#science and technology
Yo-Yo Ma performs Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman’s ode to the wonder of life, animated by artist Kelli Anderson – the culmination of the nine-part animated Universe in Verseseries, celebrating science and the wonder of reality through poetic beauty.
Text and details here.
Achieving Perspective (featuring David Byrne and some history of science)
Black History Month the science way, with a poem: My God, It’s Full of Stars.
Born on this day in 1865, Wilson Bentley was only a teenager, with an early camera and a supportive mom, when he captured the otherworldly beauty of snowflakes in his pioneering photomicroscopy.
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Otherworldly transcendence straight out of the real world: northern lights photographs of the year.
The northern lights were named Aurora Borealis (after the Roman goddess of dawn and the Greek name for the norther wind) by the French priest, philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Pierre Gassendi.
Couple with a wondrous picture-book about the Aurora Borealis, one of the year’s loveliest children’s books.
(HTKottke)
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Looking for uncommon gifts for the science-lover and nature-ecstatic in your life (or in your soul)? Here are some wearable, washable, wallable, giftable wonders featuring artwork restored from centuries-old natural history, botany, and astronomy books, with proceeds benefitting The Nature Conservancy.
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Theadorable doodles Darwin’s kids left all over his manuscript of On the Origin of Species, published on this day in 1859 .
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In honor of the November 2021 partial lunar eclipse – the longest in 500 years – French artist Étienne Léopold Trouvelot’s stunning 19th-century astronomical drawings of eclipses, planets, comets, meteor showers, and other wonders of the universe.
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Chlorophyll evolved more than a billion years, was discovered 200 years ago, yet remains a mystery. Its fascinating science explains why, when autumn leaves change, nature’s true colors are actually revealed – colors that include true-blue bananas.
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“These objects are, it is true, among the humblest of creatures that are endowed with organic life… Here we catch the first kindling of that spark, which glows into so noble a flame in the Aristotles, the Newtons, and the Miltons of our heaven-gazing race.”
Philip Henry Gosse’s stunning 19th-century illustrations of and meditations on coastal creatures and the interleaving of life.
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Cutting boards with centuries-old astronomical, botanical, and natural history art. Because why not. Proceeds benefitting The Nature Conservancy.
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For World Reef Day, William Saville Kent’s stunning 19th-century illustrations from the world’s first pictorial encyclopedia about the Great Barrier Reef.
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This week NASA released the first-ever image of shock waves interacting between two supersonic aircraft. It’s a stunning effort, requiring a cutting-edge version of a century-old photographic technique and perfect coordination between three airplanes – the two supersonic Air Force T-38s and the NASA B-200 King Air that captured the image. The T-38s are flying in formation, roughly 30 ft apart, and the interaction of their shock waves is distinctly visible. The otherwise straight lines curve sharply near their intersections.
Fully capturing this kind of behavior in ground-based tests or in computer simulation is incredibly difficult, and engineers will no doubt be studying and comparing every one of these images with those smaller-scale counterparts. NASA developed this system as part of their ongoing project for commercial supersonic technologies. (Image credit: NASA Armstrong; submitted by multiple readers)
How do these images get captured?
It may not obvious as to how this image was generated because if you have heard about Schlieren imaging what you have in your head is a setup that looks something like:
But how does Schelerin photography scale up to capturing moving objects in the sky?
Heat Haze
When viewing objects through the exhaust gases emanating from the nozzle of aircrafts, one can observe the image to be distorted.
Hot air is less dense than cold air.
And this creates a gradient in the refractive index of the air
Light gets bent/distorted
Method-01 : BOSCO ( Background-Oriented Schlieren using Celestial Objects )
You make the aircraft whose shock-wave that you would like to analyze pass across the sun in the sky.
You place a hydrogen alpha filter on your ground based telescope and observe this:
Notice the ripples that pass through the sunspots
The different air density caused by the aircraft bends the specific wavelength of light from the sun. This allows us to see the density gradient like the case of our heat wave above.
We can now calculate how far each “speckle” on the sun moved, and that gives us the following Schlieren image.
Method-02: Airborne Background Oriented Schlieren Technique
In the previous technique how far each speckle of the sun moved was used for imaging. BUT you can also use any textured background pattern in general.
An aircraft with camera flies above the flight like so:
The patterned ground now plays the role of the sun. Some versions of textures that are commonly are:
The difficulty in this method is the Image processing that follows after the images have been taken.
And one of the main reasons why the image that NASA has released is spectacular because NASA seems to have nailed the underlying processing involved.
Have a great day!
