Showing posts with label awesome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awesome. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
ride the slide
i'm currently in garching, germany (near munich) visiting the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and the offices of the european southern observatory (ESO). across the road from these intricately-designed buildings is the local university's school of Mathematik, Physik und Informatik.
inside of this building lives a wonderful set of slides, which provide an excellent escape from the office and bit of adrenaline-inducing fun when i feel sleepy in the afternoon!
you can pick up quite a bit of speed sliding down these slick tubes, and they provide a convenient measurement system beyond the end of the slide to tell you just how far you go! the best part is that the markings along the white line say 1, then the square root of 2, then 2, etc... nerdilicious.
every building should have a slide. weeeee!
inside of this building lives a wonderful set of slides, which provide an excellent escape from the office and bit of adrenaline-inducing fun when i feel sleepy in the afternoon!
you can pick up quite a bit of speed sliding down these slick tubes, and they provide a convenient measurement system beyond the end of the slide to tell you just how far you go! the best part is that the markings along the white line say 1, then the square root of 2, then 2, etc... nerdilicious.
every building should have a slide. weeeee!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
shuttle launch from airplane
its a bird, its a plane, no... its the shuttle discovery launching into space as viewed by a passenger on an airplane!
this week the world saw the final launch of the shuttle discovery. its been a good run!
this week the world saw the final launch of the shuttle discovery. its been a good run!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
bioluminescence
photgrapher phil hart captured this incredible image of the gippsland lakes in victoria, australia in 2008.
the cause of the blue glow is bioluminescence: light produced by a chemical reaction which originates in an organism, and this case, it was an organism that lived in the lake for one summer only!
the whole, fascinating story is on his website, but i'll summarize here. fires and massive floods starting in 2006 caused nitrogen rich water with high salinity to concentrate in the gippsland lakes. after a summer of these conditions, a new species to the lake began to prosper, called noctiluca scintillans, or sea sparkle. whenever there is motion or agitation in the water, it glows more brightly!
what a strange and interesting world we live in!
the cause of the blue glow is bioluminescence: light produced by a chemical reaction which originates in an organism, and this case, it was an organism that lived in the lake for one summer only!
the whole, fascinating story is on his website, but i'll summarize here. fires and massive floods starting in 2006 caused nitrogen rich water with high salinity to concentrate in the gippsland lakes. after a summer of these conditions, a new species to the lake began to prosper, called noctiluca scintillans, or sea sparkle. whenever there is motion or agitation in the water, it glows more brightly!
what a strange and interesting world we live in!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
powers of ten
until now, there was no legal online access to the fabulous "powers of ten" short video by the architects ray & charles eames. yes, it looks dated, since it was produced in the 1960s, but i have such a vivid memory of seeing this for the first time at a young age (on an IMAX screen), that i wanted to share it here.
the video starts by showing a couple picnicking in chicago then zooms out into the universe by powers of ten (its still tough to grasp just how huge the universe even after studying it at such scales for so many years). then the video zooms back to the couple and further inside themselves to their atoms and blood cells and below. enjoy!
UPDATE: thanks to jad for leaving a comment... i was looking for the link to the site he mentions but couldnt find it at the time of writing this original post!
"I love that movie. This is a pretty cool flash(?) app that lets you zip through the powers of ten. Not zooming in and out on a single point like the movie, but with more time to look around: http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/"
the video starts by showing a couple picnicking in chicago then zooms out into the universe by powers of ten (its still tough to grasp just how huge the universe even after studying it at such scales for so many years). then the video zooms back to the couple and further inside themselves to their atoms and blood cells and below. enjoy!
UPDATE: thanks to jad for leaving a comment... i was looking for the link to the site he mentions but couldnt find it at the time of writing this original post!
"I love that movie. This is a pretty cool flash(?) app that lets you zip through the powers of ten. Not zooming in and out on a single point like the movie, but with more time to look around: http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/"
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
serious snow
wow! this is part of the tateyama kurobe alpine route in the japanese alps. not sure why they bother digging out the road though!
via tywkiwdbi
Friday, December 24, 2010
not everything burned
just for the record - i dont think it was a degrees F vs C issue, because some of the cookies came out alright - and even got decorated!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
the milky way project
the fine folks who brought you the galaxy zoo have just revealed another of their endlessly creative and interactive tools: the milky way project!
you can now view our Galaxy in the fantastic colors of infrared light provided by the spitzer space telescope. not only can you enjoy looking at the beautiful features spread throughout our home galaxy, you can help astronomers identify bubbles, knots, stars clusters, supernova remnants, never before-seen distant galaxies and any other strange new objects that look intriguing to your eyes. ultimately, we need to better understand the physics of the mysterious cold, dusty material that emits light at infrared wavelengths and now its possible for you to help!
"The material that we see in this project is dark to the naked eye. By looking in the infrared we pick out material that is not hot but rather cooler, and hence it does not emit visible light, but instead lower-energy infrared wavelengths. However there are still regions of yet colder and denser material that remain dark even to Spitzer's infrared red eye. These infrared dark clouds are stark silhouettes on the brighter, usually green material seen in the images on this site."
see that big dark spot in the middle of the image below? its a "dark nebula" and is possibly a private nursery where new massive stars are forming, hidden by a curtain of cold gas and dust!
here is a quick tutorial demonstrating how easy it is to interact with the images:
The Milky Way Project - Getting Started from The Zooniverse on Vimeo.
now GO and get drawing!
