Klingon Style ~ K-Pop Takes Galactic Meaning;-)

K-Pop goes intergalactic with Klingon Style;-)

Form 1 ~ MIT Alumco's Stereolith 3DP Launches!

MIT alumco Formlabs Kickstarts their 3D printer Form 1!

Lovely Rio ~ Spotlights on Brazil's Blessed City!

Nice to see the latest National Geographic piece on Brazil's Rio de Janeiro by Antonio Regalado with photos by David Alan Harvey...

And here's an earlier lovely photo by Ignazio Sciacca...

Here's related video nugget about Rio's Operations Center... Finally, another promo piece on Rio from IBM...

Moments of Science ~ Latest IgNobel Interludes!

My esteemed Harvard colleague Daniel Rosenberg (of InDemoVeritas fame) and I performed two Moments of Science at the latest IgNobels. Fast-forward to 1:11:00 and to 2:01:25 to see the goodness! Here's Daniel and me plugging in for Moment #1 -- Balancing Vibes!

And here's snapshot of me starting Moment #2 -- The Doppler!

Rafael Reif ~ MIT's 17th President Inaugurated!

The past several days have seen series of events and parties all peaking on Friday afternoon with the formal inauguration of MIT's 17th President Rafael Reif! Harvard's Drew Faust represented all the visiting academic delegates and gave a surprise gift photo of John Harvard's statue "hacked" for MIT;-)

Global Trendscape ~ Gapminder 2012 Worldview!

Mythbusting statistician Hans Rosling and Gapminder colleagues share their latest visualizations of global data! First, their interactive multi-century perspective on development and convergence...

And second, their Gapminder World Map 2012...

Sperm Cam ~ Imaging Elusive Spiral Swimmers!

Nature's Helen Shen spotlights that Light-Sensing Chip Captures Elusive Sperm Swimming Pattern...

"A new three-dimensional imaging technique has revealed spiraling movements that had previously only been inferred from two-dimensional data. [This is the] first large-scale, high-resolution recordings of human sperm in three dimensions, tracking more than 1,500 cells over several hours. Human sperm have eluded such detailed observation in the past. Their heads are just 3–4 micrometers long and can only be seen under high magnification, but the cells zoom around at up to 100 micrometers per second, ducking in and out of focus or darting out of range in an instant."

Hmm, camera shy or eggs-tremely focused?-)

Baxter ~ Rethink Robotics Unveils Handy Helper...

Rod Brooks's Rethink Robotics reveals Baxter...

"...a revolutionary new category of Robot [...] capable of applying common sense behavior to manufacturing environments. Affordably priced, versatile and safe enough to work shoulder-to-shoulder with people, Baxter robots redefine how small, mid-size and large domestic manufacturers use automation to compete with manufacturers in low-cost regions of the world."

Fire Whirl ~ Curtin Springs, Australia Tornado++

DailyMail spots Aussie Fire Whirl!

Welcome to the Anthropocene ~ Human Planet...

Thanks to Dot Earthling Andrew Revkin for his piece in NYTimes on The ‘Anthropocene’ as Environmental Meme and/or Geological Epoch spotlighting this Planet Under Pressure environmental meme promo...

100 ~ Dutch Baby to Centarian Speak Their Ages!

24oranges spots this delighter!

Bus+Train ~ JR's Dual-Mode Road+Rail Vehicle...

Alexander Lew in Wired Autopia says It’s a Bus. It’s a Train. It’s Both!

Tethys & Rings ~ NASA's Cassini Spots Saturn!

See Saturn's Bright Tethys and Ancient Rings via NASA's APOD!

Snollygosters ~ Forsyth @ TED on Political Speak

Thanks to John Mills for spotting Mark Forsyth answering What’s a snollygoster? A short lesson in political speak @ TEDxHousesofParliament...

Food Waste ~ Stuart @ TED on Global Scandal...

Tristram Stuart at TED on The global food waste scandal...

Land Rush ~ International Aquisitions in Africa...

Map Porn spots The 21st Century African Land Rush...

Political Heatmap ~ US Red-vs-Blue 1920-2008!

Timothy Hurst spots Animated Time-Lapse Map of Red-Blue America 1920-2008 at Ecopolitology...

Acoustic Levitation ~ Argonne's Sonic H2O Trap!

Neatorama spots Argonne work on Acoustic Levitation which...

"...uses two small speakers to generate sound waves at frequencies slightly above the audible range – roughly 22 kilohertz. When the top and bottom speakers are precisely aligned, they create two sets of sound waves that perfectly interfere with each other, setting up a phenomenon known as a standing wave. At certain points along a standing wave, known as nodes, there is no net transfer of energy at all. Because the acoustic pressure from the sound waves is sufficient to cancel the effect of gravity, light objects are able to levitate when placed at the nodes."

Quapter Formations ~ Flying UAV Art in Linz...

Thanks to Miss Cellania for spotting formation-flying quadrocopters...

Hula Cam ~ Imaging Delights from Burning Man!

Nice photonic joy via the Hula Cam at Burning Man!