One’s perception of butterfly flight is that it is typically characterized as some undefined haphazard flitter, but quite astoundingly butterflies flutter about from flower to flower and from bush to bush in quite a precisely targeted fashion. The mechanism of aerial locomotion in butterflies is quite intriguing indeed, ranging from steady undulations to rapid, erratic […]
Read more "On the Aerial Locomotion of Butterfly Wings"Penguins can fly? The title of this article is sure to elicit raised eyebrows and deep furrows of confusion, but it is true — penguins do, in fact, fly. But, they fly underwater. Penguin flippers evolved in order to “fly” underwater, employing similar mechanisms of flight that birds use. Penguin wings are modified as paddles that […]
Read more "Penguins Can Fly!"It seems to me that Facebook has become a breeding ground for factually inaccurate information on almost anything. I have come to learn that with most of these pervasive viral posts, chances are there is probably going to be something which is not quite accurate. That’s why when I came across this photo today about […]
Read more "Track Santa’s Sleigh on Christmas Eve"As our sense-extending technologies continually project the far elusive reaches of the universe into the confines of our cognition, we find ourselves constantly defining the word observable. NASA’s long-awaited Hubble successor, the James Webb Telescope, is finally taking shape as it promises to give us an unprecedented glimpse into the history of our early universe. Just today […]
Read more "Peering Back into the Cosmos"Much concern has lately been evinced in relation to an end-of-world scenario, circulating widely on the internet. It is yet another one of those doomsday prophecies that keep propagating on social media but never actually happen. The scenario goes that a huge asteroid will smash into Earth sometime between September 15th and September 28th (probably […]
Read more "The Apocalypse of September: Yet Another False Prophecy"A very remarkable mission has finally been brought to pass by the European Space Agency! Set to be launched in 2022, the JUICE (JUpiter ICEy moons Explorer) will venture into the Jovian system, with planned flybys at Jupiter’s moons Europa, Callisto, and finally Ganymede! A very ambitious project to reconnoiter the basic lay of these […]
Read more "An Intrepid Jovian Explorer"July has got to be my favorite month of this year so far. It is not a common occurrence that major space news follow one another in such overwhelming and dazzling succession. I’m especially delighted at how space has been consistently occupying the top trends on social media so far this month. Pluto In mid-July, […]
Read more "Quite the Month for Space!"Dear reader I am sharing this with you because I truly do think it’s a really cool thing and you might want to be a part of it as well: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theplanetarysociety/lightsail-a-revolutionary-solar-sailing-spacecraft?ref=email I have been a fan of Bill Nye every since I was a kid with his “Bill Nye: The science guy” show.? I gave…
Read more "LightSail: A Revolutionary Solar Sailing Spacecraft by Bill Nye, CEO, The Planetary Society — Kickstarter"
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