Here’s a video that quickly demonstrates the human eye’s blind spot.
Maglev Toy Train
July 3, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
Don’t quite understand the technology behind trains running on magnetic levitation? Fear not, for this video will explain the phenomenon with a wonderful demonstration via toy train set. [via]
Kryptos: the sculpture and code nobody can figure out
May 5, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
This is one of the most fascinating pieces I’ve read at WIRED. It’s about a sculptural installation at CIA headquarters that’s become one of the hardest known cryptic codes to decipher and it’s driving some people mad. The sculpture, called Kryptos, was created by artist James Sanborn and many believe him to be the only person in the world with any clue to the answer of the entire code.
Kryptos is split into 4 difference sections (K1, K2, K3, and K4). Three of those 4 sections have been decoded but the last section, K4, seems to have the entire code-cracking community scratching their heads. The search for the answer has gotten so insane that some people have scrutinized every single word uttered by Sanborn in hopes that maybe he might slip the answer or that his words have some kind of connection to the answer.
The WIRED article goes quite in depth into how the code was cracked and how the first 3 sections are translated. If you’ve got some time, you might want to read about it. Does anybody know if you can go and see this sculpture? Or is it only reserved for people on the CIA campus?
Inhaling sulfur hexafluoride will lower your voice temporarily
May 4, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
I had no idea that inhaling sulfar hexafluoride does the opposite effect of helium to your voice. Whereas helium makes your voice go higher, sulfur hexfluoride makes your voice go much deeper, making it sound like you’re speaking in a slow-motion video when you really aren’t. [via]
I’d love to see somebody inhale sulfur hexafluoride and say something really fast. And I wonder if this is how they get evil characters in movies to laugh the way they do.
Here’s one more video. Kinda neat!
Fully preserved woolly mammoth found in Siberia
April 30, 2009 @ 10:53 am
A one-month old woolly mammoth has been unearthed in Siberia almost fully intact and preserved.
The pictures are quite fascinating especially given the fact that up until now, we really have not seen a true woolly mammoth preserved in such a good state. We’ve only been able to recreate a close representation of the prehistoric animal from bits and pieces of scientific discovery.
Scientists and researchers believe that the baby mammoth, named Lyuba, died from either a drowning or suffocation in thick mud and that one of these paths led to her body being preserved very well for about 40,000 years.
