Giant Freakin Robot

I’ll bow down to Mother Nature’s forces when it’s called for. I won’t drive far in a hurricane. I won’t camp in the snow. And I definitely won’t ever again creative miniature tornadoes just because the blender is broken. Considering I never even considered a combination of lightning and an erupting volcano before, please pardon me for barking in fear at random intervals.

If German photographer Martin Rietze intended to make Hollywood and Photoshop look like amateur hacks, he’s done it. Japan’s Sakurajima Volcano, in southern Kyushu, was a hot spot of beautiful disasters from February 21-26, and Rietze made the most of his skills, capturing some of the most amazing natural images from this planet I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen like seven pictures in my life.

Ever wonder what the landscape of Mars would look like if, you know, it were a little more like Earth? By that I mean if it were capable of supporting life. Kevin Gill certainly did, and he went so far as to make this video of what a “living Mars” might look like. The animation takes the entire daily rotation of a fully terraformed Mars and compresses it into just under a minute of run time.

The world recently looked up and said, “Whoa,” as the medical field announced the first ever child to be “functionally cured” of the HIV virus. The hope for the virus’ eventual eradication skyrocketed. I can’t imagine how well received this news is going to be.

According to an article in New Scientist, 14 adults have now been “cured” of HIV, and while it  isn’t the end-all, be-all of medical miracles, but it’s further proof that the earlier the virus is treated, the better. That seems like an obvious piece of advice, but the majority of those suffering don’t know they’re infected until after the virus is well into its cell destruction. Beyond that, the drugs aren’t guaranteed to work on all adults, so there still won’t be a universally applicable treatment for quite some time. However, it did work on some of them, and that’s pretty fucking amazing.

Years ago, Asier Sáez-Cirión of the Pasteur Institute’s unit for regulation of retroviral infections in Paris headed a study that analysed 70 patients with HIV who were treated with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) early on in their diagnosis — between 36 days and 10 weeks after the infection began. For one reason or another — personal choice or drug protocol changes, to name a few — all 70 of those studied had their drug treatments interrupted. When that happened, most of them relapsed and the virus quickly bounced back to pre-treatment levels.

There are a thousand little things that we all take for granted on a daily basis that suddenly become a whole different challenge once you decide to relocate to a microgravity environment. Say, for instance, on the International Space Station. Even if you’re a space junkie like us, I’m betting there are still lots of stories astronauts could share that would make you go, “Well of course that would be tricky in zero-g!” Most of us won’t ever be lucky enough to make it into space, but thankfully we’ve got ISS Commander Chris Hadfield up there for us, answering submitted questions and beaming back one fascinating video after another. For instance, how the hell do you make a sandwich up there?

Well, first thing’s first. You need to wash those filthy hands of yours, you disgusting pig. Didn’t your mother teach you anything? So go over there and flip on that faucet and — Ack! Water everywhere! Things with blinky lights are shorting out! You’re having flashbacks to The Abyss! I hope you’re happy, because now the ISS is filled with runaway water balls and everybody has wet socks. Wet socks are the worst.

Fear not: Commander Hadfield is here to show you how it’s done.