Gases +  Electric Field 

pH strip I think you’re confused

Introducing the most versatile piece of laboratory equipment: the septum. It’s a septum! It’s a makeshift SureSeal! It’s a makeshift vial adapter! It’s a holder for reaction tubes!

Read what it was like to witness the Challenger disaster in person at the Washington Post.

just science things

searching for half an hour for that one paper you read 10 fucking months ago but forgot to save and it’s the only one with the data you really want to include in your grant/paper/presentation

positive vibes 

Superhero origin story

why hood 32?

Oooooh this is a good story! ( I think, at least). In my first summer of college I had a stockroom job in the chem department. My friend Annie and I were tasked with inventorying the ENTIRE department’s chemicals, and to put chemicals back where they belonged if we found any that were mismatched. 

One day we were going through the research labs, and we came across a hood that had a SHIT TON of chemicals in it. Instead of trying to find out where they all went, we named a folder in the inventory system “Hood 32″ (it was in Hood 32….). Annie goes “that’d be a GREAT name for a short story.” I ended up naming my blog after it during that job (because it sounds cool, right? ;) ) 

I ended up working for the professor whose hood had all those chemicals in it, which was an awesome coincidence. 

THEN when I went to Montana to work, I worked in Hood 32 AGAIN. 

So it stuck :)

Earth as seen from Saturn.

js

Since October, northeastern Brazil has been devastated by a wave of microcephaly, a condition where babies are born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains. At this moment, all signs point to the mosquito-borne Zika, a little-studied virus normally associated only with rashes, fever, and other mild symptoms. In the months since Brazil sounded the alarm, Zika cases have been popped up in a dozen other countries, and health authorities predict the virus will spread across the Americas. Infectious disease specialist Michael Osterolm explains what’s known about Zika, and what we can expect as this outbreak unfolds.

Solar System: 2016 Preview

What do we have planned for 2016? A return to the king of planets. A survey of mysterious Ceres. More postcards from Pluto. Anyone who follows solar system exploration in 2016 is in for quite a ride. Last year was one for the record books – and now here are 10 things to look forward to in the new year. See also: what we have planned agency wide for 2016.

Juno Arrives at Jupiter

July 4, 2016 is arrival day for the Juno mission, the first sent expressly to study the largest planet in the solar system since our Galileo mission in the 1990s. Humans have been studying Jupiter for hundreds of years, yet many basic questions about the gas world remain: How did it form? What is its internal structure? Exactly how does it generate its vast magnetic field? What can it tell us about the formation of other planets inside and outside our solar system? Beginning in July, we’ll be a little closer to the answers.

OSIRIS-REx Takes Flight

The OSIRIS-REx mission, short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, sets sail for an asteroid in September. The spacecraft will use a robotic arm to pluck samples from the asteroid Bennu to help better explain our solar system’s formation and even find clues to how life began.

Dawn Sees Ceres Up Close

After an odyssey of many years and millions of miles, in December the Dawn spacecraft entered its final, lowest mapping orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. The intriguing world’s odd mountains, craters and salty deposits are ready for their close-ups. We can expect new images of the starkly beautiful surface for months.

Cassini Commences Its Grand Finale

In late 2016, the Cassini spacecraft will begin a daring set of orbits called the Grand Finale, which will be in some ways like a whole new mission. Beginning this year and extending into next, the spacecraft will repeatedly climb high above Saturn’s poles, flying just outside its narrow F ring 20 times. After a last targeted Titan flyby, the spacecraft will then dive between Saturn’s uppermost atmosphere and its innermost ring 22 times. As Cassini plunges past Saturn, the spacecraft will collect rich and valuable information far beyond the mission’s original plan.

New Horizons Sends More Postcards from Pluto

We have stared slack-jawed at the images and discoveries from last year’s Pluto flyby, but the fact is that most of the data that New Horizons collected remains on board the spacecraft. In 2016, we’ll see a steady release of new pictures — and very likely some expanded answers to longstanding questions.

Mars Missions March Forward

With five of our missions continuing their Martian quests, 2016 should be a good year for discoveries on the Red Planet.

Mars Odyssey

Mars Opportunity

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mars Curiosity

MAVEN

Mercury Transits the Sun

A transit is a very rare astronomical event in which a planet passes across the face of the sun. In May, Mercury will transit the sun, on of only thirteen Mercury transits each century on average.

LRO Keeps an Eagle Eye On the Moon

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will extend its run in 2016, scanning the moon’s surface with its sharp-eyed instruments, investigating everything from lava tube skylights to changes at the Apollo landing sites.

Spacecraft Fly Under Many Flags

Our partner agencies around the world will be flying several new or continuing planetary missions to destinations across the solar system:

Akatsuki at Venus

ExoMars

Mars Express

Mars Orbiter Mission

Rosetta at Comet 67/P

Technology Demonstration Missions Push the Envelope

We’re always looking for new frontiers on distant worlds, as well as the technology that will take us there. This year, several missions are planned to take new ideas for a spin in space:

Deep Space Atomic Clock

NODES

LDSD

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