* More on Heat hazes
** More on BOSCO
*** Images from the following paper : Airborne Application of the Background Oriented Schlieren Technique to a Helicopter in Forward Flight
**** This post obviously oversimplifies the technique. A lot of research goes into the processing of these images. But the motive of the post was to give you an idea of the method used to capture the image, the underlying science goes much deeper than this post.
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Exactly a year back on this very day, we explored how polarized sunglasses work and why Pilots prefer NOT to use them.
What about those with power prescriptions you ask ?
These days you can find a lot of people even with power prescriptions sporting glasses/lenses that turn dark when exposed to sunlight. These are known as Photochromic lenses.
Let’s do a quick demo:
This is a photochromic lens getting exposed to 395-400 nm light turning dark as a result.
How does it do that ?
To learn how this is achieved it must be understood that there are these class of reactions called ‘Reversible reactions’
A and B can react to form C and D or, in the reverse reaction, C and D can react to form A and B.
Example of reversible reaction of Bismuth Chloride
In the case of Bismuth Chloride, sunlight acts as a mediator to change it from a transparent solution to a dark colored solution and shaking in air brings it back.
In the case of Photochromic lenses, an organic dye is used that darkens under UV and lightens under its absence
Alternate reality: Photo-degradation
If you ever have had the unfortunate experience of leaving your plastic in the sun or wondered why the colors of your clothes fade away, then the technical term to express your misery is Photo-degradation.
This is the other extreme of a reversible reaction where UV light from the sun break break down the chemical bonds in the plastic and clothes (called chromophores) and eventually leads to fading of the colors in the object
The catch
As any user of one of these Photochromic lenses will tell you, there are some aspects of these lenses that still need to be improved
- The chemical reaction rate depends on the temperature of the surrounding. This means that on a sunny day if you are in a really warm climate, the lenses will adapt faster than if you live in a cold climate
- Most car windshields block UV light to some extent and therefore these lenses are not effective when you are inside the car.
- They do degrade after a while. Most of lenses do degrade having been used after a couple of years and need to be changed.
But having said that Photochromic lens are indeed a really cool piece of technology.
Have a great day!
NEW ⬆️ Whenever I post educational videos about climate change, I almost always pair it with positive actions, innovative solutions, and problem solving teamwork. There’s a lot of creativity, biomimicry, possibility, postitivity, and imagination mixed in there, too. That’s why I love this new book Beetles For Breakfast by science writer Madeleine Finlay.
Bold and dynamic illustrations by Jisu Choi fill this book with dozens of fascinating, familiar, and sometimes strange ideas and inventions that are designed to fix our climate issues at the breakfast table, in the bathroom, at school, in cities, in the park, on the farm, at the beach, and more.
There’s so much to look at and lots to scan and read further. It’s got our kids’ imaginations going. Plus, the book ends with some ideas for what they (and we) can do right now. An instant fave.
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Made in Oregon and highly rated, this “Create Your Own Reel Viewer” is a red, blue, black, or white view master-style viewer with a code in the package that lets you create your own reel of 7 images. You can also order an additional code for an additional reel. Baby photos, wedding photos, kid photos, birthday photos, graduation photos, grandparent photos. Pick a fun event, a vacation, a loved one, or give it to a kid or a teen to fill it with photos of whatever they’d like. Super affordable. I love this gift for all ages.
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NEW ⬆️ When my kids were young, we listened to different mindfulness audio tracks from Sitting Still Like a Frog at bedtime a few times a week. It helped us slow down and recenter after busy days. It also aided with upsetting, overtiring, or anxiety-inducing days. I had it on my phone and played it over their bedroom speaker, and it really worked for us, but this delivery system made me the gatekeeper.
Over the last year, I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews from parents about Zenimals, a portable and screenless ‘turtle’ with buttons that play nine guided meditations. I like that it’s a dedicated, kid-friendly device, durable and washable with a silicone cover and a micro-USB charger… and that there are additional audio collections available. You can check out some of the meditations here.
Screenless, for me, is key. There’s also a geode-shaped version for teens and grown ups.
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POPULAR “Molecule formation, acids and bases, chemical reactions, even advanced concepts like secondary oxidation states…“ and it’s all learned through experience as you play Science Ninjas: Valence, a highly-rated card game created by a rocket scientist, an alternative energy expert, and a New York Times best-selling cartoonist. Great for at home or in class for ages 6+. (They also have a Periodic Table Poster.)
Advanced Chemistry + Simple Rules + Ninjas! = On our list this year. Easy to learn and super fun.
Add more molecules, more chemical reactions, and four new elements to learn more with Valence Plus for ages 8+. I definitely recommend this one if you have older kids or are playing with adults.
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