Since 1981 the Space Shuttle has been rocketing astronauts and important scientific projects out of the Earths atmosphere and into weightless space. Tomorrow at 11:26 a.m. EDT, the Shuttle Atlantis makes the 135th and final Space Shuttle flight, delivering a resupply to the International Space Station and ending the now 30 year old Shuttle program. To comemorate the launch we bring you a fun infographic about the sheer size of the behemoth orbiter vehicle and the distances it has traveled. [Read more...]
The History Of English In 10 Minutes
Did you know that Shakespeare alone contributed more than 2000 new words to the English language? How about that the words cow, sheep and swine, come from English farmers while their culinary versions, beef, mutton and pork, come from French? With its many borrowed and newly invented words, the English language is one that continues to adapt to a changing world. This witty 10 minute animation (in 10 parts) looks at some of the diverse history surrounding the popular language. [Read more...]
A Billboard That Absorbs Air Pollution
The constant bombardment of advertising billboards clutter the public space with ads ranging from clever, exciting, forgettable and outright obnoxious. All in the endless crusade to grab the attention of the consumer, and help them part with their hard earned cash. Hardly ever do they contribute anything to enhance the visual landscape they occupy; but a new billboard in the Philippines is looking to change that. [Read more...]
Universe’s most distant quasar
Astronomers have discovered the most distant quasar to date—around 100 million years younger than the previous title holder. This brilliant and rare beacon, powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, is by far the brightest object yet found from a time when the Universe was less than 800 million years old—just a fraction of its current age. [Read more...]
The State of Education Illustrated
One High School student drops out every 26 seconds. In the time it takes to watch one single episode of Glee, 138 students drop out. That’s the equivalent of the entire student cast plus half of McKinley High. [Read more...]
Bendy robot wiggles like a big worm
A robot built with a series of springs along the length of its body has the flexibility to move like a worm around obstacles. The super-sized “worm-bot” is modeled on the C. elegans nematode, a tiny free-living worm that uses an ultra-simple nervous system to control the way that it moves. [Read more...]
Interactive: 30 Years of the Space Shuttle
After an honorable 30 years of exploration and innovation, the space shuttle program is sadly rolling to a close. With a program ending final launch by the shuttle Atlantis just days away, The New York Times has put together an information rich, interactive infographic detailing the history of each and every one of the 135 missions made by the behemoth spacecraft. Bid the program a fond farewell by taking a closer look on nytimes.com, then catch the final launch on July 8th at NASA.gov. [Read more...]
Massive Sand Storm Hits Phoenix Arizona
Phoenix Arizona experienced an unusually massive sand storm, or ‘haboob‘ in the early evening today. Excited and mesmerized residents stopped to film the event, many capturing time-lapse videos as the impressive storm swallowed the city. [Read more...]
A Body of Modern Art: Painterly Tattoos
Over the past decade the art of the tattoo has continued to expand, adding new designs further and further from the traditional body art of the past. Amanda Wachob is a New York based artist who’s pushing that limit further than we’ve ever seen, taking work normally reserved for the canvas and placing it boldly on the body. Her painterly works blur the line between fine art and body art, placing vibrant paint like brush strokes on her clients. Currently working with Daredevil Tattoo in New York, you can see more of her creations including quick fading ‘Conceptual Tattoos’ at amandawachobtattoo.com. [Read more...]















