Science, Spoken

Why would you throw a washing machine? Who knows. Maybe that machine lost your socks. Maybe you have something against washing machines. You could have any number of reasons. But here it is-a washing machine throwing contest, and even a world record distance for washing machine throws. (4.13 meters, Zydrunas Savickas.) But when I see something like this, I just wonder how hard it would be to throw. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Over the past several months, scientists working in Antarctica have been watching—with a mixture of professional fascination and personal horror—a fissure growing in the continent’s fourth-largest ice shelf. Since last November, the crack has lengthened by some 90 miles. It has 13 miles more before it rends completely, and a chunk of ice the size of Delaware goes bobbing into the Weddell Sea. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This is one of my jobs. When there is something that happens, I have to do an analysis-the internetneeds me. In this case, it's a hit between Draymond Green and LeBron James. Was it a hit, or did LeBron flop? I'm not the judge, I'm just going to present evidence. Collisions When an object interacts with another object (with zero external forces), this is called a collision. Here are some important physics ideas about collisions. When two objects collide, there is a force. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

At four in the morning, Tim Caro roused his colleagues. Bleary-eyed and grumbling, they followed him to the edge of the village, where the beasts were hiding. He sat them down in chairs, and after letting their eyes adjust for a minute, he asked them if they saw anything. And if so, would they please point where? Not real beasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As part of WIRED’s exclusive look at Breaking2, Nike’s revolutionary attempt to break the two-hour marathon mark, our writer is using the same training regime, apparel, and expertise as Nike’s three elite athletes to try to achieve his own personal milestone: a sub-90-minute half-marathon. This is the first in a series of monthly updates on his progress. Running is a simple sport: lace ’em up, and put one foot in front of the other. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It's the start of a new semester, so I think now is a good time to talk about the nature of science. As a physics faculty member, I teach all sorts of classes. Some of those classes are for chemistry and physics majors and some classes are for non-science majors. Whatever class you teach, though, I think it's important to bring up a discussion of the nature of science. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It started with a thumb into my eye socket as he tried to gouge out my eye. When he bit into my ear, the adrenaline flooding my veins masked the pain; I would not even realize my ear was gone till after the fight. Twenty years ago, in that dimly lit alley in Kent, Washington, as I walked into a ring of teenage onlookers to face off, my heart was pounding so hard my chest hurt. My vision narrowed—I could only see faces—and I felt sick in my gut. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Unlike many of her colleagues at NASA, Ellen Stofan never wanted to be an astronaut. She saw her first rocket launch at age four. It didn’t go well. Stofan,who recently left her position as the space agency’s chief scientist, dimly recollects traveling from Ohio to Cape Canaveral to watch the fifth flight of the uncrewed Atlas-Centaur launch system, a project of her NASA engineer father‘s. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

One of the most common topics covered in a high school physics class is simple machines. An I think the compound pulley is the coolest simple machine. Let's start with some basic physics. Work-Energy Principle The compound pulley, like all simple machines, uses the work-energy principle. I will skip theexplanation of energy (it's very abstract) and start with this: Don't worry about the change in energy and just look at the definition of work. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

NASA missions come packaged two ways. They’re either deep explorations of the familiar—STEREO’s focus on the sun, the International Space Station’s study of what microgravity does to the human body—or a trip to some crazy place no one has ever seen before. But still, any strange, distant object the agency targets will likely hold some clue about the origins of life. Humans are spacefaring narcissists that way. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices