Under the milky way tonight. Loops of wispy clouds rise like smoke rings against a background of stars—the products of a NASA rocket launch early Tuesday morning designed to study the upper-level jet stream.

Photos: NASA Rockets Make Weird Clouds Near Edge of Space | NatGeo

The Most Astounding Fact | Dr. Neil DeGrasse

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson shares the most astounding fact about the Universe to the soothing sounds of The Cinematic Orchestra.

Male Fruit Flies, Spurned By Females, Turn to Alcohol | NYT

Björk’s Big Bang | New York [slideshow]

“It turned out generous, like: How can I empower children? But the other side of the coin was that it was selfish: How can I be a self-sufficient troubadour?”

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A poster inspired by yesterday’s amazing marshmallow cannon situation. Obama’s mouth has never been so agape.

January 31, 1961: A little fellow named Ham (for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center, his place of training) hitches a ride on the Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket to become the first chimp in outer space. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to follow Ham’s lead, did so just two and a half months later. [wired]