"AstroPixie Conquers Cyber Space as Advocate for Science"

that's right, according to my undergraduate alma mater, the university of cincinnati's mcmicken college of arts & sciences, i have officially conquered the entirety of cyber space! ;)

read the article titled "AstroPixie Conquers Cyber Space as Advocate for Science" here!

chemistry in the clouds: snowdonia

i lucked out with the weather for one day of the weekend and managed to hike to some of the highest peaks in wales, without sitting inside clouds at the top!


while i thoroughly enjoyed the "scramble" to the top, i must admit i'm so sore today that it was slightly painful to drink my coffee this morning ;)

coincidentally, brady happened to be on the same mountain range this weekend shooting some footage, not for sixty symbols, but for the periodic table of videos! they chose to climb on saturday, in the rain, but still managed to make cisplatinum on top of mt. snowdon! watch this 4-minute video that captures their journey to perform probably the highest chemistry experiment ever done in wales, as they make this popular anti-cancer drug:



find out more about their anti-cancer research group and donate to the cause: here!

snowdonia

i'm heading to the hills for the weekend.... be back sunday evening!

in the stars

an understated and perfectly to the point comic by calamities of nature.

the proton is 4% smaller than we thought!

but how did we make this new measurement? sixty symbols discusses the implications:

dirty space news: solar mass ejections

solar scientists are reporting that the sun has recently experienced FOUR solar mass ejections and soon the earth's atmosphere will glow in the aftermath.

an aurora occurs because energetic particles coming from the sun react with a planet's magnetic field. magnetic fields naturally have directional field lines which act as "traffic lanes" that guide the electrically charged solar particles to the north and south magnetic poles.

for updates on aurora sightings, go to space weather.

happy

i love this graphic... mostly because it looks like the guy in the middle is jumping right into the water!


via sopitas

whitby's dracula inspiration

the north yorkshire town of whitby, which sits in northeastern england, is known for its gothic style, jet black stones, fish and chips, and for being a place that inspired bram stoker's most famous novel, dracula. i visited whitby this weekend and walked along a bit of the dracula trail. here are a few scenes:




steep.




i'm not sure how old the dish of fish 'n chips actually is, but they were likely eaten in the late 1800s when dracula was written. here's the plaice version:


it just wouldn't be right if they didn't squeeze at least one curry on the menu...

on the beach at night

On the Beach at Night
by Walt Whitman
(1819-1892)

On the beach at night,
Stands a child with her father,
Watching the east, the autumn sky.

Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,
Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,
And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades.

From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.

Weep not, child,
Weep not, my darling,
With these kisses let me remove your tears,
The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky, they devour the stars
only in apparition,
Jupiter shall emerge, be patient, watch again another night,
the Pleiades shall emerge,
They are immortal, all those stars both silvery and golden
shall shine out again,
The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again, they endure,
The vast immortal suns and the long-enduring pensive moons
shall shine again shine.

Then dearest child mournest thou only for jupiter?
Considerest thou alone the burial of the stars?

Something there is,
(With my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper,
I give thee the first suggestion, the problem and indirection,)
Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.