#brainscoop

[pelorsdyke]

big day for people who have exactly my kind of brain rot

[lavenderandlaurel]

books that influenced me part 1

stuffed animals and pickled heads: the culture and evolution of natural history museums by stephen t. asma

back in high school when I was thinking about careers and college majors, I had just started to consider the fact that the museums I grew up going to had actual people who worked there and made decisions about what was displayed. I was an avid viewer of the early brainscoop videos, which is where I first got this book recommendation. it blew my teenage brain wide open, although I certainly didn��t understand it all at the time.

asma discusses three natural history museums in depth, looking at how regional and national culture shape what is emphasized in exhibits and how ideas are presented. it was my introduction to the idea that the selection and ordering of information is part of the message it conveys, as well as an eye-opener that even a fact as objective as evolution could be molded and shaped to highlight different meanings.

since I started watching the brainscoop because of a vlogbrothers video, I guess you could say this book is also the link that explains how I have my current job because of hank green.

[0ystercatcher]

the brainscoop is back.....

[road2nf]

Eternally Grateful

The Vlogbrothers and the Nerdfighter community have seriously impacted my life in so many ways, it's insane. I remember my first encounter with the community – my sister showed me the 2D glasses on DFTBA Records. As a person who suffers from headaches while watching 3D films, I found these glasses absolutely amazing. This led me to look at the YouTube channel and really integrate myself into the community. I started reading John's books when I saw the amazing display of box sets in a bookshop in Kuala Lumpur. As a Nerdfighter in a rural area of Western Australia, the Vlogbrothers certainly hasn't found me any social benefits. And because of this, it makes me completely fangirl to see John's books start to appear in bookstores, and Pizza John shirts occasionally popping up in the city, and that feeling, as you probably know, is the best feeling in the world.

To feel pride and passion about something just feels so amazing, and that's what I love about this community – because here it's okay to feel like that. The most beneficial thing that the Vlogbrothers could have done for me was launch Crash Course, SciShow, and introduce Emily Graslie and the Brainscoop. It's because of Crash Course that I actually passed S&E and science last year, and it's because of SciShow and the Brainscoop that I did my work experience in April at the Western Australian Museum.

For this, I am eternally grateful – I enjoyed it so much. Other things like the P4A, have seriously increased my levels of hope for this world. Again, as an Asian girl living in a country where the Prime Minister is a racist and misogynistic twat, I had completely lost hope in this world. But witnessing the P4A and how everyone comes together to help people, not as the usual western saviors, but as equals, is, basically, really freaking cool. So really – I'm so grateful for this community. It's benefited me in educational, inspirational and, most importantly, entertaining ways. It's helped me discover what I'm really passionate about, what I would like to do more, and that I actually can do it. That, just because I, and my family, are not necessarily welcome in my country, doesn't mean that I'm unable to pursue the things that I enjoy. Thank you so much, and DFTBA.

Taylor (Tumblr: montparsexy)

[talentconnectworldwide]

Marvelous Cities to Live in Australia

Best Marvelous Cities to Live in Australia as an Immigrant

Australia is known for its high cost of living as compared to many other countries in the world. But, If you want to immigrate to Australia then there are some Marvelous cities to live in Australia that is listed here

Perth

Sydney

Brisbane

Hobart

Canberra

[baubellum]

Oh! Inspirational!

Alexander Friedrich Werner

German

1825 - 1908

The Taxidermist

signed and dated A. F. Werner. / 1878. lower left

oil on panel

Sotheby’s

[severalowls]

People who deliberately listen to certain things, or avoid things they like until they're in the shadow of the untracked period just so they can get particular results on Spotify Wrapped live a life I can't comprehend. Like this isn't a party, you aren't picking a song for your friends in the car, and the popular kids aren't listening in because you aren't 15 anymore. What you do in private shouldn't be a curated experience for a nosey theoretical audience......

