Weekly Photo Challenge: It’s All In Your Head

This week’s challenge is all about things you admire, so I decided on something a little less..conventional. Do not adjust your set; that is a real human brain, preserved in epoxy and currently on display at the Exploratorium. Take step back and consider all that a human brain does. Controlling your body’s functions, from the senses and sleep to memories and sheer, raw emotion. Keeping you breathing and balanced. Reading this sentence and processing the little squiggles into letters and words, and thus their meaning. A complex organic machine connected via trillions of synapses. For all the dangers out there, it’s allowed us to become the dominant species on the planet. We survive, thrive, create, accomplish, and it’s all because these little clumps of matter are developed just enough to make it happen. Yeah, it’s worth admiration. A larger version is viewable here.

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Gravitational Waves Discovered!

DNews breaks down one of the latest and biggest discoveries in physics. Seriously though, this is amazing. The folks running the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) have pulled off something that Einstein could only predict in his lifetime. Now that gravitational waves have been proven to exist, we’re one more important piece closer to solving – or at least comprehending – the vast puzzle that is the universe. If there’s ever going to be a 21st century game-changer for astronomy, this is it.

Concrete Does Not Dry Out

MinutePhysics explains why building things to last is more complicated than you might think.

The Speed Of Life

Derek at Veritasium explains why we perceive time faster as we get older.

What Are The Four New Elements On The Periodic Table?

DNews briefly explains the latest additions that complete the seventh row of the periodic table. Right now, IUPAC has given them temporary names: Ununtrium, Ununpentium, Ununseptium, and Ununoctium. Yeah, gotta love that impromptu Latin root lesson…Anyway, these new elements will get proper names later on, and hopefully the public will get to learn more about what they can do as well. What a way for the field of Chemistry to kick off 2016!

The Science Of Motivation

AsapSCIENCE explains why keeping your New Year’s resolution is more complicated than you think.

Why December Has The Longest Days

MinutePhysics explains why the holiday season is more complicated than you might think.

The Physics of Car Crashes

MinutePhysics explains the science behind something that you’ll hopefully never have to experience.

Flavor Science: What’s Really in a Pumpkin Spice Latte

SciShow explains why your favorite foods are way more complicated than you might think.

Rodin’s The Thinker

When they hear the name Auguste Rodin, the first thing most people will remember (aside from him being one of the most awesome artists ever) is The Thinker: A gigantic man hunched over a rock, utterly focused on his philosophical pondering. The detailed design and musculature show off Michelangelo’s influence, but only Rodin could’ve captured that kind of expressiveness. In terms of fame in popular culture, The Thinker comparable to the Mona Lisa. What most people don’t know is that it started as part of a much bigger project (and serious contender for my all-time favorite sculpture I’ve personally seen) called The Gates of Hell. Rodin eventually decided to make this a separate work, resulting in a modern sculpting legacy. There are now over 30 Thinkers in existence, spanning museums and universities around the planet. This one is the centerpiece of the court at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Larger version is viewable here.