PUBLIC SCHOOL

Earth From Above

If I hadn’t already wanted to be an astronaut, these images from the ESA would certainly make me strongly consider it. It continues to amaze me how beautiful our planet looks from above.

Escaped Pet Birds Are Teaching Wild Birds Bad Words

If you go to Australia soon and hear strange repetitive words coming from the tree-tops, never fear. It’s just a bunch of wild English-speaking parrots. Australian Geographic has an interesting story about how native birds in Australia are picking up the vocal habits of some of their formerly captive brethren.

Jaynia Slaydek, an ornithologist that was interviewed for the story said that mimicking nature of the birds helps propagate the english words that the more domesticated birds have picked up in captivity. After escaping in to the wild, their English “words” are then passed on to their offspring and other birds around.

The birds aren’t all speaking politely though. Some of the words are reportedly too explicit to report here. As Treehugger puts it, the vulgar language “[may be] the last words those escapees heard after their frantic owners realized they were making a break for freedom.”

+ Pool

While we’re on the subject of summer, check out this really interesting NY pool project called + Pool. Basically they’re wanting to make a Super Pool™ that floats in the river and utilizes a layered filtration system to feed off the river water, which is pretty rad. You can donate here.

NASA Space Colony Artwork

In the 1970s NASA’s Ames Research Center completed a few studies on building space colonies. To help win over us regular folk who have no idea how to decipher technical illustrations, a series of artist renderings were made. When they do finally get these things built, sign me up. It’d be like Bio-Dome with a lot less Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin. More after the jump.

The Sagan Series – Per Aspera Ad Astra

Previously I posted this NASA fan video narrated by Carl Sagan using clips from his book, Pale Blue Dot. It was a great piece, and due to the overwhelming response, has grown in to several dubbed The Sagan Series. The most recent has just been posted, and its a doozie. Check it out after the jump.