Prepare For Field Research Mayhem

This is an art project I made in seventh grade, and to this day is the coolest thing I’ve ever made. It can be a wall decoration or a costume peice or whatever you want to do with it short of stopping an actual sword. If anybody is curious as to how one makes something like this, you need: - a big ass piece of cardboard - a big ass piece of foil - a shitload of Elmer’s liquid glue - a box cutter or super strong scissors - masking tape - a sponge - shoe polish - steel wool - a pencil and eraser if you like - (a straightedge and/or yardstick?) - (protractor?) Take the bigass piece of cardboard and draw your design in pencil. You’ll be raising lines or areas with the glue, so keep that in mind with your design. The raised will be the lighter parts. If you like, you can use a straightedge or something to make it look neater. Put a layer of glue over every line you want raised. Do the edges of every large area, but don’t fill it in yet. Let it dry, then repeat until you have a sizable bump. Fill in any raised areas you want with more glue (you will need a ton). Try to not let the glue run over the raised edges of the planes. It’ll take a while to dry after that. Once your design is glued to your satisfaction, let it dry. Trim the edges using the box cutter to get it to the shape you want. Then spread a layer of glue over the top of your project and carefully lay down the big ass piece of foil over the top. Be very careful not to wrinkle it too much, but spread it down as close to the surface as possible without ripping it. Fold the excess foil around the back and secure it with glue and masking tape. Take a sponge and shoe polish and apply liberally over the top of your project. Let it dry. Take the steel wool and rub the shoe polish off of the areas that are raised and supposed to be silver as opposed to black. Voila! A beautiful shield of your own design. Depending on how you want to use it, you can either attach a handle or something to the back or a method of hanging it from the wall. Enjoy!

Vulcanize-Charles Goodyear and the Roman god of Fire

The early nineteenth century saw tremendous advances in chemistry, with scientists leading teams all across the world to improve both science in general and industrial processes in particular.  Leading the charge to improve rubber compounds was Charles Goodyear (born on this day, December 29, 1800, died July 1, 1860) who devoted his life and health to improving rubber compounds.  Self taugh Goodyear ran a hardware store in Philadelphia and realized early that improved rubber goods would transform manufacturing.

He toyed with the chemistry of rubber manufacturing for two decades before hitting upon heating the rubber as the most important part of the process by accident.  He was awarded a patent for vulcanizing rubber in 1844 for his efforts, though he still did not fully understand the process or what exactly was happening.  Enduring backruptcy, jail, and personal tragedy, Goodyear died at the age of 59, collapsing at the news of his daughter’s death and never recovering.  

The verb vulcanize was coined between 1820-1844 (several disputed dates are offered) to describe the process of changing something by adding heat or fire, from Vulcan, the Roman god of Fire.  By 1846, the word was in wide circulation thanks to Goodyear’s patent.  The company that bears his name today was actually founded almost 40 years after his death in honor of his contributions to the science of rubber compounds but also to capitalize on his fame and reputation.  Etymologically, the name Vulcan (Volcānus or Vulcānus) has unclear origins.  Some liguists connect the name with the Cretan god Velchanos, while others dispute this with no clear etymology.  Vulcan’s earliest temple in Rome dates to 8th century BCE.

Image of vulcanization of rubber showing polymer bonds and portrait of Goodyear both in the public domain.  Image of Vulcan at the Forge by Marco Dente (Italian, c. 1493 - 1527) in the public domain, via the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Vote down ballot - the presidency isn't the only office of importance!

Time for another political essay. If you’re not an American citizen or able to vote in this upcoming election, my apologies.

I make no secret that I fucking despise Donald Trump. I actually like Hillary Clinton, which seems to be a weird rarity considering the amount of good work she’s done and the fact that all of the bad press about her is the result of the Republicans trying (and failing) to tear her and her husband down for thirty years.

Trump is now trailing far behind Clinton, which I consider a cause for celebration. But it is NOT a cause for complacency.

The biggest landslide election in US history was the election of Warren G. Harding in 1920, when Harding won with about 60% of the vote to his opponent’s 34.2%.

