The Science of Reality

Curious Earthlings "Science is not perfect. It's often misused; it's only a tool, but it's the best tool we have. Self-correcting, ever-changing, applicable to everything; with this tool, we vanquish the impossible." - Carl Sagan This is a general science blog, covering all fields & topics, that's run & written by Erin Mae who is a writer, amateur astronomer, science enthusiast, artist, & photographer. I love helping people discover the wonders of our universe through science; if you need any help, or just want to say hi, send a message here.

[thescienceofreality]

Discover more about one of the world’s most important recent scientific discoveries.

If you’ve ever drawn with a pencil, you’ve probably made graphene. The world’s thinnest material is set to revolutionise almost every part of everyday life.

Fascination with this material stems from its remarkable physical properties and the potential applications these properties offer for the future. Although scientists knew one atom thick, two-dimensional crystal graphene existed, no-one had worked out how to extract it from graphite.

That was until it was isolated in 2004 by two researchers at The University of Manchester, Prof Andre Geim and Prof Kostya Novoselov. This is the story of how that stunning scientific feat came about and why Andre and Kostya won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work.

[jthqp]

Carl Sagan Quote Print for The Planetary Society by Thomas Romer

[thescienceofreality]

Books!

A constant request/question I have always seemed to receive is recommendations for good books to read. Anything from sci-fi to purely informative books focusing on general sciences or specific fields. So what better way to get a good list together than to ask all of you lovely beings to participate in the building of an open list of selections. 

What are some of your favourite, scientifically-inclined reads?

[saywhatnow07]

FUCKING NASA

I’m fucking pissing myself. You know how all of Jupiter’s moons are named after his lovers and affairs? Yeah. NASA is sending a craft to check up on Jupiter. You know what the craft is called?

JUNO.

Who’s Juno?

JUPITER’S WIFE.

NASA IS SENDING JUPITER’S WIFE TO CHECK ON JUPITER AND HIS AFFAIRS AND LOVERS.

FUCKING NASA

[thescienceofreality]

Yup 👌😂

[thescienceofreality]

Hi, I found your blog via the #YesAllWomen post and thought I could ask you for your advice? I love science and I think I'd like to pursue at least a bachelor but a PhD would be the dream. But I'm somewhat worried about being a girl and being (slightly) alternative. Maths isn't my strong point but I make up for it by acing bio and chem. I'm sorry I don't have a very specific question. But I guess what I would like to know is, is there even a point?

Hello there!

         I’m  so glad you found TSR! I’m always open forgiving personal advice with such inquiries. First of all, thank you for thinking of me to submit your thoughts to and ask for mypersonal opinion. Secondly, I truly do hope you pursue your scientific love andachieve your goal of a Bachelors, and (hard work and drive willing) a PhD!

         Thisis a question I receive all the time, constantly, especially from females andthose who worry about their faults in mathematics. I think for anyone, theprospect of going into any STEM field professionally, and furthering one’seducation, tends to appear daunting and worrying, but also simultaneouslyexciting. Mathematics themselves are hard, but definitely worth mastering, orat least attempting to master (there’s always room to improve for all of us).

         I tendto bicker with mathematics (and myself over them) more times than not. I’vefound that many of us interested in, professionally working with, or seriouslypursuing education within STEM fields struggle with mathematics, but when itcomes to applying them to sciences that we are truly enamoured with, we tend toexcel more than personally expected.

         I’mgoing to tell you if you do continue down this road, it will be full of hardwork, long days and nights, frustration, and downfalls here and there. But thebest thing about all of this is it will help you grow and improve not onlywithin the sciences but mathematically. Please do not let the fear of not beingthe best within math, or being female for that matter, scare you away frompursuing this with all of your heart and mind! The worst thing you can do isgive up on something you are so passionate about. I encourage you and allothers that are questioning, “is there even a point?” to keep telling yourselfyes, there is a huge point. A point of getting a job in a field that you love,a point of growing not only mentally on an academic and professional level, butin a personal way as well.

Please keep on exploring, questioning, and growing,friend. Do yourself the favour of pursuing this, no matter your fear of being agirl (or alternative), nor your lack of flawless mathematic skills. There aremany in the same boat as you, and I believe the more people that pursue theirpassion in STEM fields (no matter their sexual, religious, or personaldifferentiations), the better our endeavours as a collective society willbecome.

Good luck with your journey, and if you ever needany more advice, or help with anything STEM related, I am always available hereor at my email address ([email protected]). I hope you do yourbest, and keep pushing yourself in every way possible.

Have a lovely rest of your day, and thanks againfor trusting me enough to open up and ask for my opinion! :]

-Erin Mae

[thescienceofreality]

It’s not how much science do you know, it’s how long do you keep asking questions?

Neil DeGrasse Tyson from Startalk Live! At The Apollo (Pt. 1)  

[thescienceofreality]

Juno Approaching Jupiter

Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Juno Mission

Explanation: Approaching over the north pole after nearly a five-year journey, Juno enjoys a perspective on Jupiter not often seen, even by spacecraft from Earth that usually swing by closer to Jupiter's equator. Looking down toward the ruling gas giant from a distance of 10.9 million kilometers, the spacecraft's JunoCam captured this image with Jupiter's nightside and orbiting entourage of four large Galilean moons on June 21. JunoCam is intended to provide close-up views of the gas giant's cloudy zoned and belted atmosphere and on July 4 (July 5 UT) Juno is set to burn its main engine to slow down and be captured into its own orbit. If all goes well, it will be the first spacecraft to orbit the poles of Jupiter, skimming to within 5,000 kilometers of the Jovian cloud tops during the 20 month mission.

