Found in only three locations in the world—cold regions in China and Japan and the Appalachian Mountains—the "skeleton flower" has an equally rare ability: to turn from white to translucent when wet.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/07/skeleton-flower-turns-from-white-to-translucent/

#science #nature

Stand up.

Today I join with >1900 members of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine signing this letter, as individuals, decrying the assault on #science by the GOP and Trump administration.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gmMJOMsoNKC4U-A8rhJrzu_xhgS51PEfNMPG9Q_cmE/preview?tab=t.0#

Public Statement on Supporting Science for the Benefit of All Citizens

TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE We all rely on science. Science gave us the smartphones in our pockets, the navigation systems in our cars, and life-saving medical care. We count on engineers when we drive across bridges and fly in airplanes.

^{Google Docs}

I look at a lot of space images, but this one made my eyes bug out like a cartoon character.

What you see here isn't a spiral galaxy, exactly. It's a spiral galaxy whose image was bent into a circle by the gravity of an elliptical galaxy visible at the center.

Warped space, right before your eyes!

https://esawebb.org/images/potm2503a/ #space #science #art #nasa #esa

Wow – didn’t think I’d be in tears today, but this message sent home from Gaia as it was shut down forever today hits hard 😭

What you’re seeing is a map of the 106 CCD detectors that Gaia used to measure the positions of billions of stars in the Milky Way for the past 11 years 🛰️✨

They were turned off in a special sequence … 😕

#SpaceScience #Astronomy #Science

The news has been more than a bit grim of late, so hooray for Carbon Brief providing some genuine and really meaningful **good** news: the UK's carbon emissions in 2024 were the lowest since 1872, because demand for fossil fuels just keeps decreasing.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-emissions-fall-3-6-in-2024-as-coal-use-drops-to-lowest-since-1666/

#climate #GHG #science #GoodNews

I loved working on this article:

The technology in your cell phone has a hidden connection to the stars. Modern computer chips are made using ultraviolet light from vaporized balls of tin--and those balls closely mirror the physics of supernova explosions!

https://spectrum.ieee.org/euv-light-source #science #tech #space

It's hard to say this, but science (& research more generally) is just being **stopped** in the US right now. This is just one university, losing nearly a billion dollars in project funding pretty much overnight. That's people's jobs, and the research that could save lives.

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/johns-hopkins-federal-funding-foreign-aid-cut-ca841d31?st=EJYFJk&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

#America #science

Fascinating footage of a human white blood cell chasing a bacterium captured through a microscope.

Credit: David Rogers
Source: https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Movie_-_Neutrophil_chasing_bacteria

#health #biology #science #phagocytosis

Unimaginable a few weeks ago. But here we are. French university offering refuge to US scholars.

“It targets, but is not limited to, climate and environment, health, and human and social sciences.”

#democracy #science

https://www.404media.co/french-university-to-fund-american-scientists-who-fear-trump-censorship/

French University to Fund American Scientists Who Fear Trump Censorship

The program, called ‘safe place for science,’ offers American scientists funding to continue their research in France.

^{Emanuel Maiberg (404 Media)}

Wow! Onboard video of the Blue Ghost lander touching down on the Moon two days ago.

Multiple onboard experiments are now studying the lunar surface. Details at link.

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2025/03/04/blue-ghost-begins-surface-operations-captures-descent-video-sunrise/ #space #science #nasa

Spectacular timelapse of the Milky Way galaxy and a phenomenon known as airglow seen from the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA Johnson

#science #space #tech #alt4me

This is what an erupting volcano looks like from space.

Credit: NASA Johnson
More details: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/38985/sarychev-peak-eruption-kuril-islands

#space #science #nasa

👑 Wir heben einen Schatz für die #Forschung: Bisher wird das menschliche Gewebe, das bei OPs und medizinischen Engriffen anfällt, meist wissenschaftlich ungenutzt entsorgt. Mit dem Aufbau einer Primary Tissue Pipeline wird die #CharitéBerlin Forschenden den Zugang zu dem besonders wertvollen lebenden Gewebe nun erleichtern. Das soll die Qualität der Forschung verbessern – und geht so nur an einer Universitätsmedizin ✌️.

👉 https://www.charite.de/forschung/themen_forschung/charite_verstaerkt_nutzung_menschlicher_gewebe_fuer_die_forschung

#Medizin #Wissenschaft #ScienceMastodon #Science

Astronaut Jack Fischer's amazing view of the Earth during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA Johnson

#space #science #tech

People have been observing galaxy NGC 6505 for 140 years, but only now noticed an "Einstein ring" at its center. There, gravity has bent and magnified another, more distant galaxy into a delicate ring of light.

The universe is full of beautiful, hidden surprises.

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_discovers_a_stunning_Einstein_ring #space #science #photography

Rice causes ~12% of methane emissions or 1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Researchers in China and Sweden cross-bred a variety which could reduce CH4 by 70% while doubling yields!

But it won't grow everywhere, and the scientists have just started registering it.

https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/rice-paddies-methane-new-variety/

#Food #Climate #Methane #Farming #Rice #Science #China #Sweden

Rice paddies, like cows, spew methane. A new variety makes them a lot less gassy.

Rice plants are a big source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Scientists just developed a strain that cuts those emissions by 70 percent.

^{Matt Simon (Grist)}

A reminder that humans are capable of great acts of wonder when we work together & embrace knowledge.