[alittlelefttolearn]

Best part of arts fundraiser was the dinosaur in the orchestra. #dino #brainscoop #starpower #comic #girlsinscience #alittlelefttolearn https://www.instagram.com/alittlelefttolearn/p/BunBvDUhIYS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5cpintj352x

[chupacabracrafts]

Alrighty, there it goes. I separated the cranium, mandible, and atlas, and gave it a good brain scooping..... 🍬🍬🍬 #bathtime #maceration #skulls #squirrel #brainscoop #squirrelseason #roadkill #vultureculture #oddities #weird #specimenjar #breakdown #head #brew

[missbcm]

Meet the chief curiosity correspondent at Chicago Field Museum

Emily Graslie is still one of my heroes - watch The Brainscoop for her wonderful video’s.

[possums-against-cops]

I don’t know how many of you remember the Brazil National Museum fire in 2018 but it destroyed almost a 200 year old museum full of invaluable, irreplaceable artifacts. The museum held around 20 million artifacts and over half were destroyed in the fire, but the museum isn’t all gone. Pieces survived, some artifacts were in a museum annex, safe away from the fire. Two weeks after the fire, staff set up two tents in front of the museum with a selection of artifacts that survived for the public to see. Anthropologists, paleontologists and archeologists combing through the debris recovered artifacts like the skull of the oldest human found in the americas, Luzia, which is over 11,500 years old.

Most people agree the root of the fire was sever under funding and neglect of the museum, including an outdated fire prevention system. If you are able, go visit your local museum, donate or buy merchandise from them to fund research and conservation of their artifacts. From what I can tell, there was a plan for the museum to partially reopen in 2022, but I don’t know how the pandemic may have affected that plan. You can also donate directly to the museum on their website.

One of my favorite youtube channels, BrainScoop did a video following up on the museum, talking to one of the researchers who was working there before the fire:

Rising from the ashes of Brazil's Museu Nacional fire

Museu Nacional Vive! The National Museum Lives!

[thecoffeeisblack]

Thoughts on the new Dino Hunters TV Show.

So, if you follow paleontology or are the type of person constantly on the lookout for new paleo-documentary series you may have come across this in the past week:

https://youtu.be/TumWvTs9AHU

It's the trailer for a new series on Discovery Channel called Dino Hunters that will follow many figures in the commercial fossil trade, many of which are controversial. Just from the promos they have released it is clear that this show is less interested in the science and more interested in portraying fossil hunting as some sort of new "gold rush," where the average Joe dinosaur cowboy can dig up a skeleton and strike it rich.

The problem with this isn't that people are able to make a sustainable living off of the fossil trade, the problem is that many of the best fossils found by commercial fossil collectors end up in the hands of private collectors that may or may not be inclined to make said finds available for scientific study. A single, well preserved fossil of a rare specimen may yield decades or centuries of scientific data, which really lends perspective to the amount of knowledge that can be lost when profits are put ahead of study.

I'm not saying that all commercial fossil hunters are bad, there are actually quite a few that donate or prioritize sales to institutes of study and make a profit off of either making casts of large skeletons they have found or selling smaller less significant finds.

The majority of the people involved in Dino Hunters are not the types of fossil hunters who donate their finds or appear to care about science. Clayton Phipps, discoverer of the now famous Dueling Dinosaurs fossil that contains a Tyrannosaur and a Chasmosaur, appears to be going over the top with his reality show persona, complete with costume that makes him look like less like a fossil hunter or even a real cowboy and more like a cowboy themed used car salesmen. He is still trying to promote the very dubious genus of Nanotyrannus, probably because that makes the fossils more rare and thus more valuable when selling to collectors who know nothing about the science. He is in fact spotted in this promo saying that he "doesn't do the science work," and is just "a cowboy who likes to find dinosaurs," a line that sums up the tone of this show perfectly.