[thescienceofreality]

Happy early Caturday, everyone. [:  Obviously, revising a sky-watching calendar for the rest of the year is only worthwhile with cats lying all over notes & chewing on your pens. 

On a more astronomical note, if anyone has any important sky-watching event(s) they know of coming up for the remainder of 2016 that they think should be included in TSR’s calendar, let me know below in the reply box, or through my inbox here. Suggestions are always appreciated. Meteor showers, eclipses, interesting planet visibility, or anything of the like?

[thescienceofreality]

I am a true space science lover. its my passion. I enjoy science and really hope to find someone to talk to about it, since I find it really interesting!

That’s absolutely fantastic! I slightly wish you had submitted this non-anonymously so other science-lovers reading this could find you and start some dialogue, but I understand how sometimes that can be overwhelming.

Either way, I hope you keep up your passion, and find like-minded people to interact with and produce lasting, helpful, and growing relations and conversations with! Sometimes the hardest part is getting yourself out there, but I’m sure you’ll achieve that. Good luck & don’t give up on that passion of yours, friend! 

If you ever have any questions or need a platform to start from, the science community on Tumblr is always very welcoming, helpful, and friendly! And of course I am always about, more so now than previously. [:

[compoundchem]

Foxgloves: both poison and medicine! More info/high-res image: http://wp.me/p4aPLT-1Tk

[currentsinbiology]

One of my garden favorites!

[thescienceofreality]

Hey there!

Thank you for the note, and I’m glad to say I’m officially back! I was moving around and without a stable computer for a few years, but I’m finally settled back in New England with a lovely new apartment and a very functioning, useful computer and stable internet connection! 

I’m pleased that I will be making posts regularly again,  and hopefully getting This Week in Science up & running before the end of my busy summer! [: 

Thanks to all who still follow me, and I’m excited to be back at science awareness and interacting with all of you lovely beings!

I will be working on updating all of my personal information, FAQs, and the page itself within the coming weeks. Feel free to submit any suggestions, questions, posts (and/or scientific information or news that you’d like to share with my audience), or just a friendly note. I’m looking forward to getting back on track. 

Hope you’re all enjoying the day! 

-Erin Mae @ The Science of Reality 

[thescienceofreality]

Check out these amazing energy facts that just might shock you:http://youtu.be/TnNixMosUIo

[ifartsparkswithkaty]

Value of Pi, written in Sanskrit by Arya Bhatta.

(X)

[bbsrc]

Antibiotic hunters

Bacteria known as Streptomyces (see images above) are the source of the majority of important antibiotics used in medicine today. These drugs have revolutionised the treatment of infectious disease since their introduction into clinical practice in the 1940s.

Recently, the World Health Organisation has warned of a “post-antibiotic era”, where people could die from simple infections that have been treatable for decades. This is because some disease-causing bacteria have evolved to become resistant to most currently used antibiotics, for example MRSA.

BBSRC investment in Streptomyces research since the 1960s has had a huge impact on our understanding and development of antibiotics, and scientists at the BBSRC-funded John Innes Centre are among those now using this knowledge to help discover and develop the new antibiotics needed to counter the threat of antibiotic resistance.

If you want to find out more about this area of research make sure you get yourself along to the Great British Bioscience Festival exhibit showing at the Science in Norwich Day on the 1 of June.

Read more: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/research/impact/streptomyces-antibiotics.aspx

Top image and middle image copyright: David Hopwood and Andrew Davis

Bottom image of copyright:Tobias Kieser

[rhamphotheca]

Butterflies near salted roads grow larger eyes and muscles

by Sandhya Sekar

You might be able to cut the salt in your diet, but the wildlife near salted roads doesn’t have a choice. It’s not all bad, though – salt may boost the brawn of butterflies.

When roads are salted in icy conditions, some of the run-off is taken up by plants. To find out if raised sodium levels in roadside plants might affect animals that feed on them, Emilie Snell-Rood at the University of Minnesota, St Paul, and her colleagues assessed local monarch butterflies, which feed on milkweed plants.

The team found that milkweed plants at the roadside contained 16 times as much sodium as those 100 metres away from the road. The butterflies reared on these plants had, on average, 6 times as much sodium in their bodies as those reared on prairie plants, and were less likely to survive beyond the caterpillar stage. But sodium is essential for the development of nerve and muscle tissue in animals, and those butterflies that did survive on high-sodium leaves also experienced a growth spurt: males had bigger flight muscles and females had significantly larger eyes…

(read more: New Scientist)

photograph by Bruce Coleman Inc./Alamy

[science-junkie]

BodyMaps

BodyMaps is an interactive visual search tool that allows users to explore the human body in 3-D. With easy-to-use navigation, users can search multiple layers of the human anatomy, view systems and organs down to their smallest parts, and understand in detail how the human body works.

Contacted by Maggie Danhakl @healthline.com

[corporisfabrica]

The vasculature and underlying musculature of the neck and surrounding regions.  Ascending the side of the neck is the common carotid artery. When you take your pulse at the side of your neck (try placing a finger just beneath the rear corner of the jaw), it is the pressure wave caused by ventricular systole of the heart that is felt in this vessel.  Illustration from Traité complet de l’anatomie de l’homme comprenant la médecine operatoire by Jean-Baptiste Marc Bourgery.