“[…] All Things Are One Thing And That One Thing Is All Things—plankton, A Shimmering Phosphorescence

In the mineralogist’s defense, that’s much tidier than trying to eat watermelon on its own.

Also being a scientist pretty much gives you a free pass to be as eccentric as you want like you’ll be at a conference and it’s like “is that guy wearing socks and sandals and plaid pants???” “Ya but he was on the team that discovered gravitational waves let him be”

no seriously at what point do we stop saying dinosaurs and start saying prehistoric birds?? is it a matter of time?? a matter of species??? SCIENCE SIDE OF TUMBLR PLEASE HELP

hi! this is very random, but i found your tumblr just now and decided just to go for it and ask you a question about studying anthropology. I am kinda new to the whole subject, but I am interested in social studies, linguistics and the whole process called evolution. I know that the subject is so so so much more, but perhaps you would like to tell me how did you know that it was THE THING you wanted to pursue and maybe what qualities should an anthropologist have?

Hi!! You’re not random at all. It’s always good to ask questions, and I’m happy to answer any that I can! (: 

So, I think I need to start by saying that people can choose anthropology for SOOOOO many different reasons, because there are really endless things you can do with this subject (your interests are right on point though!). Personally, I originally was drawn to it because of forensic anthropology, and my love for bones, dead things, and solving mysteries. When I decided to study anthropology to go into forensics, my reason for doing so was because it was the one thing I’d studied that really…lit me up inside. Like, it felt like my neurons were firing at a million miles an hour whenever I was learning something about biological anthropology or forensics. As it turns out, I get that same feeling when studying cultural anthropology too. I ended up switching gears from forensic anthro to cultural anthropology because it is very important to me that what I do help people, and make a difference in the world. I felt like the best way to do that while still getting that ~crazy neuron party~ feeling was to study cultural anthropology and help people through my research. So…I guess the short answer to your question is that I knew it was THE THING because of how it made me feel, the way it woke up this intense curiosity in me. No other subject makes me want to devour it the way anthropology does, and I am a very curious person, so that’s saying something. It also is the perfect subject for a curious person, because you can have a bunch of different interests and somehow they all fall under the field of anthropology, so you aren’t limited by much. 

As far as the qualities, it definitely depends on the subfield, but here are a couple I feel might be most important overall:

have an interest in studying SOMETHING about humans. anthropology is literally the study of humans so that’s number one. 

be open-minded. part of studying anthropology is learning to see the world in a completely new way, and you have to be able to get out of your own head and away from your own biases to do that.

enjoy studying other cultures. no matter what you end up doing with anthropology, you’re going to need to value and enjoy learning about other people/cultures in order to be an anthropologist.

be ready for graduate school. i’m not saying you HAVE to go to grad school to be an anthropologist, but…to do most things in anthropology you’ll at least need a Master’s.

enjoy traveling. this depends on your subfield for sure, but a lot of anthropologists spend months or years at a time living in other cultures, or at dig sites, etc. because we are all about understanding things first hand.

I’m sure there are more, but those 5 seem like a good start. I hope this was helpful, and I definitely encourage you to keep looking into the field more! Don’t worry about exactly what you would want to do with it, just try to get an understanding of what anthropology is overall. If you’re in college, take a couple introductory courses that can also satisfy your gen eds. And I’m happy to answer any other questions you might have!

Did you know that Uranus was (accidentally) discovered on this day in 1781, the first planet to be discovered with the aid of a telescope? At first, British astronomer William Herschel thought the object in the sky to be a star or comet, but within two years, other astronomers showed it was a new planet orbiting the Sun. The ice giant is four times wider than the Earth and appears blue due to the methane in its atmosphere. Photo: NASA

Qatar National Library by OMA 

 The Library by Rem Koolhaas

The physical impact of books has been important in terms of my entire formation. The first books that fascinated me were the fairy tales of Grim illustrated by Gustave Doré. I still remember the physical nature of those books as one of the strongest memories of my entire life. In the 1950s I would spend time in the library of the Stedelijk Museum – almost like in a living room. My first intersection of writing and architecture was Delirious New York, which I wrote in the New York Public Library, going through microfilms, old newspapers, and books. I made one particular seat my own, almost day and night.

One similarity between architecture and bookmaking is that both have unbelievably long traditions but are also forced to be of the moment, constantly updating in order to survive. We have designed many libraries and built a few. Libraries, as a typology, are so exceptionally suitable to produce radical architecture. Apparently, there is a paradox that such a traditional form produces inventive solutions, and that is the case for the Qatar National Library. The building is 138 meters long, equivalent to the length of two 747s. This is not to boast about scale but because from the beginning the idea was to make reading as accessible and as stimulating as possible to the population of Qatar as a whole. We thought we could achieve that by creating a building that was almost a single room, not divided in different sections, certainly not into separate floors.

We took a plate and folded its corners up to create terraces for the books, but also to enable access in the center of the room. You emerge immediately surrounded by literally every book – all physically present, visible, and accessible, without any particular effort. The library is a space that could contain an entire population, and also an entire population of books…

did you know that octopi have three hearts and nine brains? They’re very efficient and clever and this one is very cute.

just woke up from one hell of a nightmare i need a distraction…

the thing about organic chemistry is that you finally get to use all the aesthetically pleasing mad scientist looking chemistry apperatuses that you’ve been waiting to use for years but when u finally get to use them they all turn out to do surprisingly boring things

Solar System: 10 Things to Know

Movie Night

Summer break is just around the corner. Hang a sheet from the clothesline in the backyard and fire up the projector for a NASA movie night.

1. Mars in a Minute

Back in the day, movies started with a cartoon. Learn the secrets of the Red Planet in these animated 60 second chunks.

2. Crash of the Titans

Watch two galaxies collide billions of years from now in this high-definition visualization.

3. Tour the Moon in 4K

Wait for the dark of the waning Moon next weekend to take in this 4K tour of our constant celestial companion.

4. Seven Years of the Sun

Watch graceful dances in the Sun’s atmosphere in this series of videos created by our 24/7 Sun-sentinel, the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO).

5. Light ‘Em Up

Crank up the volume and learn about NASA science for this short video about some of our science missions, featuring a track by Fall Out Boy.

6. Bennu’s Journey

Follow an asteroid from its humble origins to its upcoming encounter with our spacecraft in this stunning visualization.

7. Lunar Landing Practice

Join Apollo mission pilots as they fly—and even crash—during daring practice runs for landing on the Moon.

8. Earthrise

Join the crew of Apollo 8 as they become the first human beings to see the Earth rise over the surface of the Moon.

9. Musical Descent to Titan

Watch a musical, whimsical recreation of the 2005 Huygens probe descent to Titan, Saturn’s giant moon.

10. More Movies

Our Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio provides a steady stream of fresh videos for your summer viewing pleasure. Come back often and enjoy.

Read the full version of this article on the web HERE. 

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

NOT!Anatomy but still interesting.

I took this picture in Beijing last week, and posted it to my FB, asking followers to guess what the stick the cop was holding, was for.

One person got it right.