Oh, Sheldon. #Valentine #Sheldon #humor

We are so sad to learn about the passing of Tony Dyson, who had the daunting task of building Artoo as a real life droid. #R2D2 #StarWars #Artoo #TonyDyson #droid

Happy World Kindness Day! 🧡 Yours in Total Grooviness, Team Groovy #happyworldkindnessday #worldkindnessday #kindnessday #kindness #Diana #PrincessOfWales https://www.instagram.com/p/B404gQRhaFs/?igshid=18tprk7oolboi

Is it a Meteoroid, Meteor or a Meteorite? It all depends on its location. If it is in space, it is a meteoroid. If it is in the Earth's atmosphere, it is a meteor. If you can pick it up off the ground, then it is a meteorite. NASA: Small Worlds Big Discoveries: http://1.usa.gov/16mTrbO 10 Need-to-Know Things About Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites: http://1.usa.gov/19YObBj

Audrey Hepburn proved that safety glasses can be gorgeous! https://www.instagram.com/p/B1wGS8ohnhi/?igshid=m91xsux68box

Introducing: STEM and Science Swag Store for #STEMists – Just when you thought your groovy t-shirt collection had reached critical mass. 💥 https://www.groovylabinabox.com/stem-and-science-swag-store/ #stem #science #scienceswag #STEMist https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Bu8CKoUQf/?igshid=nxz800ey24sm

Wear your chromosomes on Valentine's Day - Jewelry Collection Made from 3D Prints of Microscopy Data The X and Y-chromosomes found in humans are now wearable. Electron microscopist, Louise Hughes, has created a jewelry collection designed to mirror the look and shape of human chromosomes. Hughes designs every piece from microscopy data and produces it using 3D printing technology. Having already used the structures of organisms to create other jewelry pieces, Hughes felt she could not leave out the essential DNA and chromosomes. The 46 chromosomes found in our cells have never before been so beautifully displayed and worn. As humans the genes in our DNA, as well as our environment, come to define us. When cells divide, chromosomes compress and form distinct shapes. Those shapes are what inspire the jewelry pieces made by Hughes. Male chromosomes, X and Y, female chromosomes, X and X and the triplet 21st chromosome that causes Down’s syndrome are all replicated in the human chromosome jewelry line. From rings and pendants, to earrings and cufflinks, the stainless steel, bronze, and silver pieces are available in both, karyotpye 1 or 2 structural designs. It has been said that art imitates life and with the human chromosome jewelry designs by Louise Hughes, art is literally replicates life. Explore the Human Chromosome Jewelry Collection by Louise Hudges, Miniature Horizons #Jewelry #STEMFashion #chromosome #DNA #chromosomes

Reality Check: Is Our Universe Real?   The idea that everything we know is merely a construction of our minds is investigated in the next episode of the Science Channel program "Through the Wormhole," hosted by Morgan Freeman. The episode premieres Wednesday (July 17) at 10 p.m. EDT.  http://bit.ly/15nFpH1

A hypothesized mechanism for the origin of life, an event called abiogenesis.  In this version, called RNA world, small molecules called nucleotides formed in the waters of the early Earth during the Hadean Eon, and polymerized on the surface of clay minerals.  These simple chains of RNA could replicate themselves in solution, but only slowly and inaccurately.  An RNA molecule developed which would fold into a structure that catalyzed RNA polymerization; a ribozyme.  The first ribozymes would replicate their sister strands, and produce copies of themselves and other RNA molecules. 

     In the same environment, long chains of carbon molecules called phospholipids were formed.  These molecules have two parts, the tail, which is hydrophobic, and the head, which is hydrophillic.  Because of these properties phospholipids will stick together and form micelles and vesicles in water.  Vesicles can absorb RNA nucleotides, concentrating them and creating a space where they can replicate, mutate and evolve.  At some point a ribozyme became enclosed within a vesicle, starting a chain reaction that evolved into the multitude of biological forms that we see today.

   Because this event occurred more than 3.8 billion years ago, theories about how and where it happened are highly speculative.  Possible environments for abiogensis include hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, hyper saline bubbles of water trapped in ice, radioactive lakes or lagoons on earths surface, and even in space or on another planet, brought to earth through a panspermia event.  We have very little molecular evidence of the first cells, but ribozymes and catalytic RNA molecules are embedded in the DNA replication machinery of all life.  Because evidence of this event has almost certainly been lost to time, the true mechanisms of the origin of life may remain a mystery to science.

50% OFF "Moon Dance" Single Box! CODE: FULLMOON Give your STEM Friends a groovy heads up: 1.) ❤ this post 2.) TAG a #STEMist. 3.) SHARE this post and some groovy #STEM! Go to "Single Boxes" on our website, click the "Moon Dance" groovy box then use code: FULLMOON at checkout. Hands-on Next Generation Science Standards, project-based learning. #STEMists do the "E" in STEM! Fellow STEMists who want to become optical engineers can be on their way to doing research and investigations through the engineering design process found in monthly-themed Groovy Lab in a Box.  Explore Earth’s moon, gravity, mass vs. weight, moon phases, tides, light, telescopes and much, much, more. Check out "Moon Dance" for more groovy fun for STEMists! Engineering Design Challenge:  You are an optical engineer, using only the materials from your Groovy Lab in a Box, can you design and build a two lens telescope which can expand and contract while you make observations of the night sky? #optics #NASA #science #technology #engineering #math #education #convex #GroovyLabInABox #FutureScientist #homeschooling #groovy #opticalengineer #FutureEngineer #STEMEd #moonphases #homeschooling #gravity #galileo #refractingtelescope #concave #homeschoolscience #GroovyLab #telescope #telescopes #STEMEducation #STEMEdu #instascience