An international team of astronomers has discovered swarms of cold comets circling 74 nearby stars -- and got clear pictures of these "exocomet belts."

https://www.iac.es/en/outreach/news/astrophysicists-reveal-structure-74-exocomet-belts-orbiting-nearby-stars-landmark-survey #space #science #astronomy #nature

Even fish get lonely? A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in Japan lost its appetite after the facility closed for renovations. So staff put life-size photos of humans outside the tank. The fish seemed to improve!

@AssociatedPress reports: https://flip.it/-LuuZP

#Fish #Ocean #Aquarium #Animals #Science

Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts

A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fish tank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations.

^{MARI YAMAGUCHI (AP News)}

#OTD in 1787.

William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

Orbiting at a much greater distance from Uranus are the ten known irregular moons. The planet's magnetosphere is highly asymmetric and has many charged particles, which may be the cause of the darkening of its rings and moons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus

#science #astronomy

How to catch the Geminids, one of the strongest meteor showers of the year.

@AssociatedPress reports: "The shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow, likely due to the unusual origin material, said Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum."

https://flip.it/pvsIGt

#Geminids #Meteor #Space #Astronomy #Science

How to catch the Geminids, one of the strongest meteor showers of the year

The Geminids are among the few major meteor showers to come from asteroids, and this year they will peak on Friday. The shower often produces meteors with a distinctly more yellow glow than other meteor showers that originate from comet debris.

^{CHRISTINA LARSON (AP News)}

Taking a break from awful things:

Scientists taught rats to drive cars. The rats quickly learned to rev the engine and take longer routes just for fun.

Bonus: Watch the researcher do a little happy leap when the rat gets into the car.

https://theconversation.com/im-a-neuroscientist-who-taught-rats-to-drive-their-joy-suggests-how-anticipating-fun-can-enrich-human-life-239029 #science #tech

Carl Sagan would've turned 90 today. Reading 'The Demon-Haunted World' as a teenager profoundly shaped the way I think today. Almost 30 years later the book remains (sadly) relevant...

#astronomy #science #books

We knew it was going to happen, but the Voyager space probes are getting creaky in their old age.

NASA just had to reactivate Voyager 1's S-band transmitter for the first time in 43 years after a communication breakdown.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/10/28/after-pause-nasas-voyager-1-communicating-with-mission-team/ #space #science #nasa #tech

A fireball streaked by while Yasutaka Saika was taking a photograph of Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, producing this beautiful, accidental celestial alignment.

Captured on Oct 24 from Tereske, Hungary.

https://www.facebook.com/yasutaka.saika/ #space #science #astronomy #photography

#PPOD: This photograph, taken by astronaut Matthew Dominick while peering out a Dragon Endeavor window, shows red and green aurorae streaming by Dragon Freedom which was docked to the front of the International Space Station. The Sun is still at solar maximum, with numerous flares and coronal mass ejections causing gorgeous aurorae even at lower latitudes. The different colors indicate different altitudes above the Earth's surface. Credit: Matthew Dominick/NASA

#aurora #space #science #scicomm

#PPOD: This stunning photograph captures the most violent moment during an eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile. Volcanic lightning occurs in the plumes of eruptions when volcanic ash particles collide, generating static electricity. Additionally, water vapor in the plume condenses and freezes as it rises, adding ice to the mix. And voila! The eventual electrical discharge causes lightning. Credit: Francisco Negroni, https://www.francisconegroni.com/index

#photography #volcano #science #scicomm

OMG.
A triangle of glowing plasma.
Bigger than the Earth.
Hovering over the surface of the Sun last week.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html #space #science #astronomy #sky

Happening now over your head: NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System has spread its wings.

The satellite, launched in April, just unfurled an 80-square-meter sail that will use sunlight to adjust its orbit. For now we just have an illustration; onboard photos are coming on Sept 4.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/smallsatellites/tag/advanced-composite-solar-sail-system-acs3/
#space #science #nasa #tech

I really love this description of a retracted study: not only does it explain what was retracted (turns out men don't generally divorce their sick wives), but also it covers what the error was (a coding problem treated people who left the study as divorced) how it all went down (someone tried to replicate, asked for data and didn't get the same analysis. Contacted the authors and they were horrified and immediately worked to retract).

It's a really nice story of why replication matters and how to be good at science. This is how I was taught science should work, but I rarely come across such good retrospectives.

https://retractionwatch.com/2015/07/21/to-our-horror-widely-reported-study-suggesting-divorce-is-more-likely-when-wives-fall-ill-gets-axed/

#science #PeerReview

“To our horror”: Widely reported study suggesting divorce is more likely when wives fall ill gets axed

A widely reported finding that the risk of divorce increases when wives fall ill — but not when men do — is invalid, thanks to a short string of mistaken coding that negates the origina…

^{Retraction Watch}

Here's an old pic I took back in 2019, showing the UT4 telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory shooting its four mighty lasers. These lasers excite sodium atoms high up in the atmosphere, creating fake "stars" that we monitor in real time to measure and correct atmospheric turbulence, thus yielding very sharp images.

The two faint smudges flanking UT4 are he Andromeda (left) and Triangulum (right) galaxies.

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #science

Stunning images of Jupiter captured by the Juno spacecraft during a close flyby in October 2018.

Video credit: NASA/​JPL-Caltech/​SwRI/​MSSS/​Gerald Eichstädt
#space #science #nasa

#PPOD: NASA's Curiosity rover ran over a rock and found crystals inside! They're pure sulfur. Elemental sulfur is something we’ve never seen before on Mars. We don't know much about these yellow crystals yet, but the team is already at work to figure it out! Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

#mars #space #science #scicomm