Some polls are reporting Trump with as little as 35% of the popular vote right now.

If turnout is large enough and loud enough, we can make Donald Trump the least supported major candidate in US history. Since the recording of him bragging about sexual assault came out, he has turned to dragging the whole election into the mud by striking back at Bill Clinton’s affairs; the usual goal of that kind of tactic is to drive down voter turnout. Trump’s band of Redcaps is pretty much guaranteed to vote, so they figure if they reduce turnout enough, they’ll win.

I want their plan to fail. I want their plan to fail so fucking spectacularly that NO ONE will dare to run for President on a platform of thinly-veiled fascism again.

The Republicans thought the House of Representatives was safe this year. In 2010, they gerrymandered the shit out of district lines to keep the House safe for them for at least ten years. But there’s a problem with gerrymandering: if the demographics shift unexpectedly between censuses, then suddenly a lot of districts wind up flipping against the party that the gerrymandering was meant to support. And Donald Trump is driving away the Republicans’ most secure core of voters, the evangelicals. And as I’ve said before: Congress is MORE important than the presidency.

If turnout is strong enough, and if people vote down ballot, the possibility exists for a massive upset. A Democratic presidency, a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate. They’re within our grasp. All you need to do, voters, is show up.

Motherfuckers don’t want you to vote. Young people, people of color, women, LGBTQ+ folks–they want you to be scared away, or to be convinced that voting doesn’t matter. They want your voice silenced. Don’t give the fuckers the satisfaction of letting it happen.

GO VOTE. VOTE DOWN-BALLOT. MAKE TRUMP THE BIGGEST LOSER IN US HISTORY.

IF YOU CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO VOTE OUT OF CONVICTION, THEN DO IT OUT OF SPITE.

Our Most “Liked” Instagram Posts of 2016

Our Instagram page has over 1,800 images and is lucky enough to be followed by more than 18 million fans.

What images and videos were your favorite from this past year? Great question, and one we asked ourselves too! 

Here’s a look at our most liked Instagram posts* of 2016…Enjoy!

#10

Colorful “last hurrah’ of a star: The Hubble Space Telescope shows off the colorful “last hurrah” of a star like our sun. The star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star’s remaining core. With 513,672 likes, this image is our 10th most liked of 2016.

#9

Vivid glowing auroras in Jupiter’s atmosphere! Astronomers are using the Hubble Space Telescope to study auroras – stunning light shows in a planet’s atmosphere – on the poles of the largest planet in the solar system. This image ranks #9 for 2016 with 515,339 likes.

#8

Astronomers found evidence for what is likely one of the most extreme pulsars, or rotating neutron stars, ever detected. The source exhibits properties of a highly magnetized neutron star, or magnetar, yet its deduced spin period is thousands of times longer than any pulsar ever observed. With 517,995 likes, this picture ranks #8 for 2016.

#7

Fiery South Atlantic Sunset! An astronaut aboard the International Space Station photographed a sunset that looks like a vast sheet of flame. With Earth’s surface already in darkness, the setting sun, the cloud masses, and the sideways viewing angle make a powerful image of the kind that astronauts use to commemorate their flights. This image ranks #7 for 2016 with 520,553 likes.

#6

Go floating! Join us for a fly-through of the International Space Station! This footage was shot using a fisheye lens for extreme focus and depth of field. This video ranks as our sixth most liked Instagram post of 2016 with 541,418 likes.

#5

This #BlackFriday post helped us celebrate our 4th annual #BlackHoleFriday! Each year we pose awesome content about black holes on the Black Friday shopping holiday. A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. With 549,910 likes, this image ranks #5 for 2016.

#4

A cluster of young stars – about one to two million years old – located about 20,000 light years from Earth. Data in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope (green and blue) reveal thick clouds where the stars are forming. This image ranks #4 for 2016 with 573,002 likes.

#3

Supermoon is a spectacular sight! The Nov. 14 supermoon was especially “super” because it was the closest full moon to Earth since 1948. We won’t see another supermoon like this until 2034. Which might have something to do with this image ranking #3 for 2016 with 695,343 likes.

