Written by Kristin Kish, Digital Marketing Intern.
Between school, homework, practice and spending time with loved ones, it’s easy to miss out on the latest in science, technology, engineering, art and math. But don’t worry, Thinkery’s got you covered. Here are some of our favorite STEAM discoveries from the previous week. It’s fuel for your weekend.
Last year, a San Pedro based research vessel discovered a lake 3,300 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. This underwater lake, nicknamed the “Jacuzzi of Despair,” is so salty that it kills almost everything that falls inside. How is it so salty? The lake formed over millions of years as a much shallower Gulf of Mexico evaporated, leaving behind huge beds of salt. This leftover salt has turned into a super-salty brine that’s so dense it can’t mix with the water around it. In fact, it’s four times saltier than regular ocean water, making this brine toxic to most sea creatures. The 12-foot crater-like pool is lined with mussels, one of the few species that are able to survive in its salty waters. Learn more about the Jacuzzi of Despair—and what lives inside it—here.
Look up in the sky on November 14 and you may notice that the moon looks huge. That’s because it’s a supermoon! A supermoon occurs when the moon becomes full on the same days as its perigee, which is the point in the moon’s orbit when it is closest to Earth. Supermoons usually occur every 13 months, but this one is super special. This supermoon, the largest so far in the 21st century, will be larger than any moon that’s been seen in the last 68 years. How cool is that?
As you can imagine, supermoons are best viewed at night away from sources of light pollution. Don’t miss out, because we won’t see another moon like this until 2034!
Have you ever colored in a mandala? Artist Asmahan A. Mosleh spends between eight and 54 hours filling in a single mandala. These stunning pieces start out as pencil outlines and are later transformed into intricate works. As a final touch, Mosleh adds pearls of paint to give her paintings texture. Check out more of Mosleh’s designs on her Instagram, where she posts pictures of all of her magical mandalas.
Check this out! Paleontologists might have found the very first fossilized dinosaur brain. Yep, BRAIN. Found on a beach in the United Kingdom in 2004, it’s likely that this fossil belonged to a close relative of the Iguanodons, herbivorous creatures that lived approximately 133 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Period. Researchers from the Geological Society of London recently reported evidence of both blood vessels and brain membranes inside the fossil—and it’s also possible that mineralized tissue from the actual brain lies within the fossil, too. Learn more here!