We’re celebrating Earth Day the crackpot scientist way – by heaving robot fish into the seas. #CrackedClassic

6 Terrible Ideas That Science Says Will Save the Planet

#3. Polluted Oceans? Populate the Waters With Robot Fish

[A] group of engineers from the University of Essex combined their concern for the environment with their love of insane science by designing and building “cutting edge” robotic fish programmed to seek-out pollution off the coast of Spain.

Initially the fish will mainly keep an eye out for damaged underwater pipelines, but in the future they might be equipped with systems allowing them to neutralize pollution on the spot. We assume with lasers because, hey, once you’ve already designed autonomous underwater droids, weaponizing them seems like the next logical step.

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If we were to be pelted by the Lyrid Meteor Shower, those things would be cold, not hot. No matter what that Michael Bay says. #CrackedClassic

6 Myths Everyone Believes about Space (Thanks to Movies)

In space, no one can hear you holding in your pee for 48 hours.

The 5 Most Badass Things Ever Done in Space 

#4. Spacemen Can Hold It

After 30 hours of straight life and death [in the disabled Mir space station], they got some sleep. Then, as Foale reports, “After about 48 hours we had power on the toilet, I think, which was terribly important, because by that time we were just bursting.”

That’s not a joke. You can’t just go in the corner in a flying electrical system. In a situation where any mortal would have “vented” immediately, three spacemen just held their mortal terror-wee for two days.

thedailywhat:

Space Shot of the Day: 100,000 Stars

If you’re running on Chrome browser, check out Google’s latest Experiment project that visualizes the precise location of at least 100,000 stars in our Milky Way galaxy, using various imagery and data pulled from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). For your frame of reference, there are approximately 200 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

And there are approximately 176 billion galaxies in the known Universe. There is at least one Universe.

inothernews:

Please watch this time-lapse video if you haven’t yet: images of Earth, taken from the International Space Station, stitched together into a 60-second “flyover” that would make Superman envious.

The cities lighted; the lightning strikes; the deep, dark blue of our oceans as backdrop for white, woven clouds.

It’s a beautiful reminder that yes, we live on a dynamic, wondrous planet.

(via MSNBC.com)