Electoral maps, going all the way back to the beginning.
posted by interrobang on Oct 27, 2008 - 36 comments

Things look good underwater.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Oct 20, 2008 - 29 comments

Ancient Buddhist Paintings From Bamiyan Were Made Of Oil, Hundreds Of Years Before Technique Was 'Invented' In Europe. [Via MonkeyFilter.] [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Apr 24, 2008 - 23 comments

Man buried alive saved by air trapped in his hat. [Via MoFi.]
posted by homunculus on Mar 6, 2008 - 53 comments

At the University of Texas, researchers have produced some amazing videos and photos of liquid bouncing on liquid. This was one of nature.com's Images of the Year for 2007 (picture number 6, in the upper-right corner). The project report, along with pictures and videos, is found on their bouncing jet page, and it's quite extraordinary both for the counter-intuitive nature of the phenomenon and the extremely low-tech production methods. You can even do it at home with little more than a lazy Susan and some silicone oil. [more inside]
posted by math on Mar 3, 2008 - 12 comments

The 10 Neatest Articles of 2007.
posted by homunculus on Jan 14, 2008 - 21 comments

Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age.
posted by Soup on Dec 9, 2007 - 77 comments

Warning signs from the future. Things to look out for when you get there.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Oct 28, 2006 - 33 comments

New milestone in digital photography: The ability to refocus a picture after it has been taken. Gallery and technical data.
posted by iamck on Nov 18, 2005 - 80 comments

Road trip to venus!

The Venus Express was launched on Nov. 9th, 2005 from Baikonur, the historic spaceport in Kazakhstan. It is the first Venus probe sent by the ESA , and you can follow it's progress on the six month journey to the planet.

Exploration of Venus begin in 1962 with Mariner 2, the first space probe to fly by another planet and other flights, including the Russian Venera 7, which was the first probe to land on another planet. The Soviets took quite an interest in Venus and dominated the exploration of the planet through the '70s and '80s. A lot of the images recorded by those early craft have been reprocessed with modern technology.

In the early '90s the Magellan spacecraft spent several years mapping the surface of Venus, providing us many, many, many images and 3D maps of the planet.

As for Venus Express, it's goal is to spend two years making detailed studys of the planet's clouds and atmosphere.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Nov 13, 2005 - 19 comments