Category: Week in Review

Sweet Link ParTEA (July 2018)

We are so excited to be back on the STS blogging train and are grateful to have so much support and enthusiasm from everyone that checked out our posts or various social media pages. To keep the momentum going, we want to bring back an ancient (like 5 years, y’all) type of post we both had on our personal blogs before combining forces. We will be compiling cool videos, articles, pictures, etc. covering multiple disciplines and posting them on the last Thursday of every month. We will post many of these as we find them on our Twitter or Tumblr pages, so check us out there if you don’t want to wait.  Whenever we find something that makes our day, we’ll save it so we can make yours too.

To learn more check out the full article on Octonion Math.

This amazing blogpost on Thesis Whisperer about Not doing the PhD (and being OK with that). Very important read for grad students (and anyone who knows a grad student,  really).

On a similar note, if you’re doing a PhD, this blog post gives solid advice about how to fight against your protectionist tendencies.  The best PhD is a finished PhD.

Continue reading “Sweet Link ParTEA (July 2018)” →

Cool Stuff Sunday 6

This past week has provided a plethora of Cool Stuff to share! I’ve enjoyed shifting through stories and videos to select my favorites. Thanks to everyone who shared a link to something extra Cool with me this week!

Be sure to keep you eyes on the night sky again this week/weekend. The Lyrid Meteor Shower should peak April 22.

We’ve seen that the planets have inspired lots of things: research, space travel, videos, etc; here is a movement from an orchestral suite written in the early 1900s that is intended to convey astrological ideas and emotions associated with the planets on the psyche.

Another great study involving the usefulness of kelp. This time to detect radiation!
Solar Panal Satellite would Beam Power to Earth 
In the very first CSS, I had a story about a twister on Mars. Now
 another has been spotted that puts the previous 800 meter tall dust devil to shame. The new sighting was over 20 KM HIGH!
Interesting approach to understanding mass extinctions.
Amazing discovery finds world’s first photosynthetic vertebrate!
An update on Nat Geo’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition. 

Question of The Day:

What was your favorite Cool Stuff from this week?
Feel free to share any other amazing articles/videos/photographs/etc that you have enjoyed this week!

Cool Stuff Sunday 5

Another beautiful New Mexican Sunday has come and is spoiling me with its warmth and sunshine. These are the types of days that I need to appreciate and remember if I end up participating in the Mars Analog Food Study. I’ll just have memories of the sun’s warmth and the fresh air’s breeze. So enjoy the post and the content I’ve compiled, but then get off of the internet and go outside! And not just because there might be candy hidden.

Before you check out the videos and links, perhaps you can take a minutes to sign a petition to raise the allotment of tax money to increase NASA’s funding?

This guy is not quite as cuddly as the Easter Bunny
A very cool NPR story that I heard on the radio about using music to teach math
 and fractions!. Creative education that works is so wonderful!
A really creative fix that may allow us to utilize brown seaweed for biofuel! I wouldn’t
mind going to the coast and helping with that research!
I’m afraid some of the sound clip links may not be functioning, but an interesting article nevertheless
about how things sound on different planets! The thunder clips are my favorite!

I came across this video series (The Feynman Series) which serves as a compliment to the Sagan Series. Richard Feynman is another notable scientific communicator. This Nobel Prize co-winner was invaluable to the field of physics and made contributions both within his research and passion for teaching and popularizing the subject. What I really love about these series of videos is that they serve as such unique tools for inspiring interest in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). I want to soak up as many of these as possible so I can understand what I love about them most and try and use that to inspire my own attempts. I’ve found both more visual and awe-inspiring videos, such as the one above, and more silly attempts:

Another cool TED talk (can you tell I’m border-line obsessed with these?) by the author of Eat, Pray, Love. She talks about the notion of having your ‘greatest achievement’ accomplished and behind you, as well as the concept of ‘being’ a genius vs. ‘having’ genius. 
Question of The Day:
What are you going to do OUTSIDE this week?