[milamai]

The stars died so that you could be here today

[giflounge]

The orbit of Jupiter protects the Earth from asteroids.

[tsunamiwavesurfing]

a silent guardian, a watchful protector

[funnylime]

lol look at mercury go that wild bastard

[entophiles]

How one man repopulated a rare butterfly species in his backyard

We can all contribute to conservation efforts — sometimes even from our own backyards.

via http://www.vox.com/2016/7/6/12098122/california-pipevine-swallowtail-butterfly-population 

Tim Wong (Instagram: timtasti1c) <– go follow him, he has lots of beautiful photos including butterfly photos~!

[eartharchives]

The evolution of whales

Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish.

Story by guest writer Hans Thewissen, illustrations by Lucas Lima

[adventuresinchemistry]

Thing I need to get off my chest: The amount of anti straight stuff on tumblr can honestly get overwhelming. Endless generalizations, always negative, always casually assuming an entire sexuality or gender is terrible. As if it's a given that my sexuality is bad, or somehow my existence is unwanted. It's even worse because tumblr is the most accepting social media platform (to those not straight). So if you wouldn't mind not saying jokes like that, I would be very grateful. It can really add up.

I mean I get it. That’s how I feel being a lesbian out in the world, so

[agestofrobynhode]

#i mean….. #on one level I am sympathetic to this #but also like #i am allowed to be bitter about literally being oppressed by our heteronormative society #on my own blog #so

*deep breath*

anon, the difference is, a straight person can unfollow queer people on tumblr.  you can unfollow every single person who makes or rebagels a joke about straight people; your dash is yours to control.  but we can’t escape heteronormativity & homophobia out in the world (or, lbh, even on tumblr).  also joking about one’s oppressors is a *coping mechanism* that wouldn’t be necessary if there weren’t oppressors in the first place.  you are literally telling a person who is oppressed to suck it up because it hurts your feelings to be lumped in with the “bad straights” being mocked.  hint: you are one of the bad straights for going into this awesome person’s inbox to make a stink about ~the mean gays~ having a bit of a laugh so we don’t cry or have a panic attack or kill ourselves or whatever.

we quite literally hear that our sexuality (or gender) is bad/evil and our existence unwanted every damn day.  and not in a joking context.  we hear it from politicians, religious leaders, teachers, bosses, our own families, friends, neighbors, and random people on the street.  i have seen fucking bumper stickers that very seriously denigrate and deny my existence.  if you cannot see how your request that someone stop making a joke was… outrageous… you should probably look into that.  your self-awareness is lacking.

also: 

[filmmakinglife-deactivated20230]

That’s a total wrap on Love It Or Leave.

Had my “graduating” film screening last night where I got the amazing opportunity to see the short film I directed on a cinema screen – Vmax screen actually, it was so cool :3

The best part about watching your film with a big audience is looking around and seeing everyone’s eyes glued to the screen watching the thing you’ve created. Seeing them react in the ways that you intended and knowing you achieved what you set out to do – to make a film that validates, changes, and inspires people.

Words can’t describe how proud I am of this film, I hope to take it much further than uni, and can finally share it with you guys somewhere in the near-ish future. I’ll start posting some BTS stuff on here now that I’m OFFICIALLY finished with it (final export is done, there’s no going back now).

Until then – check out the film’s FB page and gimme a like if you want to keep updated.

-Hann

[mindblowingscience]

The tardigrade genome has been sequenced, and it has the most foreign DNA of any animal

Scientists have sequenced the entire genome of the tardigrade, AKA the water bear, for the first time. And it turns out that this weird little creature has the most foreign genes of any animal studied so far – or to put it another way, roughly one-sixth of the tardigrade’s genome was stolen from other species. We have to admit, we’re kinda not surprised.

A little background here for those who aren’t familiar with the strangeness that is the tardigrade – the microscopic water creature grows to just over 1 mm on average, and is the only animal that can survive in the harsh environment of space. It can also withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, can cope with ridiculous amounts of pressure and radiation, and can live for more than 10 years without food or water. Basically, it’s nearly impossible to kill, and now scientists have shown that its DNA is just as bizarre as it is.

So what’s foreign DNA and why does it matter that tardigrades have so much of it? The term refers to genes that have come from another organism via a process known as horizontal gene transfer, as opposed to being passed down through traditional reproduction.

Horizontal gene transfer occurs in humans and other animals occasionally, usually as a result of gene swapping with viruses, but to put it into perspective, most animals have less than 1 percent of their genome made up of foreign DNA. Before this, the rotifer – another microscopic water creature – was believed to have the most foreign genes of any animal, with 8 or 9 percent.

But the new research has shown that approximately 6,000 of the tardigrade’s genes come from foreign species, which equates to around 17.5 percent.

“We had no idea that an animal genome could be composed of so much foreign DNA,” said study co-author Bob Goldstein, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We knew many animals acquire foreign genes, but we had no idea that it happens to this degree.”

Continue Reading.

[fastmustache]

you’re fucking up if you don’t back this guy

[jedania243]

Go Bernie!

[the-unfiltered-truths]

The people who are sitting and not clapping don’t realize they won’t see a candidate this honest about America for a long time.

[prettyboyshyflizzy]

[valkyrie-the-lost-deactivated20]

Oh my god

[madame-mircalla]

republicans are so fucking stupid holy shit lmao

[bootyexpress-deactivated2020042]

“there’s no y-axis” i literally screamed

[scienceisbeauty]

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 was awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar “for mechanistic studies of DNA repair”.

Congratulations to the winners (and their teams), among other things, for being one of the fronts in the fight against cancer.

Images obtained of the report for the general public: DNA repair – providing chemical stability for life (PDF).

The Nobel committee provide us also an advanced report: Scientific Background: Mechanistic studies of DNA repair (PDF).

[thewriterkb]

The luminous purple sky is mirrored in the thin sheet of water across the world’s largest salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, in Bolivia.

Photograph by Xiaohua Zhao

(TheGuardian)

[waterbody]

Octopus rubescens 

San Mateo county CA June 2015 / FZ-200 /

 hd button recommended

[skunkbear]

This is one slice of an incredible high resolution, enhanced color image of Pluto, recently released by NASA. You can see the full, larger version here. 

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

[filmmakinglife-deactivated20230]

Principle shooting and pickups over, time to start the post stage of LIOL. Vision edit is well under way – we should have a rough cut together within a few days.

[exploratorium]

Seeing primes, using the “spill test” to systematically and visually discern primes on our new Tangents blog:

 http://www.exploratorium.edu/blogs/tangents/prime-obsession

[didyoujustspitonme]

Welp

[nahimoffthis-deactivated2018091]

Oh damn

[redhester-deactivated20171212]

this is a very serious form of censorship. climate deniers are those capitalists whose filthy money is killing the planet. they are deliberately and systematically silencing a threat (the truth) by this purchase. this is no simple thing. it means that the people have less access to information that challenges those who profit from evil. this is very bad news for freedom fighters.

[dicaeopolis]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR MY FOLLOWERS! ANIMAL PLANET HAS LIVE STREAMS OF ANIMALS

BUNNIES

EAGLES

CALVES

CHICKS

CORAL REEF

PARAKEETS

ants and cockroaches if you’re into that

HEDGEHOGS

SEA OTTERS

KITTENS

PUPS

PENGUINS

SLOTHS

TARANTULA???

BIRBS

AFRICAN WATERING HOLE

SHARKS (and some fish)

GO FORTH AND ENJOY