Some people can hear with their eyes. It’s called synesthesia, and it happens when the different sensory systems get crossed. A new app, Sonified, lets you experience it, as the video below demonstrates.
(via The Dish)
Tag: video
Master and Apprentice
Handmade Portraits: The Sword Maker from Etsy on Vimeo.
This video, contains some fascinating reflections from, Korehira Watanabe, one of the few remaining traditional sword makers in Japan.
Particularly intriguing is Watanabe’s somewhat counter-intuitive need to keep exploring new challenges in swordmaking, so that he might keep the ancient traditions alive. He’s also very interested in instilling the same type of drive in his disciple, with the hope that his disciple will someday surpass him.
I personally find this to be a quite appropriate perspective for a teacher.
Scale of the Universe: 62 Orders of Magnitude (1062)
In a modern variant on the Powers of Ten video, Cary and Michael Huang have created an excellent flash game that spans the scale of the universe, from the smallest, only hypothesized particles, through atomic, human, planetary, and galactic scales (to name a but a few), to the size of the universe itself. It goes further than the Cell Size and Scale flash app.
The link is here, but look out for an advertisement that takes up the game window, which will eventually let you through (or you can click the “Skip Ad” link on the bottom right of the ad).
Modeling the Universe
A wonderful explanation of why scientists create computer models of the universe (and how it’s done); it’s a bit like the solar nebula model writ large.
(via The Dish).
How Google Works
One of the librarians at Washington University played this video for our students. It was a great supplement to their lesson on how to use the internet for research.
Robotic Construction Aircraft
Aerial robots are used to construct a tower. It’s pretty awesome, especially when you note that the robots don’t collide with each other, and plug themselves in when they realize they’re running out of power.
Robert Krulwich has more details on his NPR blog.
The Last 100 Years: World History as Seen from the U.S.
YouTube user derDon1234 has compiled an interesting video montage of historical events over the last 100 years. derDon1234 makes some interesting choices about what to show — condensed into 10 minutes — but it’s a valuable perspective, with some fascinating and poignant video. It’s worth a look.
2012: Not the End of the World
I’ve fielded the question about if the world is going to end in 2012. My first-order answer has been to cite the poor level of success that previous predictions of apocalypse have had. NASA has had to address the problem, while C.G.P. Grey has a nice little video explaining the sources of the hysteria (he’s not very happy with the History Channel).