The SSA Blog

This is the uOttawa Science Student Association tumblr; where you can find all sorts of fun science related posts. Check out our website and facebook page below in links!

[flox-pollimon-blog1]

:3

[rachiller]

way to make a girl feel guilty

[rosecoveredtardis]

[spacegayboy]

They are now on my wall

[magentawombat-deactivated201609]

*making collage instead of studying* *blushes*

[problematicselfie-deactivated20]

"I’m not vaccinating my kids because they’ll build up immunity naturally anyway"

[lavidaextraordinaria]

What if oxygen is poisonous and it just takes 75-100 years to kill us?

[frenchshower]

My science teacher said he thinks that’s true actually

[thepioden]

Yeah this is actually pretty much exactly what is going on. It’s why anti-oxidants are such a big deal. Bonus fact: oxygen oxidizes stuff in your cells or, in other words, it’s not toxic, just setting you on fire

very very slowly.

[sarah-mcelroy-deactivated202601]

[glitterbutch]

Science friends - is this science?

[frizztastic]

Kinda sorta.

We process sugar (glucose) to make energy (ATP) by doing a very very very controlled version of an explosion (the net equation is almost the same as just lighting the glucose on fire).

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 —> 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + energy

In metabolism, that energy is ~30 ATP molecules. In an explosion, the energy is just released as heat and light.

Our body does this by exploiting free radicals and their tendency for NOT wanting to be a free radical. This works perfectly except for a v. v. small percentage of time which leads to an oxygen free radical that actually does cause a teeny bit of damage (oxidative stress). Your body already has several redundant enzymes just hanging around to combat oxidative damage. Oxidation isn’t setting things on fire. Rust is a form of oxidation.

If the damage is bad enough, usually the cell just commits suicide. What is REALLY bad is if there is oxidative damage that doesn’t kill the cell, and doesn’t get repaired, and does get passed on to the daughter cells after splitting. That’s one of many possible steps that can lead to aging/cancer/parkinsons/alzheimers/several other diseases. Free-radicals are also exploited by the immune system in order to kill infected cells.

Your body already has redundant systems in place to combat bad free-radical damage. Chugging blueberry juice ain’t gonna do squat.

[penny4nasa]

[sagansense]

Wise words from Neil deGrasse Tyson. This quote was directly taken from Tyson’s recent AMA on reddit and was a response to the question “what do you hope people will take away after watching the new Cosmos?”

People have expressed that after watching the original Cosmos with Carl Sagan they left feeling inspired and invigorated to actively learn more about the universe. Neil deGrasse Tyson also has this effect on many people who never cared about science before but do now.

Neil’s statement, “where the engines of tomorrow’s economies will derive from wise investments and innovations in science and technology,” reminds us of NASA and how their inventions like athletic shoes, memory foam, or digital cameras made huge contributions to our lives and the economy.

Investing wisely takes time to understand what you are placing your hopes into. NASA is worth a great investment and they always wow the world year after year. Doubling NASA’s budget would be beneficial for science and technology as well as inspiring the youth to solve tomorrow’s problems or even prevent them. If NASA means something to you and they are worth investing your time to make doubling their budget happen then let’s do it together and take action today.

http://www.penny4nasa.org/take-action/

via pennyfournasa

[collegekids-blog]

[ilovecharts]

via meghanwaslike

[sagansense]

"If people don’t have an understanding of what science is and what scientists do, then they can tend to think that global warming, for example, is just a matter of opinion."

Brian Cox (via sagansense)

[doctorwhogifs]

[geekishchic]

fucking boom

[fuckyeahcrossfit]

[imgfave]

[woodendreams]

(by KG Photographics)

[isaloserbel]

[freedomforwhales-blog]

I will never not reblog this gif

[chromaticillusions]

[youmightfindyourself]

What happens when you pay two monkeys unequally?

[lunsfuhd-deactivated20160714]

WATCH THIS NOW

[argyle4eva]

I just don’t get people who reject evolution and our relatedness to other critters.  Anyone who spends any time working with animals gets a pretty good sense we’re all on a continuum — and, at least among the mammals, we have some pretty similar thought processes (at a basic level) and reactions.  This is freakin’ hilarious proof of that.

[frizztastic]

I love this experiment.

[therascalfrommnl-blog]

[itsokaytobesmart]

The chemical formulas of various substances used to mimic plant-based aromas and flavors. 

Tastes like science.

[ne0scythian]

[mikelikesscience]

How Microorganisms Move This week’s episode of Coma Niddy University is a science parody to How Animals Eat Their Food. Watch me make a fool of myself imitating how different microbes move around. [Watch the Video]

[wrong-url-motherfucker]