March 2019

Travel Games for Grown-Ups

Travel games are usually thought to be diversions to keep kids from complaining during road trips, but grown-ups certainly need them, too. When we're in the car for lengthy periods of time, we play a bunch of made-up games without equipment required. We'll play a musician game, where you have to name a musician based on the last letter of the last person's musician (Steven Tyler is followed by Travis Tritt, for example). We'll also do a movie quotes game where one person chooses a quote and the other has to guess the film it's from.

Streaks On Mars

You can see slope streaks on the red planet, but what do the lines on Mars really mean? Where do they come from? There are a lot of guesses about what caused the streaks but scientists honestly don't know what has made the streaks appear on Mars. Some have guessed that they were made with water or something "wet," while others guess at something dry, but we're still playing guessing games.

Welcome Back, Baby Tortoises!

In the last 100 years, baby tortoises have been absent from the population of tortoises in the Galapagos Islands, mostly due to our own fault. Humans haven't taken good care of the islands, overfishing and whaling and otherwise destroying the animals' habitats. We've even unwittingly diminished their numbers by bringing rats, animals that eat their eggs and ruin their nests, to their islands.

Bonnie & Clyde's Poetry

Reading the letters and poems that historical couples have written to one another can be quite revealing. I remember reading some of the smutty letters that the "literary geniuses" that our English teachers assigned us to read later in college and realizing just how human they really were. Did anyone else have that startling realization after idolizing teachers, writers and other "professionals" their whole lives?

Book Hangover Recovery Kits

You know that terrible feeling when you finish a book series and you don't want it to be over because you loved it so much? Welcome to your book hangover! Not only did I recently discover this phrase, but I also ran across an actual box of goodies you can order to help you deal with said affliction. The makers of Fae Crate, a fun subscription box of bookish items, also sell a Book Hangover Recovery Kit.

Homeless Cat Finds New Life

Homeless pets always get us in the feels, don't they? In a perfect world, all cats and dogs would be spayed and neutered, preventing many homeless pets in the first place, but until we can get there hopefully people will continue to rescue pets who need help. This poor cat named Cotton was so rough when found (warning: photos are disturbing) that his transformation is just about unbelievable.

Akata Warrior

If you haven't started the Akata Witch series yet, I cannot implore you to read it enough! It's an incredibly imaginative world filled with magic, wonder and danger. Nnedi Okorafor can tell a story, and I love how she doesn't mince words when it comes to just how perilous it is to be a leopard person in the books.

Nuclear Reactors 659 - New NASA Budget Provides One Hundred Million Dollars For The Development Of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

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Caption: 
Artist’s concept of nuclear thermal rocket engine

       I have written before about the possibility of using nuclear power to propel spacecraft. This idea has been around for decades but despite success in designs and testing of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system it was abandoned as interest in space exploration waned in the early 1970s.

Nuclear Fusion 57 - European Researchers Apply Dual Imaging Method To Components For Fusion Reactors

       If we can harness the power of nuclear fusion, it will solve a lot of the world’s energy problems. The Sun runs on nuclear fusion but in order to create fusion on Earth, it is necessary to create even higher temperatures and pressures than those in the center of the Sun. One of the critical problems that has to be dealt with is engineering components that can hold up to these extreme conditions. 

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