discoverynews:

Ravens Remember and Greet You Accordingly
When you go outside, do the birds sound happy or angry when they see you? New research has found that at least one group of birds, ravens, remembers prior interactions with people and varies calls based on those earlier experiences.
So it’s not too far fetched to think that if you bothered a bird some time ago, the bird might unleash the avian version of swearing the next time you approach.
The research, published in Current Biology, adds to the growing body of evidence that birds remember the appearance and voices of individuals, along with their prior encounters with them. Last year we told you how crows don’t forget faces, for example.
keep reading

discoverynews:

Ravens Remember and Greet You Accordingly

When you go outside, do the birds sound happy or angry when they see you? New research has found that at least one group of birds, ravens, remembers prior interactions with people and varies calls based on those earlier experiences.

So it’s not too far fetched to think that if you bothered a bird some time ago, the bird might unleash the avian version of swearing the next time you approach.

The research, published in Current Biology, adds to the growing body of evidence that birds remember the appearance and voices of individuals, along with their prior encounters with them. Last year we told you how crows don’t forget faces, for example.

keep reading

blamoscience:

Porpita porpita—the blue button jelly —is a neustonic species mostly found in the tropics; that is, it floats right neat the surface of the water. The circular disc is made of chitin and filled with gas, allowing these jellies to float. The tentacles (zooids) radiating from the disc do all the feeding. MIT/WHOI graduate student Kelly Rakow collected this one while diving in the waters near the Liquid Jungle Lab in Panama. (Photo by Kelly Rakow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
In case it wasn’t obvious, I have a serious love for WHOI.

blamoscience:

Porpita porpita—the blue button jelly —is a neustonic species mostly found in the tropics; that is, it floats right neat the surface of the water. The circular disc is made of chitin and filled with gas, allowing these jellies to float. The tentacles (zooids) radiating from the disc do all the feeding. MIT/WHOI graduate student Kelly Rakow collected this one while diving in the waters near the Liquid Jungle Lab in Panama. (Photo by Kelly Rakow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

In case it wasn’t obvious, I have a serious love for WHOI.

Tags: science

(Source: larryisazombie)

"Human brains are so constructed that one
brain responds in much the same way to a
given trigger as does another brain, all things
being equal. This is why a baby can learn any
language; it responds to triggers in the same
way as any other baby."

D. Hofstadter (Professor of cognitive science)

jtotheizzoe:

The io9 TV Show Has Launched!

One of my favorite blogs (we’re link buddies) has now launched a science and tech video series! Looking forward to this. A mix of live science and coverage of their quirky news and science culture headlines it looks like.

Have your people call my people, io9.

eduardo-:

Bioluminescence in the Gippsland Lakes

Noctiluca scintillans doing what it does best in the Gippsland Lakes, a small chain of inland lakes in Victoria, Australia.

The events that transpired to make this happen are quite miraculous; firstly there was widespread fires in Victoria that burned pretty intensely for quite some time. Then, they were followed by intense flooding that inundated many areas of Gippsland amongst others. The basic effect was that floodwaters carried nutrient-rich soil and ash from the higher reaches into the Gippsland basin, leading to a eutrophic condition in which algae and bacteria can thrive.

This gave rise to a particularly prolific cyanobacteria getting a foothold, Synechococcus. Essentiallysmothering the lake in cellular life, it gave an opportunity for some pretty special creatures to breed prolifically given an abundant food source - Noctiluca scintillans, a bioluminescent Dinoflagellate.

And so, you end up with photographs like this. A once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, captured for all to share.

Photo source: http://philhart.com/content/bioluminescence-gippsland-lakes

"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology."

— Carl Sagan (via nothingdreadfuleverhappens)

jtotheizzoe:

burtondurand:

Quick sketch of Neil deGrasse Tyson receiving orders from Pluto.

I KNEW IT.
How else would he know how to communicate with this guy?

jtotheizzoe:

burtondurand:

Quick sketch of Neil deGrasse Tyson receiving orders from Pluto.

I KNEW IT.

How else would he know how to communicate with this guy?

jtotheizzoe:

crookedindifference:

The Most Astounding Fact by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer.

When you take something great, like the musings of the mind of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, and combine it with something else great, like stunning images of life and wonder on and off of Earth … you get this.

It’s the sort of video that makes you prop your chin up in your hand, with your head tilted just so (yeah, like that), as you stare at your computer screen mumbling things like “Ahhh“ and “Wooahh” and other unintelligible noises that mean “I approve of this, and it makes me feel good.

Watch it once, then twice, then with a friend.

“When I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, ’cause they’re small and the Universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.”

-Neil deGrasse Tyson

(Source: beejayway, via likeaphysicist)