The Kid Should See This

From 0 to 75mph in just three seconds — in just three...

rion — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:54:03 -0700

From 0 to 75mph in just three seconds — in just three strides, it’s faster than most of the world’s fastest super cars — the Smithsonian Channel describes the biomechanics behind why the cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal.

Follow this video up with this singular slow motion video of a cheetah running.

via Viral Viral Videos.

Brass, aluminum, stainless steel, and copper turn into more than...

rion — Wed, 22 May 2013 06:16:00 -0700

Brass, aluminum, stainless steel, and copper turn into more than just materials under the care and engineering of kinetic artist Mark Galt, who made a walking mechanical woman, above, and man, below:

There are more gears and kinetic sculptures moving around in the archives.

via La Boite Verte.

How is an Etch A Sketch made? MAKE: Inventions host Steve Hoefer...

rion — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:26:00 -0700

How is an Etch A Sketch made? MAKE: Inventions host Steve Hoefer gives a bit of historical background on the classic toy, and then, with the original patent and some trial and error, tries to make his own.

via 22 words.

Yay!! for clear underwater footage of unusual animals, (yes,...

rion — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:42:00 -0700

Yay!! for clear underwater footage of unusual animals, (yes, even when they’re busy eating each other for lunch), via jtotheizzoe:

The Sea’s Strangest Square Mile

Sit back and let your eyes soak up this goggle-fogging journey to the Lembeh Strait near Indonesia by Shark Bay Films. It’s known as one of the richest homes of odd coral reef creatures on Earth.

Lightning-quick eels! Coral-colored, pregnant frogfish stuffing their bellies with wriggling prey! Baby cuttlefish!! BABY CUTTLEFISH!!!

(via kottke)

More animals with camouflage skills are hiding in the archives. Plus, cephalopods, because.

Easy experiment: Drink orange juice. Brush your teeth. Drink...

rion — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:52:00 -0700

Easy experiment: Drink orange juice. Brush your teeth. Drink orange juice again. What just happened?

From Bytesize Science, an explanation as to why most toothpastes change the taste of orange juice. The video includes an intro on the five basic tastes that we’re able to detect: sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and umami — a Japanese word that we’ve borrowed to describe a “pleasant savory taste” or “a pleasant, brothy or meaty flavor” — and the ingredients of toothpaste.

More videos about the body and how things work.

How fun is this AsapScience video written, directed and...

rion — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:17 -0700

How fun is this AsapScience video written, directed and performed by Mitchell Moffit? Based on the famous can can piece from Orphée aux enfers by Jacques Offenbach, The NEW Periodic Table Song makes it fun to sing all of the elements… in order! Find it on iTunes or Bandcamp, and if you need help with the lyrics, you can find them in the video notes.

Of course, this video is an excellent addition to a long line of elements songs. They Might Be Giants’ Meet The Elements is one of our favorites, and of course there’s Tom Lehrer’s classic.

via Daily of the Day.

Watch singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and...

rion — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:43:00 -0700

Watch singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician Tom Lehrer perform The Elements live from Copenhagen in 1967. Set to the melody, ”I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General“ from Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, it challenges the speed at which you can recite all of the elements known in the early-1960s.

Read more about Tom Lehrer here, buy The Elements on Amazon, or watch Daniel Radcliffe sing it on the Graham Norton Show.

When eating pizza, New Yorkers will recommend that you fold the...

rion — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:00:49 -0700

When eating pizza, New Yorkers will recommend that you fold the slice in half longways to reduce mess. Now find out about the math and physics working behind the scenes of that tradition in TED Ed’s Pizza physics (New York-style) by Colm Kelleher, animation by Joel Trussell.

We wish that all of our foods explained related math and physics ideas to us… and more about shapes, too.

via SciAm’s Video of the Week.

Director Tom Jobbins and team bring us on the epic journey of...

rion — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:30:33 -0700

Director Tom Jobbins and team bring us on the epic journey of two colorful triangles in We Can Be Ghosts Now by Hiatus featuring Shura.

More shapes and patterns in the archives.

In this documentary short, Shaped on all Six Sides by Kat...

rion — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:17:00 -0700

In this documentary short, Shaped on all Six Sides by Kat Gardiner, Andy Stewart shares his philosophies about his relationship with and respect for the craft of wooden boat carpentry. This quote on quality and his place in the work stood out:

A lot of the allure of working on wooden boats, actually, is because the sea is the final arbitrator of the quality of your work. It’s very gratifying to see repairs that I’ve done 30 years ago still holding up, and so I feel like I’m part of a long continuum of craftsman keeping vessels around and alive.

It reminded me of the NYTimes article, The Stories That Bind Us, which lays out the benefits of children knowing their family history. Sharing traditions and values through storytelling can help to develop an “intergenerational self,” an understanding of their part in a family narrative that is built with both successes and difficult challenges. A good read…

How does a virus invade your body? With the help of medical...

rion — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:32:07 -0700

How does a virus invade your body? With the help of medical animator David Bolinsky, Robert Krulwich explain step-by-step in this NPR video from 2009. There’s also more to read at Krulwich Wonders.

Another NPR favorite: Catching Up with the Flu. Or watch more videos about how bodies work.

This is one of the kids’ favorite moments in Cape, an...

rion — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:59:00 -0700

This is one of the kids’ favorite moments in Cape, an episode of the BBC series Africa: springboks pronking, or leaping high into the air — up to 13 feet!

In Afrikaans and Dutch, to “pronk” is to show off, though the reason that springboks pronk is not known definitively. They could be excited, agitated, exercising, spreading their individual scents, or showing off their fitness either for predators or rivals within the herd. Any which way, it’s fun to watch.

