Astrophysics

Antimatter Belt Discovered Around Earth for the First Time

by James Plafke | 1:00 pm, August 7th

Described in the astrophysical journal Letters, the find confirms the theory that antimatter could be trapped in Earth’s magnetic field. The small amount of antiprotons were discovered lying between the Van Allen belts of boring old regular trapped matter, spotted by the Pamela satellite, which was launched back in 2006 to study high-energy particles from the Sun and from areas beyond our Solar System. One of Pamela’s goals was to specifically search for these antimatter particles, so job well done.

The researchers that discovered the antiprotons didn’t hesitate in theorizing some fun science fiction, claiming there may be enough antiprotons to use the antimatter to fuel a spacecraft.

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The Astrophysics of Goodnight Moon

by Robert Quigley | 3:13 pm, October 18th

Thank goodness for the Internet for addressing questions that we’d never thought about previously. Physics blogger and dad Chad Orzel has a daughter who loves Goodnight Moon. This has given Orzel occasion to read the children’s classic more regularly and discerningly than he might have otherwise, and it’s led him to a surprising discovery: The bunny’s bedroom in Goodnight Moon just may be moving “extremely high velocity relative to the earth, so that relativistic time dilation makes the six-minute rise of the moon appear to take an hour and ten minutes.”

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Sexist Maxim Photo “Hacked”

by Robert Quigley | 11:56 am, May 31st

Are you familiar with those Maxim photo spreads that consist of scantily clad models lounging around while vaguely sexist slogans flit by in the background? Don’t act like you aren’t. Well, Redditor RequiemOfSyris and her roommates brilliantly turned the tables on one such Maxim pic, which consisted of The Hills star Audrina Patridge sitting half-nude on a washing machine with the charming slogan “Doesn’t every guy want to see a girl on her knees scrubbing the bathroom floor with a toothbrush while wearing lingerie?” above her.

Their addition: “I like to see a girl in the study, proof-reading her just-completed astrophysics thesis while sipping Earl-Grey tea in her tweed sweater and modest, conservative plaid pencil skirt.” Even more impressively, they actually drew glasses, clothes, and an astrophysics tome into the picture. Not only a great subversion of Maxim‘s pandery lad-mag ethos, but, in our opinion, far more attractive.

Larger comparison pics after the jump:

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14 of the Best Geekiest Beers

Given beer's pervasive place in human history, it's not surprising that the geeky pastimes of drinkers would eventually rub off on the beers themselves. The result is a veritable cornucopia of nerdy beers, 14 of which are right here.

Tweetosystem

Eric Limer I'm trying to come up with a control scheme where I can use my xbox 360 controller for leisurely web surfing. It's....interesting.
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James Plafke For a show about a sport I don't really dig, Friday Night Lights is an alright show.
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Eric Limer Just spent a few hours playing Kyntt. Stunning, cute little game. Highly recommended.
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Max Wanna create work flows, wanna make it all work work work.
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James Plafke I am jealous Elmo got to make out with Kristin Chenoweth.
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Eric Limer I swear under my breath A LOT. This must make people near by me very uncomfortable. That being said, I have no intentions of stopping.
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Max Court is now in session at the Burp Castle.
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Eric Limer I don't look at my finances as often as I should which is the main reason why I don't often want to look at my finances.
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Max Desert PolyBus: The game where you drive to Reno and then die.
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Eric Limer If I wrote a webcomic, every strip would be titled "Get it? GET IT?!"
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Max Got chili oil on my hands and face. It hurts. A lot.
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Eric Limer Suddenly I remember what I hate about PC gaming. Mainly never having a computer that can actually do it.
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James Plafke The halftime show taught me that football-watching men drinking beer who love seeing muscular men beat each other up really like to vogue.
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Max Pestering your friends at 8am is how you show you care, right? #hopeso
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Eric Limer Twitter is like RiffTrax for EVERYTHING.
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James Plafke I know global warming is scary, but not having a winter was pretty cool. I didn't have to spend money on shoes for the snow.
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Eric Limer I hereby apologize to all persons --past, present and future-- who have the misfortune of hearing me "sing" dubstep songs.
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Max Even Facebook's Timeline thinks I could have done more with my life.
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Max I did that thing where Facebook turns your Timeline into a movie. Mine had pictures of ducks and foliage set to really dramatic music.
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Max "But I don't wanna go to the dog show!"
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