-FUPPETS- Favorite Planetary Nebulae

Everyone digs on planets and stars and galaxies and black holes. -FUPPETS- loves Planetary Nebulae.

Ode to the Space Shuttle

Goddamnit -FUPPETS- loves the Space Shuttle. -FUPPETS- remembers grade school in Puerto Rico and being pulled out of class to see the Space Shuttle Columbia's exhaust trail as it arced into outer space. It is easy now for people to take the fleet for granted, even with the multiple tragedies, because the shuttles were and are so amazing. They made space travel seem easy, simple even. The successes of the fleet such as the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and our current technological revolutions have made everyone forget how amazing it is to go into outer space. There have been less than 600 HUMAN BEINGS to leave our atmosphere!!!! EVER! FUCK! That is amazing and under appreciated. There are over 6 Billion people currently alive. There have probably been several dozen-Billion Homo Sapiens creatures crawling upon the face of our Earth. Only several hundred have ever left the safety of our atmosphere. They join the company of several dozen monkeys, dogs, mice, and assorted small creatures who have experienced what it feels to leave Mother Earth. -FUPPETS- hopes that this is not lost on the government and those in power as they plan the next fleet of vehicles to further the human expansion into Space.

On February 24th the Space Shuttle Discovery launched for the final time. It is a sad time for -FUPPETS- and all space nerds worldwide.

Feb 24 2011 - Final Shuttle Launch, Space Shuttle Discovery

-FUPPETS- Loves Solar Prominences

-FUPPETS- cannot get enough astronomy. There is an infinity of discoveries to be made. Check out this great short video of a large solar prominence captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

SOLAR PROMINENCE

Here is APOD's description of the video.

"...an unusually long filament explode out from the Sun. The filament had been seen hovering over the Sun's surface for over a week before it erupted earlier this month. The image sequence was taken by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in a color of ultraviolet light specifically emitted by helium. The explosion created Coronal Mass Ejections which dispersed high energy plasma into the Solar System. This plasma cloud, though, missed the Earth and so did not cause auroras."

-FUPPETS- For Readers XLVII - Science Edition

47. The fifteenth prime number. The atomic number of silver. There is even a society devoted to exploring the preternatural appearance of the number 47 in all aspects of the Multi-verse.
-FUPPETS- loves science, but 47 articles is much too much. Here are just a few.


SpaceX launches the first commercial space capsule into orbit and returned it safely back to Earth - ( Tariq Malik - Space.com )

Black Holes and Warped Space Revealed by Powerful New Array of Radio Telescopes - ( Science Daily )

Theoretical Breakthrough: Generating Matter and Antimatter from Nothing - ( Science Daily )

A Science of Literature? Great idea, so long as we can get actual scientists involved - ( Chris Mooney - Science Progress )

Microbe finds Arsenic tasty, redefines life - ( Dennis Overbye - New York Times )

NASA announces press conference

Below is the official media advisory from NASA. There is a lot of speculation regarding what this actually means. Guesses range from a discovery of bacterial life on Titan to some previously unknown parameter for life that can now be tested from Earth. The statement, "to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life," is what is driving all of this but to -FUPPETS- it does seem like they may have discovered a new method to detect life-supporting, Earth-like planets.

MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-167 NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2 WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov/.

Participants are:
- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington
- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.
- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

Media representatives may attend the conference or ask questions by phone or from participating NASA locations. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must send their name, affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov or call 202-358-0918 by noon Dec. 2.

For NASA TV streaming video and downlink information, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

-FUPPETS- Loves Auroras

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo.

One of the most beautiful and mysterious of all natural phenomena, auroras are a longstanding -FUPPETS- favorite. The above time-lapse video captures some of the recent auroras over Norway. The Sun is back in full after a dormant period of three years, and this is causing some beautiful auroras. The light itself is created when high energy particles streaming from the Sun are bent and captured by the Earth's magnetic field, whic concentrates the high-energy particles at the magnetic north and south poles of our planet.

-FUPPETS- Science Digest

-FUPPETS- loves scientific endeavor. Humans have an innate need to explore, whether it be experiencing physical travel, or delving into what is unknown. Scientists use the empirical scientific method to answer questions about our world and ourselves. Science does not require "belief" in itself for it to work. The scientific method works even when the results are completely unexpected. These are the thrills of the researcher. It is in these unexpected surprises and setbacks that the light is shined on a dark corner of our knowledge.

