Aug
What if every single person on the Earth jumped at the same time?
Michael Stevens of Vsauce asks the question, and then answers it. Take a look.
(via Laughing Squid)
Aug
Blowing Up Asteroids, with Neil deGrasse Tyson
If there was ever an ongoing series that I wish existed, it would be this one.
Aug
Carl Sagan: The choral suite
What do you get when you combine Carl Sagan’s iconic voice, a choir, and spectacular space footage?
According to Brain Pickings: cosmic goosebumps. Agreed.
Thanks to Kenley Kristofferson for creating this awesomeness.
Jul
Who wants to see amazing time-lapse photography of space? (You do)
Photographer Knate Myers collected a bunch of photographs taken from the International Space Station (ISS) and made this time-lapse film.
You must now watch it as words cannot describe its awesomeness.
Jul
Perception, attention, and magic
What did you notice about the video above? Were you able to predict whether the coin landed on heads or tails? Or more importantly, did you notice that the coin itself was switched halfway through?
This is an exercise conducted by the University of South Carolina focusing on human processing of attended and unattended information, and how our brains can be tricked into filtering out information that is actually relevant.
This phenomenon is called ‘change blindness’ and, for better or worse, is the reason magicians exist.
Jul
What is superconductivity? Allow this flash mob to explain
Flash mobs are now educational!
Created by the online science museum, Emergent Universe, this flash mob illustrates the behaviour of electrons in a superconductor. As explained by the site:
In a metal, electrons flow like a gas through a grid of metal ions. When the temperature is above the critical temperature, Tc, and the superconducting material is in its normal, non-superconducting state, these electrons move nearly independently of one another. When the temperature drops below Tc and the material enters its superconducting state, these electrons, like the dancers here, pair up. The electron pairs can then lower the overall energy by synchronising their movements with the other pairs, such that all pairs move cooperatively torgether as a single, coherent entity.
(via Particle Schmarticle)
Jul
What is pain?
Here’s an informative TED-Ed video explaining the concept of pain and how your body reacts to and accommodates painful sensations.
(via neuroticthought)
Jul
Zoom in to the centre of the Milky Way
This is what the successor to Google Earth would look like: Google Space!
This zoom sequence starts with a view of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, then zooms in towards the crowded center of the galaxy, in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius the Archer. Then the scene shifts to an infrared view, which lets us see see through the dusty clouds in this direction and get a close-up view of objects orbiting the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. The final views show the motion of a newly discovered gas cloud that is falling rapidly towards the central black hole.
Head to EarthSky for more.
Jun
Egg cracked 60 feet under water
The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) cracked an egg 60 feet underwater. Why? Science!
(via Boing Boing)
Jun
MRI of a human birth in real-time
In 2010, a team of scientists at Charité University Hospital in Berlin recorded the birth of a child using MRI - a world first.
At the time, a series of images were released documenting this feat but now, for the first time, they have released actual video of event.
Check it out above - it’s pretty amazing.
Jun
Stunning photography of water balloons the moment they pop
Photographer Edward Horsford has used a high-speed camera to capture a series of water balloons the moment they are popped.
It’s beautiful stuff, but to keep things scientific here’s a nifty video explaining the physics of bursting water balloons:
Jun
Dynamic Earth: Beautiful video showcasing NASA’s data visualisation technology
Do you have a spare 4.5 minutes? Then I highly recommend you check out this video from NASA.
Focusing on the Earth’s magnetosphere and climate engine, the video follows a trail of energy that flows from the Sun into the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere - the three interacting systems that shape our climate.
It is based on real satellite data and computer simulations and is the result of two years of work drawing on the expertise of several collaborators.
Check out the full-length video and more here.
About Me
Hi there, I'm Jim: PhD student in the biological sciences, enthusiast, friendly neighbour, Australian.