#2

Supermoon seen from space! Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson posted this image on Dec. 14 captured by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet. This stunning image ranks #2 for 2016 with 704,530 likes.

#1

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no, it’s a #supermoon! The moon, or supermoon, is seen rising behind the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Kazakhstan ahead of the November crew launch to the International Space Station. This photo was our #1 image of 2016 with 746,981 likes.

Thanks for joining us as we traveled through the space events of 2016. We’re looking forward to all of the interstellar fun that 2017 will bring. Happy Holidays!

Do you want to get amazing images of Earth from space, see distant galaxies and more on Instagram? Of course you do! Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/nasa/

*Posts and rankings are were taken as of Dec. 21, 2016.

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

I can see the good this could do, but all too easily this could be just another tool for Big Brother

At just 1.2 pounds and eight inches long, the camera-equipped rolling robot can be quite literally tossed like a football onto rooftops or through building windows. Its design ensures it lands upright in pretty much any situation where it hits a flat surface, and once deployed it can stealthily move under furniture, cars, or other cover and beam back live video to a command station 1,000 feet away. It is designed to be controlled by an operator working alongside it via a simple joystick control that also sports a small display that provides a ‘bots’-eye view.

Such a cool apartment, I like the mini-window between the bedroom and sitting area.

Two New Missions to Explore the Early Solar System

We’ve got big science news…!

We’ve just added two more science missions to our lineup! The two selected missions have the potential to open new windows on one of the earliest eras in the history of our solar system – a time less than 10 millions years after the birth of our sun.

The missions, known as Lucy and Psyche, were chosen from five finalists and will proceed to mission formulation.

Let’s take a dive into each mission…

Lucy

Lucy, a robotic spacecraft, will visit a target-rich environment of Jupiter’s mysterious Trojan asteroids. Scheduled to launch in October 2021, the spacecraft is slated to arrive at its first destination, a main asteroid belt, in 2025. 

Then, from 2027 to 2033, Lucy will explore six Jupiter Trojan asteroids. These asteroids are trapped by Jupiter’s gravity in two swarms that share the planet’s orbit, one leading and one trailing Jupiter in its 12-year circuit around the sun. The Trojans are thought to be relics of a much earlier era in the history of the solar system, and may have formed far beyond Jupiter’s current orbit.

Studying these Trojan asteroids will give us valuable clues to deciphering the history of the early solar system.

Psyche

The Psyche mission will explore one of the most intriguing targets in the main asteroid belt – a giant metal asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, about three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth. The asteroid measures about 130 miles in diameter and, unlike most other asteroids that are rocky or icy bodies, it is thought to be comprised of mostly metallic iron and nickel, similar to Earth’s core.

Scientists wonder whether psyche could be an exposed core of an early planet that could have been as large as Mars, but which lost its rocky outer layers due to a number of violent collisions billions of years ago.

The mission will help scientists understand how planets and other bodies separated into their layers early in their histories. The Psyche robotic mission is targeted to launch in October of 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, following an Earth gravity assist spacecraft maneuver in 2024 and a Mars flyby in 2025.

Get even more information about these two new science missions HERE. 

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

A Brief Intro To Pre-historic Egypt

Humans have lived in the Nile River valley since at least 30,000 BCE. Stone age communities hunted, gathered, and fished in the fertile river valley. Then, around 5,500 BCE, agricultural communities emerged. Over the next 3,400 years the communities became self-governing. Each community developed independently and at different rates politically, economically, socially, and culturally.  Then suddenly, by 3,100 BCE, Egypt was politically unified with a highly efficient bureaucratic system and elaborate kingship rites worshiping a single ruler. How the transition happened between each of these stages of Egyptian history is an argument historians and archaeologists are still having.

Bacteriophage. This is one of a few pieces I’ve submitted to a gallery show I’m having with my friends/coworkers at Tr!ckster in Berkeley. Tried a somewhat different approach than my usual on this one, and I like it. 

Probably will have little prints available soon.