(well done rob et al.!)
you can now view our Galaxy in the fantastic colors of infrared light provided by the spitzer space telescope. not only can you enjoy looking at the beautiful features spread throughout our home galaxy, you can help astronomers identify bubbles, knots, stars clusters, supernova remnants, never before-seen distant galaxies and any other strange new objects that look intriguing to your eyes. ultimately, we need to better understand the physics of the mysterious cold, dusty material that emits light at infrared wavelengths and now its possible for you to help!
"The material that we see in this project is dark to the naked eye. By looking in the infrared we pick out material that is not hot but rather cooler, and hence it does not emit visible light, but instead lower-energy infrared wavelengths. However there are still regions of yet colder and denser material that remain dark even to Spitzer's infrared red eye. These infrared dark clouds are stark silhouettes on the brighter, usually green material seen in the images on this site."
see that big dark spot in the middle of the image below? its a "dark nebula" and is possibly a private nursery where new massive stars are forming, hidden by a curtain of cold gas and dust!
here is a quick tutorial demonstrating how easy it is to interact with the images:
The Milky Way Project - Getting Started from The Zooniverse on Vimeo.
now GO and get drawing!
(well done rob et al.!)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
across scotland on a bike
i had to watch this video twice! once for the skills of danny macaskill and once for the gorgeous scenery of scotland.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
best room ever
when i was young i had a snake that slept in a big cage in the corner of my room and scared the crap out of some of my friends. that was cool, but this rube goldberg-esque marble course would have been even better!
i've posted before about rube goldberg here and here.
i've posted before about rube goldberg here and here.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
nebula print clothes
here are some pieces from christopher kane's resort 2011 collection of nebula print awesomeness! this is my favorite...
... but i really like the one on the bottom, second to the left too.
spotted by the style rookie.
... but i really like the one on the bottom, second to the left too.
spotted by the style rookie.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
NASA and etsy: space craft contest!
NASA and etsy have created a creative contest to commemorate the end of the NASA Space Shuttle Program: the Space Craft Contest. to enter, "share an original handmade item or work of art inspired by the NASA Space Shuttle Program and space exploration at large."
what a great idea!
prizes for the winners include etsy shopping sprees, stuff from nasa and etsy, and a trip to see the final space shuttle launch ever as NASA’s VIP guest!! and if that isnt enough awesome, your artwork might even be flown on the space shuttle.
the final space shuttle mission is currently scheduled for launch in february 2011 and will voyage to the international space station.
what's great about this contest, in my opinion, is that this contest ideally reaches an audience that science organizations like NASA should be making more of an effort to engage. of etsy's 5.9 million members, 96 percent are women, and most are under the age of 35.
no matter who you are**, submit your creative entries by november 2nd, 2010 (and post them here to so we can all see your work!).
i'm finding myself attracted to the wearable art, like the orbital earrings below, but there are many cool entries so far.
** the contest is open to legal US residents only.
what a great idea!
prizes for the winners include etsy shopping sprees, stuff from nasa and etsy, and a trip to see the final space shuttle launch ever as NASA’s VIP guest!! and if that isnt enough awesome, your artwork might even be flown on the space shuttle.
the final space shuttle mission is currently scheduled for launch in february 2011 and will voyage to the international space station.
what's great about this contest, in my opinion, is that this contest ideally reaches an audience that science organizations like NASA should be making more of an effort to engage. of etsy's 5.9 million members, 96 percent are women, and most are under the age of 35.
no matter who you are**, submit your creative entries by november 2nd, 2010 (and post them here to so we can all see your work!).
i'm finding myself attracted to the wearable art, like the orbital earrings below, but there are many cool entries so far.
** the contest is open to legal US residents only.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
bad universe on TV!
phil plait, aka the bad astronomer, has a tv show on the discovery channel!! so if youre in the US, tune in this sunday night at 10pm.
here's a description of the episode: "65 million years ago, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into the Earth wiping out the dinosaurs. Are we in for the same fate? Phil Plait investigates the possibility and tests some explosive measures that may just save our planet."
and here's a preview:
i'm excited for this opportunity for phil and i'm thrilled that he gets to share his enthusiasm and knowledge on TV for the masses! let me know what you think!
here's a description of the episode: "65 million years ago, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into the Earth wiping out the dinosaurs. Are we in for the same fate? Phil Plait investigates the possibility and tests some explosive measures that may just save our planet."
and here's a preview:
i'm excited for this opportunity for phil and i'm thrilled that he gets to share his enthusiasm and knowledge on TV for the masses! let me know what you think!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
space helmet reflections
awesome collection of 35 space helmet reflections compiled at 3 ton gallery.
click the image to enbiggen. can you identify all the sources? i certainly cannot, but i think its great that each row has a color theme.
click the image to enbiggen. can you identify all the sources? i certainly cannot, but i think its great that each row has a color theme.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
"AstroPixie Conquers Cyber Space as Advocate for Science"
that's right, according to my undergraduate alma mater, the university of cincinnati's mcmicken college of arts & sciences, i have officially conquered the entirety of cyber space! ;)
read the article titled "AstroPixie Conquers Cyber Space as Advocate for Science" here!
read the article titled "AstroPixie Conquers Cyber Space as Advocate for Science" here!
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