APPLE OF MY EYE

hat i should be doing , right now.

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:30:52 -0400

hat i should be doing , right now.

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Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:30:18 -0400

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Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:26:15 -0400

thedailywhat: Touche of the Day: Philosoraptor on NSA Domestic...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:19:31 -0400

thedailywhat:

Touche of the Day: Philosoraptor on NSA Domestic Spying Scandal

cherry-and-also-bomb: ♡♡♡

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:16:14 -0400

cherry-and-also-bomb:

♡♡♡

lovemetwotiimes: bon-bonzo: mrrobertplant: keithsmoons: Rober...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:34:18 -0400

lovemetwotiimes:

bon-bonzo:

mrrobertplant:

keithsmoons:

Robert Plant in 1977

THIS IS NOT FUNNY.

YES IT IS.

oH mY gOD its bACk

bohemea: Kurt Cobain

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:31:56 -0400

bohemea:

Kurt Cobain

abandonedography: Abandoned railroad by 小巨人看世界

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:20:32 -0400

abandonedography:

Abandoned railroad by 小巨人看世界

montereybayaquarium: Peacock Mantis Shrimp — He’s...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:17:19 -0400

montereybayaquarium:

Peacock Mantis Shrimp — He’s Baaaaack!

Tiny, deadly and gorgeous. That’s the peacock mantis shrimp, and we just placed one on exhibit in our Splash Zone galleries.

You’ll have to work a bit to see it. It’s housed — alone — in a small aquarium inside the Coral Crawl tunnel in Splash Zone. But it’s well worth the effort!

This is the first time we’ve hosted a mantis shrimp since 2001 when one of them stowed away inside some coral rock and earned us international headlines and live CNN coverage. (There’s something compelling about a “killer shrimp” terrorizing other animals in the children’s area of an internationally known aquarium.)

They pack quite a punch

Since then, we’ve been wary of deliberately introducing a mantis shrimp — and for good reason. Aquarists and scuba divers refer to them as “thumb-splitters” because their claws pack a punch as powerful as a .22-caliber bullet.

Those same claws can shatter a clam shell, and crack open a crab or shatter glass. They can bring down a blue-ringed octopus or a fish. The claws are made of a material so hard it can deliver 50,000 blows between molts - without breaking. It’s being studied by scientists as a model for crafting super-strong body armor for soldiers.

And it moves its claws so fast that they turn water into plasma and sound into light.

Amazing!

“A thermonuclear bomb of light and beauty”

But that’s not the end of the story, as celebrated cartoonist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal explains in his online love-letter, “Why the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal.”

He starts by examining the eyes that make them unbelievably effective hunters. Their vision is so sensitive that a mantis shrimp can see in both infrared and ultraviolet spectra, and uses 16 color receptor cones (compared to just three for humans).

Inman observes: “Where we see a rainbow, the mantis shrimp sees a thermonuclear bomb of light and beauty.”

It’s that combination of experiencing a world of transcendent beauty — and then turning around and pounding its prey to smithereens — that fascinates Matthew Inman.

We hope you’ll be fascinated, too, at the chance to see a peacock mantis shrimp face to face — on the other side of shatterproof acrylic.

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Thu, 30 May 2013 14:46:29 -0400

jonnovstheinternet: Life within death. Physalis alkekengi, or...

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:45:00 -0400

jonnovstheinternet:

Life within death.

Physalis alkekengi, or the Chinese/Japanese Lantern, blooms during Winter and dries during Spring. Once it is dried, the bright red fruit is seen. The outer cover is a thin mesh that held the flower petals, seen in golden brown colour.

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Thu, 30 May 2013 14:43:30 -0400

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Thu, 30 May 2013 14:33:51 -0400

annisaayuniaputri: everytimeeeeee.

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:31:35 -0400

annisaayuniaputri:

everytimeeeeee.

SPOCK

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:31:04 -0400

SPOCK

blitzen34: terry cruz

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:27:31 -0400

blitzen34:

terry cruz

funky-fairlie: This is HIPPO-larious …. Ok that wasnt funny

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:26:18 -0400

funky-fairlie:

This is HIPPO-larious …. Ok that wasnt funny

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Thu, 30 May 2013 14:23:24 -0400

David Bowie, Marion Cotillard, and Gary Oldman in David Bowie’s...

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:05:42 -0400

David Bowie, Marion Cotillard, and Gary Oldman in David Bowie’s new music video for The Next Day (x)

Help Kiera with her legal bills – she was expelled and arrested for felony after a harmless science mistake

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:58:16 -0400

Help Kiera with her legal bills – she was expelled and arrested for felony after a harmless science mistake:

deafmuslimpunx:

Until Monday morning, Kiera Wilmot was a well-behaved student at Bartow High School in central Florida with good grades and an interest in science. But that morning, she mixed some chemicals together in a small water bottle that caused a tiny explosion. There was a bang and some smoke, but nobody was even close to being hurt.

I remember doing experiments like that in high school. But Kiera was immediately called to the principal’s office, expelled from her school, and arrested by the police (accused of an adult felony charge). If she gets convicted, she could even lose voting rights and have lots of trouble finding employment and housing in the future.

I’m inspired by the people (especially scientists) speaking out on Twitter with solidarity for Kiera. One look at the hashtag #KieraWilmot shows the outpouring of sympathy for what’s happened to her. Curiosity is not a crime, and we shouldn’t be treating it like one!

To help her out, I want to collect some funds for Kiera’s family for the large legal bills that will surely come up as she fights her case in court. She deserves a top lawyer! If we manage to raise any money beyond her legal needs, it should go towards a scholarship fund for her. We need more young American women studying science, and they shouldn’t be afraid of taking chances.

UPDATE: This campaign has been verified by Crowdtilt, let’s start raising some funds for Kiera!

She is just a kid. Please help out, donate, spread the word and reblog.