S.A. Murphy

Michigan Astronomy and home-baked bread. Is there really anything else? (in less than 160 characters?)

[The Department of Astronomy @michiganastro]

Astronomy open house! The Student Astronomical society @umichsas will run planetarium shows and (weather permitting) have the observatory open this Friday! https://t.co/z8Kp7Opuf7 for more information

#astronomy #astrophysics #umich @umichlsa #annArbor #studentOrg #Moon

[UMich ITS @umichTECH]

Update to U-M community on IT outage: Our team is working around the clock and already has restored access to some systems: https://t.co/BCNyNFG7gM

[U-M LSA Technology Services @umichLSAtech]

In person support is available through our Service Centers (East Hall 1056, MLB 2001, Mason G340) and staff offices in Chem A541, LSA 0212, BSB B180, Randall 2428, Angell G155, LSA Nav Desk and the CCCB Nav Desk. Stations are set up for students to search for their class location

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

@kayhangultekin ☹️

[The Department of Astronomy @michiganastro]

The weather tried to made them feel like the Astro 461 class hadn't left Ann Arbor, but some data were gathered McGraw-Hill Telescope by Ryan Walker.
.

#astronomy #astrophysics #instrumentation #Arizona #astroclass #students #springterm #observationalAstronomy #umich #goBlue

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

@AdiFoord @UMBC Congratulations!

[Bunsen, Beaker, Bernoulli & Brix @bunsenbernerbmd]

Among a universe vast and huge there sits a tiny ball of blue.

That ball of blue holds the only life that is known.

Life on this planet burrows, flies about, swims, sleeps, and watches Netflix.

Among all this life, one life form tells a story of hope and love.

That creature is the dog.

The dog is four legged (most of the time) canine and is relatively new to the timeline.

The ancestors of this creature were wild and dangerous. They were deadly predators called wolves and spent their time prowling as teams through the swirling snow.

I should clarify that this ball of blue gets really cold from time to time and during one of the really cold stretches, this creature became desperate.

In this desperation for food it formed an unlikely truce with another creature called a human.

Why was this so unlikely?

Before this point, for hundreds of years, these two creatures waged war against each other.

Though they avoided each other out of respect and would run away at first chance, sometimes they fought.

If the wolves won, they got a snack and really pissed off the humans for a time. The humans would diss them on cave paintings for generations and come up with myths and legends about how terrible they were.

The famous painting called “My brother Grag got his face eaten by a monster” was popular for many moons and served as a reminder to the young humans to stay away from wolves.

If the humans won it was equally awful for the wolves.

Not only did the wolves mourn their lost family members, the victorious humans wore the skins of the dead everywhere they went.

This tit for tat continued for decades.

You can see how odd it is that these two species teamed up.

But team up they did.

Science is unsure exactly WHY they teamed up.

One idea is that the humans couldn’t eat all the protein they hunted and a pack of wolves benefited from the uneaten game.

Perhaps a couple weirdo wolves decided to take a chance on this food and get closer to the humans and a couple of weirdo humans took a chance to get closer to the wolves eating said food.

This is the start of the dog.

It wasn't long and the wolf was living much closer to the humans.

Instead of fighting the humans, they became the clean up crew. When the first group of wary wolves had pups, the pups probably played with the humans.

Those pups had pups who were more friendly and less wary than the last.

At some point the humans selected the most friendly male wolves to mate with the most friendly female wolves.

Soon the wolf was not a wary follower of the camp. It was family.

There is good evidence that THIS partnership was the reason the humans made it. Those wolf-dogs were trained to help hunt. More game could be hunted, trails were not lost, and bigger animals could be brought down.

The humans and their new friends prospered and a new picture was drawn on walls and sung into songs.

It isn’t hard to see why this bond formed.

Quickly, the wolf-dog became loyal. The wolf-dog saw its human family as its own family.

It became brave. It would die to protect the humans.

It could listen and answer another species' voice and commands. To this day, few animals UNDERSTAND human emotion like dogs do.

It was born KNOWING what a POINT from a human was and that the human was its friend. To this day the dog is the ONLY animal born to know this.

In turn, the human loved the dog back.

The human protected and fed the dog.

The human mourned the dog when it died as much as other humans within their group.

Scientists find graves of these early dogs next to the humans of the same time. It is clear that the dog was cherished and special. It retained the same burial rights as the humans within the group.

Thousands of years passed.

Through selectively breeding of these early dogs, all manner of sizes and shapes were created.

There were dogs who pulled things high in the mountains and protected their families from FREAKING BEARS.

There were dogs who swam and hunted with the humans.

There were dogs who killed vermin deep within holes.

There were small dogs who were companions in the laps of kings and queens.

There were dogs who slept beside the tiny humans and protected them from all manner of terrible things.

There were dogs trained to help humans without sight and mobility.

There were dogs trained to help humans who saw too much evil make it through the day.

There are dogs that take mooselegs.

There are chaotic dogs that dive in creeks for sticks.

Thousands of years ago an unlikely truce formed between a monster in the dark and a shivering human with a sharp stick.

Together, as a team, they became US.

Though this tiny ball of blue has many stories that are awful and sad, the story of the dog is not one of them.

It is the story of hope and love.

#dogs

[Michigan News @UMichiganNews]

Merel van 't Hoff, postdoc fellow @michiganastro, was part of a research team that detected gaseous water in the planet-forming disc around a distant star that can be traced from star-forming gas clouds to planets such as our own.

https://t.co/Zj3p2ZL0LR

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

It’s day 5 of the @DTE_Energy power outage. The estimated restoration of Sunday passed, then Monday. Now this.

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

If guinea pigs can share, so can we.
#guineapigsofinstagram https://t.co/irzp7Ii5bH

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Breakfast in bed, Guinea pig style.
This was before sunrise, so I had to use the flash. We don’t have a demonic pig. Really.
#guineapigsofinstagram https://t.co/wyo3lwphzE

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

We should all be as focused as these three pigs. They concentrate very hard on snacks
#guineapigsofinstagram https://t.co/DzEo9BQssv

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

I need a new alarm clock. This one is unreliable. It goes off 0.5 -2 hours early, and there’s no snooze.
of course, it is completely adorable. #guineapigsofinstagram https://t.co/4cjgkJtWCk

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Stella would like to remind you that it’s always a good day to snuggle into a warm sleeping bag
#guineapigsofInstagram
#winter #snuggles https://t.co/GQLJ7wiKk8

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Three little pigs, waiting to be let back in. But the towels are still in the dryer. #guineapigsofinstagram #cleaning https://t.co/FV50FJ6kZF

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Just posted a photo https://t.co/18Pb9PheoY

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Just posted a photo https://t.co/h3gU45p5Nb

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Before…
#thanksgiving https://t.co/q1sPyUXEjv

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Stella says that lunch in bed is even better than breakfast in bed. #lazyDay #guineapigsofinstagram https://t.co/KbbDvKdq0G

[S.A. Murphy @aquillam]

Winter has arrived https://t.co/ckyrRxSNuP