itscaturday:

we had discovered the secret of the Traags

Maybe this world is another planet’s Hell.

(via lunations)

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

perfection

When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me — it still sometimes happens — and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again.

Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous — not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… that pure chance could be so generous and so kind… that we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… that we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful…

The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.

(via dancingmushroomz)

thenewenlightenmentage:

Scientists have recently discovered communities of previously unknown species living on the seafloor near Antarctica clustered around hydrothermal vents. This discovery is certainly exciting for biologists, but it’s also important for astrobiologists. It begs the question — if life can thrive in the deep, dark oceans without sunlight, could similar life thrive elsewhere in our solar system or the universe? [click to continue…]

(via biggiesmallz-deactivated2012030)

ruineshumaines:

The Milky Way and the northern lights seem to merge over Finnmark, Norway, on September 25. Auroras are created when charged solar particles collide with molecules in Earth’s atmosphere, infusing the molecules with extra energy that then gets emitted as light. - Photograph by Tommy Eliassen Eliassen. (via National Geographic)

(via project-argus)

mineralia:

Clinochlore var. Kammererite from Turkey