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skunkbear

There’s another lunar eclipse this year and it’s happening tomorrow night! (That’s Tuesday night — in other words the wee hours of Wednesday morning). Europe and Africa will be left out this time around, but viewers in North America and Asia will get the chance to see the moon pass through the earth’s shadow. Details from NASA here.

This eclipse is extra special because it might be a rare selenelion.

Don’t ask me how to pronounce that word, but here’s what it means: the refraction of light through Earth’s atmosphere makes both sun and moon appear higher in the sky then they really are. So at moonset/sunrise on Wednesday morning, a few lucky observers east of the Mississippi might glimpse the sun and the eclipsed moon AT THE SAME TIME! Geometrically impossible, and well worth setting your alarms for.

I put approximate moonset times in this GIF, but you should look up the specific schedule for your location here.

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iggydelacey

BLOOD MOON, BABY! Spoooooky.

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Scientists have developed a new technique that uses the individual sweat pores on a person’s finger to map their entire fingerprint. It’s so effective it can work on a fragment of a fingerprint and could help solve decades-old cold cases. Read more: http://bit.ly/1isb6YF

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iggydelacey

I guess I should rethink my life of crime. They'd catch me clammy-handed.

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Happy birthday to medical superhero William Stewart Halsted! If he were alive today he'd be 162. That would be pretty unbelievable. 

Things you should know about this great man: He established the first residency program in the US and pioneered a whole lot of fields. Like, a lot. This one time he did an emergency blood transfusion on his sister using his own blood and it was one of the first times anyone had ever done a blood transfusion, ever. How cool is that? Also he liked giving cocaine to his patients - what a guy. 

Hear more about him and how he introduced tons of the techniques we're still using today.Thanks Dr. Halsted, for paving the way! 

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