Instead of liquid water,
Titan has liquid methane. Instead of silicate rocks, Titan has frozen water ice. Instead of dirt, Titan has hydrocarbon particles settling out of the atmosphere, and instead of lava, Titanian volcanoes spew very cold ice.
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Jan 21, 2005 -
28 comments
Super cool squirrels! "We believe that a ground squirrel, when it goes into hibernation, produces chemical messengers that are released from the brain that direct the slowing down of the metabolism... If we were able to synthesize the same chemical compounds and make them available in an injection, it could be administered to induce a hibernation-like state in humans."
And they're
cute, too.
posted by moonbird
on Dec 11, 2003 -
5 comments
It's not just for bullets anymore! previously discussed on MeFi
here, I would like to reconsider "Depleted Uranium" (DU) in terms of its non-military uses. As ballast in the
Columbia, the pieces of which were scattered across our country, for instance? Also in the ballast of many
commercial airplanes, helicopters and ships.
Should we really be using this stuff so
lightly? I mean, just because it's
twice as heavy as lead does that
counterbalance the incredibly damaging long-term (half-life = how many billion years?) effects of DU burning and becoming a wind-borne inhalant? (Gulf Syndrome)
To paraphrase Seinfeld, what's the deal with DU?
posted by zekinskia
on Feb 12, 2003 -
27 comments
Any red-blooded American who has taken high school chemistry in the last fifteen years or so, or any red-blooded American who watchs public television, has heard of the august Professor
Roald Hoffmann and his
World of Chemistry television series. Professor Hoffmann does theoretical chemistry at Cornell, and is a damn cool guy.
posted by tdecius
on Oct 11, 1999 -
0 comments
6.02x10^23. Anybody who has taken chemistry may remember that number as Avogadro's Number, the number of molecules of any gas present in a volume of 22.41 L and is the same for every element. Fun stuff, eh? Read more about one of the basics of chemistry at Chemistry.co.nz's
Avogadro's Law page. For more mole fun, including jokes, try the
National Mole Day Foundation. Why does Avogadro like blue cheese?
Because it's mole-dy.
posted by tdecius
on Sep 20, 1999 -
0 comments
