Juice
@xkcd.com![4-panel comic. (1) [Two people, one with a ponytail, sitting and typing at terminals opposite each other. A sign on the wall reads “Juice Mission Control,” with JUICE in huge letters.] PERSON 1: Jupiter Icy Moons Exploder checkin is complete. All systems nominal. (2) PERSON 2 with ponytail. [People turn to look at each other.] PERSON 1: What? PERSON 2: Jupiter Icy Moons *Explorer*. (3) [Person 1 turns back to his terminal.] (4) PERON 1: Control, everything is fine, but I need to schedule an urgent spacecraft update. [Person 2 facepalms] PERSON 2: Oh no.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihvb6ef4girxg5xticymwvtuopbv5gpcbdc6ptxn2p3qauk7ldfja@jpeg)
Randall Munroe
@xkcd.com
@xkcd.com@xkcd.comSpectrum Allocation
![Comic: Modern Spectrum Allocation Chart. [Long line of rectangles of different widths in shades of gray. From top to bottom: radio (shouting), TV test patterns, 1G cellular, radio (music), radio (static), reserved for zeppelin navigation, TV channels 2, 5, 7-13, 16, 17, and 28 with 2G cellular in between, interference, WKRP in Cincinnati, spaceship beeps, all other TV, car dealership ads, numbers stations, weather balloons, amateur radio, HAM radio, “weather balloons”, *Choosing Texas* 24/7, [extra large rectangle] boat captains say they need this for something and we don’t ask what because they’re scary, the secret radio waves that make planes stay up, defunct satellite phone company, radioastronomy, radioastrology, [extra small rectangle] all modern wireless infrastructure, death rays, LoFi hip hop beats to relax/study to, security guard walkie talkies, amateur military satellites, left open in case aliens try to call, one brand of garage door openers with a lot of political pull.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreia2bf2xxisooyebdz5dhcagzlu2dmwatby3jjhkpug2ufgmkd4jra@jpeg)
@xkcd.comMore weird and worrying questions
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@xkcd.comAccelerator Energies
![Comic. [Chart with track length on x axis: 10cm, 1m, 10m, 100m, 1km, 10km, 100km; collision energy on y axis: 1eV, 1keV, 1MeV, 1GeV, 1TeV, 1PeV, 10^18eV, 10^21eV, 10^24eV, 10^27eV. Scatterplot increases in a mostly linear shape with points for first cyclotrons, ADA, cosmotron, bevatron, BEPC-II, J-PARC, CEBAF, RHIC, tevatron, large Hadron Collider. An outlier near the top of the chart is Daytona Speedway.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigb7y4wjazav26yc36vymk7d5ixfbk3amnkpbdf6w6ntskaweftjy@jpeg)
@xkcd.comGround Effect
![Comic. [Two people flailing high in the air. Three people on the ground running ahead of them. Arrows and a dotted line indicate that this second group is within roughly one body length of the surface.] [caption] The “ground effect” explains why sprinters can run most efficiently if they stay within roughly one body length of the surface.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreihcig3lsvbr35da6d4ylsw4wwdj2pzkrcplyvuot5tkx6siqxxfim@jpeg)
@xkcd.comIf I went to Switzerland and won a Swiss watch precision contest, I would literally never talk about anything else
@xkcd.comJupiter Icy Moons Explorer
![4-panel comic. (1) April 2023: [JUICE space probe flying away from Earth] FROM EARTH: *JUICE* is en route to explore the icy moons of Jupiter! JUICE: *Wheee!* (2) August 2024: [JUICE flying past Earth] JUICE: ...So which planet was I visiting again? I got distracted. FROM EARTH: Jupiter! JUICE: Right, OK. (3) September 2026: [JUICE flies past Earth again] JUICE: Is Jupiter the one with all the rings? Or... FROM EARTH: No, the big one near it. JUICE: Got it! (4) January 2029: [JUICE returning to fly past Earth again] JUICE: And *which* moons am I looking at? FROM EARTH: Oh my *god*. FROM EARTH: Now I get why we budgeted for so many Earth flybys.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreih2hocndvj6rupk5itttpmxce7tdl465uzaf5iibkzipzyvoy4tuq@jpeg)
@xkcd.comSlab Graveyard
![4-panel comic. (1) PERSON 1: Any plans for Halloween? PERSON 2 with beret: Me and my friends are gonna check out a slab graveyard! (2) PERSON 1: What’s that? PERSON 2: When dense crust subducts, geologists think it might pile up at the bottom of the mantle. [illustration of Person 2’s related theory] (3) PERSON 2: We’re going to hide in the crust and ride it down to see. Wanna come? It’s gonna be spooky! (4) PERSON 1: Won’t that take millions of years? PERSON 2: Lots of time for ghost stories! PERSON 1: I think I’m good. PERSON 2: Too spooky? I understand.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigwl2q77jwcmcdvj6n4hvgfxrpkw5f5gzu2pzlofn3rawdh46vlmy@jpeg)
@xkcd.comVoyager Instruments
![3-panel comic. (1) [Person with shoulder-length hair gestures at diagrams on wall in front of table with three people.] PERSON 1: As the radioactive power source on *Voyager 1* weakens, we’ve been turning instruments off to conserve power. (2) PERSON 1: Only two instruments remain. Do we want to lose the plasma wave subsystem or the magnetometer? (3) PERSON 2 with ponytail: You know, if we just turned off Greg’s LED underlighting– PERSON 4 with short hair: Absolutely not. PERSON 3: Dammit, Greg. PERSON 4: I will *not* allow us to look uncool in front of aliens.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreif7mauuvcdwzdpudh4qgynso2alimxydznfrdls5gpxsslzrxvk3u@jpeg)
