The Aesthetics of Gears

At the Exploratorium, there was an exhibit titled "Giant Ball Bearing," and all a person was supposed to do at the exhibit was turn it and feel the workings.  Words in the middle of the bearing read, "Some machines just feel nice," and after turning that bearing around and around many, many times, I have to agree.  Sometimes there is a visceral pleasure in interacting with machinery -- Apple has stressed that notion in their design -- and after watching the video below, I now feel certain that there is also an aesthetic pleasure in watching machinery.  Let me know what you think.

The Beauty of Pendulums

My friend Frank let me know about this cool video showing pendulums oscillating in and out of sync with each other. Watching phenomena like this one shows how some of the simplest things in nature -- heavy weights swinging from a cord -- contain magic and wonder. And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Exploratorium has long had a similar device, called Pendulum Snake.

Beautiful Sand

Here's a cool story about sand, courtesy of Wired. I love articles that explore the wonder behind everyday things. Next, I would love to see a story on the magic of dirt. Wait: the Exploratorium already produced a dirt site. Good for them!

[Image courtesy of Martyn Gorman]

Evidence

Full disclosure: I work at the Exploratorium. But, I can't help mentioning the Exploratorium's website about the nature of science, and the role that evidence plays.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/evidence/index.html