The Nobel Foundation has announced the 2010 recipients for the Nobel Prize in Physics. Two Russian-born physicists, working at the University of Manchester, discovered/created a new form of carbon called GRAPHENE. Graphene is a two-dimensional "sheet" of carbon atoms. The chemical, physical, and electrical properties of this material are quite wild.

As a material it is completely new — not only the thinnest ever but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again. ( Associated Press )

It is amazing that us humans are capable of creating whole new substances, and that it seems the sky is the limit. Scientists will be researching the capabilities of graphene for decades.
Here are the two Nobel Prize winners, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov.

3-D Printing is All The Rage

The good people over at the New York Times have shared this cool video looking at the current state of three-dimensional printers. Awesome.

Timeline of the UNIVERSE

Seven years ago Northwestern University physicist Adilson E. Motter conjectured that the expansion of the universe at the time of the big bang was highly chaotic. Now he and a colleague have proven it using rigorous mathematical arguments.
The study, published by the journal Communications in Mathematical Physics, reports not only that chaos is absolute but also the mathematical tools that can be used to detect it. When applied to the most accepted model for the evolution of the universe, these tools demonstrate that the early universe was chaotic.
Certain things are absolute. The speed of light, for example, is the same with respect to any observer in the empty space. Others are relative. Think of the pitch of a siren on an ambulance, which goes from high to low as it passes the observer. A longstanding problem in physics has been to determine whether chaos -- the phenomenon by which tiny events lead to very large changes in the time evolution of a system, such as the universe -- is absolute or relative in systems governed by general relativity, where the time itself is relative.
A concrete aspect of this conundrum concerns one's ability to determine unambiguously whether the universe as a whole has ever behaved chaotically. If chaos is relative, as suggested by some previous studies, this question simply cannot be answered because different observers, moving with respect to each other, could reach opposite conclusions based on the ticks of their own clocks. - ( Science Daily )

Click the image above for the full article.

EYEBORG - The Future is Here!

The image above has not been altered. That is Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence. When he was young, he suffered an accident which left his right eye very damaged. As he grew older doctors told him there was nothing that could be done and they would have to remove it. Being a filmmaker, he decided to get a wireless camera placed into his eye socket, instead of a prosthetic eye.
Read the full story here.
Being a bad-ass, he has also taken to calling himself Eyeborg. Tremendous! -FUPPETS- is very excited.
The first screening of the footage he has put together using his eye cam will be shown in Melbourne Australia's OTHER FILM FESTIVAL, which is a film fest focusing on work by and about disabled people. The organization OtherFilm, which puts the festival together, is "a collective based in Brisbane, Australia, dedicated to avant-garde, experimental, abstract, expanded and other film."

THE PARADOX OF CHOICE

One of the coolest things to happen in the recent past in the world of academia and intellectuals is the TED Conference. TED Conferences began in 1984, and have become worldwide events. The people who put these on have made sure to record all of the speakers and have made available to anyone the videos of these lectures. It is quite an amazing list of speakers and topics. -FUPPETS- admires anyone willing to share knowledge and to ferment thought in the world.
In this video, psychologist Barry Schwartz gives a lecture based on his book, The Paradox Of Choice. It is a very interesting probe into why we value the idea of choice and what has occurred because of our overwhelming demand for more and more choice.

BARRY SCHWARTZ - The Paradox of Choice

-FUPPETS- Corpse Flower Update: The Stink Is Here

Checking in with the Houston Museum of Natural Science's blog -FUPPETS- has gotten word that the infamous Amorphophallus titania, or "Corpse Flower", has begun it's wretched stink. It has taken a couple of weeks to get here but it has been well worth it.
The stench is so wretched that the HMNS staff that attend to the flower have started wearing gas masks. No lie!

Well, Houston – the stank is upon us.

We got the call at 4:30 this morning, with the news that those of you who were queing up to see her overnight already knew – Lois is a stinky, stinky plant.

Seriously. She smells. Bad.

So bad that staff and media in the gallery with Lois are availing themselves of gas masks to cope. And we’re not even to peak stink yet. Lois’ spadix (the tall center spike) is heating up – and that heat is what helps the stench to spread. As of 7 am, the spadix was 90 degrees, while the surrounding environment was a mere 81. Zac [the museum's resident horticulturist] has also measured Lois height a final time – and she stands at 69.75 inches tall. - ( Erin F. - HMNS )

The Beginning of the Bloom [Corpse Flower] 7.21.10 from HMNS on Vimeo.

