Stopping By The Window On A Clear 3-am-snack-run

Stopping by the window on a clear 3-am-snack-run

…The moon is lovely; sky dark and deep, But I have promises to keep. And -wait- why am I not asleep? Why the fuck am I not asleep???

This whole page is fantastic.

Among my favorites are:

Bohemic acid, named by Dr. Netter for the opera La Boheme... which isn’t that crazy until you discover that a bunch of its isolated components were then named by Dr. Netter’s team after several of the main characters in the show.

Buckminsterfullerene, because I will never not be amused by how unwieldy that name is.

Pikachurin because it showed up in Osmosis Jones before it was discovered.  

Arsole, because when it’s fused with benzene it becomes benzarsole (poor ben...).

dfs

DAMN, because DAMN.

BARF, because i have a juvenile sense of humor.

DEADCAT, because there’s more than one way to skin it.

Magic acid, because, as we all know, science is witchcraft.

FOOF, because it sounds funny.

Greatest Wiki Page Of All Time

Not a fake fact, but possibly the funniest anything ever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_compounds_with_unusual_names#Sounding_like_vulgarisms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_compounds_with_unusual_names#Related_to_sex

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_compounds_with_unusual_names#Related_to_body_.28mal.29functions

My favorite is “Rhamnetin“

Possible Good News For Bats

This spring, a possible cure for White-nose Syndrome was found by researchers at Georgia State University.

The disease is caused by a fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) that infects bats while they hibernate. The lowered metabolism of hibernation results in a compromised immune system that makes them susceptible to disease. They end up burning fat twice as fast as healthy bats as they try to fight off the infection. This leaves them without enough fat stores to make it through the winter, and they effectively “starve” to death.

Biologists discovered that the bacteria Rhodococcus rhodochrousin, common in soils across North America, produces volatile compounds when grown on cobalt that are able to stop the White-nose Syndrome fungus from growing. Some 150 bats have been cured during initial trials so far, and while it’s early days yet, this offers hope for the future of bats in North America. To date, White-nose Syndrome has caused the death of some 6 million bats of 11 species, including some listed as endangered.

Little Brown Bats (Myotis lucifugus, shown with the powdered white skin characteristic of the disease), once common, have suffered around 94% mortality in the eastern half of the country. The fungus is thought to have originated in Europe, where it has been found in bats there that are healthy and apparently immune. photo by Marvin Moriarty/USFWS

(via: Peterson Field Guides)

Just a quick practice with my dip pen.

I kept taking about The Martian on my other blog, but I'm too excited to keep it on just one of them. If you like science and fun stories, read The Martian by Andy Weir; you will not regret it.

this just in:

mobile blogging is hard