A major climate oscillation in the Southern Hemisphere is expected to intensify in the coming decades, likely increasing wildfire activity in the southern half of South America. This 2010 photo shows the aftermath of a wildfire outside the town of Futaleufu in southern Chile. [Read more...]
Home solar power has many benefits that people can get behind, like keeping the world cleaner and being self-sufficient, but the price of solar panels is often far more than people can afford. One Block Off the Grid is an inspiring orgainization that specializes in organizing group deals on solar energy to help people go green. Here we bring you their interesting look at how solar can actually make sense financially, even while running the AC in the hot summer. Swing by One Block Off the Grid for more info. [Read more...]
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With all the buzz and excitement about the recent dawn of personal space flight, a Russian firm has this week announced the next step in the story: an orbiting hotel in space. The small capsule detailed was revealed at a conference in Moscow, with a scheduled opening (at 217 miles altitude!) by 2016. Though spartan when it comes to frills, the hotel “will not remind you of the International Space Station,” says Sergei Kostenko, chief executive of its builder Orbital Technologies. “A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes.” The capsule will be serviced in orbit by the long running and reliable Soyuz launch system, now the only operating passenger carrying space vehicle. [Read more...]
Duking it out every day with advertising designed to make their brand look the best, these mash-ups of ubiquitous corporate logos beg the question: just how different are major brands like Coke and Pepsi? The series, titled Brandversation, remakes the logos of famous companies using the logo from their arch rival as the paintbrush. Company slogans are also reversed, bringing to light the possibility that, in many minds, they may be just as appropriate for either business. The brain child of Romanian graphic designer Stefan Asafti, you can find more of his work on behance.net. [Read more...]
The smiling creatures of digital artist Shingo Matsunuma (aka Shichigoro) have a pleasant and unusual mix of the macabre and the cheerful. To create his pieces he uses a Wacom pen tablet and photoshop to arrive at a very painterly look. Matsunuma hails from Yokohama, Japan and graduated from Tama Art University in painting. You can find him on Twitter, Deviantart and at shichigoro.com. [Read more...]
These strikingly crisp images take me back to campy Japanese Mothra films of the 60′s. The ‘portraits’, taken with a scanning electron microsope (SEM) by Steve Gschmeissner, reveal the tiny world that surounds us, yet still evades our view. Images recorded with an SEM include no color so these examples have had subtle hues added for more impact. See more of Gschmeissner’s high quality close-ups at visualphotos.com. [Read more...]
A new way to detect sunspots as deep as 65,000 kilometers inside the sun can offer up to two days’ advance warning of a solar flare. Flares can cause billions of dollars in damage to satellites, communications networks and power grids—not to mention astronauts in space. If disruptions such as solar flares and mass eruptions could be predicted, protective measures could be taken to shield vulnerable electronics before solar storms strike. [Read more...]
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We like that designer and artist Shyama Golden points out that her first name rhymes with Llama and that the y is silent. Even more, we enjoy her excellent paintings of human life happening inside prehistoric animals… yes it has a distinct Pee-Wee Herman meets dinosaur feel to it, and that doesn’t hurt. Residing in Austin, TX, Golden works independently and has clients that include such varied examples as Mattel, Gibson Guitars, Southwest Airline’s Spirit Magazine and NASA. [Read more...]
