Tuesday 21 February 2017

Space Artists's Concepts for Unseen Planets

Check out npr  to see the process behind designing concept art for newly discovered planets. It is fascinating!

'This artist's impression shows a best guess of what the surface of the planet 
Proxima b might look like, as it orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the 
closest star to our solar system. Maybe Mars was the model?'
M. Kornmesser/ESO

Waterball Ping Pong

"Astronaut Scott Kelly has spent more time in space than any other American. He has also played solo ping pong with a ball of water and two hydrophobic paddles." 
Image Credit: NASA 




You MUST Watch this Video

Earth's history is laid out to scale on a football field. A VERY cool timeline.



Giant Creatures




Full story here. And here’s our rhyming round-up of other ancient, giant versions of modern mammals:




Glow Worms







Image Credit: Janek von Byern, GIF’d by Maddie Sofia

Where in the World Have New Diseases Emerged?


"What new viruses are emerging in your backyard? 

If you’re a germaphobe, make sure you’re sitting down.
Back in 1999, a woman in California cleaned up rodent droppings in her home. Two weeks later, her liver started failing. Then she started to bleed internally — a hemorrhagic fever that would kill her. Eventually doctors found a new virus in her body, which very likely came from a rat.
A few years later, a man in Arizona went to the hospital. The skin on his legs was infected and dying. Doctors had to amputate. His diagnosis? A new kind of leprosy.
Over in the Midwest, the problem has been new tick-borne diseases, some deadly. And in New England, doctors are dealing with a disease that causes Lyme-like symptoms but is caused by a different bacteria.
The pattern continues across the country and across the world. A spike in new infectious diseases is the new normal.
      Another side effect of humanity’s conquest of the natural world."

Frog Spit is a Non-Newtonian Fluid











"The researchers used high-speed photography and an instrument called a Rheometer to analyze frog saliva under prey-capturing conditions.­­­­­­­ The scientists think frog tongues could one day help engineers design reversible soft adhesives that could work at high speeds.
Read more about it here."

Dye that Changes Colour Like a Moodring


"Color-changing hair might seem like something out of a fantasy novel, but Lauren Bowker of The Unseen has made it a reality. Bowker, a chemist and fashion designer, is known for her “high-fashion alchemy.” She’s previously created hue-shifting purses as well as other air sculptures that use science to produce a stunning visual effect. Now, she’s turning her attention towards color-changing hair dye that’s controlled by temperature—when there’s a dramatic spike or drop, the dye seemingly has a mind of its own... Each hue reacts to either bodily or environmental temperatures. Blushing, for instance, causes your body temperature to rise and as a result, a shift in color... Weather is also a factor. With one color combination, stepping into chilly weather shifts blonde hair to a fitting icy blue."


Writing Prompts from Gediminas Pranckevicius' Art

The ethereal, surreal art of Gediminas Pranckevicius