Watch more BBC videos in the archives.

This is a flannel moth caterpillar, or Megalopyge...

rion — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:21:41 -0700

This is a flannel moth caterpillar, or Megalopyge opercularis, walking on a tree in the Ucayali Amazon basin, north of Pucallpa in Peru. The video, filmed by Ollie Boon, showcases the caterpillar’s cute and furry looking exterior, but be warned that there are venomous spines hiding within the fluff!

Watch more caterpillar videos.

h/t The Scientist.

Master juggler Michael Moschen weaves rhythm, physics, and...

rion — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:56:57 -0700

Master juggler Michael Moschen weaves rhythm, physics, and hand-eye coordination into this wonderful performance called The Triangle.

There are a few more jugglers juggling in the archives.

Thanks, Shonali.

Two billion people in cultures around the world include insects...

rion — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:18:00 -0700

Two billion people in cultures around the world include insects as a part of their diet, and there are lots of stories about it in the news right now. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has recently recommended that we eat more insects, National Geographic recommends 8 bugs to try, this Washington Post video profiles a D.C. resident that cooks and eats cicadas, BBC News has a video about how insect-farming can combat hunger, and The Guardian has reported on what a healthy and sustainable food source they are:

The cost of meat is rising, not just in terms of hard cash but also in terms of the amount of rainforest that is destroyed for grazing or to grow feedstuff for cattle. There is also the issue of methane excreted by cows. The livestock farming contribution in terms of greenhouse gas emissions is enormous – 35% of the planet’s methane, 65% of its nitrous oxide and 9% of the carbon dioxide.

Edible insects emit fewer gases, contain high-quality protein, vitamins and amino acids, and have a high food conversion rate, needing a quarter of the food intake of sheep, and half of pigs and chickens, to produce the same amount of protein. They emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia than cows and can be grown on organic waste.

In the KQED Quest video above, meet Monica Martinez, a San Francisco artist and proprietor of Don Bugito, the nation’s first edible insect food cart.

The Canadian Space Agency has one of the better summary videos...

rion — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:07:52 -0700

The Canadian Space Agency has one of the better summary videos about Expedition 34/35’s return to Earth from the International Space Station. Watch CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield and his crewmates Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko climb into the Soyuz spacecraft, separate from ISS, and parachute down before getting extracted out of the amazingly small capsule that brought them safely home. Regarding Hadfield’s historic trip, CSA tweets:

144 days on the #ISS, 146 days in space, 2,336 orbits around the planet and clocked almost 62 million miles. What a ride!
— CanadianSpaceAgency (@csa_asc) May 14, 2013

They also conducted over 130 science experiments, a record amount for the Station.

Our gravity must feel strange after five months of floating.

So how many people are in space right now?

What can we learn from a tiny seahorse that might help us make...

rion — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:23:00 -0700

What can we learn from a tiny seahorse that might help us make stronger robotics or armor in the future? UCSD Materials Science Ph.D. student Michael Porter explains what his team has learned about the flexible structure of a seahorse’s prehensile tail.

There are more fish swimming, including these sea dragons and other syngnathidae, in the archives.

via Gizmodo.

Watch this incredible color footage of London in 1927. Filmed...

rion — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:17:00 -0700

Watch this incredible color footage of London in 1927. Filmed by Claude Frisse-Greene, a British filmmaker who was the son of inventor and cinematography pioneer William Friese-Greene, it showcases the cars, buses, boats, parks, monuments, signage, rhythms, style, and the sea of hats that made the London streets during the ’20s.

More 1920s vids in the archives.

Thanks, @benjohnbarnes.

To celebrate Commander Chris Hadfield’s return to earth...

rion — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:58:00 -0700

To celebrate Commander Chris Hadfield’s return to earth today, Monday, May 13, Scientific American has collected the Top 10 Commander Hadfield Videos from the International Space Station. Excellent watching all around.

Above: the most popular video on their list, Wringing out Water on the ISS - For Science. And a just-released bonus vid below, the Commander’s version of David Bowie’s 1969 Space Oddity:

It’s the first music video made in space.

Imagine that the age of the universe, 13.82 billion...

rion — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:52:00 -0700

Imagine that the age of the universe, 13.82 billion years, is compressed into only one year. Carl Sagan explains this idea (using 15 billion years as his example) in a clip from his 1980 television series, Cosmos: A Personal Journey.

On this Cosmic Calendar, the Big Bang happens on January 1st at midnight, and we are at the end of the year, midnight on December 31st. Now look backwards:

Down here, the first humans made their debut around 10:30 p.m. on December 31st. And with the passing of every cosmic minute — each minute 30,000 years long — we began the arduous journey towards understanding where we live and who we are.

11:46 - only 14 minutes ago, humans have tamed fire.

11:59:20 - the evening of the last day of the cosmic year — the 11th hour, the 59th minute, the 20th second — the domestication of plants and animals began, an application of the human talent for making tools.

11:59:35 - settled agricultural communities evolved into the first cities.

We humans appear on the cosmic calendar so recently that our recorded history occupies only the last few seconds of the last minute of December 31st. In the vast ocean of time which this calendar represents, all our memories are confined to this small square.

Every person we’ve ever heard of lived somewhere in there. All those kings and battles, migrations and inventions, wars and loves. Everything in the history books happens here, in the last 10 seconds of the cosmic calendar.

More Carl Sagan in the archives, along with The Big Bang and, looking forward, Al Jarnow’s Cosmic Clock.

via @alexanderchen.