The discovery of the Higgs Boson is big news indeed, but it may make your head hurt the day after drinking all day in the sun. So if you just want some laughs, make sure to follow @HerpDerpParticle on Twitter, as they retweet religious people interpreting the discovery of the so-called “God Particle” as proof […]
Science!
Posted inMusic
OMSI’s After Dark Summer Concert Series Looks Rad
Radiation City, dropping science The summer installments of OMSI’s monthly OMSI After Dark series—in which the museum stays open for the evening, but is closed to pesky kids (which leaves plenty of room for lots of attractive adults in various states of inebriation)—are looking super-duper swell. This year they’re adding live shows from local bands […]
Posted inScience!
Portable Hot Tub
Look! You can take a portable hot tub with you when you go camping—just like those old people in the Cialis commercial, but you know, they took two cast-iron bathtubs with them for their sexy time. I think we should get one for the Mercury conference room. We can commission an inflatable teabag so our […]
Posted inScience!
Americans Believe Global Warming is Making the Weather Crazier
Now we’re getting somewhere: A poll due for release on Wednesday shows that a large majority of Americans believe that this year’s unusually warm winter, last year’s blistering summer and some other weather disasters were probably made worse by global warming. And by a 2-to-1 margin, the public says the weather has been getting worse, […]
Posted inMusic
Dead Can Dance: Holographic Tupac Rocks Coachella
Before I woke up this morning, it would have never occurred to me to type the phrase “Holographic Tupac” into Google. Now, not only have I done just that, but that search yields this video: First response from the people I’ve shown it to has ranged from “whoaaaaaa” to “SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING, THIS IS TOO […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Lindy West on Titanic 3D
yep, i’m still awesome at photoshop Titanic 3D starts screening tonight at midnight for those of you who simply can’t wait to experience it again. We did not review it, because (A) they didn’t screen it for critics, probably because (B) what’s the point, it’s Titanic. HOWEVER. Lindy West—who used to write for the Mercury […]
Posted inScience!
Monsanto 4 Kidz!
Potatoes taste great, kids! EAT THEM ALL. Okay, so the whole “evil Monsanto” conversation is old (albeit accurate) and so are the company’s attempts to silence it. But nothing says “turning over a new leaf” like a fun kids activity book about bioengineering, right? Monsanto and six other major bioengineering companies recently released a book […]
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Holy Solar Storm!
According to NASA (which, who knows, could be making it all up) the sun ejected two immense solar flares yesterday. While this sounds like the beginning of Meltdown 2012: Sun vs Earth, there really isn’t any need to be worried. So it seems. Check out this crazy video of the solar storm that started it […]
Posted inAstronomy
Today in You Are Tiny and Insignificant: Special Valentine’s Edition!
This is pretty incredible. Here’s a to-scale model of EVERYTHING, from the tiniest particle that exists up to the size of the known universe. You can scroll backward and forward and see it all; there’s the scaled size of a human, of a house, of Rhode Island, of Earth, of the Sun, of everything and […]
Posted inScience!
A Compost High
With the city’s compost program well underway, some folks still remain bitter about the idea (and leave grumpy messages on Sam Adam’s voicemail). But! Thanks to science, we may have found a new selling point besides simply bettering the environment: compost can get you high. Sarah Mirk Hey, you wanna get high? Behold M. vaccae, […]
Posted inGreen
Climate Change Conquered!
Okay, so maybe not entirely. But it’s something! flickr.com Mmmm…carbon Climate scientists from University of Southern California developed a kind of material — polyethylenimine, or PEI — that virtually acts as flypaper for carbon dioxide emissions. PEI essentially pulls these greenhouse gas molecules out of the air and holds onto them, preventing their proliferation into […]