Surprising Science — February 23, 2014

Need Perspective?: We Are Made of Stars

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

This is a classic science video that one can never watch too many times: Neil Degrasse Tyson on what is the most astounding fact. His answer will put your life and the universe in perspective in an inspiring way. For more inspiration, read Daniel Honan’s piece for Big Think on how you can be the next Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Image credit: Big Think

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A model of the Colossus depicting the grandeur of ancient Rome.

The Past

This virtual 3D model lets you wander the streets of ancient Rome

Archaeologist Bernard Frischer spent decades uploading the ruins of the Eternal City to the cloud. Here’s what it looks like.

A close up of a fish's eye, revealing its intriguing anatomy.

Neuropsych

Do spiders dream? What about cuttlefish? Bearded dragons?

Researchers are finding signs of multiple phases of sleep all over the animal kingdom. The ‘active’ sleep phases look very much like REM.

A stylized illustration of the timeline of the universe, depicting major events from the big bang through the cosmic dark ages to the modern era.

Starts With A Bang

What was it like when the cosmic dark ages ended?

For 550 million years, neutral atoms blocked the light made in stars from traveling freely through the Universe. Here’s how it then changed.

A server room with the word frontier on it.

The Present

Supercomputer Frontier sets new record with 9.95 quintillion calculations per second

Frontier, the ORNL supercomputer, used machine learning to perform 9.95 quintillion calculations per second.

A collection of hard-to-finish books on a pink background.

High Culture

7 great but notoriously hard-to-finish books

These hard-to-finish books are still worth the effort.

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