Der-der-der-DERR-der Der-der-der-DERR-de-DER-de-de-DERR-BOOM BOOM

For the last day, ScienceBlogs has been teasing some big news on Twitter. Perhaps we were all Belle de Jour in disguise? Maybe we would rip off our masks to reveal the mainstream media lurking underneath? Maybe we would even, gasp, shock, start blogging about science?

No, it's none of these. The cat, now let loose from its bag/box in a flurry of collapsing probabilities, is that we're joining up with National Geographic for a big, sciencey love-in.

There'll be a fair bit of cross-promotion on both sites, and we suddenly get access to a massive archive of pics and videos. And to clarify, Not Exactly Rocket Science will remain unchanged in terms of style or content. It just means that, hopefully, new people will arrive and you existing readers will get links to nifty relevant content. And I am contractually bound to walk around wearing a giant yellow rectangle for a few days a week.

The official wording goes like this:

Dear Readers,

It is our great pleasure to bring you news of an exciting new partnership, starting today, between ScienceBlogs and National Geographic.

ScienceBlogs and National Geographic have at their cores the same ultimate mission: to cultivate widespread interest in science and the natural world. Starting today, we will work together to advance this common mission through new content, applications, and initiatives. We will bring acclaimed voices from National Geographic into our rich discussion on ScienceBlogs, and National Geographic will invite their worldwide audience to join the conversation. Our bloggers will gain new audiences and maybe even a few SciBlings...

Over the next few days, weeks, and months you will start to see the fruits of the SB-NG partnership take shape here on SB and on Nationalgeographic.com. We hope you'll share with us your ideas and feedback for how we can make this partnership as valuable as possible for you.

ScienceBlogs and our 137 bloggers around the world strive to continually raise the bar of online science communication, and we are thrilled to be taking the next step with National Geographic. We look forward to bringing this new dimension to your ScienceBlogs experience.

Thank you for being a part of our community!

Now sing it with me: Der-der-der-DERR-der Der-der-der-DERR-de-DER-de-de-DERR-BOOM BOOM...