Home to the finest science shows this side of the Big Bang performed by the two best science guys in this (or any other) universe. Have science, will travel.
Every era has its diseases. The medieval world was hit by wave after wave of bubonic plague, the most famous of which killed half or more of the entire population of Europe. During the American colonial period, the Native Americans were ravaged by smallpox, transmitted to them (sometimes purposefully) by a bunch of filthy, dirty Europeans. The first half of the 20th century was scourged by polio, killing and crippling children by the thousands before Jonas Salk finished development on his killed-virus polio vaccine in 1955.
Leprosy has been in the news a lot lately, like this CNN article titled "Armadillos cause spike in leprosy cases in Florida" (of course it's Florida). Most people have heard of leprosy. For one thing, it comes up in both the Old and New Testaments all the time. It's been with humanity for millennia and most cultures have some sort of relationship with the disease. But what is Leprosy, really? And what's going on in Florida? And what to armadillos have to do with anything? In this week's Constant Science I answer those questions and more. As we'll discover, the news media--once again--isn't giving you the whole story when it comes to an outbreak of a disease. Click on through for the video!
I did not set out to make a post with a rhyming title but it looks like I ended up there anyway. We do a lot of media here at Explosions, Inc., but it's mostly of the video variety. Today I've put together some pictures packed full of sweet, sweet science tidbits that are perfect for posting to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Imgur, what have you. They're all here in this post and I'll be tossing them out one at a time on our own Twitter and Instagram feeds over the course of the next week or two. If you don't follow us on any social media, what the heck are you waiting for?
Is this a common thing to do these days? Yes. Are we sell-outs for hopping on the train? Maybe, but that train is going places, baby! Share the crap out of these, if you would. Aaron and I really tried to make these serious and seriously interesting instead of fluff pieces and we think people will dig them. We want to see these all over social media! Click through for the pictures!
In the annals of scientific research there are many sober, conscientious minds, meticulously following protocol to slowly, inexorably advance the state of human knowledge towards the goal of being just a little bit less wrong about the universe. There's also a lot of silly whack-a-doodles who can't be trusted not to run with scissors. Guess which group I'm going to write about today.........
After the huge success of last week's post about my top 5 science moments of 2014, I figured while any shlub can look backwards, it takes a man of vision, a man of courage, indeed, a man of SCIENCE to look forward into the murky mists of the near-future and bring you the Top 5 Science Thingies of 2015.
5. Unexpected Discoveries for New Horizons: Just beyond the orbit of our long-lost ninth planet, New Horizons will discover a curious gravitational anomaly. On the say-so of famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, it will be declared a wormhole and immediately Matthew McConaughey will be sent through it. While no real science will be achieved, everyone involved will agree it creates a nice visual spectacle.
The spacecraft utilized will be a slightly modified Lincoln Navigator.
4. Vaccines Cause Everything: Medical science will be turned upon it's head as it is discovered that vaccines are responsible for fatally weakened immune systems, autism, asthma, male-pattern baldness, communism, the polar vortex, and the cancelling of Firefly. Unfortunately this information will be heeded too late and the majority of the world's vaccinated population will be wiped out by a virulent strain of gonnosyphilerpemeningococcalaids. The survivors will gather in somber yet smug celebration only to be decimated by tetanus infection caused by bad quinoa.
She was the sole voice of reason.
3. Stephen Hawking is a Fraud: After the wormhole debacle beyond Pluto, it will be revealed that esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking is actually comedian Andy Kaufman, who successfully faked his death in 1984 for the sole purpose of perpetuating the most obtuse and long-running joke in history. Furthermore, the physics world will be rocked again as it is revealed the entire concept of a "black hole" is just an obscure butt joke.
2. The Vantablack Affair: Shortly after the New Year, the miraculous new material "Vantablack" (mentioned in Dazzling Don's last video) will indeed be used to make clothing. It will be a huge hit among the nation's disaffected youth subcultures. However, not realizing the dangers of absorbing nearly 100% of all available light energy, the first sunny day of Spring will cause massive spontaneous combustion events. Not a Hot Topic will be left standing.
AND FINALLY.......
1. HOVERBOARDS: Yup, hoverboards. It's finally time. Hover. F-ing. Boards. The revolution started in 2014 with the magnetic model, and the invisible hand of the market just took over from there. Who cares about a post-vaccine wasteland full of burning goth kids when we finally have the hoverboard the prophecies foresaw back in the dark ages of 1989? Nobody, that's who. And no one even minds we all have to dress like this.....
Last week Aaron braved back pain and a medication haze to give you his top five science moments of 2014. Today I sat in front of the camera, as I am wont to do, and did the same. There's a bit of crossover but not as much as you might think. Happy New Year to the gentiles in the audience and sorry about the constant assault of Christian holidays with pagan overtones and the Gregorian calendar to all the Jews in the audience. You can't level the International Zionist Conspiracy against me anyway because Aaron will protect me. As long as I keep up with my payments. Anyway, without further ado, click on through to the other side to find out my best of 2014.
Happy flu season, everyone! In order to celebrate this joyous occasion I've tossed together an episode of Constant Science about viruses. What are they? How do they make you sick? How does your body fight them? Why can you only get some of them once? And most importantly, how can we protect ourselves from them? Check out the video to find out.
Happy Monday, fans of science and things that explode. Today we're bringing you the inaugural video in our "Science Talks" series of video blogs, where we talk science that isn't exactly amenable to exciting, theatrical coverage on a big stage. I decided to start all topical and stuff and talk a bit about Ebola and why it's not really anything you need to worry about if you live in the United States. We've got ideas for further videos in this series but if there's a topic in science that confuses and enrages you and you want us to try to break it down to something simpler, let us know by dropping it in the comments. Click through for the video!
