bigredrobot:

Ditko.

Via 4CP.

(via monstermadeofeyes)

This is exactly amazing enough to induce proper humility.

solarflares:

 Laurie Spiegel - The expanding universe (1980))

Absolutely essential top-shelf desert island science. 

Panorama Patchwork:

This is a serious brain burner. 

Laurie Spiegel is a pioneer in computer aided electronic music. During the 70’s she worked at Bell labs and composed music usingGROOVE, a computer music system designed by Max Matthews, and one of the first in it’s field. The Expanding Universe compiles material recorded between 1974-76 with the GROOVE system.

It’s a mystery to me that Spiegel isn’t yet more recognized as being central to the development of electronic music. Her works were groundbreaking as much in her approach to composition as with the equipment she was using to express her ideas. When this record was released in 1980 she was already thinking of computer music in grassroots terms, seeing the computer itself as a tool that could be accessible to a larger amount of people and facilitate the realization of complex music with simpler means. I guess you could say she was spot-on with that statement…

Colorful timbres, complex rhythmical patterns, pure electronic tones and slowly changing microtonal drones make The Expanding Universe THE sound of electricity. Discover this gem here

PS: Continuo has a better rip here

And for more info on Laurie Spiegel, visit her website here and be sure to get your hands on Obsolete Systems, it’s a fantastic overview of her works from 1972-1983 and even better than The Expanding Universe in my opinion…

This image is of the skin of the bull shark, an aggressive species that can tolerate fresh water and is thought to be responsible for many near-shore attacks. Shark skin is made of tiny scales known as dermal denticles that can be seen here. 

Image: AMNH Microscopy and Imaging Facility manager Rebecca Rudolph.

The scanning electron microscope has become one of the most powerful scientific visualization tools available, giving us incredible close-up views of anything from volcanic ash to snowflakes to bacteria.

The microscope works by scanning a focused beam of electrons across an object. The electrons interact with the atoms at the surface of the object, revealing the texture and structure with a depth of field that makes for a great three-dimensional sense of the target. Some of the most intriguing images are those of insects and other animals.

On this day in 1940, the first transmission (stationary) electron microscope, predecessor to the scanning electron microscope, was demonstrated in the United States.

(via Scorpions, Spiders and Sharks: Electron-Microscope Images | Wired Science | Wired.com)

It may never go into mass-production, but it’s a decent idea nonetheless: The Microcar!

This is awesome.

proofmathisbeautiful:

architectureblog:

micasaessucasa:

Polyhedron Habitable, Relaxation and Ingenious Design

This is, I believe, a still from the awesome film Prime Cut, also starring Gene Hackman as a bad, bad man, and a super young (and surprisingly small) Sissy Spacek.

monstermadeofeyes:

mistaobseen:

suicidewatch:

Lee Fucking Marvin

If you want a real sense of the tragedy of Spider-Man’s life, look at this image and imagine that five minutes ago he just saved someone’s life, but thirty seconds ago he accidentally dropped his sandwich off this, and he hasn’t eaten all day, and some supervillian is on the way to fight him in about ten seconds.

monstermadeofeyes:

funrunrecords:

suicidewatch:

Spiderman by Moebius

monstermadeofeyes:

damienericwallace:

8o8:

kml:

tasteful:

d-d-d:

‘SN;AFU’ by Sarah Blood

photo by peafield

fuckyeahmath:

In mathematics, an algebraic number is a complex number that is a root of a non-zero polynomial in one variable with rational (or equivalently, integer) coefficients.

Pictured above: Algebraic numbers colored by degree.

fuckyeahmath:

(via tigrfire)

Explanation: Makemake, a god in Easter Island mythology, may have smiled for a moment as clouds parted long enough to reveal this glimpse of July 11’s total solar eclipse to skygazers. In the foreground of the dramatic scene, the island’s famous large, monolithic statues (Moai) share a beachside view of the shimmering solar corona and the darkened daytime sky. Other opportunities to see the total phase of this eclipse of the Sun were also hard to come by. Defined by the dark part of the Moon’s shadow, the path of totality tracked eastward across the southern Pacific Ocean, only making significant landfall at Mangaia (Cook Islands) and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua), ending shortly after reaching southern Chile and Argentina. But a partial eclipse phase could be enjoyed over a broader region, including many southern Pacific islands and wide swath of South America.

Robins can literally see magnetic fields, but only if their vision is sharp

“The magnetic sense of birds was first discovered in robins in 1968, and its details have been teased out ever since. Years of careful research have told us that the ability depends on light and particularly on the right eye and the left half of the brain. The details still aren’t quite clear but, for now, the most likely explanation involves a molecule called cryptochrome. Cryptochrome is found in the light-sensitive cells of a bird’s retina and scientists think that it affects just how sensitive those cells are.

When cryptochrome is struck by blue light, it shifts into an active state where it has an unpaired electron – these particles normally waltz in pairs but here, they dance solo. The same thing happens in a companion molecule called FAD. Together, cryptochrome and FAD, both with unpaired electrons, are known as a “radical pair”. Magnetic fields act upon the unpaired electrons and govern how long it takes for the radical pair to revert back to their normal, inactive state. And because cryptochrome affects the sensitivity of a bird’s retina, so do magnetic fields.

The upshot is that magnetic fields put up a filter of light or dark patches over what a bird normally sees. These patches change as the bird turns and tilts its head, providing it with a visual compass made out of contrasting shades.

To test the bounds of this ability, Stapput wanted to see what would happen if she blurred a robin’s vision. She outfitted her robins with somewhat unflattering goggles, with clear foil on one side and frosted foil on the other. Both allowed 70% of light to get through, but the frosted foil disrupted the clarity of the image.

The robins were kept in cages until they were ready to migrate and let loose in funnel-shaped cages lined with correction fluid. As they orientated themselves and changed course, they created scratches on the cage walls which told Stapput which direction they were heading in. These scratches revealed that with both eyes open, the robins flew straight north as they would normally do in the wild. If their left field of vision was frosted, they went the same way. But if their right eye was covered, they became disorientated, heading in completely random directions.

This experiment shows that the internal compass doesn’t just depend on light – birds also need to see a clear image with their right eye in order to find they way. After all, their magnetic sense only provides them with information that lies on top of the images they normally see. If that image is blurry, the magnetic sense is useless. To put it another way, driving with an excellent Satnav won’t do you much good if your windscreen is covered in frost.”

(via Not Exactly Rocket Science)

ALT/1977: WE ARE NOT TIME TRAVELERS on the Behance Network

spacerules:

Awesome space films from the 1960s coming soon to the Space Rules Film Festival.