Discovery Channel has long since turned its back on good science documentaries and it's clear they are only interested in producing a show that fits a formula similar to that of Pawn Starts, Duck Dynsasty, or Tiger King. They want to chuck the facts and just show the average Joe striking it rich, and if they are morally or legally dubious then that's great because it ups the shock value. If you are looking for alternatives to this, I have some recommendations:

The first is a 3 part series airing 2 days before Dino Hunters on PBS called Prehistoric Road Trip, the series is hosted by Emilie Graslie (who also hosts a regular YouTube show called BrainScoop) takes you on a tour of the American West going to fossil sites and talking to experts, it looks to be very good -

https://www.pbs.org/show/prehistoric-road-trip/

The second is another awesome series from PBS that you can watch on YouTube called Eons, which regularly covers a large array of subjects surrounding paleontology  -

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzR-rom72PHN9Zg7RML9EbA

Also on YouTube I would recommend the paleoart channel of Brian Engh, in particular I would recommend his series Jurassic Reimagined 

https://www.youtube.com/user/DinosaursReanimated

On top of all of this I would recommend looking at streaming services like Curiosity Stream, its super cheap and has a lot of good paleo docs both new and old on there. If anyone else has any other interesting shows or YouTube channels to recommend, feel free to leave a comment.

[road2nf]

I don’t now recall what video had been uploaded, but as it ended, everything suddenly clicked into place, and I began writing furiously.

The idea that I could list all they ways the Vlogbrothers have improved my life is honestly laughable. They’re educators, creators, lovers of knowledge; and I fully believe that a majority of the educational side of YouTube, what with your CPGGrey’s and your MinutePhysics’ and your BrainScoop’s, were either inspired or directly influenced by their work.

But probably the best way in which John and Hank have influenced my life in a positive way is by funding my education.

Coming from a relatively middle class family, the transition from high school to college came with a very large and terrifying question: how the hell am I supposed to pay for this?! I’m stuck on my own financially, so I knew I would have to fill out an incredible amount of scholarships to even attempt to make ends meet.

I don’t know if you’ve ever filled out a college scholarship, but the vast majority are pretty crap. You fill in several pages of info about yourself, and then usually have to write an essay about a chosen topic. However, this comes with a problem.

Each scholarship committee wants to be unique.

They want to make sure you can’t just reuse a prewritten essay.

Each one must come from the heart.

On the surface this is a good idea, but when it forces you to write three essays a week on top of school...you get the idea of how high puff levels were getting.

Anyway, one Wednesday night, I was going through a stack of scholarships due the following day. I had been busy all week, with exams and tech week for the musical I was in, and I was at the point of calling it quits. The last essay in the stack asked the usual information, and then, the dreaded essay: ‘Write about a person or persons who have been a major influence in your life’. So naturally, to get the creative juices flowing, I got on YouTube and watched the latest Vlogbrothers video.

I don’t now recall what video had been uploaded, but as it ended, everything suddenly clicked into place, and I began writing furiously.

I wrote about the past, of brotherhood 2.0. I wrote about charity, water.org and Kiva.

I wrote about award winning novels and Wizard rock and SciShow and Crash Course, and how these two wonderful brothers had created something so wonderful in the world without ever planning on it.

And when I was done, I sent it in, hoping that my influence had shown through.

And it did.

Thanks to that essay, half of my freshman tuition was paid for.

Sure, I could accredit something to myself, and I should. But my high GPA and ACT score and writing ability...all of those were directly influenced by John and Hank’s presence in my life. And I think that’s a testament to just how much the Green Brothers can affect someone’s life. I’ve never met either of them, and I doubt I ever will. But I owe them more than I could ever repay. And that’s pretty neat.

- Nick (thatoneguywithoutamustache.tumblr)

[katofdiamonds]

#tbt to yesterday at the @denvermuseumns with @egraslie & #BrainScoop for a meet up and collections tour! It was a fantastic experience and made even better joined by friends made through #Nerdfighteria! 💀 #itstillhasbrainsonit