Dalek Wood Burner By Owen James Of Maven Industies

“Perhaps Carl Sagan’s life’s work is just now bearing new fruit. He inspired enough of the Earth’s citizens to take our place in space seriously; to know and appreciate the fragility of our world; that we have so far avoided a nuclear weapon war; that we started thinking about the climate of Mars and especially the climate of Venus as compared with the climate of Earth; that his landmark television series is being updated and broadcast in new generations. There are more science websites today than ever in history; more science interest than in the last 30 years. Perhaps this new fruit will help us - dare I say it - change the world. Perhaps we’ve begun a new enlightened era of scientific discovery that will soon include people from everywhere. Although it has taken decades, Carl Sagan may yet save the world as we know it.” – Bill Nye The Science Guy speaking at The Library of Congress during ‘A Celebration of Carl Sagan’ to celebrate the official opening of the Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive to the public at the Library of Congress. [x]

It’s true, our mere existence is a miracle. 

“I could do so much more.”

Two of my favorite movies.

I once discussed with some rightwinged people about ethnicity. And they said that blacks were a "subhuman" race because they are "obviously" less intelligent than other ethnic groups and that they never invented something or had a culture as Europeans or Persian cultures. But I honestly didn't have a good answer. Do you have some resources on why blacks haven't made such things in comparison to other ethnic groups?

I’m not going to pretend that I’m surprised or shocked to hear this because I, too, live in America, and have encountered this from Conservative Republicans aka Conservative Christians aka Evangelicals aka oblivious racists who claim they aren’t racist because they either have a black friend or have / “know” (talk to, from time to time) some black people in their lives (who have absolutely no idea how racist they are because the don’t actually “know” them, they simply hold basic, watered-down conversations with no substance that allows said white person to be chummy without actually divulging anything about themselves. That being said… 

Point any racist but “totally not racist” people to the ‘List of African-American inventors and scientists’ on Wikipedia; The Black inventor Online Museum because that’s a thing; and I also recommend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s beautiful and enlightening kid-friendly book ‘What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors’ (image below): 

Share with them the ‘History of science and technology in Africa’ on Wikipedia; and for those you encounter who know that there are such things as libraries and museums but can’t seem to you know, make an effort to actually visit them, there’s a resource for that provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services called, appropriately, ‘The Digital Public Library of America’ which permits you to look up local libraries nearest you via address or zip code.

Find Your Library (alternative sources here, here, and here)

Below are some recommended educational programs I highly recommend as well, for the “visual learner”….

FIRST PEOPLES (PBS)

See how the mixing of prehistoric human genes led the way for our species to survive and thrive around the globe. Archaeology, genetics and anthropology cast new light on 200,000 years of history, detailing how early humans became dominant. 

Review here.

BECOMING HUMAN (NOVA)

Nothing is more fascinating to us than, well, us. Where did we come from? What makes us human? An explosion of recent discoveries sheds light on these questions, and NOVA’s comprehensive, three-part special, “Becoming Human,” examines what the latest scientific research reveals about our hominid relatives—putting together the pieces of our human past and transforming our understanding of our earliest ancestors.

Featuring interviews with world-renowned scientists, each hour unfolds with a CSI-like forensic investigation into the life and death of a specific hominid ancestor. The programs were shot “in the trenches” where discoveries were unearthed throughout Africa and Europe. Dry bones spring back to life with stunning computer-generated animation and prosthetics. Fossils not only give us clues to what early hominids looked like, but, with the aid of ingenious new lab techniques, how they lived and how we became the creative, thinking humans of today.

Review here.

THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN JOURNEY (BBC)

A five-episode, 300 minute, science documentary film presented by Alice Roberts, based on her related book. The film was first broadcast on BBC television in May and June 2009 in the UK. It explains the evidence for the theory of early human migrations out of Africa and subsequently around the world, supporting the Out of Africa Theory. This theory claims that all modern humans are descended from anatomically modern African Homo sapiens rather than from the more archaic European and Middle Eastern Homo neanderthalensis or the indigenous Chinese Homo pekinensis, and that the modern African Homo sapiens did not interbreed with the other species of genus Homo. Each episode concerns a different continent, and the series features scenes filmed on location in each of the continents featured.

Related review of Alice Roberts’ book by the same name of which this program was adapted, here.

ORIGINS OF US (BBC)

Science series telling the story of human evolution through changes in human anatomy, examining how the human body has adapted through seven million years of evolution.

PREHISTORIC AUTOPSY (BBC)

A journey into our evolutionary past, piecing together the bodies of our prehistoric family, discussing the remains of early hominins such as Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and Australopithecus afarensis.

