Have you ever found yourself needing to pack a lot of text into a small space? Are you a designer with a project requiring loads of fine print? Fear not, typography on a nanometer sale is here. Scientists at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts have recently created a series of glyphs made entirely out of microscopic fragments of DNA, woven together like building blocks. By leaving out specific blocks they’ve been able to create letters, numbers and even symbols like smileys and an eagles head. Here we bring you brilliant science journalist Ed Yong’s post, created entirely out of the miniscule font: “DNA Sans anyone?” [Read more...]
Geometric Order Amidst Starling Chaos
A murmuration of starlings may seem random, but one artist has found the geometric order to this phenomenon of nature in her work. About six months ago a video flooded the internet of two women out on a canoe while a murmuration of starlings danced above their heads. After the video went viral, murmurations have been a hot topic online and even in art. Catherine Ulitsky, an artist living in western Massachusetts, captured the unique flock patterns of the starling murmurations on camera and gave order to the seemingly random group by painting connections between the birds. In each photograph, Ulitsky uses vibrant colors and straight lines to create beautiful geometric patterns in one of natures great phenomena. “Carefully observing natural phenomena reminds me constantly of the limitless complexity and wonder of the world we inhabit,” said Ulitsky of her work. [Read more...]
The Sound of Jelly
Have you ever wondered what sound jelly makes? Well, now there is a kit that provides you with all the right materials to discover exactly that. The world needs to give a big thanks to Raphaël Pluvinage and Marianne Cauvard for creating the game, Noisy Jelly. Arguably the most fun combo ever, this musical jelly chemistry lab is something that needs to be experienced first-hand to get the full effect. Even though there are children playing with it in the video, you better believe this is a game for all ages. [Read more...]
When Science Fiction becomes Reality
From augmented reality video games to Apple’s Siri digital assistant, technology continues to zip along at lightening speed. Many of the most wild science fiction stories later become real life. Jules Verne came up with the idea of a fax machine, Arthur C. Clarke conceived the idea for satellites, and Edward Bellamy dreamed up the telephone before its time. Back in 2002, Phillip K. Dick’s short story was produced into the Hollywood movie Minority Report. In the film, a computer is featured that allows the user to interact with the screen in 3D, grabbing images and items virtually and moving them around the screen. Now that wild piece of sci-fi is quickly on its way to reality. [Read more...]
Mesmerizing Ferrofluid Dances to Music
Like a music video for the scientifically minded, the short film below explores the unusual world of ferrofluid, a liquid which acts a lot like a gelatinous magnet. The second installment in an ongoing series of experiments, the film was made by Singapore based photographer/videographer Afiq Omar, who edited it with a distinctly dark and rhythmic style that’s as intriguing as it is creepy. Omar’s goal was to create something using ‘analog’ effects, so what you see here uses few modifications after shooting, showing the utter weirdness of his subject material and his talent as a videographer. [Read more...]
Fast, Microscopic 3d Printing Is Here!
A new era of 3D printing technology is now upon us. Created by researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna), this high-precision printer is able to create microscopically small objects on a nanometer scale — at a speed orders of magnitude faster than similar devices. To be impressed with how accurate and quick this machine really is, you only need to see the short video below featuring a mere 4 minute creation time for a race car smaller than a grain of sand… in fact, the machine just set a new world record for speed. [Read more...]
Anatomical Quilling: Paper Cross Sections of the Body
Artistic renderings of the internal body, from anatomy books to fine art, are often poorly communicated versions of real-life. These paper creations by Lisa Nilsson, however, create the perfect balance of aesthetically pleasing detail and scientific accuracy… even though they’re completely made with strips of paper. Created using the paper-crafting technique of quilling, originally used by Renaissance monks and nuns to make artistic use of the worn out gilded edges of Bibles, Nilsson has curled and twirled some remarkably detailed and tiny pieces. [Read more...]
Republicans vs. Democrats: Who Rallies for Science?
For years, science has helped humans make sense of the world around them. In their endless toil to understand our world, scientists have come up with simple innovations to make life easier, complex ones to get us from point A to B, insanely advanced discoveries which have led to putting a man on the moon, and miraculous ones that have saved humanity from previously incurable diseases. However, not everyone is convinced of the value that science brings to humanity. [Read more...]
Like us, wasps don’t forget a face
Paper wasps have brains that are less than a millionth the size of the human brain, yet new research shows they have a similar ability to recognize and remember a familiar face. [Read more...]
New Tech Gets Control of Your Moneybrain
With all of the Occupy Wall Street talk about division of wealth and the continued concerns about the world economy, it might seem like a good time to start depositing more money in a savings account… but for many, saving that money for a rainy day is a very difficult challenge. You came here for good news though, right? Recent studies have been revealing parts of the brain that encourage some of us to be better savers than others, and now a new technology might be able to bring out the rational money saver in all of us. [Read more...]












