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A few days ago, we wrote an article about our featured researchers – outstanding men and women in their field, who recently published highly interesting studies. Today, we’re talking to Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). […]
A few days ago, we wrote an article about our featured researchers – outstanding men and women in their field, who recently published highly interesting studies. Today, we’re talking to Dirk Lachenmeier, a certified food chemist, toxicologist, head of the official alcohol control laboratory and co-head of the nuclear magnetic resonance laboratory at Chemical and Veterinary […]
This eagle at Codorus State Park in Pennsylvania has had it up to his neck with snow – both parents, mother and father, have taken parenting to the next level, sharing egg duty despite the growing snow. The Bald Eagle, recently taken off the endangered list, is a sea eagle. It’s an opportunistic species that subsists […]
Most recently, Bill Nye is famous for his viral debate against against Ken Han on creationism. The debate inspired him to write a best selling book tackling the subject called “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation”. In one of his chapters, Nye argues against genetically modified organisms since their long lasting effects on the ecosystem can’t be […]
Whether we see them in math or in real life biology (or architecture, or art), fractals are just awesome. In case you don’t know, a fractal is a repeating pattern that displays at every scale. Basically, a fractal is a similar, never-ending pattern. No matteer how you zoom in or out, you end up with a […]
How the tables have turned! While documenting the experiments conducted on campus, Benjamin Savard, a digital media producer at Middlebury College, wanted to take some underwater pictures of an octopus. But the octopus had other plans. It grabbed the camera and turned it on Savard, who posted the photos and GIF of the entire sequence on Reddit. “I […]
Anthony Gibbons, a designer which specializes on sustainable materials and biomimicry developed some rad looking tree houses which seem to be taken straight from the elves’ forest home of Lothlorien in Lord of the Rings! The Roost (as its called) rises up above the forest floor with sleeping quarters, viewing platforms, and spiral stairs, fully […]
Time flies fast when you’re trying to figure out the mysteries of the Universe… it seems like 2015 started just yesterday, and now winter is already over. Let’s take a deep breath and have a look at what we’ve done so far in 2015, what went right, what went wrong, and what we’re planning for […]
Like most things in our modern day life style, we tend to take vaccines for granted. Some, in ever growing numbers, are on the contrary pushing and inciting against vaccination for all the wrong reasons. It’s easy to forget, however, that since their introduction hundreds of millions of lives have been spared. Vaccines given to […]
Today, we have more pictures... because I just couldn't limit myself to one. Olivier Grunewald, a well known French photographer traveled the world to capture these stunning images of volcanic eruptions.
A typical school cafeteria serving contains fried food stuff like nuggets, mashed potatoes or peas. Kids' nutritional uptake and diet could be a lot better, as proven elsewhere by schools all around the world. Sweetgreen, a restaurant the values local and organic produce, recently published on its Tumblr an amazing photo journal detailing what a typical cafeteria serving looks like in countries like South Korea, Brazil or Italy.
An Australian company called ArchiBlox recently unveiled the first first carbon-positive prefab home – it generates more energy than it consumes, helps reduce carbon emission, and looks simply gorgeous. Contemporary and cozy, the house is topped with solar panels, and is designed to keep cool air in – something very important for the Australian environment. However, I […]
Rob Gonsalves is one of my favorite contemporary painters. His unique style and perspective are just so simple and yet so complex that I just find myself lost in his work. His paintings tell multiple stories, with the line between them gradually fading and making the viewer jump back and forth between the images. Is […]
“I am getting sick and tired of dinosaurs being forced on our children.” You just know something’s up when you hear that kind of phrase. Apparently a group of concerned Christians stood up against what they believe to be the grand conspiracy of scientists: shoving dinosaurs into the world so they can make money. I’ll […]
In an attempt to make programming more attractive, MIT has developed a stunning “robot garden”, dozens of fast-changing LED lights and more than 100 origami robots that can crawl, swim, and blossom like flowers. I’ll tell you, if this doesn’t make kids want to code… nothing will! The “garden” was created by a team from MIT’s Computer […]
For all the developments in modern architecture, balconies have remained generally unchanged. This is why I was really pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this alternative – it’s not groundbreaking, but it adds a nice, green touch and generally seems very pleasant. The Zalewski Architecture Group has designed this meandering alternative to a balcony which allows inhabitants to […]
US researchers have conducted a national survey and found that the percentage of U.S. teens who get seven or more hours of sleep is steadily decreasing. The number of teens suffering from sleep deprivation has continuously decreased, up to the point where less than half of all teens sleep adequately.
