Mr. Grab Bag has something special for everybody...- Kinetic Fireball Incendiary Weapons: Basically, some sort of bouncy-rubber-fireball-nightmare-projectile straight out of the mouth of some alien in a Doom/Quake/Contra video game. The Pentagon designed this horrifying, bouncy, burninating weapon to eliminate WMDs without the risk of ejecting harmful materials into the atmosphere by ricocheting around inside reinforced bunkers and incinerating everything nearby at a temperature of 1000 degrees F. Frankly, this sort of thing just scares my shit out.
- Single Person Rocket Pods: A Danish company is working towards "developing a series of suborbital space vehicles - designed to pave the way for manned space flight on a micro size spacecraft." Here is what the entire crew cabin of said spacecraft looks like:
Hope you aren't claustrophobic. But seriously, manned space travel technology has been stagnating basically since it was first developed, and this sort of innovation is exactly what we need if we ever want to stop dicking around in Earth's orbit and get somewhere cool, like the Moon or Mars, again. - The KEO Time Capsule: I love it when people think about things on a larger timescale than just a human lifetime or subsequent generations. Science, technology, and knowledge are not bound by the time-constraints that we humans are used to thinking in. The KEO is a spacecraft/time capsule that will be launched in 2020/2011. It will carry a number of artifacts (hit the wiki link for a full list) representing our species and our various cultures as they currently are, including "the contemporary 'Library of Alexandria', an encyclopaedic compendium of current human knowledge". It will complete its long orbit and return to Earth in 50,000 years as a sort of combined introduction/epitaph from us to our descendants (or whoever may be in the neighborhood). Fucking Awesome.
- Copernicus' Remains Found: If you know who Nicolaus Copernicus is, good. If not, here is a courtesy card and an explanation. He was the dude who figured out that the Earth orbited the Sun, not vice versa, and basically flipped the bird to all the authority figures of his era and a bunch of other assholes by doing so. His final resting place was a topic of speculation until scientists recently matched DNA from remains found in a Catholic cathedral in Poland to that found within hairs discovered inside manuscripts written by this Champion of Science. Additionally, reconstruction of the recovered skull closely matched portraits of Copernicus, painted when he was alive. I think he would have been stoked to know that such great Science was going to be used to figure out his final resting place. R.I.P. dude.
... and now for some videos - 10 Dimensions Explained in 11 Minutes: Theoretical physics is undoubtedly awesome, but due to its theoretical nature, its pretty hard for plain old Science Enthusiasts like you and me to understand. Here is a sweet YouTube that describes the 10 dimensions crucial to String Theory in a relatively easy-to-understand way:
- Earth PWNED in HD by an Asteroid: If you haven't seen this already, it's a must watch. Hit the link here, and be sure to click the "watch in HD" button. I recommend you that you kick back, turn up the volume, and crack a beer. Sic transit mundus.
... and finally, a post-modern minimalist art critique of Star Wars - Star Wars, A New Heap; or; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Death Star: This... is... just......... I don't even know what to say about this.
ANYWAYS, welcome once again to a New Year of Science. Thanks for reading, and we love you. COMING SOON, a special "Ask Praise Science!" feature, featuring a question from the ever inquisitive Stu H.!
1 comment:
uh like, that earth movie was like, so unreal. if the earth was destroyed how could someone be there to like, film it?? DUH we'd all be like, dead. so that's totally fake.
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