Black. Blacker. Blackest.

There's black.  Then there's Vantablack.  A synthetically produced black that's so black it boggles the mind.  It's like looking at a black object that's real, but it doesn't look real. It looks fake. It looks like someone painted black over a portion of reality.

Vantablack stands for "vertically aligned nanotubules". Light enters nanotubes (a billion a square centimeter) and bounces around changing into heat and releasing virtually no light. Thus, the unreal perception of "nothing". Later technologies improved on Vantablack.  In fact, back in 2017, I posted about this material near its inception. So, what's the point of mentioning this material?

Man was not the first to discover a material with such high light absorption properties. It's found in the natural world, in deep-sea creatures. It's been around for who knows how many millenia.  Some of these deep-sea creatures absorb up to 99.956 percent of the light that hits them. Intrigued?  Check out the article from Wired.com that discusses this naturally created phenomenon in more detail.

P.S. Check out this article for details on some history of Vantablack.

Black Holes - A Link Between Energy and Entropy

For those who are fascinated by space and all of its oddities, here's a mind-bending article about black holes and the relationship between their energy and entropy.  Check out the scientific information relating to this here. 

The Shoebill Stork - Weird, Strange, Creepy

It moves slowly.  It looks like a creepy muppet.  It poops on its legs to stay cool.  It's big.  Want to see what it looks like?  Check out this article from brobible.com. Another fascinating, but bizarre aviary masterpiece from Jehovah. 

Useful Shadows

Creating electricity that is clean and efficient has always been the goal of humans.  And humans, the inquisitive beings they are, have devised an array of unique ways to harvest and produce electricity. Now scientists in Singapore have developed a device made of gold and silicon that can produce electricity from light and shadows.  Known as the "shadow-effect energy generator", it can produce small voltages to power small devices.  Being in its early stages, more efficient generators will eventually be designed.  Check out the details here.

Fermions, Bosons and Anyons - Oh My!

Fermions and bosons are the building blocks of life, particles so small it takes special equipment to even detect them.  However, scientists have now discovered another particle that sits alongside these two particles.  They are known as "anyons".  How do they interact with these other life building blocks?  This article provides interesting insight into this newly discovered particle.

Temperature, Heat, Hot and Cold

Is temperature the same as heat?  Is it easier to produce heat or cold?  What is the law of thermodynamics?  This fascinating article delves into these subjects with some great illustrations to make understanding it easier.  

Black Holes Eating Black Holes - The Numbers Are Incomprehensible!

A black hole orbiting a black hole.  Accretion disk penetrations causing massive flares of brightness that produce, get this, a trillion times as much light as produced by the Sun. In fact, more luminous than our whole galaxy!  And because of the tremendous forces produced by gravity as predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity, the movement of one black hole orbiting the other changes by 39 degrees every revolution which is on a 12-year cycle.  But there's more! Read the whole intriguing, scientifically mind-bending article here.  Jehovah's power is unimaginable causing one to be aphonic. 

Creatures That Look Like Poo

What's the difference between camouflage and masquerading?  Animals do it in nature.  And many of them masquerade as poop to avoid being eaten.  Check out this article to learn more!

Multiplication A Different Way

Math is amazing whether you enjoy it or not. The thing is, there are myriad ways to do the same thing.  Check out this interesting way to do multiplication which has been around for thousands of years, since the Egyptians.  Check it out here!

Color Glass Condensate

Another one of Einstein's theories is being proved in the lab.  Dealing with particles on the subatomic level, a state of matter known as color glass condensate is being observed and studied.  The science behind the theory gets rather technical, but is fascinating.  Check out the full article found on flipboard.com.