A new study has found that unlike monotheistic religions, buddhism doesn't promote intolerance - instead, it promotes both selfless behavior and tolerance of people we perceive as unlike ourselves.
For bacteria, it’s a dog eat dog world, as you can see below; in this video, a bacteria called Myxococcus xanthus is devouring Escherichia coli, another bacteria. Myxococcus xanthus is a gram-negative, rod-shaped species of bacteria. They are a predatory species, working as a single biofilm called a swarm. The colony is also called a “wolf pack”, and […]
This is a heavily pyritized Pleuroceras ammonite fossil collected near Forcheim, Germany. The fossil is approximately 185 million years old, from the Jurassic (the Pliensbachian stage). Naturally the color is much duller but these specimens have been brushed with a wire brush to create a brilliant gold shine. Ammonites are a group of extinct animals which roamed the […]
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, some of you might be tempted to employ some of those spray-on pheromone products. I won't give names, but you must have seen the ads - they're all over TV and the internet. Odorless pheromones are secreted by many animals to attract mates, and while synthesized versions have been shown to work for bees and other insects, the human nose and brain for that matter is a whole different thing.
Alfred “Alfie” Date is Australia’s oldest living person, at 109; he’s also a self-taught expert knitter who is doing his best to help penguins in Australia and New Zealand survive oil spills – by knitting them sweaters. He told 9stories he answered the call of Phillip Island’s Penguin Foundation which asked for knitters from around the world to make […]
When he was a teenager, Keahi Seymour set out to devise a pair of boots that might help him run as fast an ostrich, one of the fastest land animals on Earth, able to reach top speeds of up to 45 mph. We've all had out teenage fantasies, but while most people quit after their first half-baked paper airplanes, Seymour pressed on and I couldn't be more happy for him. Many years later, he finally got to a working prototype called the Bionic Boot - the "transportation / fitness device for the 21st century," by Seymour's account. The video below offers a glimpse of what the boots can do.
The above footage highlights just how amazing octopus camouflage can really get. I’m not really sure what species this is, but I assume it’s either a mimic octopus, or somethng closely related. he mimic octopus can literally mimic the physical appearance and movement of fifteen different species, that we know of (including, but not limited to sea […]
They're cozy, beautiful, and surprisingly efficient!
National Geographic chose this as the best picture of 1987, and for good reason.
We often hear about China being polluted, about the hard to breahe are, the smog, the soot, the carbage flowing on the rivers, but these pictures show just how bad the situation really is. Keep in mind though that an image is just a moment captured in time and they don’t tell the whole story. […]
The human brain is often described as the most beautiful organism in the Universe. We say this because of the beautiful things the mind, sustained by the brain, can create and imagine. Greg Dunn earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, but while his colleagues are fiddling with microscopes to unravel the inner workings of brain cells, he works with a paintbrush to magnify neurons on a canvas. His work shows a brain whose beauty transcends romanticism and awes in its raw form.
Book Pages In one of the most beautiful projects I’ve seen in a while, artist Pyanek uses macro photography to show everyday things in astonishing detail. This is the first public release of his work (that I could find at least). Be sure to follow him on Facebook and YouTube. If you enjoy his work, you can […]
If life is a balancing act, then I hope it looks like Michael Grab‘s work. The artist and photographer first dabbled into rock balancing in 2008 while exploring the beautiful landscape of Boulder Creek, Colorado. Since then, he’s come a very long way. Grab finds the process spiritual and therapeutic – it has become a source […]
The Bangkok’s New World Mall is one of the most dystopian places on Earth – initially 11 stories high, now the building can only boast 4, and it has no roof. A population of fish thrived in the post-apocalyptic setting, but now, with the building being set for demolition, the fish are finally going to be […]
Some fires are big enough to see from outer space, others burn for a very long time, but from what I could find, this is the oldest continuous fire in the world. Beneath an Australian mountain, a fire has been burning continuously since 4000 BC.
The harbor in Hong Kong sparkled with an eerie blue glow, creating a surprising and beautiful picture. But few people know that the cause of this lovely landscape is actually pollution - pig manure, fertiliser and sewage. This nutrient-rich pollution encouraged a bloom of Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as "Sea Sparkle."
