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ScienceSpaceNew Video Shows How Humanity Could Spread Throughout the Galaxy
A fascinating competition to devise an efficient way of colonizing the galaxy has resulted in this beautiful—and provocative—visualization. This is the 10th running of the Global Trajectory Optimization Competition (GTOC X), which is organized by the Mission Design and Navigation section of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These contests present complex problems having to do with … Continued
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Tech NewsYou Can Now Search for Addresses Across 750 Million Years of Earth’s History
Ever looked at a picture of the supercontinent Pangea and wondered where your current address would have been 250 million years ago? A new interactive map provides this very service, allowing you to see modern locations across 750 million years of our planet’s history. This awesome 3D map is the brainchild of Ian Webster, curator … Continued
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Tech News
New Technique Creates Stunning 3D Images of Live Insects
When taking high-resolution 3D scans of insects, scientists typically have to kill their test subjects, which isn’t always ideal. By taking advantage of an insect’s ability to survive oxygen-poor conditions, scientists have now used carbon dioxide to keep bugs in a state of suspended animation for upwards of seven hours at a time—and with no … Continued
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Tech News
If You Could Only Die in Sudden Accidents, How Long Would You Live?
Imagine a world in which the only possible way to die was through a sudden accident, such as a car crash, falling down the stairs, or getting struck by lighting. How long could we expect to live in such a world? According to an eye-opening simulation, a very, very, long time, indeed. The fine folks … Continued
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Tech News
This Year’s Best Science Photos Are So Good They’re Basically Art
The finalists of the 2017 Wellcome Image Awards have been announced, showcasing the best science-related imagery from the past year. This year’s crop features a bioluminescent squid, a high-tech contact lens, and a microscopic ‘brain’ on a chip. The winners will be announced on March 15 at the Wellcome Trust in London. Judges will be … Continued
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Tech News
The 50 Most Common Family Arrangements in America, Visualized
Statistician Nathan Yau of Flowing Data has compiled a beautiful and revealing infographic showing the 50 most common family structures in the United States. As this clever visualization shows, the nuclear family—though the most common—is far from the only one. To create this infographic, Yau took data from the five-year American Community Survey (2009-2014), and … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Mind-Bending Trick Is Actually Two Illusions in One
What sorcery is at work here? Careful, this trick—er, illusion has a second, surprising twist in it. Silhouette Zoetrope is the work of Christine Veras at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It was one of the top three illusions in this year’s Best Illusion of the Year contest, in which scientists compete with each … Continued
By Ria Misra -
Tech News
Watch How Every Game of Thrones Episode Was Discussed on Twitter
Each Game of Thrones episode generates its fair share of internet chatter. This new Twitter #interactive visualization takes this tremendous amount of information and translates it into something surprisingly meaningful. At first blush, this data visualization looks a bit intimidating, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. The first step is to pick an episode among the … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Cool Animation Tracks How All the World’s Airports Are Connected
We rarely stop to think of just how many people the world’s airlines transport on any given day, never mind form a mental picture of that activity. Now there’s a nifty animated visualization of how all those different airports around the globe are connected—a total of 3,200 airports and 60,000 routes in all. It’s the … Continued
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Tech News
A Beautiful Illustration of Something Quite Horrible
Up until a few months ago, we knew virtually nothing about the Zika virus—or what it even looked like. But a beautiful new illustration by David S. Goodsell reveals its hidden details, while also showing how the dreaded virus goes to work. Scientists have been hard at work trying to untangle the mystery that is … Continued
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Tech News
Watch How Your Diet Has Changed Over the Past 40 Years
Ever wondered how the food you eat has changed over time? This visualization plots the changing eating habits of the US between 1970 and 2013, allowing you to marvel at what you now put into your mouth that you didn’t a decade or two ago. The interactive visualization was created by Nathan Yau from Flowing … Continued
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Tech News
Visualize Your Emotions Based on Psychology and the Dalai Lama’s Insight
Ever wondered how your emotions interact or what they give rise to? This visualization, called The Atlas of Emotions, combines experimental psychology and insight from the Dalai Lama to try and explain. Emotions aren’t very well understood: They’re a complex phenomenon that stem from neuronal activity and body chemistry, among other things. But the guys … Continued
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Tech News
This Painful Chart Shows How Many People Are Younger Than You
Feeling old? This simple chart will reveal the crushing truth of just how many people in the country are younger than you. Put together by Nathan Yau of Flowing Data, the interactive chart is incredibly simple. Choose to look at men, women or both, move the slider to your age and—boom—a shot of stark reality … Continued
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Tech News
Listen to How the Billboard Chart Changed Week-by-Week Since 1956
Ever wonder if you remember the successful music from your youth accurately? Well, why not listen to it all in one long, excruciating session of reminiscence. This visualization by Polygraph shows how the Billboard top 5 varied with time from all the way back in 1956 to the present day. Along the way it plays … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidMotion Capture Visualizations Reveal the Beauty of Kung Fu
The movements in kung fu are so graceful that even when you replace the human with random digital objects, the art of it still shines through. Tobias Gremmler captured the motion of kung fu and then recreated it with different digital variations: as a fabric weaved over time, expanding into emptiness, reconstructing shapes from motion, … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsBeautiful Visualization Charts History’s Best Chess Players
Since the early 19th century, many chess grandmasters have come and gone, some better than others. This elegant data visualization by Abacaba shows which players were the very best, and how long they were able to maintain their dominance. Chess has been around for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the early 19th century … Continued
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io9Movies
The Truthfulness of Hollywood True Stories, Visualized
We’ve all stumbled out of the theater from a true-story movie with a strange sense of disbelief: Could that really be what happened in real life? Well, this series of visualizations charts the accuracy of Hollywood’s true stories, so you can find out once and for all. The folks at Information Is Beautiful have started … Continued
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Tech News
These Beautiful Maps Let You Explore How Your City Sounds
The urban aural landscape has a huge impact on our lives—from the roar of traffic and clatter of jackhammer, to the groove of music and lullaby of birdsong. These maps roll that information together to let you explore how cities around the world sound. Created by researchers Daniele Quercia, Luca Maria Aiello, Rossano Schifanella, and … Continued
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Tech News
When You’ll Probably Get Married, Visualized
Single? Lonely? Looking for more commitment? Well, this chart will tell you when you’ll probably get married, based on your employment status, education, race, and gender. Created by Nathan Yau from Flowing Data, the interactive chart is based on data from the American Community Survey between 2009 and 2014. It lets you choose from a … Continued
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Tech News
The Nation’s Thanksgiving Flights, Visualized
As many of you will have experienced in the last 24 hours, Thanksgiving is a busy time for the nation’s airlines. And that’s never more obvious than in this neat visualization of U.S. air traffic over the holiday. Put together by the guys at Upshot using data from Google Flights, it shows the dynamics of … Continued