would create ‘flowering’ lids, decorating them with beads, fishes, shells, artificial flowers and lacy garments – the little scenes often echoing the life the jar’s contents had once known. 

These are awesome!

electricspacekoolaid:

Mock Mars Mission Will Test Stresses of Red Planet Living

The Mars Society will attempt to conduct a one-year simulated human Mars exploration mission in the Canadian high Arctic at its Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS). This scenario depicts crew members checking their equipment during a simulated EVA.

The question of how people can live and work together well on a mission to Mars may turn out to be one of the biggest challenges of deep-space exploration. To simulate the experience of a crew stuck inside cramped quarters under stressful conditions, a nonprofit is planning a one-year mock Mars mission in the Arctic.

The mission, to begin in July 2014, is being planned by the Mars Society, an organization dedicated to manned exploration of the Red Planet. Six crew members will spend a full year living inside the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS), a 25-foot-tall (7.6 meters), 27-foot-wide (8.3 m) cylindrical habitat on Devon Island in the high-latitude Canadian Arctic.

The crew will spend their time conducting field geology — in space suits, of course — and other science research, and performing maintenance on their equipment and habitat. The experience is meant to simulate a real Mars expedition more closely than past mock missions, which have been set under more comfortable conditions, and without such stringent research duties, Mars Society officials said.

“The duration, the harsh environment, actually doing the same activities as a Mars crew — this combination hasn’t been done before,” said Joe Palaia, FMARS director and crew commander of a monthlong mock Mars mission planned for the facility this summer.

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Mars Society