In the video above, you can see PhD student Mason Bretan from the Robot Musicianship Group at Georgia Tech in the US jam with some of the robots he helped create. The robots got rhythm, and they got the skills. Just look at that amazing marimba solo at the middle of the video – that was completely […]
Piotr Naskrecki, a Harvard biologist, did what few people would have the courage to do – he let maggots grow inside his skin, then documented the entire process. The result is, while very gross, spectacularly interesting. Proceed at your own risk. I’ve got you under my skin The Human Bot Fly from Piotr Naskrecki on […]
Divers off the coast of Norfolk have discovered a submerged prehistoric forest, hidden underwater for 10,000 years. The forest was part of Doggerland – a land area which connected Germany and Great Britain up to 8000 years ago. This is a forgotten part of Europe, hidden under 200 meters of water. Divers discovered it after […]
It’s never too late to do something you really want to – and this is a great example. A 90 year old woman from Kenya decided to go to primary school. She is believed to be the oldest pupil in the world. Sitting at the front of the class (because seeing can be a bit […]
We often say that you only see 10% of the iceberg, the rest being underwater. US photographer Alex Cornell actually got the chance to see that - during a trip to Antarctica, he managed to take pictures of an extremely rare phenomenon: a flipped iceberg.
No, it's not Asimov's Three Laws but the Common Law that a robot designed for art infringed. Devised by !MEDIENGRUPPE BITNIK, the Random Darknet Shopper is an automated online shopper that's programmed to randomly buy items on the Deep Web. With a limited budget worth $100 in Bitcoin for every purchase, the bot went on a spree where it bought a number of items ranging from Chinese blue jeans, Nike shoes or Moldavian cigarettes.
German researchers have designed shoe devices which harvest power as you walk. The technology could be used to power wearable electronic sensors without the need for batteries.
3D printing is just as cool as it is useful – as designed John Edmark. These spinning sculptures only become animated when you look at them through a stroboscopic light, or with a camera with a very short shutter speed (1/4000 sec). “If change is the only constant in nature, it is written in the language of […]
CT shines in its ability to image tissue inside the body otherwise unapproachable using other methods. All of the GIFs in this post were made from computer images taken using General Electric's Revolution CT, first introduced in 2013. The device is designed to emit less radiation and provide more comfort. Guts, veins, brains and hearts have now been imaged in the gruesomest detail ever.
Apart from sand castles and elaborate water pranks, many beach goers enjoy drawing in the sand, be it simple doodles, love statements or football pitch size intricate works of arts (you have to check out Tony Plant's work). To put human beach drawing to shame, Disney just unveiled a mechanical rake wielding robot, designed to look like a cute turtle, that can automatically draw any planar shapes with ease.
An inspired entrepreneur, Shigeharu Shimamura, took an old semiconductor factory that was abandoned following the 2011 Japan disaster and turned it into the largest indoor farm in the world. Using state of the art growing technology, his company manages to make some 10,000 heads of lettuce per day out of the 25,000 square feet facility. This makes it 100 times more productive per square foot than traditional agriculture, all with 40% less power, 80% less food waste and 99% less water usage than outdoor fields.
The Arctic tundra is one of the harshest environments on the face of the planet... but you wouldn't tell that by looking at the photography of Ivan Kislov. In his pictures, the tundra is teeming with wildlife, represented in all its splendour.
By combing biomechatronics and aesthetics, William Root developed a prototype that's a custom fit for each wearer, uses a minimal amount of top class materials and assures high mobility, all while looking as fit it came off a SciFi movie.
When science meets art, some seriously coolness happens – and the perfect example for this is BioScapes, an annual competition ran by Olympus. BioScapes hosts some of the most spectacular images of life seen through a microscope, as exemplified below. “Each fall, four individuals widely respected in the fields of microscopy and imaging are invited […]
If you’ve ever cycled in a hilly area, then you know what a problem it can be – especially if it’s an urban area; also, for older people, or people with mild cardiac issues but who still practice light cycling, it can be quite dangerous. Norway has come up with a solution to that issue […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is the European equivalent of NASA. Recently, they’ve been uploading some amazing images on their website, so here is a selection of the best pictures they’ve published recently. The magnetic field of the galactic plane Ground Displacement in Bucharest, Romania South Kalimantan, Borneo Conducting skin experiments in outer space Vegetation […]
When we think about Jupiter, we have a certain image in mind – the big red giant with a huge spot on its surface and rings around it. But if you look at it from “below” (from the southern Hemisphere), the planet looks entirely different, as the Cassini probe showed. “If you were to float […]
