I know it’s only Monday, but I’m pretty sure “tiny volcanic moon” is the phrase of the week.

(Largely terrifying) tales of DIY science.

You know what else are neat? Waterfall restaurants.

2011 had some pretty impressive science visualizations it turns out.

And now some 1950s elephant automatons, I think this is going to be a good week. (via Boing Boing.)

Welcome to your new home,  Planet GJ 667Cc (it’s been an exciting week in space).

Richard Branson’s lemurs and other assisted migrations.

This is what a mouse’s brain activity looks like.

Perhaps you’d like to see some rad train photography.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, like, for real, yo.

The orb-web spider will go to great lengths to avoid rough sex.

Flavorwire has a handy write-up of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Space tugboat is absolutely the phrase of the day.

The high cost of bad handwriting.

These are the sounds of mind reading.

Dept. of the-future-is-totally-here-dudes: bullet proof skin!

Wired wants to talk to you about (actual) bugs.

Uncontacted peoples in the 21st century is one of the most mind blowing concepts I can imagine.

Let’s all listen to Mercury!

Meanwhile, here are some things we’ve found about the atmosphere at the edge of the solar system.

Science has determined aliens are probably being reclusive dicks.

Oh hello, albino hummingbird.

It is well documented that world’s fairs are awesome.

Here is a look at one of the first sound installations. It is pretty neat too.

What are you doing at the bottom of the ocean Anklyosaur.

Let us welcome the week with reflections on crab design.

Here’s your weeks worth of solar storm sky porn.

What do false memories look like?

Bad news navigation fans: the north star might be shrinking.

But what about the OTHER Vitruvian man?

Mind blowing fact of the day: President John “the Tenth President” Tyler’s grandchildren are still alive!

You know what makes international diplomacy rules way more interesting? Outer space!

By the way, have you seen NASA’s new highest resolution ever picture of the Earth?

Behold the chemobile.

It it is time to find out what the rings of tree trunks sound like.

Very important dinosaur hands news.

Data visualizations as self portrait.

Behold the classroom-less school (way to go Sweden).

Can we all agree that Japanese monsters are the most terrifying?

Hello there lil world’s smallest vertebrae fella.

The Japanese understand the key to depression is baby robots (robot babies).

Peter Newell’s The Rocket Book is your early 20th Century kids book of the day.

By the way, it’s time to start thinking about historically preserving the moon.

The ocean floor is a pretty crazy place.

Perhaps you’ve wondered why JRR Tolkien never won a Nobel Prize (I have never wondered this).

These were the weirdest new animals of 2011.

2012, on the other hand, will be the year of single person helicopters.

Fake holidays are pretty wonderful.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate gender swapping fish.

Pigeons look at 19th Century Europe.

Every day is a good day to talk about ghost hunting.

Aqua Velvet brings you their top posts of 2011 (we still have a couple more weeks for year-end wrap-ups I figure).

Way to have the world’s tallest bridge, Mexico!

Meanwhile, also from the BBC, file sharing is a religious right (in Sweden).

And some whimsy to prepare you for the weekend: Daguerreotype dogs.

“What do you think most about during the day?” “Women. They are a complete mystery.” Stephen Hawking at 70.

Oh hello, wonderful space ephemera.

Philippe Ramette’s impossible photographs.

The future is (really ugly) self-repairing shoes.

Long story short, there isn’t really any reason to eat a prehistoric fish.

Here is your Norwegian witch memorial.

What are you doing here, moon mineral?

Urban design links for the week: disguised infrastructure and guerrilla whimsy.

You know what else I love? Windsor McCay! (via 50 Watts.)

Hey folks, we’re going to take it easy this week.

That being said, we’d never leave you all alone. Here are a few things Alec has ollied (we have no idea who Alec is).

Seriously you guys, The Big Picture’s year in review is the best thing about December (part three may be live by the time this is).

How do anglerfish mate? Fascinatingly!

Here are your clouds for the day.

Mid-century shop windows.

A list of animals with fraudulent degrees. (via Gerry Canavan.) Have a great holiday everyone!

New York City cops in the 1970s.

“How Much More Do Books Cost Today?”

Old dude dancing to contemporary music.

Hooray for bio-luminescence! (part 2)

Atlas Obscura has some hand info on the deaths of the last week.

Here is your Christmas spirit for the day.

Oh my gosh you guys, it’s time for Big Picture’s photo wrap-up!

“I would like to get out of this world before the H-Bomb blows it sky high.”

Hooray for bio-luminescence!

Way to go Dalton Trumbo.

Hey look, the awesome Paleofuture now in tumblr form!

Catalan edible jewelry.

Important: fish hatcheries are speeding up fish evolution.

AHHH! COMET HARPOON!

AHHHHHH! GREENLAND SHARK!

Fact: loud music makes drinking better.

Disneyland clean-up operations are pretty dang fascinating. (via Atlas Obscura.)

Our sense of smell is way better than a Neanderthal’s.

This is what the world has come to: urban emoticons.

Fish used to walk all over the place.

Dornith Doherty takes pictures of seed life. Way to go Dornith.

The Symbolism Survey.

“When Animals Run Attack Ads.”