M. Kornmesser, ESO Astronomers at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom announced today that they’ve discovered the BIGGEST STAR EVER. R136a1 is 265 times bigger than the sun (astronomers have previously assumed the largest a star could get is 150 times bigger), and it’s 10 million times brighter and seven times hotter. Even […]
Science!
Posted inHealth
Fun With Laser Eye Surgery
On Friday afternoon I did something I’ve wanted to do since I was seven years old and got my first pair of glasses: I got LASIK! People keep asking me to describe what it was like, and the closest comparison I can make is that it was a lot like how people describe having been […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Tik Tok to the Future.
It’s nothin’ compared to the Star Trek one, but the parade of Ke$ha YouTube remixes continues—this time with some help from Marty and Doc Brown. As you all know, anything that’s even remotely related to Back to the Future is something that I love, and thus is something that gets posted on Blogtown. Thanks, Topless […]
Posted inScience!
The Case Has Been Cracked!
British scientists who clearly have nothing better to do, have apparently solved the age-old riddle which constantly plagues humanity – which came first, the chicken or the egg? The scientists claim that the chicken came first because a protein necessary for the creation of an egg is only found in the chicken’s ovaries. Bam. Mystery […]
Posted inFashion
The Microbial Soup Dinner Jacket
All you need to make this fetching little wardrobe staple are “at least a couple of bathtubs, some yeast, a pinch of bacteria, and several cups of sweetened green tea.” This is an example of “BioCotoure” or “biofilm wearables,” currently on display at the London Science Museum. Designer Suzanne Lee has been busy developing this […]
Posted inScience!
OMSI Selling Old Exhibits
Moneyville is for sale! So is “Engineer It!” I know you’ve been wondering what to do with your extra 5,000 square feet. Lucky for you, OMSI is having a sale on its retired exhibits. You could have a “highly interactive exhibition” of your very own. Hat tip to Nathalie Weinstein.
Posted inFood and Drink
Shaking Up the Salt Assault
Evil? The application of salt on food has done much to buoy up society’s tireless march towards progress. Salted meat allowed for preservation of protein, which strengthened pioneers as they crossed vast unexplored distances. And in modern times, salted snack foods allow tireless programmers the sustenance to code the world into the impossibly bright technological […]
Posted inVideo Games
Holy Shit, Here’s Portal 2.
Okay, so Nintendo’s 3DS looks badass, there’s a new Zelda for the Wii, and BioWare’s latest CG trailer for The Old Republic makes me sadder than ever that the game’s an MMO instead of another great single-player RPG. But honestly, nothing at this year’s E3 has me even half as excited as this brief glimpse […]
Posted inBikes
Worst. Night. Ever. #4: Cycle the Well Field
Photos courtesy of the Columbia Slough Watershed Council Dear Blogtownies, I feel like you haven’t really gotten a handle on this Worst. Night. Ever. thing yet. For starters, the thing you sent me to took place in the MORNING. Secondly, the bike tour of Portland’s well field took place on one of the nicest days […]
Posted inScience!
We Need to Get Our Asses to Mars.
“Blah blah blah,” you say! “We can’t even avoid catastrophic environmental fuck-ups on our own planet, nor do we have the resources to cure disease, end poverty, or make it so the jackasses who manage my apartment building can do something as simple as make sure I have hot water in the morning. How is […]
Posted inScience!
Science Is Fucking AMAZING
News flash: SCIENCE IS AMAZING. If you don’t believe it, here is an excerpt from a nature documentary, which explains about a worm-parasite that lives inside of a bird. The bird shits out the parasite, then a snail eats the shit (complete with parasite), then the parasite MIND-CONTROLS the snail which enables the bird to […]
Posted inScience!
Beware the Sea Squirt
A new invader has come to our shores! Beware, my fellow Oregonians, the deadly Sea Squirt! Invader from Japan The Sea Squirt, or Didemnum vexillum, is an invasive species, a “colonial tunicate” that smothers shellfish beds and coats boats and water structures. It coats them like a jelly, and according to Fox News looks like […]