Six STEM Tweets #57 - Jan 12 2025

Venom to weight-loss, Mercury images, mathy corners and more

Author

Harshal Chhaya
January 12, 2025

Six STEM Tweets

Six tweets that celebrate engineering and all things science and engineering and space-y.

I scroll so you don’t have to.

#1 🤯 

Today’s wild-ass research proposal could be tomorrow’s wonder drug.

Or it would just be a wild-ass research proposal that doesn’t go anywhere. And I think that’s fine too. That’s how science happens.

#2 🤯 

How cool must it feel to name a plain on another planet AND then to see photos of it! 🤯 

You can find more details of this mission at:

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo

#3 🤯 

#4 🤯 

A good Venn diagram is a beautiful things - makes you smile, makes you wonder, makes you want to share with your friends through a newsletter. 😄 

If you like Venn diagrams, check out the special Venn diagrams issue

#5 🤯 

This calendar and other stunning images are at https://science.nasa.gov/multimedia/2025-nasa-science-planning-guide/

(Thanks to CW for alerting me to this amazing resource!)

#6 🤯 

Math is all around us, particularly in the corners 😆 

About

This newsletter is my way of sharing interesting science-related news with my curious friends. I enjoy finding science and math connections in our world.

Please share this newsletter with others. Let’s encourage curiosity.

- Harshal (@hschhaya on X/Twitter)

This is issue #57. Let’s see what makes 57 an interesting number

  • The atomic number of lanthanum (La) - a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air. It is also the first of the lanthanides, a group of 15 similar elements between lanthanum and lutetium in the periodic table, of which lanthanum is the first and the prototype.

  • 57 is also

    • semiprime - product of two primes - 3 x 19

    • a Blum integer - because it is a semi prime and its prime factors are of the form 4n + 3 (n = 0, 4)

    • a Leyland number - because it can be written as xy + yx .

      • In this case: 25 + 52

  • The code for international direct dial phone calls to Colombia is 57.

  • Heinz 57, a brand of sauce, and the number of varieties of foods claimed to be produced by the H.J. Heinz Company

    • Interesting story: Former NHL player Steve Heinze requested to wear #57 when he was drafted by the Boston Bruins. His request was denied. 😢 He was granted #57 when he joined the Columbus Blue Jackets and he wore it for the remainder of his NHL career.

That’s it for this issue.

Hit ‘reply’ to tell me what you think.

And hit ‘forward’ to share with your friends and family.

Let’s all celebrate science and engineering and curiosity.

Best wishes,

Harshal