who was the fool who was tasked with naming the galaxy and the only adjective they could think of was ‘mmmmmmmmmmmmilky…’
scientist: (gazing up at space) scientist: ……….. it sure is a milky boy
NO
YOU DONT UNDERSTAND
ASTRONOMERS ARE THE SHITTIEST EVER AT NAMING THINGS I KID YOU NOT.
When it came time to name the two theoretical particle types that might be dark matter THEY INTENTIONALLY CHOSE THE NAMES SO THAT THE ACRONYMS WOULD SPELL “WIMPS” AND “MACHOS” I SHIT YOU NOT
THEY ARE FUCKING TERRIBLE AT NAMING ANYTHING
I just listened to a talk by Neil deGrasse Tyson himself LAST NIGHT and he went on about this more than once.
“I’m walking down the street and I’m like ‘ooh pretty rock…’ and some Geologist is like ‘actually, that’s anorthosite feldspar’ and I’m like ‘Nevermind, I don’t want it anymore.’ Any biologists in the audience? [some clapping] Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. The most important molecule in the human body, what did you name it? It has NINE SYLLABLES and it’s so long that even YOU GUYS abbreviate it as ‘DNA’!
But astrophysicists and astronomers? No, man, we call it like we see it. Star made of neutrons? NEUTRON STAR. Small white star? WHITE DWARF. You know that big red spot on Jupiter? Know what we called it? JUPITER’S RED SPOT.”
okay i’m glad you mentioned the biologist nonsense bc their naming methods are the bane of my existence
I see your astrophysicists-are-shit-at-names and raise you Marine-Biologists-Are-Fucking-Maniacs.
See this beautiful creature?
It’s a carnivorous deep-sea sponge that lives off of Easter Island and never sees the light of day, as it’s about 9000 feet down. Those delicate-looking orbs are covered in millions of tiny hooked spines, which latch onto anything unfortunate enough to bump into it, and hold it in place as it is digested alive by the sponge’s skin. Amazing, beautiful and profoundly creepy. They could have given it so many cool names. Could have drawn on mythology (I think Scylla would have been an appropriate reference), the region it was found in, the textured skin, PHAGOCYTOSIS, anything!
i saw “compared to terrestrial kangaroos” and very nearly lost my shit bc my mind didnt go to “trees” it went to “space”
Well, between the prehensile tails, grippy hands, great spatial reasoning, and a Baby Pocket ™ Tree Kangaroos would probably do pretty well in a zero-or-low gravity enviornment.
When we imagine a spider’s diet, the seemingly infinite buffet of the class Insecta is what leaps to mind. But, in a natural world full of surprises, of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Bagheera kiplingi, a species of jumping spider seemingly desperate to be unique, has ditched its carnivorous diet for a (mostly) vegetarian lifestyle.
This animal’s selected treats are “Beltian bodies”, swollen masses rich in sugars, proteins and lipids, readily available on the tips of the Acacia tree leaves that the veggie jumping spider calls home. The meals are by no means a freebie however, certain ant species have developed a symbiotic relationship with the Acacia and will fiercely defend their beltian banquet. Fortunately, Bagheera’s nimble acrobatic leaps means it mostly cares not for it’s annoying nibbly rivals.
On vegetarianism, Bagheera kiplingi sees no point to absolutism, and will happily make a snack of any ant larvae it stumbles across. Faced with harsh times these critters will go as far as cannibalising each other.
“Animal blood comes in a rainbow of hues because of the varying chemistry of the molecules it uses to carry oxygen. Humans use hemoglobin, whose iron content imparts a crimson color to our red blood cells. Octopuses, lobsters, and horseshoe crabs use hemocyanin, which has copper instead of iron, and is blue instead of red—that’s why these creatures bleed blue. Other related molecules are responsible for the violet blood of some marine worms, and the green blood of leeches. But the green-blooded lizards use good old hemoglobin. Their red blood cells are, well, red. Their green has a stranger origin: Biliverdin.
They should be dead. Biliverdin can damage DNA, kill cells, and destroy neurons. And yet, the lizards have the highest levels of biliverdin ever seen in an animal. Their blood contains up to 20 times more of it than the highest concentration ever recorded in a human—an amount that proved to be fatal. And yet, not only are the lizards still alive, they’re not even jaundiced. How do they tolerate the chemical? Why did they evolve such high levels of biliverdin in the first place? And why, as Austin’s colleague Zachary Rodriguez has just discovered, did they do so on several occasions?”
“Each entry in the manual lists the plant’s or animal’s “name in various languages; descriptions of ailments it can be used to treat; and instructions for finding and preparing it.” And while it’s debatable as to how practical the guide really was—it includes plants like cumin that would not have been available in England—it’s a curious work of art in its own right.
Most of our perception of what Goblin sharks looks like comes from dead specimines where they are all mangled and shrivelled, and are always positioned with their jaws protruding out.
When while alive they only ever extend their jaw for feeding, and arnt half as creepy looking
they do look like goblins
this also disregards the fact that they can still propel their jaws forward like an aquatic xenomorph from hell
So can many other fish, I’m just not judging them for their beautiful smile.
this is the funniest gif i’ve seen all week what the fuck is going on
the best part is this isn’t even HALF the relentless bullshit insanity that goes on in robot sumo wrestling, a sport where the contestants are all hyperfast robots with scoop attachments and preprogrammed moves.
(this one wants to be a beyblade when it grows up)
the idea is to include as many unique moves as you can, to make your shrieking deathbot difficult to counter
or dodging. that works too.
also, some of the speed demons have… unorthodox attachments to fool other bot’s sensors
WIIINGS MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRR
robot sumo is also a sport where spectators may end up taking a small robot to the shins if they aren’t careful.
FLYYYYYYY
I hope you enjoyed our foray into madness!
IT GOT BETTER!!!
Y’all. Looking at professionally made sumo robots is great. You know what’s better though? Looking at extremely UNprofessionally made sumo robots.
Here enjoy.
oh my god please watch this video
“she gave up looking for the robot and sent us a photo of her having a beer. the crowd applauded this act of supreme crappiness.”
one robot is just a kleenex box with a bunch of dildos on it, one does nothing but shake a packet of instant soup, i love humanity so much right now
!!!
This is so much better than anything robot-battle-oriented I’ve ever seen and I was friends with robotics nerds in high school
*peeks around a corner* Hey!! My last year of school is taking all of my time away but I’m still alive!! :‘DD I’m working on some bigger projects which I won’t be able to share until next year, but at least I’ve got some cool stuff on the way!
This submission is part of an infography project we’re doing. I might share more with you some day!
YEEN FACTS: did you know… … spotted hyenas actually hunt 95% of their food? … they live in matriarchal clans/tribes? … hyenas have the strongest bite out of all mammals? … they’re part of the Feliformia animal suborder, being more related to cats than they are to dogs?
Plume de Lynx 