There have been only 28 other blooms of this flower in the U.S. since it was discovered and brought over here by horticulturists in the 19th century. It is a very rare sight and smell indeed.

Houston Corpse Flower Brings the Funk

-FUPPETS- made the trip yesterday to witness the putrid olfactory melange wafting from the Corpse Flower at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. (Click the images below to enlarge)

Even though the flower had not yet truly opened, the noxious smell of rotten flesh was still in the air. People from all over were there to see this monstrosity. It seems that either humans are curious about any morbid subject, or there are a lot of horticulturists and botany fans out there! The lines were long but not overly so. Due to the nature of this temporary exhibit, there were no signs or museum docents there to speak about the flower, so anyone who did not do their research (or read -FUPPETS-) beforehand was not going to learn too much about the largest flower on Earth. It was still an awesome sight, having grown 60 inches in less than two weeks.

Like Halley's Comet, or any other wonder of nature, it pays to be informed about what one is going to be looking at. It seems that too many people go through life unimpressed by the amazing shit in life because they expect an amazing experience, instead of just expecting a glimpse at something which is in itself an amazing thing. Oh well. -FUPPETS- was there.

In tribute to the Corpse Flower, -FUPPETS- presents the one and only UNWOUND, performing Corpse Pose.

UNWOUND - Corpse Pose

Houston CORPSE FLOWER Update

The Houston Museum of Natural Science has decided to stay open 24 hours a day until the infamous "corpse flower", Amorphophalus titanium, finishes it's once-in-a-lifetime blooming.

There is a webcam here that feeds live images of this incredible specimen.

-FUPPETS- will be paying a visit to the Museum today to catch a first-hand glimpse and whiff of this most remarkable flower. Full details will be forthcoming. This flower's bloom is very unpredictable, but it has grown to a height of over 60 inches, and is starting to show color on the edges of it's "petals." The intense reek of death it emanates is strongest for the first 2 hours after it blooms, but it remains stinking for up to ten additional hours.
Explorers in Sumatra thought, because of it's amazing size and pungent stench, that it was a huge man-eating plant!

CORPSE FLOWER To Bloom In Houston Soon

-FUPPETS- has been interested in the Titan Arum, or Amorphophallus Titanum, since first reading about this strange flower years and years ago. It is one of two flowers that are both called "corpse flower" due to the highly intense rotten flesh smell that is released by the flowering plant when it is ready to pollinate. It is also one of the rarest plants in the world, originally from Sumatra.
It's Latin name means "misshapen phallus", or "phallus without form," and it is easy to see why. Here is an image of the Museum's flower as it currently appears.

Here is an image of what it will look like once it flowers.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) has been growing one of these plants from a small root bulb for 6 years in the Cockrell Butterfly Center, which is part of the HMNS.

See the Corpse Flower at HMNS! [Amorphophallus titanum] from HMNS on Vimeo.

There have been only 28 blooms of the Titan Arum in the United States. The individual plants may only bloom once in their long life. The HMNS is expecting their flower to bloom this weekend or sometime next week. The lime green bud has been growing at a rate of about 4 inches PER DAY!

"As it's common name warns, the corpse flower is a smelly thing, with the whithering stench of rotting flesh. As the spathe begins to unfurl, the spadix becomes a gas chamber, heating it's natural oil and emitting noxious fumes for 8 to 12 hours to attract pollinating carrion beetles." - ( Kathy Huber - Houston Chronicle )

So go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science this weekend and take a look at, and maybe a whiff of, one of nature's wonders. You may never get another chance.

Isaac Asimov, -FUPPETS- Ass-kicker # 1

-FUPPETS- loves Isaac Asimov. He was born in 1920 and died in 1992, having left behind such a prodigious amount of written work that it nearly dwarfs every other writer's output. He is mainly remembered for his amazing contributions to science fiction, but he wrote extremely valuable non-fiction works on everything from the Bible to Shakespeare to linguistics. He was capable of discussing nearly everything with deep knowledge as well as plain language, allowing many people to delve into issues that were otherwise obscured by the lingo of the "experts." He was also notorious for being what he called a "dirty old man!" Ha! The man had the greatest muttonchops in the literary world.
Below is an hour long interview from 1986 with the great man himself.

