Elegance with a Heaping Spoonful of Gumption.

jtotheizzoe:

The Sky Is Calling Us: A Cinematic Love Letter to Space Exploration

“We will not choose to sit quietly while the cosmos move on.”

Heed this gorgeous call to arms. The question of whether our scientific high water mark is behind us or ahead of us is ours to answer. If you’d like to have your voice heard, go to theskyiscalling.us and sign up to tell Congress you want more of our money dedicated to space exploration and the innovation that comes with it.

(ᔥ Brain Pickings)

jtotheizzoe:

According to maybe the first real study of what massage is actually doing, biologically-like, down to the molecular/gene expression level:

Things it does not do:

• Release toxins
• Balance chakras
• Eliminate lactic acid

Things it does do:

• Reduce inflammatory proteins like NFkB
• Increase the number of mitochondria in your muscle cells, allowing repair and cell growth
• Make you worry if your towel slipped and a muscular Scandinavian woman is staring at your butt

New double album available for free. Download now. 

Chic diversity from the Cruise/Pre-Spring 2012 collection. I personally love the 70’s-esque block dresses along with the various prints from the Vintage Collection. 

“When a woman becomes her own best friend life is easier.” 
― Diane Von Furstenberg

jtotheizzoe:

As the Mars Science Laboratory cruises toward the red planet, the search for other forms of life is on its mission menu. Is there a working definition for “life” among scientists? Carl Zimmer ponders:

In lieu of resurrecting dead scientists, Trifanov analyzed the linguistic structure of 150 definitions of life, grouping similar words into categories. He found that he could sum up what they all have in common in three words. Life, Trifonov declares, is simply self-reproduction with variations.

Trifonov argues that this minimal definition is useful because it encompasses both life as we know it and life as we may discover it to be. And as scientists tinker with self-replicating molecules, they may be able to put his definition to the test.

What do you think? At any rate, our search for “life” is made that much more murky by perhaps not knowing what we are looking for.

As for me, I’m in the camp of Szostak, Andy Ellington, and others: Defining it’s pretty irrelevant, it’s more about when the chemistry became biology.

UPDATE: It’s spawned some Twitter fodder, can you define #lifeinthreewords?

jtotheizzoe:

As the horses remaining in this race dwindle to a quartet of middle-aged, white males, it’s worth revisiting their views on science issues.

Of course, does their electorate even care? Do GOP voters care as much as their opposition does that these guys are ignoring good science? We’ve looked at the possible neurological differences in liberals and conservatives before.

You know what’s really interesting? When you read this collection of responses, you see glimmers of reality shine through. Tiny hints that yes, these guys do have real, expensive college degrees and do understand that climate science is real and evolution is an established rule. But then you see them switch back to party-pander mode, obscuring their own intellect and replacing it with the anti-intellectualism that they think their voters so desperately crave.

And when you’re only fed anti-intellectualism, how will you develop and appetite for anything else?

They are such beautiful people. My idols, Zooey Deschanel & Joe Gordon-Levitt.

Their rendition of What Are You Doing New Years Eve.
Originally sung by Nancy Wilson. 

hitrecordjoe:

hellogiggles:

What are you doing New Years Eve? From Zooey Deschanel & HitRECordJOE. Go to HelloGiggles for a fun video surprise!

:O)

From learning about the meaning of Wilco’s “Born Alone” (which can be found here: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/watch-wilcos-new-born-alone-video-and-read-the-story-behind-its-lyrics/244656/) to the comeback of Death Cab for Cutie (I can remember listening to them in middle school), I think this list of albums can satisfy the needs of music enthusiasts who want to listen to some really substantial tunes of 2011. 

A couple of my favorites: 

7. Are you reading these 25 things standing up? I’ve seen the research, and you better believe I’m bloody writing them standing up! According to the American Cancer society, if women sit more than six hours a day, we’re increasing our chances of dying by 37 percent despite whether or not we work out, compared with women who sit less than three hours a day. 

23. Chasing men is the highest purpose in life. As my old boyfriend, the great Arthur Schopenhauer, says, “The final aim of all love intrigues, be they comic or tragic, is really of more importance than all other ends in human life. What it all turns upon is nothing less than the composition of the next generation.… It is not the weal or woe of any one individual, but that of the human race to come, which is here at stake.”