Some Random Crystals Formed From My Raw Reaction Mixture At The Bottom Of A Flask.

Iconic American Landscape Photos, Recreated with Junk Food

For their project “Processed Views,” which is currently on view in the exhibit “Changing Circumstances” at the FotoFest 2016 Biennial, the collaborators Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman have produced cheeky dioramas that pull Carleton Watkins’s iconic images brashly into the industrial modern world. Using all manner of highly processed foods—Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Coca-Cola, marshmallows, fleshy stacks of bologna—they recreated the photographer’s famous landscapes from Yosemite and other California sites as garish candy lands.

See more from this processed-food world. 

@ultrainfinitequest

In his classic tale Journey to the Center of the Earth, author Jules Verne dreamed of reaching the center of our planet through volcanic tubes. In the 1960s, scientists took up that challenge and tried to drill down into the earth’s mantle, but abandoned the project due to a lack of funding. Now, a team of scientists aboard the research vessel JOIDES Resolution is working to bore a hole deep into the Atlantis Bank in the Indian Ocean to collect samples of the crust and eventually break through into the mantle. Geologist Henry Dick, co-chief scientist of the expedition, joins Ira for an update on the progress of the project and explains what these samples could reveal about the formation of the planet.

Sooooo satisfying!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anaïs Nin (b. February 21, 1903) on embracing the unfamiliar – even timelier today. 

In this video lichtenburg figures are burned into wood using a microwave oven transformer. The results are spectacular. (Video) Facebook | Instagram | Scary Story Site

Pretty frost on the nitrogen tank

@sheck on Instagram. 💫🌱

The Academy Awards won by scientists

Did you know there is another set of Oscars devoted to the scientific side of movie making?

Two weeks before the televised Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives out awards to the innovators who make blockbusters like “The Martian” or “Mad Max: Fury Road” possible. 

Combining style *AND* brains, the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony celebrates technological innovations ranging from camera rigs to software systems to inflatable green screens.  

This year’s recipients included Michael John Keesling, who developed the Image Shake, a remote-controlled lens attachment that creates a jerky, hand-held look without shaking the camera. The tool has been used in movies like “Saving Private Ryan” and the Jason Bourne films to create a gritty, “real” aesthetic seen in a lot of contemporary action thrillers.

Brian McLean and Martin Meunier won an award for pioneering the use of rapid prototyping, a process that allows animators to quickly and exponentially produce replacement puppet parts for stop-motion films like “Coraline.”

Past winners of the awards have also included academics. 

UC Santa Barbara’s computer science professor, Theodore Kim, won a technical achievement award for creating an algorithm that helps simulate realistic smoke and fire effects seen in dozens of movies, including “Super 8″ and “Avatar.”

Curious about the science behind these effects? Check out the video below:

THE VERGE REVIEW OF ANIMALS, STARRING: TRILOBITES

They were survivors, up until they went extinct.