@xkcd.comStargazing 5
![4-panel comic. (1) [Black background with person with shoulder-length hair with raised arms in front in white, with figures in gray in the background.] PERSON 1: Welcome to stargazing! I’m back, despite efforts by astronomers who hate cool space facts to cover me up so I can’t see the sky anymore! Nice try, losers! Next time buy a tarp that’s harder to chew through! (2) [Person looks toward binoculars in hand.] PERSON 1: Now, let’s spy on some stars! Does everyone have binoculars? If you don’t, find someone looking at birds and try to grab theirs. Stars are the birds of the sky. (3) [Close-up on Person but with white background.] PERSON 1: But stars aren’t the only weird lights. Sometimes the sky fills with rippling colors. That’s the sky’s screensaver. It’s very pretty, so don’t move your mouse and ruin it. (4) [Switch back to black background, person points up while figures in background look toward where she’s pointing.] PERSON 1: That blob is a comet. People used to think they were harbingers of doom. We now know they’re boring, so we have to find new reasons to use the word “harbinger.” I’m a harbinger of astronomy! Cool facts are nigh!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiawgxezuuhswsusbwt5gayq2532hpqjf3subfia57gpj3cnt4jnh4@jpeg)
@xkcd.comTyrannosaurus
![Comic. [Person with long hair pointing to diagram with Tyrannosaurus Rex standing next to a person.] PERSON: We now believe the primary prey of Tyrannosaurus Rex was these humans who kept standing next to it for scale.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreih526pxolmi4pgqdcdu435uhkrrldhpwq6rrsnk4hfs6dskbe5r7e@jpeg)
@xkcd.comSummer
![4-panel comic. (1) [Person swings from tree over water.] (2) [In the middle of the swing, the tree’s leaves have turned brown.] (3) [When the person lets go, the tree is bare of leaves and everywhere is covered in ice or snow.] (4) [The person landed on the ice looks behind at Person 2 with shoulder-length hair standing on the snow.] PERSON 2: Summer over already, huh? PERSON 1: It seemed extra quick this year.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreic4gbwxsjt6aw43ogiw36dnyicy7swyquypp6sqtr3ail3iqgwetq@jpeg)
@xkcd.comAerospace Flowchart
![Comic: Aerospace Engineer Problem-Solving Flowchart. [Start→Could we solve this problem by building giant airships again?→(No)→Try other solutions→(four arrows leading off-panel)]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiazznauvx4jxzubkairbedbknh2k66oswplocckj347h4fwlyljyu@jpeg)
@xkcd.comIf you put a toaster in a freezer, which wins?
Watch the latest What If? video in collaboration with @minuteearth.bsky.social!
@xkcd.comOH Scale
![Comic. [Next to a two-story house and some trees is a huge rail (several times the height of the house) with an incomplete huge wheel on top surrounded by scaffolding.] [caption] Due to a typo in the plans, I’ve been building an 87:1 model train set in my yard.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreicc6re2xjfzasl5jhzh7jmti3dc7ippkxxvyqji3eqrs2dhuh6xki@jpeg)
@xkcd.comFault Taunting
![4-panel comic. (1) [Giant fishing rod-like cat toy positioned above four tectonic plates. Two helicopters that appear tiny due to scale fly above. People next to device are so tiny they cannot be seen.] PERSON 1: The key to exposing new geologic layers is understanding the three forces driving plate movement: slab pull, ridge push, and taunting. (2) PERSON 2: Taunting? What do– PERSON 1: *Initiate thrust fault pattern!* [The dangly end of the toy wiggles.] (3) “Rumble” sound effect from tectonic plates. (4) “Lunge!” sound effect from tectonic plates. [Plates split at a diagonal angling toward toy.]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreib4bgny4aloexmhcpuj3hprxwxludu6ix23qkcarfocnvdizaw7ia@jpeg)
@xkcd.comSemaphore
![Comic. [Two identical machines face each other with a gap between them. Each is mounted on a box with a cable connecting it off-panel, webcams pointed at each other, and two flags at different angles that can move.] [caption] Networking tip: Separate sensitive components with a semaphore gap.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreic4v4hvmzrkuhrd3uf6akmtzumrsex4gclro2spqkss2mdwvdxvam@jpeg)
@xkcd.comAsteroid Mission
![4-panel comic. (1) [Announcer with medium-length hair in front of screen showing rocket.] ANNOUNCER: The asteroid is headed for Earth, but a mission has been launched to intercept it. (2) [Two people with space helmets and carrying equipment rush out of spacecraft landed on asteroid.] (3) [People connecting laptop to asteroid.] (4) [Laptop message reads >NOCLIP *ON*]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreielhvop2pgkkm4bxtms2gx2amqso6j3iaiq4zayf7ynzovwolslau)
@xkcd.comHandedness
![Comic. [Two people considering diagrams on whiteboard] PERSON 1 with ponytail: The W bosons produced by the collider beam will mostly be left-handed. PERSON 2: So we should send in a *right*-handed batter.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiclaz76nd4vfvtlhm7bncogauon6wkv4dh6fm7llbx3u4igqfovu4@jpeg)
@xkcd.comGeology Class