The most excellent Tumblr of the Sunlight Foundation
See Inside a Butterfly Chrysalis
Just like everyone else, you learned about how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly (or moth) inside a chrysalis (or cocoon) and you desperately tried to envision what happens inside and what it looks like. Scientists who’ve opened a lot of chrysalises will tell you the caterpillar turns to goop and then a butterfly, but that’s not completely accurate, and the process of opening one destroys the structure anyway.
City Plates are 12-inch porcelain plates that have grid maps of 24 different cities on them, from Boston to Brasilia to Berlin.
The bad news is that Seattle has been destroyed and civilization is in ruins. The good news is that you’ve survived - and thanks to local artist Tony Dowler, you know where not to go in post-apocalyptic Seattle.
Tony has drawn the Seattle Doomsday Map (and a book called “Dee Dee’s Doomsday Guide to Seattle”), in which he reimagined The Emerald City after the Apocalypse.
6-Month Pinhole Exposure Made with a Beer Can
The equipment is very simple – an empty beer can with the top removed and a hole made with a needle or pin, a card lid for the can held on with gaffer tape, and a sheet of 5”x7” black and white photographic paper inside. To make a six-month long exposure the camera needs to be pointing south towards the sun.
Using the mouth, lips, tongue and voice to generate sounds that one might never expect to come from the human body is the specialty of the artists known as beatboxers. Now scientists have used scanners to peer into a beatboxer as he performed his craft to reveal the secrets of this mysterious art.
Star Wars Trilogy Map Illustrations
Artist Andrew DeGraff illustrates non-map concepts with maps. The result can be confusing unless you are familiar with the subject matter. Of course, almost everyone is familiar enough with the original Star Wars films to follow these three new maps created for a gallery show from Andrew DeGraff and Bennett Slater opening Saturday at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.
A Comprehensive, Interactive Chart of Zeus’s Affairs
The Greek god Zeus was a busy fellow and a shameless adulterer. It would be hard for him, let alone us us, to keep track of his affairs. This chart, made by Viviana Ferro, Ilaria Pagin and Elisa Zamarian, attempts to visualize of all of his indiscretions as well as the children he sired from them.
Heroes of Science Action Figures
DeviantART member datazoid, otherwise known as Russel Gawthorpe, created this collection of science action figures photographically. They are based on Star Trek action figures with details added digitally. Too bad they aren’t available to buy! Datazoid admits there are many other scientists who deserve to be included. He limited them to 20th-century non-medical figures to keep the number manageable.
Quantum Physics Experiment Shows Light Behaving as a Wave and a Particle Simultaneously
Damn you, quantum physics! Just as we got used to the mind-boggling fact that light can act as either a wave OR as a particle, a new quantum physics experiment has shown that it can act like a wave AND a particle at the same time.
Slightly depressing.
Scarf Charting the Population of Russia over Time
You’re looking at a bar chart showing the growth of Russia’s population from the years 1500 to 2000.
This Is What It Looks Like When You Fire a Gun Underwater
Andrew Tuohy of Vuurwapen Blog captured this high speed shot of a .45 caliber M1911 handgun being fired underwater.
Related: National Rifle Association profile on Influence Explorer
This 1939 Map of Physics Is an Old-School Mashup of Science and Geography
The journey through Physics can be a treacherous one filled with many setbacks. Thankfully, an enterprising soul decided to sit down in 1939 and draw up a map. The Map of Physics is a “a brief historical outline of the subject as will be of interest to physicists, students, laymen at large,” which organizes the field’s many branches into rivers and tributaries.
The Anatomy Of Movie Monsters And Aliens
Artist Brad McGinty is bringing the fun back to anatomical illustrations thanks to his new series dedicated to creatures and aliens from the big screen.
Tokyo Rail System as Designed by Slime Mold
How do you design an efficient rail system? Of course you can hire a team of dedicated engineers … or you can simply ask a slime mold.
