Guys, there are a lot of really amazing things in the world! And there are also a lot of people out there exploring those amazing things and learning about them! Sometimes when they learn something new, they talk about it, and share it with laypeople so that they can also be excited and amazed.
I fucking love science.
I bet you do, too.
HEY KIDS, YOU LIKE DINOSAURS?
Well PALEONTOLOGY is a science, for sure! Paleontology is the study of goddamn extinct animals and shit using their fossils. If you're studying the dodo, you're probably not a paleontologist, though, because it only counts if your fossils are pre-Holocene. That means before people. Among other things. Look, if you're a people, paleontologists don't give a fuck about you.
They're too busy discovering the biggest dinosaur ever. His name is Dreadnaughtus and, given that he weighed more than seven T-Rexes, this guy would ruin your day if you pissed him off.
![MNFYc81.jpg]()
Paleo means "old as balls" in Greek, and if you're not into old as balls animals, you're not a paleontologist. You might be a paleobotanist, like Ellie Sattler, or a paleoecologist, or a paleoclimatologist even! You can be paleo-a lot of stuff.
"Dinosaurs are boring, they move too quickly. I want a science that talks about time on an even larger scale."
Like.. the GEOLOGIC time scale? We can work with that. Geology is the study of the Earth, its components, and what makes them change. Also, how they change. Geologists can be found doing all sorts of really amazing stuff, so if you think geology is dumb then I counter with NO YOU'RE DUMB. Look at all these sciences that fall under the mantle (IT'S A PUN) of geology:
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, which are portals to hell, probably, or kind of like giant zits on the Earth's face. Volcanoes form where plates of the earth's crust are either being pulled apart (divergent tectonic plates) or pushed together (convergent tectonic plates). They can also form at weak spots in the earth's crust, or when diapirs of magma push up from under the crust. You can think of a diapir as one liquidy-smushy-moving material is able to force its way through a brittle-y, breaky other material. Protip: magma is liquid rock found underground; once it comes up and out it stops being magma and starts being lava.
But wait! The definition above is a bit misleading because you can also study solid "earth" that isn't actually on Earth. Like, say, the geology of other bodies in space. You into that? You should be, because it's rad as fuck. The people who realized this early on and studied it extensively are called exogeologists, or planetary geologists, or just Really Cool Dudes.
There's also Mineralogy, which is the study of the crystal structure, makeup, and general properties (like refraction) of minerals. If you like maths and things that are beautiful and also chemistry and also SECRET SURPRISES, mineralogy is a thing to consider studying. People think it's boring but people are wrong.
![fhoap5J.jpg]()
That is a picture of a mineral called chalcanthite, which forms in dry climates on late-oxidization-stage copper deposits. SUPER GORGEOUS, right? here's the SECRET SURPRISE: It's water soluble, and if you lick it, it MIGHT KILL YOU. That's right, it's poisonous!
![z3AVIC7l.jpg]()
This silky hair stuff is a beautiful mineral, too! It's called tremolite, and in its silky fibrous form, it is recognized as a kind of asbestos. Just a reminder: asbestos causes oodles of cancer and a chronic inflammatory condition called asbestosis, because you get it from, y'know, asbestos.
Okay I guess I gotta stop talking about rocks. There are other natural sciences, though. Wicked cool sciences like BIOLOGY, which is the study of living things! Just like the other types we've discussed, there are a million subdisciplines in biology! Molecular biology, ecology, neuroscience...
Then there's CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY, SOCIOLOGY... BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING...
Look, okay there's a lot of scientific ground to cover and that's not really why I wanted to make this thread. I wanted to make this because I bet there are other people out there who do a lot of science reading in their day-to-day, and often see things and think, "THAT'S AMAZING!" Well, I want you to share with me your AMAZING SCIENCE THINGS that you find! We can talk about how totally incredible all the stuff around us is. (It's pretty incredible.)
I fucking love science.
I bet you do, too.
HEY KIDS, YOU LIKE DINOSAURS?
Well PALEONTOLOGY is a science, for sure! Paleontology is the study of goddamn extinct animals and shit using their fossils. If you're studying the dodo, you're probably not a paleontologist, though, because it only counts if your fossils are pre-Holocene. That means before people. Among other things. Look, if you're a people, paleontologists don't give a fuck about you.
They're too busy discovering the biggest dinosaur ever. His name is Dreadnaughtus and, given that he weighed more than seven T-Rexes, this guy would ruin your day if you pissed him off.
Paleo means "old as balls" in Greek, and if you're not into old as balls animals, you're not a paleontologist. You might be a paleobotanist, like Ellie Sattler, or a paleoecologist, or a paleoclimatologist even! You can be paleo-a lot of stuff.
"Dinosaurs are boring, they move too quickly. I want a science that talks about time on an even larger scale."
Like.. the GEOLOGIC time scale? We can work with that. Geology is the study of the Earth, its components, and what makes them change. Also, how they change. Geologists can be found doing all sorts of really amazing stuff, so if you think geology is dumb then I counter with NO YOU'RE DUMB. Look at all these sciences that fall under the mantle (IT'S A PUN) of geology:
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, which are portals to hell, probably, or kind of like giant zits on the Earth's face. Volcanoes form where plates of the earth's crust are either being pulled apart (divergent tectonic plates) or pushed together (convergent tectonic plates). They can also form at weak spots in the earth's crust, or when diapirs of magma push up from under the crust. You can think of a diapir as one liquidy-smushy-moving material is able to force its way through a brittle-y, breaky other material. Protip: magma is liquid rock found underground; once it comes up and out it stops being magma and starts being lava.
But wait! The definition above is a bit misleading because you can also study solid "earth" that isn't actually on Earth. Like, say, the geology of other bodies in space. You into that? You should be, because it's rad as fuck. The people who realized this early on and studied it extensively are called exogeologists, or planetary geologists, or just Really Cool Dudes.
There's also Mineralogy, which is the study of the crystal structure, makeup, and general properties (like refraction) of minerals. If you like maths and things that are beautiful and also chemistry and also SECRET SURPRISES, mineralogy is a thing to consider studying. People think it's boring but people are wrong.
That is a picture of a mineral called chalcanthite, which forms in dry climates on late-oxidization-stage copper deposits. SUPER GORGEOUS, right? here's the SECRET SURPRISE: It's water soluble, and if you lick it, it MIGHT KILL YOU. That's right, it's poisonous!
This silky hair stuff is a beautiful mineral, too! It's called tremolite, and in its silky fibrous form, it is recognized as a kind of asbestos. Just a reminder: asbestos causes oodles of cancer and a chronic inflammatory condition called asbestosis, because you get it from, y'know, asbestos.
Okay I guess I gotta stop talking about rocks. There are other natural sciences, though. Wicked cool sciences like BIOLOGY, which is the study of living things! Just like the other types we've discussed, there are a million subdisciplines in biology! Molecular biology, ecology, neuroscience...
Then there's CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY, SOCIOLOGY... BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING...
Look, okay there's a lot of scientific ground to cover and that's not really why I wanted to make this thread. I wanted to make this because I bet there are other people out there who do a lot of science reading in their day-to-day, and often see things and think, "THAT'S AMAZING!" Well, I want you to share with me your AMAZING SCIENCE THINGS that you find! We can talk about how totally incredible all the stuff around us is. (It's pretty incredible.)