The world population was just 1 billion people in 1804, but now just two centuries later the people count on our planet has reached an astounding 7 billion. What has contributed to this exponential and dramatic increase, and what does it mean for us in the future? As this video and related article by NPR cleverly explores, the causes are far simpler than the solutions. What will our population reach in the next 100 years? [Read more...]
Tilt shift photography is all the rage these days. Even though the lenses have been around since the early 60s. So what is tilt shift? Using the special lenses, perspective and depth of field in photos can be optically altered to produce images that are not what they seem. In the more modern incarnation of the technique both the tilt and the shift of the lenses are combined to create photos that look almost like miniature models… even though they are the real thing. [Read more...]
Stroll through your daily links after the jump!
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Ready to learn a new word? Anthropocene. Defined according to wikipedia it is “a recent and informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems. The term was coined by ecologist Eugene Stoermer but has been widely popularized by the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen.”
The images here where created by Felix Pharand-Deschenes depicting how various human influences, from road and rail, to internet cables and airlines create significant patterns covering the Earth. What can we learn from these patterns in how they are influencing the environment? [Read more...]
Patrick Gannon pieces his intricately cut paper together like a puzzle, creating beautiful beast filled worlds. The way the curving organic lines form each object give an inviting, earthy, even peaceful feel. Each work is built on a piece of thick wood, some allowing the grain to show through to the finished work. Gannon lives on the beautiful island of Fukuoka, Japan. See more at pgannon.com, follow him on Twitter or like him on Facebook [Read more...]
Have you ever wondered how many seeds are in each pumpkin? Have you pondered the amount of candy consumed by an American in a year or the number of parents who admit to sneaking some of that candy out of their kids trick-or-treat bags? If you’re that kind of person (and we are) this graphic is for you. Created for History.com by Column Five, this exploration is sure to get you in the mood for the 31st. Happy Halloween everybody [Read more...]
What better way to pay tribute to the worlds largest pumpkin, than by turning it into the worlds largest pumpkin carving for Halloween. Grown by Jim Bryson and his daughter Kelsey, the behemoth squash weighs in at an astounding 1818.5 pounds, the heaviest ever weighed.
To carve up the slightly lopsided pumpkin, renowned sand, toy and pumpkin carver Ray Villafane lent his skilled hands and brilliant Halloween themed design featuring zombies climbing out of the cracking giant. Villafane used another smaller pumpkin, weighing 1693 pounds (!) for additional pieces including the zombies, easily making this the largest pumpkin carving in history [Read more...]
“What the heck it electronic mail!?” Before the computer world was connecting every few seconds, the idea of email and online shopping was a concept that had to be communicated to customers. This roundup of vintage computer ads, explores some of the stranger ways companies like Apple and IBM brought us into the information age… be sure to see the last ad in this article, it’s a sight of things to come [Read more...]
What does an earthquake look like in 3D? Artist Luke Jerram created the small piece above to contemplate the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. By taking a seismograph of the event and rotating the image using computer aided design, he was able to print the result in 3D cylindrical form using rapid prototyping technology. The piece measures 30cm x 20cm and is intended to explore how data is read and can be represented and interpreted. The seismograph chosen represents 9 minutes of the earthquake, which for anyone who’s experienced the ground shaking under their feet, is an insanely long time [Read more...]
How do we at Visual News know the awesome traffic sending power of Stumbleupon? The behemoth site has driven a whopping 4,812,637 visits (and counting) to our site in just the last year! Stumbleupon easily gives Facebook a run for it money when it comes to driving traffic. This graphic, created by our parent company Column Five, looks at the impressive stats behind how long Stumbleupon will promote a popular link… and as you can see it is far longer than any of the competition [Read more...]
