Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Humane Society of the United States launches new Billboards

New billboards from the Humane Society of the United States are going up in the State of North Carolina; a high volume pork producer. Seeing this in my Twitter stream made me think of this video of Dr. Bernie Rollin speaking on humanity's ancient contract with farm animals. You can read my full interview with Bernie from a few years back here.



Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Copy Co-Op: reworking the "selfish" gene.

The nucleosome. Image generated from the protein data bank file deposited by Luger et al in 1997.  This a representative model of the atomic structure of one nucleosome the basic packaging unit of chromatin. Chromatin is the mixture of DNA and proteins that make up chromosomes, the heritable parts of living things.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Ice Drumming!

Hat tip to Sarah Keartes for sharing this incredible blend of nature and art on this first weekday of the Jul time. Brilliant!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

China Launches Lunar Lander

Image credit - China Daily/Reuters
For the first time since 1976 humanity will land a functioning robot on the Moon.

Dubbed Jade Rabbit the lunar lander was rocketed into orbit in the early morning hours of December 2nd, 2013 from the Xichang launch center in Sichuan, China.

The vehicle carrying the jade rabbit is called the Chang’e-3 spacecraft.

Though the official landing date and location has not been revealed it is thought the spacecraft will reach lunar orbit in four days and the rover will then be sent down to gently land on the surface on December 14th in the Sinus Iridum region on the earth-facing side of the moon.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Agnostic" vs. "Atheist"