I have dug through the Internet this week and 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, Write, and Watch∞ What if you were swallowed by a whale
? Just hope it doesn't dive... How to take off your socks in space
because is very gross Pain illusions in The Princess Bride
? ∞ Most of those crosswalk, close-door, and thermostat buttons you push are useless
, you salivating dog you What if other planetary bodies orbited our world at the same distance as the moon? What would it look like
? Curiosity's first year rovin' and drillin' in a two-minute video
∞ The best example of the up/down optical illusion
the Bad Astronomer has ever seen A Treatise on Miracles
by History’s Most Famous Atheist ∞ Why is there still no male contraceptive pill
. A lovely little tale of wildlife conservation "If the Borg and the Clone Wars had baby it would be a pyrosome
." Glad someone (Stephen Fry) corrected me on this: The setting Sun is one big optical illusion
∞ In which I talk about the science of helicopter halos on Fox News
(!) Bad news: Archeopteryx is falling behind in an evolutionary puzzle. Good news: we are even closer to solving it
A bunch of x-rays of astronaut clothing
We might unknowingly push hermit crabs into evolving a social caste system by introducing baller 3D printed shells
∞ The face of brain-eating amoebas will give you nightmares
NASA's spaceship factory could hold the volume of three and a half Empire State buildings
Yes, vaccines work, like really well
(in Canada) When the universe expands, it keeps its cat on a leash
. You'll understand after watching Can't help but agree, like a moth to a flame: 7 Moths that Make Butterflies Look Boring
∞ If the full moon really increased homicides, we would see that. We don't, I checked.
Despite Two New Studies on Motives for Monogamy, the Debate Continues
How microscopic soccer balls protect leaf hoppers from their own sugary excrement
∞ These are the most beautifully odd spiders
you will ever see. Seriously. Interesting take on pro-choice by a med student who saw her first abortion procedure
Enjoyed reading through these AMA responses from the Curiosity rover crew
"It wasn't until the 20th century that one could not find anyone smiling at you with a set of dead men’s teeth
." ∞ The herpes virus has a blast in your body
, literally So, Manta Rays Aren’t a Thing Anymore...
The effect that drives ouija boards, dowsing rods, and facilitated communication
Sometimes the wisdom of the crowd can become madness
, especially if you're an ant ∞ The Internet told me to drop everything and watch this shuttle launch footage
. I did. It's amazing. It would take a school of piranhas 5 minutes to turn you into a skeleton
A nice TED Education video on sleep paralysis
, and how it convinces us demons exist FYI: Saturn V rockets have a fuel efficiency of about 7 inches to the gallon at the moment of launch. Nerdery at its Finest I am so impressed by their knowledge of game's workings: Watch Ocarina Of Time Beaten In Just 22 Minutes
Oooooh. That's how Tetris blocks are made
∞ I spent 45 minutes watching all the 3,099 frames of XKCD's "Time"
. It was lovely. And out of all the geeky influences for what I do, Randall Munroe is the greatest. He explains his deceptively complicated "Time" comic to Wired
We are a pale blue dot...or maybe a pixel...is that even us
? ESPN used to show MTG tournaments
. Guys, we all missed the golden age of television I think I prefer "modern" Super Mario
, dragons and all The Amino Acid Tales
(with apologies to G. Chaucer) ∞ "Fans don't just love decontextualized chunks of wow — we love the whole story." The Problem of Premature Nerdgasms
The ages of the original and reboot Star Trek actors
As a gamer, totally agree: Cool It With The Dumb Video-Game Graffiti
First-person Sonic and the Green Hill Zone
is still cool, I'll say it The LG logo has been hiding a nerdy secret...
GIFs and Images for 2-Seconds of Wow∞ Absolutely amazing portrait of a stick insect
by Robert Oelman The nautilus gear
The Andromeda galaxy in visible light is boring, try infrared
When you have an extendable mouth, the food comes to you
Always handy: The scale that measures the apocalypse
∞ Fun way to prove to yourself that your brain makes assumptions about the world in a classic optical illusion
If you are hunting giant tiger sharks, you might as well...NO
Electric current produces magnetic fields in the wire, which react with the magnets and make a fun little desk dodad
Beautiful mountains or the most beautiful mountains? The "rainbow mountains" of Zhangye Danxia
∞ You can see this amazing shockwave because bunched-up air bends light differently
I need a poster of the pale blue dot speech
, everyone does ∞ WOW: Because nerve signals are driven by ion gradients, salty soy sauce can make food with unused ATP do this
Alexander Semenov's underwater photography
is the best. Quote me How the United States came to be in GIF form
makes grade school history class seem much more boring ∞ Does your computer keyboard spontaneously generate a dot illusion
? I'd have to sell the thing Drinking X-ray GIF
will make you touch your neck awkwardly in disbelief Watching chromatophores fire for too long
Other stuff happened this week too Why does your boss’ religious freedom allow her to curtail your own
? ∞ "Is violence for violence's sake any different than pornography? Should you stand for it in your science fiction
? What happens when you actually click on one of those “One Weird Trick” ads
? This entry to National Geographic
didn't win the contest, but it should have. ∞ You are mispronouncing "forte"
. I almost guarantee it “Doctor, I want you to change my fate. Please change my palm
.” An infographic of why we like infographics
∞ Cutting Shrek the Sheep out of a wool cocoon six years in the making
Idioms updated for the Internet age
He moves individual pixels around for 10 hours a day, he's 97, he's an artist