-FUPPETS- Will Miss the Space Shuttle Fleet

-FUPPETS- was there, looking out over the tops of the grammar school, as the Space Shuttle Columbia became the first shuttle to blast off from Cape Canaveral. From Puerto Rico, the shuttle could be seen arcing high into the sky and into outer space. It was a magnificent sight, never to be forgotten.
-FUPPETS- remembers siting in the middle school lunch room when a friend came by, flustered and anxious, to tell of that morning's Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It was a reminder of just how insanely risky any and all jaunts into outer space are.
-FUPPETS- was in Austin when the Space Shuttle Atlantis passed by around 10:15 PM one night, on it's way to it's scheduled landing in Florida. The bright white plume behind the glinting shuttle reflected the sunlight which was no longer hitting that side of the Earth. The shuttle crossed the whole arc of the visible sky in less than a minute, for it was going around ten thousand miles per hour. Rushing inside to find that, less than a minute after seeing it over Texas, the shuttle had reached Florida and was touching down, really stressed how very fast that ship was rocketing through the atmosphere.
-FUPPETS- has never had, and will never have, the luxury of seeing a Space Shuttle launch in person, for the last mission has just ended. Sadness for the science nerds. The Space Shuttle fleet has been retired, and all await the new replacement fleet, which will not be ready for years, forcing the USA and NASA to rely on the Russian space program to get anything up to the International Space Station. This sucks major.
Mr. Jay Penfield has been good enough to share a link to an amazing 4 minute time-lapse movie, compiled from hundreds of hours of footage taken of the preparation and launch of one of the Space Shuttles. It is an amazing thing to see just how much work goes into every tiny aspect of space travel.

Enjoy. Click HERE for the time-lapse movie.

-FUPPETS- Loves Artificial Butterflies

The Japanese are some kick-ass people. They have a passion for the bizarre and the outlandish as well as a deep-seated respect for culture and tradition. These things are not mutually exclusive. It just seems that way to didactic morons.
Scientists in Japan have been studying the way butterflies fly. They have built a mechanical replica of a swallowtail butterfly.

Among the various types of butterflies, swallowtails are unique in that their wing area is very large relative to their body mass. This combined with their overlapping fore wings means that their flapping frequency is comparatively low and their general wing motion severely restricted.
As a result, swallowtails' ability to actively control the aerodynamic force of their wings is limited and their body motion is a passive reaction to the simple flapping motion, and not -- as common in other types of butterfly -- an active reaction to aerodynamics. ( Science Daily )

Below is a short movie of this artificial swallowtail butterfly in flight. The replica model is properly called an ornithopter. The study of aerodynamics is a relatively young one, and there are still great discoveries waiting to be made.

-FUPPETS- Loves Rocketry and Super Slo-Mo

Oh yes. This is exactly what today needed. -FUPPETS- is ecstatic to find a tremendous video of the launch of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing. This footage is filmed at 500 frames/second, which makes the 8 minute film represent just over 30 seconds of actual time. It is amazing to see just how hard it is to launch a projectile off of our Earth's surface, and into either orbit, or further into outer space. It is also humbling to know the bravery shown by the men and women who strap themselves atop this controlled explosion and ride it out to the desolation of space.
Scientists say that very small animals see our movements as lumbering and slow, since they are used to living in a much quicker state of being. This is partly why it is so hard to swat a fly, for, while we may be swinging that fly-swatter super hard, to the fly it is coming down with plenty of time to spare so it can move away.
Enjoy this footage. -FUPPETS- definitely will.

SPACE IS THE PLACE

Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8 from Mark Gray on Vimeo.

-FUPPETS- Loves Solar Prominences!!!

The movie below is from the newly launched SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY. This new telescope will send back 1.5 terabytes of data a day! Solar prominences are the result of the Sun's intense magnetic field ejecting matter as the field twists and warps itself, due to the liquidity of the matter that makes up the Sun.

Soon after the instruments opened their doors, the Sun began performing for SDO with this beautiful prominence eruption. This AIA data is from March 30, 2010, showing a wavelength band that is centered around 304 �. This extreme ultraviolet emission line is from singly ionized Helium, or He II, and corresponds to a temperature of approx. 50,000 degrees Celsius.