Posts Tagged ‘Earth’

14 Smoking Accessories That Nobody Should Own

First up, we have this double-barrel cigarette holder. Makes perfect sense, right? You’ve got two lungs, gotta have two cigarettes. Of course if you used this I don’t think you’d have two lungs for very long…Whole Cigarette Factory Contained in Single Tobacco CanI’m not entirely sure that’s tobacco he’s rolling up there.Remote Smoking ApparatusThis one is actually kind of neat, but it’d probably be better for smoking something else…Ash Tray Fits CigaretteDude, just get an ashtray.

Click to continue reading

The Alphabet According To Google Earth

Benidorm, Spain Hainburg, Austria Chicago, IL Bangkok, Thailand Pinto, Spain Potsdam, Germany Shanghai, China Maspalomas, Canary Islands 

Spacecraft Sees Spectacular Solar Eclipse on Moon

A still of the Kaguya/Selene probe’s high-definition video of the solar eclipse seen from the moon. Japan Aerospace Exploration AgencyFrom FOX News: There was a solar eclipse earlier this month — but it wasn’t visible anywhere on Earth.Rather, a Japanese space probe in orbit around the moon got spectacular high-definition video of the sun being blocked — by the Earth, producing an otherworldly “diamond-ring” eclipse.It may be only the third time such an eclipse has been viewed by terrestrials, human or otherwise.An American lunar lander got a blurry snapshot of a solar eclipse in 1967, and two years later Apollo 12 astronauts got treated to the same thing on their way back from the moon.Read more ….

Are You Out There, ET? Searches For Habitable Planets Are About To Get A Boost

UP, UP AND AWAY: The Kepler satellite, scheduled to take flight March 6, is lifted for attachment to its launch rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Kepler will look for Earth-like planets that may be hospitable to life. NASAFrom Scientific American:Next week brings a milestone in the search for extraterrestrial life with the scheduled launch Friday of NASA’s Kepler satellite.

Click to continue reading

Single-celled Algae Took The Leap To Multicellularity 200 Million Years Ago

Pleodorina starrii has an incomplete division of labor. Although the 12 small cells near the top of this colony only swim, the 20 larger cells both swim and reproduce. (Credit: Copyright 2008 Matthew Herron)From Science Daily:ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2009) — Some algae have been hanging together rather than going it alone much longer than previously thought, according to new research.Ancestors of Volvox algae made the transition from being a single-celled organism to becoming a multicellular colony at least 200 million years ago, during the Triassic Period.At that time, Earth was a hot-house world whose inhabitants included tree ferns, dinosaurs and early mammals. Previous estimates had suggested Volvox’s ancestors arose only 50 million years ago.Read more..

Cosmic Stage Set for Comet Lulin’s Fly-By

Comet Lulin as photographed by amateur astronomer Jack Newton in Arizona.Jack Newton/NASAFrom FOX News/Space.com:A recently discovered comet is making its closest approach to Earth in the next few days and offers anyone with binoculars or a small telescope a chance to see some frozen leftovers of our solar system’s making.Comet Lulin has, as expected, crossed the threshold to naked-eye visibility for people with dark, rural skies. It hovers just inside that envelope of visibility, however, and is not likely visible from cities, where the glare of urban lights can drown out all but the brightest night-sky objects.Read more ….

NASA’s Kepler Mission To Seek Other Earths

Artist’s concept of Kepler in space. (Credit: NASA/JPL)From Science Daily:ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2009) — NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is ready to be moved to the launch pad today and will soon begin a journey to search for worlds that could potentially host life.Kepler is scheduled to blast into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a Delta II rocket on March 5 at 7:48 p.m.

Click to continue reading

New Atlas Shows Dying Languages Around The World

Click On The Image To Enlarge (Image from Thinking Shift)From Yahoo News/AP:PARIS – Only one native speaker of Livonian remains on Earth, in Latvia. The Alaskan language Eyak went extinct last year when its last surviving speaker passed away.Those are just two of the nearly 2,500 languages that UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, says are in danger of becoming extinct or have recently disappeared.

Click to continue reading