The Kid Should See This.
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There's just so much science, nature, music, art, technology, storytelling and assorted good stuff out there that my kids (and maybe your kids) haven't seen. It's most likely not stuff that was made for them...
But we don't underestimate kids around here.
Kid-friendly not-made-for-kids videos for all! Collected by Rion Nakaya and her three four year old co-curator.
Tip Jar: Curating this blog takes work! If you like the videos on this site, please support the science education projects that we've picked on DonorsChoose.org.
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Arachnocampa is a genus of four fungus gnat species which are, in their larval stage, glow worms. They are found mostly in New Zealand and Australia in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests.
The larva spins a nest out of silk on the ceiling of the cave and then hangs down as many as 70 threads of silk (called snares) from around the nest, each up to 30 or 40 cm long and holding droplets of mucus…
The larva glows to attract prey into its threads, perhaps luring them into believing they are outdoors, for the roof of a cave covered with larva can look remarkably like a starry sky at night.
This video might seem like déjà vu — you’ve seen something like it before — but this one is so much more stunning! Be sure to watch it HD full screen.
This new (or newly edited?) video was shot with a special low-light 4K-camera by the crew of expeditions 28 and 29 onboard the ISS from August to October, 2011 and captures numerous shots of the Aurora Borealis.
Via This Is Colossal.
Sync, “a circular looping animation projection installation.” Some really beautiful patterns, great sound design, and probable dizziness.
Via The Curious Brain.
The Bolshoi Simulation is the most accurate large-scale visualization/ simulation of the universe that exists. It’s mapped everything that we know of, and a lot of what we don’t…
The Bolshoi supercomputers create this simulation of the large-scale structure of the universe by first examining the data from NASA’s WMAP explorer, which maps out the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Since this radiation is the light left over from the Big Bang, it’s the most ancient data in the universe, and from those starting conditions the supercomputer can use existing theoretical knowledge to simulate the evolution of different parts of the universe.
Because the supercomputer’s results match up almost perfectly with what we actually can observe of the history of the cosmos, astronomers are confident in its accuracy as a proxy for the actual universe.
There’s more information at io9 — really interesting stuff, and perhaps necessary to better explain the above visual fly-through to younger observers. There are also more details and simulations here on the project site.
h/t @dougmcarthur.
Light Lining is a 3D projection mapping technique that UK-based arts and tech studio Seeper has been showcasing around the globe. Some of their projects are interactive, while others, like this projection onto Frank Gehry’s IAC Building in NYC, make buildings come alive. The Kid Should See This!
Thanks, lara_williams.
From fireflies to glow worms to deep sea creatures, bioluminescence is a big deal around our house, so we’re always on the hunt for a good light show. This video is composed of snips from the BBC’s Deep Blue, a feature film recut from the longer four part documentary, The Blue Planet.
