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Home , Pillars of Creation

Picks of the week A Canopy of 1,100 Umbrellas

To transform the interior of the Ahead Arena at the 2015 Habitare Design Fair in Finland (part of Helsinki Design Week), envi- ronmental artist Kaisa Berry and creative di- rector Timo Berry of BOTH conceived of this lighter-than-air umbrella cloud suspended above a main stage. The duo used 1,100 white umbrellas hung at various intervals, somewhat like similar outdoor installations we’ve seen in Portugal. The installation served as a backdrop for speaking events as well as live performances. Three-Dimensional Mid- Air Acoustic Manipulation (Making stuff hover)

While we’ve seen examples of objects suspended mid-air using quantum levitation and acoustic levitation, a team of three Japanese engineers from The University of Tokyo and the Nagoya Institute of Technology recently unveiled an ambitious device that uses sound waves to move objects through three dimensional space. The machine uses four arrays of speakers to make soundwaves that intersect at a focal point that can be moved up, down, left, and right using external controls. You would think such machine would be extremely loud, but according to one of the engineers the device uses ultrasonic speakers and is almost completely silent. Cat Egg Mold

While Egg Addiction may have started as a blog for sharing recipes and cooking techniques for California-based blogger Cindy Ho, it’s always been about creativity. After months of sketching and prototyping, Egg Addiction has perfected a way of cooking eggs that will make your morning routine a little more fun. Check out Cindy’s Kickstarter video here: https://www. kickstarter.com/projects/991279259/sunny- side-up-eggs-cat-egg-molds?ref=video Contactless Transfer Business Cards

Moo (card printing company) today releases Business Cards that are embedded with the same Near Field Communication technology used in tap-and-go services like Apple Pay. By just holding it up to an NFC- enabled smartphone, the card will allow users to exchange contact information, websites, and online portfolios. Business cards start at $29.99 for 20.

You can see their website here: http://www.moo.com/uk/products/nfc/ business-cards-plus.html Hubbub’s Designs are Reducing London’s Street Litter

Environmental charity Hubbub (in collaboration with Common Works) is capitalizing on Londoners’ love of sports and strong opinions, smokers can now use their cigarette butts to make their voices heard on various burning questions, like whether Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi is the best in the world. Their Neat Streets initiative has many campaigns, one of which turns chewing gum into paint-by- numbers style drawings! A Rube Goldberg Machine Powered by Light and Magnifying Glasses

This slick commercial for Japanese high- speed optical internet service au Hikari has a pretty novel take on the Rube Goldberg Machine. Each sequence in the device is powered (or otherwise set in motion) by a single beam of light sent through magnifying glasses and mirrors to burn strings, pop balloons, and melt bits of ice. Isaac Newton vs. Rube Goldberg: A Gravity-Defying Chain Reaction

Toronto-based 2D House have created this incredible “Isaac Newton vs. Rube Goldberg” video which is an extremely slick chain reaction aided by magnets and all matter of visual trickery. Just watch, try to guess which way is up, and have your mind blown. Postcard Writing Rube Goldberg Machine in a Suitcase

Melvin the Travelling Mini Machine by studio HEYHEYHEY is an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine that fits in a pair of suitcases that executes the simple task of “writing” and stamping a postcard of your choice. Massive Rube Goldberg Chain Reaction for A-Trak & Tommy Trash’s ‘Tuna Melt’

Here’s a fun new music video for A-Trak & Tommy Trash’s ‘Tuna Melt‘. The Rube Goldberg device moves through almost every room of the The Ohage House in St. Paul, MN as dominoes crash, paper airplanes fly, and submarines chug along underwater. The Page Turner: A Rube Goldberg Machine from Joseph Herscher

The Page Turner is the latest device from New York born, New Zealand raised, and Brooklyn-based kinetic artist Joseph Herscher who builds elaborate Rube Goldberg machines that use complex chain reactions to complete mundane tasks. Some of Herscher’s effects here are subtle in their brilliance. Picks of Space NASA Releases Over 8,000 Photos from the Moon Missions

During the course of the Apollo space program were charged with enduring unknown perils, conducting science experiments, piloting spacecraft, walking on the sur- face of the moon, and comprehending sights, sounds, and physical stresses never before experienced by humans. All the while, they were also asked to snap a couple thousands photographs of practically every moment with a modified Hasselblad camera. Last Friday, for the first time ever, NASA uploaded the entire catalogue of 8,400 Apollo mission photos to Flickr spanning Apollo 7 (the first manned test flight in 1968) through , the final lunar mission in 1972. The effort to bring the photos online was lead by Kipp Teague of the Project Apollo Archive who first began scanning camera film maga- zines on behalf of the in 2004.

See more of the photos here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/albums/with/72157659052908231 Pillars of Creation

One of the most iconic images ever produced by NASA is the “Pillars of Creation” photograph taken by in 1995. The photo depicts tall columns (called elephant trunks) of interstellar dust and gas within the Eagle about 6,500 light years from Earth. For the first time in 20 years, NASA revisited the Pillars of Creation using a new camera installed on Hubble back in 2009 capable of much higher resolutions. The new photo, including an infrared version, was published yesterday. “Although the original image was dubbed the “Pillars of Creation”, this new image hints that they are also pillars of destruction. The dust and gas in these pillars is seared by intense radiation from the young forming within them, and eroded by strong winds from massive nearby stars. The ghostly bluish haze around the dense edges of the pillars in the visible- light view is material that is being heated by bright young stars and evaporating away.”

-NASA

NASA’s frog photobomb

In one of the more bizarre photobombs ever, NASA released a photograph of what appears to be a frog that may have attempted, and subsequently failed, to hitch a ride aboard a Moon-bound rocket. The shot was captured on September 7th during the launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), and NASA’s photo team confirms the image is genuine, but stated “the condition of the frog, however, is uncertain.” Satellite Photos of Earth from the

The ESA (European Space Agency) has an incredible “Observing the Earth” archive that’s updated every week and each satellite image is usually accompanied by a brief essay to explain a bit about what you’re looking at. Collected here are some of my favourite images taken with too many different satellites to mention. You can search photos back through the archive to 2005. Mississippi River Delta / May 25, 2012 Cloud, Atlantic Oceon / June 11, 2010 Scandinavian snow / February , 2013 Agricultural crops in Aragon and Catalonia / November 26, 2010 Ganges’ dazzling delta / July 31, 2009 Namib Desert / October 5, 2013 Plentiful plankton / September 14, 2009 Peruvian landscape / July 4, 2013 Long Exposure Photographs Shot from Space

Over the past two months NASA has been releasing a number of wonderful long exposure photographs taken by Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station. While there are many photos like these taken from the perspective of the Earth’s surface, Pettit’s images are unique in that they incorporate the passing blur of entire illuminated cities, aurora, and the sporadic flashes of lightening from thunderstorms. Solar Eruptions

This amazing composite image taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (Little SDO) shows a series of significant solar eruptions that occurred over a period of three days back in January of 2013. The photo was created using three wavelengths of light that have been colourised in red, green, and blue to better show the dynamics of each eruption. Messier 15, One of the Densest Clusters of Stars Ever Discovered

This recently released photograph from the Hubble Telescope captures the spectacular of Messier 15 located about 35,000 light-years away. It might be hard to believe, but if you were to look up in the sky and locate the constellation Pegasus, this entire cluster of stars is located inside of it. It is one of the densest clusters of stars ever discovered. The Seasonal “Heartbeat” of the Earth Click to below to play, or follow the link by clicking here