‘CHILDREN OF AFRICA (THE STORY OF US)’ (melodysheep)

With referenced material from BBC Incredible Human Journey, BBC Ascent of Man, BBC Life of Mammals, BBC Human Planet, BBC Walking With Cavemen, and excerpts from various lectures, ‘Children of Africa’ is a musical celebration of humanity, its origins, and achievements, contrasted with a somber look at our environmentally destructive tendencies and deep similarities with other primates. Featuring Jacob Bronowski, Alice Roberts, Carolyn Porco, Jane Goodall, Robert Sapolsky, Neil deGrasse Tyson and David Attenborough.

ORIGINS: THE JOURNEY OF HUMANKIND (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC)

Hosted by Jason Silva, Origins: The Journey of Humankind rewinds all the way back to the beginning and traces the innovations that made us modern.

Related interview/reviews here, here, here, and here.

‘ORIGINS’ ANNOUNCEMENT TRAILER PRODUCED BY MELODYSHEEP

Of course, I could go on and on and on referencing various resources to provide people who have unintentionally “inherited” this perspective or who are stuck in a feedback loop within their echo chamber of ignorance, but let’s be honest, the only thing that can actually influence impactful change into a racist person’s mind is the will to self educate, and personal human experience obtained from intimate conversation with diverse ethnicities and cultures. I do hope this helps.

Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!

Stinger, Top Gun (1986)

He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. And... he's wonderful.

Tim Latimer, The Family of Blood

I'm really excited for the arrival of New Horizons at Pluto!!!! Is there anything that you could share with us about it? I know you work at NASA so have you learned anything else that the public may not know?

I’m also super excited for the New Horizons probe to reach Pluto! - you’re not the only one to ask about this - I’ll gladly share what I know! Thanks for the great question:

Facts About New Horizons Approaching Pluto:

Transmission: Data Communications takes 4 and a half hours to reach earth. The data is sent across space at 1 kilobit per second… that is super slow, but also super efficient (see power bullet below). When the probe flies by Pluto all of its instruments will begin taking data. that data will then take 16 mounts to send back to earth.

Power Generation: The Probe is powered by Nuclear Power - known as an RTG (Radioisotope thermoelectric generator)! unlike solar power, Nuclear power does not degrade as it gets farther from the Sun. If the probe had solar panels, they would be many of times larger than the probe because sunlight is 1,000 times fainter at Pluto than it is at Earth.

Power Supply: The New Horizons probe runs on only 250 Watts / 30 Volts - that’s less power than a blender. This power restriction means that all of New Horizon’s systems are optimized for low power, which is why transmission takes so long.

Science Payloads: The New Horizons probe has 7 Science Payloads:

LORRI - The Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is a long-focal-length imager designed for high resolution and responsivity at visible wavelengths.

SWAP - Solar Wind At Pluto (SWAP) is a toroidal electrostatic analyzer and retarding potential analyzer (RPA).

PEPSSI - Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) is a time of flight ion and electron sensor.

Alice - is an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer that makes one (of two) photographic instruments comprising the Exploration Remote Sensing Investigation (PERSI).

Ralph - The Ralph telescope, 6 cm (2.4 in) in aperture, is one of two photographic instruments that make up New Horizons‍ '​ Pluto Exploration Remote Sensing Investigation (PERSI).

SDC - The Student Dust Counter (SDC), built by students at the University of Colorado Boulder, will operate continuously through the trajectory to make dust measurements.

REX - The Radio Science Experiment (REX) will use an ultrastable crystal oscillator and some additional electronics to conduct radio science investigations.

The LORRI Imager: LORRI - or the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager - is what will be giving us awesome images of Pluto’s surface and its moon Cheron. Even with the Hubble space telescope we were only able get very bad images of Pluto, but with LORRI and the other imagers we will be able to see fine details. Look at this comparison of a Hubble image and an image taken with LORRI on july 8th. It is important to note that this image is still 6 days away from closest approach and 5,328,000 miles away from Pluto - AND it is now our best image. (calculated from escape speed * time. sources below)

Pluto & Charon From Hubble:

Pluto & Charon From LORRI on New Horizons:

On Board Spectrometers: The New Horizons probe has 4 on board spectrometers - these analyze light to see what the source material is made of. They will be useful in determining what Pluto is made of, what Pluto’s atmosphere is made of, and the composition of structures of the Pluto’s surface. New Horizons instruments such as Alice, Ralph, PEPSSI, and SWAP all have one of these devices.

Random Things It Contains: The probe also contains 2 CDs of those who helped the mission, two US quarters and flags, and the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh - the man who discovered Pluto in 1930. At the time scientist were looking for an elusive Planet X - which we now know doesn’t exist - that is what prompted Clyde’s discovery of Pluto (Image Below):

Thanks for the great questions everyone, you’re a really awesome and curious bunch! Feel free to ask about any space stuff that you are curious about. If you see anything wrong with my posts please let me know! I’m here to promote scientific literacy and I wouldn’t want to spread false information.

Credit/Sources: Hubble, NASA & John’s Hopkins, Vox, Wikipedia, Whole Sale Items (for compairison to house hold items power), (Also I work at NASA, so I just know some of it)