Exclusive: First U.S. Baby Born After A Uterus Transplant

Since US history is all the rage now, I thought I’d share some of my favorite stories about the founding fathers.

-John Adams and Thomas Jefferson once visited the home of Shakespeare together… and both broke off pieces of one of the writer’s chairs so that they could take home souvenirs.

-When he was given an official surrender document during the French-Indian War, George Washington blindly signed the thing because he didn’t want to admit he couldn’t read French. In doing so, he basically solely accepted the blame of multiple war crimes. Somehow he wormed his way out of this… one of his methods was to blame his translator.

-Ben Franklin was forbidden from writing the Declaration of Independence because the founding fathers thought he would try to slip in puns and jokes.

-John Hancock was a convicted smuggler. Charges were dropped against him after he hired John Adams for a lawyer.

-Aaron Burr was a firm believer in the intellectual equality of men and women and lobbied for women’s suffrage.

-John Adams named his dog Satan.

-James Madison was our smallest president, at 5'4" and roughly 100 pounds.

-When he was 26, Washington bribed voters into electing him into office with alcohol… he gave certain voters about a half gallon for choosing him.

-Ben Franklin once wrote an essay urging scientists to “improve the odor of flatulence.”

-Jefferson warned Lewis & Clark to beware of giant sloths during their expedition.

-Adams and Jefferson were the original bros; after a lifetime of friendship, bitterness, and more friendship, they died hours apart on the same day- July 4th. Adams’ last words were, “Jefferson survives.” Well, not quite.

-Washington crossed enemy lines during the Battle of Germantown to return a lost dog to General Howe.

-The Star Spangled Banner was based off of a rowdy English drinking song.

-Alexander Hamilton’s descendants heavily edited and even hid some of his letters to his totally hetero bro, John Laurens, claiming “the content was embarrassing and indecent.”

-Ben Franklin opted for the turkey to be the U.S. national bird, claiming that bald eagles were cold and volatile.

-A few days before signing the Declaration, the Constitutional Convention got LIT. It’s rumored that the founding fathers drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 7 bottles of Claret, 7 bowls of spiked punch, 22 bottles of porter, 8 bottles of whiskey and 8 bottles of hard cider in this one night.

omg thank you so much for putting rosalind franklin in the dna history post!!

And also:

i think it is morecorrect to say that in 1953 Watson and Crick stole Rosalind’s picture to buildtheir model, and when they published it, of course they didn’t gave her anycredit. I think it is important for people to know that Rosalind Franklindiscovered the antiparallel structure of the DNA molecule, but since herstudies and researches were published after Watson and Crick’s, she didn’t getany recognition until many years later. (Sorry for the long message!)

Hello Nonnies!!

We can’t not talk aboutRosalind Franklin. She is an awesome lady that is slowly getting therecognition she deserves in the scientific community.

(We also went to an allgirls catholic highschool with large emphasis on science, and her name alwayscame up in all of the science classes. It’s pretty hard to forget her name now.We are also going to hijack these asks to give a more in-depth biography forRosalind Franklin.)

Franklin was a giftedX-ray crystallographer. She was a research associate at King’s College Londonin 1951, moved to Birkbeck College in 1953. She died at the early age of 37 dueto ovarian cancer. Really she should have gotten the same Nobel Prize thatWatson, Crick, and Wilkins shared in 1962 for the discovery of the DNA doublehelix, but the Nobel Committee are pricks and don’t award prizes posthumously.

Franklin’s the one tofirst contribute the concept of the two forms of DNA; A-DNA (dried, short andfat), and B-DNA (wet, long and thin). Photo 51 (image from Wikipedia) is thex-ray diffraction pattern developed while at King’s College that leads to thediscovery of DNA double helix structure.

