Yo!!!!!!

This sheep skull I found in is particularly round! Look at that crazy nose. And its eye sockets are huge.  Maybe its a different breed from the rest?

ASTONISHING, said Death.  REALLY ASTONISHING.  LET ME PUT FORWARD ANOTHER SUGGESTION: THAT YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A LUCKY SPECIES OF APE THAT IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITIES OF CREATION VIA A LANGUAGE THAT EVOLVED IN ORDER TO TELL ONE ANOTHER WHERE THE RIPE FRUIT WAS. Fighting for breath, the philsopher managed to say, ‘Don’t be silly.’ THE REMARK WAS NOT INTENDED AS DEROGATORY, said Death.  UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU HAVE ACHIEVED A GREAT DEAL.

Terry Pratchett, “Death and What Comes Next” (A Blink of the Screen) (Tired of dealing with philosophers but never tired of humanity as a whole.)

Earth and Moon between the Rings of Saturn [1024x1024]

“There have been too great a tendency to call anyone ‘impractical’ who dare to look too far in advance of the well beaten path. What is being ‘practical’? One must have imagination in order to be truly practical.

"I know scientific men who have spent years in attempts to do some obviously impossible thing and who yet have been called 'practical’ because if they succeeded in accomplishing that for which they were striving they would make much money.

"The same man would have jeered not long ago at the suggestion that we on the earth might receive signals from Mars. Big things are not 'practical’. They are wonderful. Many scientific minds, like many minds which are not scientific, shy at anything which is wonderful. Yet the simplest things in nature are wonderful almost beyond the limits of the human imagination.

"Men ignorant of the way in which plants grow would jeer at a farmer if suddenly they should be so placed that they saw him planting seeds. They would declare him an impractical creature because the fruition of his efforts if at all possible of realization is so remote. They want immediate results.

"The sending to and reception from Mars of signals would be an achievement by no means as wonderful as Nature’s simple process of making seeds grow in the ground.”

–Nikola Tesla

“Marconi Credits Mystery Flash To Far Planet”New York Sun, January 25, 1920.

I remembering being at the Monterey aquarium a few times and I recall it's repurposed from a cannery. Does the aquarium have a book of the building's history? I'd love to buy it and read up on the local history.

It’s true! The Aquarium stands on the site of the former Hovden and Sea Pride canneries. Here’s a brief history of the Aquarium. For a longer read, this book delves into the history of Monterey Bay, including the Aquarium!

The canneries are an important part of Monterey Bay history and you can find  tributes to them throughout the Aquarium, including the smokestacks on the roof and the boiler exhibit in the atrium. 

The smokestacks! They’re now sealed and primarily used as a perch by peregrine falcons searching for prey.

Restored boilers—fish would be cooked in these as part of the canning process.

Old Hovden Cannery building as seen from Hopkins Beach in the late 60′s. (📷: Mark Silberstein)

Same spot today! The Aquarium building incorporates some of the original structures and style of the canneries. You can read more about the architectural design of the Aquarium here. 

People horrifically fucking up facts about evolution and genetics too support their stupid beliefs or to seem smart and “rational” is probably one of my big pet peeves 

Marc Crockett

hate doesn’t just happen. war doesn’t just happen. And we are definitely not “right” enough to kill or bring pain to anyone… // Hina Syeda

10 Things: Journey to the Center of Mars

May the fifth be with you because history is about to be made: As early as May 5, 2018, we’re set to launch Mars InSight, the very first mission to study the deep interior of Mars. We’ve been roaming the surface of Mars for a while now, but when InSight lands on Nov. 26, 2018, we’re going in for a deeper look. Below, 10 things to know as we head to the heart of Mars.

Coverage of prelaunch and launch activities begins Thursday, May 3, on NASA Television and our homepage.

1. What’s in a name? 

“Insight” is to see the inner nature of something, and the InSight lander—a.k.a. Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport—will do just that. InSight will take the “vital signs” of Mars: its pulse (seismology), temperature (heat flow) and reflexes (radio science). It will be the first thorough check-up since the planet formed 4.5 billion years ago.

2. Marsquakes. 

You read that right: earthquakes, except on Mars. Scientists have seen a lot of evidence suggesting Mars has quakes, and InSight will try to detect marsquakes for the first time. By studying how seismic waves pass through the different layers of the planet (the crust, mantle and core), scientists can deduce the depths of these layers and what they’re made of. In this way, seismology is like taking an X-ray of the interior of Mars.

Want to know more? Check out this one-minute video.

3. More than Mars. 

InSight is a Mars mission, but it’s also so much more than that. By studying the deep interior of Mars, we hope to learn how other rocky planets form. Earth and Mars were molded from the same primordial stuff more than 4.5 billion years ago, but then became quite different. Why didn’t they share the same fate? When it comes to rocky planets, we’ve only studied one in great detail: Earth. By comparing Earth’s interior to that of Mars, InSight’s team hopes to better understand our solar system. What they learn might even aid the search for Earth-like planets outside our solar system, narrowing down which ones might be able to support life.

4. Robot testing. 

InSight looks a bit like an oversized crane game: When it lands on Mars this November, its robotic arm will be used to grasp and move objects on another planet for the first time. And like any crane game, practice makes it easier to capture the prize.

Want to see what a Mars robot test lab is like? Take a 360 tour.

5. The gang’s all here. 

InSight will be traveling with a number of instruments, from cameras and antennas to the heat flow probe. Get up close and personal with each one in our instrument profiles.

6. Trifecta. 

InSight has three major parts that make up the spacecraft: Cruise Stage; Entry, Descent, and Landing System; and the Lander. Find out what each one does here.

7. Solar wings. 

Mars has weak sunlight because of its long distance from the Sun and a dusty, thin atmosphere. So InSight’s fan-like solar panels were specially designed to power InSight in this environment for at least one Martian year, or two Earth years.

8. Clues in the crust. 

Our scientists have found evidence that Mars’ crust is not as dense as previously thought, a clue that could help researchers better understand the Red Planet’s interior structure and evolution. “The crust is the end-result of everything that happened during a planet’s history, so a lower density could have important implications about Mars’ formation and evolution,” said Sander Goossens of our Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

9. Passengers. 

InSight won’t be flying solo—it will have two microchips on board inscribed with more than 2.4 million names submitted by the public. “It’s a fun way for the public to feel personally invested in the mission,” said Bruce Banerdt of our Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission’s principal investigator. “We’re happy to have them along for the ride.”

10. Tiny CubeSats, huge firsts. 

The rocket that will loft InSight beyond Earth will also launch a separate NASA technology experiment: two mini-spacecraft called Mars Cube One, or MarCO. These suitcase-sized CubeSats will fly on their own path to Mars behindInSight. Their goal is to test new miniaturized deep space communication equipment and, if the MarCOs make it to Mars, may relay back InSight data as it enters the Martian atmosphere and lands. This will be a first test of miniaturized CubeSat technology at another planet, which researchers hope can offer new capabilities to future missions.

Check out the full version of ‘Solar System: 10 Thing to Know This Week’ HERE. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com. 

What is America’s obsession with Bill Nye the Science Guy I once said in class that I had never seen it and this girl yelled YOU’VE NEVER WATCHED BILL NYE and in 5 seconds flat half the class was screaming HOW COULD YOU HAVE NEVER WATCHED BILL NYE while the other half chanted BILL BILL BILL BILL