Empirical Observer

Science | Cosmos | Atheism | Reason

[invaderxan]

I think I can comfortably say that solarpunk is my new favourite aesthetic.

[empiricalobserver]

#solarpunk

[fossilfinery-blog]

Cute enrolled Acastoide Trilobite fossil ring.

[empiricalobserver]

Wear your love for natural history!

[asking-jude]

Source

[fossilera]

2.3" Tower-Eyed Erbenochile Trilobite - Check Out The Detail!

This a rare, tower-eye, Erbenochile issoumourensis trilobite from Foum zeguid, Morocco. This species has extraordinarily large eyes containing over 400 eye facets. The massive eyes allow full 360 degree coverage in the horizontal plane and were high enough to allow the trilobite to see backwards over its thorax. 

For sale at: https://www.fossilera.com/fossils/amazing-tower-eyed-erbenochile-trilobite-2-3

[empiricalobserver]

[empiricalobserver]

Scientists charged with manslaughter for failing to predict earthquakes. This is absolutely insane.

Where are the Sagans, Mr. Wizards and Billy Nye's when we need them?  We need scientists to be more prominent in the public eye. Neil Degrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, and Richard Dawkins are the only ones I can really think of that are most prominent, but I don't think they really appeal to the general public.  Please read Unscientific America for more about this subject.

[empiricalobserver]

This is an Internet Backbone Visual.  It is the Internet.

I wanted to post this to visually show the emergent pattern of the Internet.  Just like nerves, roots, the Tree of Life, constellations, and anything else in the cosmos, everything follows the rules of emergence.  I'm currently reading "What Technology Wants" by Kevin Kelly and technology (or the 'Technium' more specifically) really is an extension of biological phenomena.  Kelly theorizes that technology is really the seventh kingdom of life.  I believe this image that I've posted here supports that theory.

[empiricalobserver]

Star Found Shooting Water "Bullets"

[empiricalobserver]

"Lasers started from physics and are viewed as engineering devices," says Seok-Hyun Yun, an optical physicist at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who created the 'living laser' with his colleague Malte Gather. "This is the first time that we have used biological materials to build a laser and generate light from something that is living." The finding is reported today in Nature Photonics.

[empiricalobserver]

[empiricalobserver]

Ancient Supernova Triggered by Stellar Cannibal

[empiricalobserver]

[empiricalobserver]

[empiricalobserver]

Ray Kurzwiel is one of my biggest hero's.  I highly recommend "The Singularity is Near" if you ever feel the need to COMPLETELY blow your mind.

Just trust me.  Best thing you can ever do for your brain is read that book.

[empiricalobserver]

After years of false starts, a new generation of DNA vaccines and medicines for HIV, influenza and other stubborn illnesses is now in clinical trials

This is super exciting!  Evidence that HIV may be eradicated within our lifetime.

[empiricalobserver]

Cyborg Beetles: Merging of Machine and Insect to Create Flying Robots: Scientific American The common housefly is a marvel of aeronautical engineering. One reason the fly is a master at evading the handheld swatter is that its wings beat remarkably fast—about 200 times a second. To achieve this amazing speed, the fly makes use of complex biomechanics. Its wings are not directly attached to the muscles of the thorax. Rather the fly tenses and relaxes the muscles in rhythmic cycles that cause the thorax itself to change shape. That deformation in turn sets the wings to oscillating, much the way a tuning fork vibrates after having been struck. In this way, the fly manages to convert a tiny bit of energy into a whole lot of motion with very little effort.

[empiricalobserver]

TEO is still alive!

Hey everybody,

First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who has added this blog to their subscriptions.  I've gotten a ton of notifications from everyone who has added this The Empirical Observer (TEO) to their tumblr feeds - even when I haven't been posting anything lately!

With that said, I also want to let you know that although I haven't posted anything in a while, I haven't forgotten about TEO.  I've been extremely busy with school and work and as a consequence, I've been forced to direct my interests elsewhere - leaving TEO somewhat silent be past few months.

I will try to pick things up a little bit here and there and post a few awesome articles every now and then. 

Since I've last posted, there have been MANY new biological and cosmological discoveries.  Too many to name, but I'm sure you've heard most of them.  Such as the discovery of non carbon-based life (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/nasa-finds-arsenic-life-form/) which was a huge one.

So be sure to keep checking back.  I'll try to squeeze a post in here every once in a while.

Thanks, readers :)