There has been some controversies surrounding the nature ofher work being used by Watson and Crick. Allegations where made that Photo 51was shown to Watson by her colleague Wilkins without Franklin’s permission (badscience ethics here) but we are not sure how true that allegation is. Franklindid not gain much recognition for her contribution originally, all that wasmentioned was a footnote acknowledging that it was based on “general knowledge”of Franklin’s unpublished contribution.

Rosalind Franklin is a good example of sexism in science. She’s not gaining a lot of posthumous recognition for her work. I would also like to think that she’s an awesome role model for a lot of girls pursuing science as a field of study.

Planche casse-pied. Feutre (contour) et marqueurs à alcool (colorisation).

Strange Weather

We’re used to radiation being invisible. With a Geiger counter, it gets turned into audible clicks. What you see above, though, is radiation’s effects made visible in a cloud chamber. In the center hangs a chunk of radioactive uranium, spitting out alpha and beta particles. The chamber also has a reservoir of alcohol and a floor cooled to -40 degrees Celsius. This generates a supersaturated cloud of alcohol vapor. When the uranium spits out a particle, it zips through the vapor, colliding with atoms and ionizing them. Those now-charged ions serve as nuclei for the vapor, which condenses into droplets that reveal the path of the particle. The characteristics of the trails are distinct to the type of decay particle that created them. In fact, both the positron and muon were first discovered in cloud chambers! (Image credit: Cloudylabs, source)

Jupiter’s giant red spot is also red hot

New evidence suggests the spot acts like a red-hot stove burner that warms the atmosphere above it. Scientists found the average temperature in the upper atmosphere above the red spot is a sizzling 1,600 degrees Kelvin (about 2,420 degrees Fahrenheit). The research team found evidence that the Great Red Spot generates two types of turbulent energy waves.

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Tibetan Burial Practice

Image Source: FishOil at English Wikipedia. Body being prepared, Sichuan. Wikipedia.

The “Sky Burial” practice is the most common way to dispose of the dead in Tibet. Tibet is a region with little trees, which in return means fewer cremation practices. Due to temperature, the Tibetan plateau is frozen making burials difficult. With these challenges, the Tibetan people found a solution. Bearded vultures are naturally allowed to eat the decomposing human remains. These birds are considered sacred for Tibetans, and not to be harmed.

Image Source: FishOil at English Wikipedia. File:Vulture - Sky burial.jpg. Wikipedia.

Upon death, he/she gets covered in white cloth. The family keeps the remains in the home and perform prayers. On a lucky day, family members will take the dead to a place of disposition. A monk/specialist will sharpen a knife while saying a prayer. The monk/specialist will cut the flesh, and pulverize the bones to mix with flour for the bearded vultures to consume. Tibetans consider it a sign of good luck when vultures consume the entire body. Tibetans believe that breaking the bones will release the soul. Tibetans also believe that vultures carry these pieces of bone to the sky where the journey heaven begins. No remains left on the ground means the soul arrived safely to heaven. Chants are said over lingering remains as they get cremated.

Image Source: BabelStone. Vultures feeding on the rock used to expose bodies at a sky burial outside Lhasa, Tibet, during the first lunar month, March 1985. Photographs of the sky burial taken with permission of the participants, on condition that no photographs were taken before the vultures were called to eat the bodies of the three deceased persons. Photo scanned from a print. Wikipedia.

Politics. During the 1960s and 1970s, the communist officials outlawed the practice of sky burial. The sky burial practice reinstated in the 1980s.

Another form of Tibetan burial is Tree Burial. This is a burial practice for children. It is usually practiced in Nyingchi, southeast of Tibet. To avoid other children from seeing the corpse, the deceased child is placed in a wooden case. The crate with the body inside is hung on a tree in a remote forest.

Forensic anthropologists must learn of cultural ceremonies associated with death, not only for reference but also as recognition of ethics and values concerning anthropology.

Today on “rules of English language I didn’t realise were a thing until someone pointed it out”

Khövsgöl Lake Festival, Mongolia, Celine Jentzsch Photography