Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Earth Observatory



While perusing Refdesk (one of my favorite websites), I happened across Earth Observatory, and especially loved its image of the day site. Browsers can look at satellite images of all sorts of geographical features, and can even sort the offerings by categories like "heat," "atmosphere," and "life." Well done, NASA.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Kassel Museum


Here are some amazing photos of historic astrolabes, clocks, globes, and telescopes, all from the museum in Kassel, Germany.

The Amazing Solar System


The Boston Globe's website has one of the best photography sections I have found on the internet. In September, the site featured photos taken by both NASA and ESA spacecraft. Enjoy.

Friday, October 1, 2010

2010 Ig Nobel Awards

Huzzah for the 2010 Ig Nobel Awards! I am happy to report that this year's Economics Prize "was awarded jointly to the executives and directors of Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Magnetar for 'creating and promoting new ways to invest money – ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.'" Well deserved.

Allosaurus for Sale


Next week, Sotheby's will hold its first natural-history auction, in Paris. Stop by if you want to pick up a 33-foot-long Allosaurus skeleton for your living room.

Babylonian Language Spoken

Did anyone else read the story about scholars at Cambridge University who have "recorded audio of Babylonian epics, poems, and even a magic spell to the Internet?" You can hear the language spoken here.

The Galileo Project


Whoah: I just came across The Galileo Project, a website based at Rice University with all sorts of information about the father of modern science. After reading this site, you'll want to find the closest cathedral and watch the to-and-fro swaying of the lamps as well.

Science Toys!

I am fascinated by the science toy industry, and was happy to see that Wired just wrote a piece about ThinkGeek, one of my favorite websites.