April 14, 2008

Brains, nukes, and beautiful math

• Mmmm, brains:
  • "Check out the big brain on Brett Alexander": Alexander Lervik scanned his own lobes & used a 3D printer to create the MyBrain lamp. [Via]
  • Eric Chudler has amassed a great collection of neuroscience stamps. [Via]
• That very special glow:
  • Taryn Simon produced a beautiful image of nuclear waste. In An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, "[h]er 70 color plates transform that which is off-limits or under-the-radar into a visible and intelligible form."  See and read more here.
  • Researchers are combining images to make "super-resolution" X-rays. [Via Ellis Vener]
• Space oddities:
  • The universe’s most powerful blast ever seen was witnessed last month.
  • The ever-groovy BibliOdyssey shares the Astronomical Handbook of 1718.
• Math for visuals:
  • Science News reports on visualizations of mathematics create remarkable artwork.  (In my own life math has usually produced a different sort of visualization.) [Via]
  • For more beauties, see the 2007 Mandelbrot contest winners. [Via]
  • Mixing alcohol + high IQs = Photomicrographs of cocktails. [Via]
• New Yorkers have been chatting about biology-based art.  (Somehow hacking lifeforms for the sake of cool visuals seems destined to end up in a future installment of Bad Idea Jeans.)