Oh, To Be A Dutch Resident Armed With Rotten Eggs,

TIL the brains of rats have a “random mode” that is switched on when they are in unfamiliar situations

via reddit.com

cat who hacksd the no fly list literally my hero

Please reblog if you vote. I will attempt to draw the animal when the poll closes

another ant mimic jumping spider from Singapore. this one might have been the most antlike out of any spider I’ve ever seen, with a little crease on its opisthosoma to look like an ant’s segmented abdomen and posterior lateral eyes set to look like an ant’s angular head!

Myrmaplata sp.

Rant 1: Gravity and Predicting the Future (Physics,History)

Okay I know a lot of us here don't like physics a lot, and I can agree when it comes to weird formulae and counterintuitive theorems, but bear with me for a second here, it gets intersting

Newton's universal law of gravitation. Any science student has seen it at some point in their study lives and love it or hate it, it represents what's keeping the universe from spinning out of order (at least at a larger scale).

As students who are made to tediously calculate the force acting between two arbitrary planets we might not appreciate this simple equation too much, but it marks an important turning point in the history of the human race: where we finally managed to gain a true scientific and mathematical insight into the movements on our planet and those that occured in the infinite heavens above.

A: Halley's Comet

The ubiquitous equation appeared in the first volume of Sir Isaac Newton's Principia which was presented to the Royal Society. Although the Principia managed to explain a lot of observations, some of which remain remarkably relevant today, Newton's research on comets on comets was incomplete. This is where Edmund Halley, Newton's editor, publisher and friend steps in.

Using Newton's Laws of Gravitation and Motion for the mathematical aspect, Halley analysed 24 cometary observations and found a pattern emerging in the path of one that had been observed in 1682. Based on historical records the same comet had zoomed past earth in 1607 and 1531. If his work and Newton's theorems were correct, he predicted, in 1705, that the comet should return in 1758.

Lo and behold! A Christmas miracle! On 25th December, 1758, Johann Palitzsch, a German amateur astronomer, witnessed Halley's comet. Halley himself had died in 1742 and could not witness the momentous occasion, but the celestial body's return cemented Newton's work in the scientific community and remained unshaken for over two centuries until Einstein came up with General Relativity.

B: Newton can't be wrong, it must be an entire other planet!

With better telescope systems, astronomers were able to peer farther into space than before, the discovery and observation of Uranus, however raised controversy, since its orbit did not comply with the predictions from Newton's laws.

Many were ready to believe that the giant had fallen: Newton's age old theory had been disproven and it was time to move on, but a few scientists like John Couch Addams proposed an unseen planet whose gravitation caused anomalies Uranus' orbit.

About 4 years after Couch's proposal, in 1845, Urbain Le Verrier, a French astronomer and mathematician started the tedious work of calculating this invisible planet's location, purely from the motion of Uranus and mechanics. After many months of complex calculation, he presented his solution to the French academy on 31st August 1846.

On 23rd September in the same year Neptune was observed with a telescope for the first time and its location was within 1° of Le Verrier's prediction. Which is an utterly wild achievement, considering that it was the first time that a human had discovered a planet at the tip of their pen.

C: But it's outdated!

Yea yea Einstein's Theory of General Relativity is a much better explanation of gravitational phenomena, but even today, Newton's approach provides a REALLY good approximation of how it works. The only cases where Newton's theorems don't work are those with extreme gravity: such as black holes or between the Sun and Mercury.

So the next time when you're solving a question on gravity, maybe you'll appreciate the sheer power of the human mind and this tiny equation: that lead to our first great leaps in astronomy and still power things like air travel and architecture. Or you'll appreciate it thinking, "hey, at least I don't have to sit around for months trying to find something that I haven't even seen". Either way, you'll hopefully like this part of physics just a tiny bit more :)

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Jumping spider, Phiale guttata, Salticidae

Found from Mexico down through Brazil

Photos 1-2 by jorgearrestre4, 3-5 by benoit_segerer, 6-7 by mason_s, 8 by b_louboutin, and 9-10 (for scale) by isaof

Certain words can change your brain forever and ever so you do have to be very careful about it.

son we pray to the Pork Clock in this household

unanswered thoughts about where consciousness comes from, and the degrees with which consciousness exists, rooted in the perception of body and time