NASA supervillain, nuclear history and a lost phone: Your weekend reading list
While NASA's Hubble Space Telescope keeps unveiling spectacular views of our universe, this weekend hear from a NASA scientist mistaken for a supervillain, follow the path of a cellphone into unfamiliar territory (that isn't so unfamiliar), explore a history of U.S. nuclear weapon testing and meet a gaming grandmother.
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• What Are Those Kids Doing With That Enormous Gun?
A lost phone provides a keyhole view across the world, to a family not so dissimilar from the phone's original owners. via The Atlantic
• This Man Was Accused of Trying to Pull Earth Out of Its Orbit
A theoretical exercise, taken as a supervillain's plan, takes on a life of its own, to the chagrin of NASA scientist Gregory Laughlin. via Nautilus
• Rich colors of Pluto
The New Horizons probe is well into its phone-home phase, each day streaming new data that peels back darkness and distance shrouded layers surrounding Pluto. via NASA
• Building the Atom Bomb: The Full story of the Nevada Test Site
Explore this interactive history of the nuclear weapon testing program of the U.S. government, and how a vast expanse of land northwest of Las Vegas was chosen. via The Guardian
• How to Dismantle a Nuclear Submarine
What happens to a deep-water warrior when its nuclear remnants outlast the mission? via the BBC
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• The New York Pizza Rat
While a pizza-conquering rat has captivated the Internet with rapt recoil, New York has been engaged in a perpetual struggle with the entrenched invasive species. via Motherboard
• Let's Play: Grandma Edition
Gaming is ubiquitous, across the young and old. Watch the wonderful convergence of a 79-year-old grandmother, a gaming computer, Bethesda Softworks' Skyrim game and a desire for connection. [Note: As a longtime fan of Bethesda's games, I find this simply heartwarming.] via reddit
Bonus rodent!
• Absurd Creatures: This Tiny Adorable Critter Is Half Kangaroo, Half Velociraptor
Meet the jerboa. via Wired
Twenty-five years after rocketing into the sky, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is still unveiling spectacular views of our universe, this week revealing a new view of the Veil Nebula, a supernova remnant more than 2,100 light years away.