September 10, 2013

Watch: Virgin Galactic Successful Test Flight

SpaceShipTwo’s second rocket powered test flight reached supersonic speeds of over 1,000 mph.

In the video below, Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson remarks on SpaceShipTwo’s second rocket powered test flight, which reached supersonic speeds of over 1,000 mph.

Watch here:

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Telescope footage by MarsScientific.com and Clay Center Observatory.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Brain Speed: An Evolutionary Tradeoff

When I touch my finger to my nose I actually don’t want the signal from my nose to go too fast.