I Tweeted A Pun And No One Appreciated My Humour. And Then I Got Really Distracted From My Chemistry

what do you think about chemical weapons and the use those weapons had against humanity? how do you feel about something as great as chemistry being used for such horrible things?

I’m sorry I just found this message buried in my inbox, so I don’t know when I received it.Short answer: Use chemistry for good. War bad. Chemical based war very bad. Be nice to other humans. Be nice to chemistry 

Device Rids Buses of Dangerous Pathogens The best place to enjoy a breath of fresh air may be a city bus, if Rice Univ. students have their way. A team of graduating seniors has created a system for public transit that would continually clear the air of pathogens that can lead to tuberculosis (TB), flu and pneumonia. The CityBusters – Joseph Spinella, Jerry Lue, Sundeep Mandava, Grace Ching and Shidong Chen, all seniors – have installed a $500 device on a METRO bus in Houston that has proven effective at killing 99.8 percent of the pathogens that circulate through the air-filtering system. The device, called FluProof, incorporates high-powered ultraviolet lamps that sterilize the air on the fly. Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Device-Rids-Busses-of-Dangerous-Pathogens-043012.aspx

That one time my roommate couldn't watch Shane's Asagao Academy stream so I live-texted it to her instead (part 2).

@didyouknowshaning‘s asagao stream part 2/part 1

Thanks to @secretagentpeptidebond for the documentation!

i think i did something actually worthwhile in science this week.

i was asked to review a children’s science book for accuracy, and upon doing so i noted that every scientist mentioned by name was a man, and the vast majority were white. i pointed this out to the publishers in my review letter.

surprisingly, my comments seemed well received. i was thanked for noticing what everyone else had missed, and they told me they were going to change the list of scientists they discussed to be more representative. so, yay? i may have actually had a positive impact on science education?

what am i even doing still stuck at the bench, pipetting shit.

It’s not technically science but I’m pretty proud of our creation. Behold, the Periodic Table of Cookies! (Bell peppers for obscuring identifying info.)

Sighing is actually a life-saving reflex, and scientists have found the switch that controls it

Here's why we all need to be sighing 12 times an hour.

Remember all those times your parents told you it was rude to sigh? Well, you can discount that advice entirely, because sighing’s actually a crucial reflex that keeps our lungs healthy, and researchers have just uncovered the switch in our brain that controls it.

The team identified two tiny clusters of neurons in the brain stem that automatically turn normal breaths into sighs when our lungs need some extra help - and they do this roughly every 5 minutes (or 12 times an hour), regardless of whether or not you’re thinking about something depressing.

“Unlike a pacemaker that regulates only how fast we breathe, the brain’s breathing centre also controls the type of breath we take,” said one of the researchers, Mark Krasnow, from Stanford University School of Medicine.

Solar System: 2016 Preview

What do we have planned for 2016? A return to the king of planets. A survey of mysterious Ceres. More postcards from Pluto. Anyone who follows solar system exploration in 2016 is in for quite a ride. Last year was one for the record books – and now here are 10 things to look forward to in the new year. See also: what we have planned agency wide for 2016.

Juno Arrives at Jupiter

July 4, 2016 is arrival day for the Juno mission, the first sent expressly to study the largest planet in the solar system since our Galileo mission in the 1990s. Humans have been studying Jupiter for hundreds of years, yet many basic questions about the gas world remain: How did it form? What is its internal structure? Exactly how does it generate its vast magnetic field? What can it tell us about the formation of other planets inside and outside our solar system? Beginning in July, we’ll be a little closer to the answers.

OSIRIS-REx Takes Flight

The OSIRIS-REx mission, short for Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer, sets sail for an asteroid in September. The spacecraft will use a robotic arm to pluck samples from the asteroid Bennu to help better explain our solar system’s formation and even find clues to how life began.

Dawn Sees Ceres Up Close

After an odyssey of many years and millions of miles, in December the Dawn spacecraft entered its final, lowest mapping orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. The intriguing world’s odd mountains, craters and salty deposits are ready for their close-ups. We can expect new images of the starkly beautiful surface for months.

Cassini Commences Its Grand Finale

In late 2016, the Cassini spacecraft will begin a daring set of orbits called the Grand Finale, which will be in some ways like a whole new mission. Beginning this year and extending into next, the spacecraft will repeatedly climb high above Saturn’s poles, flying just outside its narrow F ring 20 times. After a last targeted Titan flyby, the spacecraft will then dive between Saturn’s uppermost atmosphere and its innermost ring 22 times. As Cassini plunges past Saturn, the spacecraft will collect rich and valuable information far beyond the mission’s original plan.

New Horizons Sends More Postcards from Pluto

We have stared slack-jawed at the images and discoveries from last year’s Pluto flyby, but the fact is that most of the data that New Horizons collected remains on board the spacecraft. In 2016, we’ll see a steady release of new pictures — and very likely some expanded answers to longstanding questions.

Mars Missions March Forward

With five of our missions continuing their Martian quests, 2016 should be a good year for discoveries on the Red Planet.

Mars Odyssey

Mars Opportunity

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mars Curiosity

MAVEN

Mercury Transits the Sun

A transit is a very rare astronomical event in which a planet passes across the face of the sun. In May, Mercury will transit the sun, on of only thirteen Mercury transits each century on average.

LRO Keeps an Eagle Eye On the Moon

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will extend its run in 2016, scanning the moon’s surface with its sharp-eyed instruments, investigating everything from lava tube skylights to changes at the Apollo landing sites.

Spacecraft Fly Under Many Flags

Our partner agencies around the world will be flying several new or continuing planetary missions to destinations across the solar system:

Akatsuki at Venus

ExoMars

Mars Express

Mars Orbiter Mission

Rosetta at Comet 67/P

Technology Demonstration Missions Push the Envelope

We’re always looking for new frontiers on distant worlds, as well as the technology that will take us there. This year, several missions are planned to take new ideas for a spin in space:

Deep Space Atomic Clock

NODES

LDSD

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Louise Langgaard | See more work

Science fight in the current issue of J Immunology.