(photo By Fallska)

On a scale of Matt Damon

to Matt Damon

how well do you handle being stuck alone on an inhospitable planet

Check out Fingerprints of Water on the Sand via NASA http://ift.tt/1Mxtpaz

As a single woman, when I see a man

funny tumblr [via imgur]

New Star Wars Inspired Bows by Magical Ribbons

On Tuesday, September 15th, at 5 p.m. ET, astronauts Serena Auñón, Cady Coleman, Samantha Cristoforetti, plus NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan will be stopping by Skunk Bear HQ – and I’ll be asking them your questions live on Periscope and SnapChat (user: nprnews)!

Submit your questions here or tweet #NPRSpaceJam.

Cady Coleman has been to space three times, once spending 158 days aboard the International Space Station. While on earth, she set several endurance and tolerance records when she participated in tests of new equipment. She plays flute in Bandella, a musical group made up of astronauts. Here, I’ve depicted her zero-gravity hair-do.

Serena Auñón hasn’t been to space … yet. She was selected in 2009 as a member of the 20th NASA astronaut class. She has a bachelors degree in electrical engineering, a doctorate in medicine, and a masters in public health.

Samantha Cristoforetti is the first Italian woman in space, the woman who has stayed in space the longest (199 days) and the first person to brew espresso in space. She’s a fighter pilot in the Italian Air Force and speaks fluent Italian, English, Russian, German, and French.

Ellen Stofan is the Chief Scientist of NASA, advising the administrator on all things scientific. She is especially interested in the geology of other planets.

You just scrolled over a high-res segment of the Andromeda galaxy. How does NASA get its photos to look so spectacular? The same way as everyone else.

all too well was requested so i decided to try something different.

imagine: all too well as a voicemail.

use headphones

Textile Art + Science = Crocheted Chemistry

Dallas, TX-based textile artist Lauren Espy just completed crocheting the cutest chemistry set we’ve ever seen. Each handmade piece of amigurumi lab equipment, colorful beakers and test tubes, and a fiery little bunsen burner (our favorite), wears a smiling face that clearly says they’re ready to do some awesome science.

Follow Lauren Espy on Instagram to check out more of her crocheted creations. Espy sells some of her pieces via her Etsy shop, where she plans to list smaller pieces of crocheted chemistry equipment in the near future. So stay tuned!

[via A Menagerie of Stitches]

the translucent skin of the northern glassfrog (hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni) allows us to see its internal viscera, and, in the case of the fifth photo, a mother’s eggs.

and yet, it is the male glassfrogs who alone provide the parental care, as the females flee the scene once the eggs have been delivered. it for this reason that these protective male glassfrogs can be extremely aggressive.   

to date, there is no clear explanation for the evolution of this transparency. most frogs are not transparent, as this would expose organs to the deleterious effects of sunlight and heat.

but the transparent underbelly of the glassfrog is covered in light reflecting organelles called iridiphores which could give the glassfrogs the ability to optimize their internal homeostasis.

some suspect this abdoninal transparency helps the glassfrog to blend into its environment, though no evidence as yet supports this crypsis hypothesis. 

photos by (click pic) alejandro arteaga, nicholas reusens, thomas marent, pete oxford, heidi and hans jurgen koch, joel sartore and geoff gallice