Weekly Roundup: The Best of Pop Culture X Science
We all know the big news. Britain has voted to leave the EU. It’s too early to tell exactly what the impact of this decision will be, but with the value of the pound falling to its lowest level since the 1980’s, the inevitable rise of the far right fraction of the conservative party after David Cameron’s imminent resignation, and Scotland’s likely exit from the UK, it’s certainly a bleak day for Britain.
I won’t say that everything is going to be okay, but let’s at least remember that good things have also happened this week. Here are some of those things:
Musicmap is an impressive new infographic detailing the history of popular music over the last century and a half. This is the mother of all online music encyclopaedias, designed with a level of brilliance that makes it all too easy to get lost down an endless rabbit hole of colour coded sub-genres and detailed definitions.
The Evolutionary Wonder Of Chameleon Spit
In a paper published in Nature Physics this week, Scientists have described the unique viscosity of a Chameleon’s spit, which is thought to be the secret to their successful hunting technique. The results were attained by tricking chameleons into propelling their tongues at glass microscope slides.
#CryingLebron Sweeps the internet
What can we say? Lebron James got emotional, and twitter loved it.
Rare Strawberry Moon Glows On Summer Solstice
On Monday night (June 20) we witnessed the first “Strawberry Moon” since 1948. This refers to the extremely rare event in which a full moon coincides with the longest day of the year. Despite the name, the result is not a pink moon but one that glows slightly amber-coloured. If you missed it, don’t worry, there’s only a 46 year wait until the next one.
New Evidence That The Base Of Great Pyramid Is Not Square
The Great Pyramid of Giza is apparently not the perfect feat of ancient engineering it was previously thought to be, with new archaeological evidence pointing to a minute error in the construction that makes one side slightly longer. Mind you, it has taken us four and a half thousand years to spot the fault so who are really the incompetent ones?
Lauded electronic outfit Aphex Twin (AKA Richard D James) had not released a video in 17 years, but all that changed after James discovered the work of Irish kid Ryan Wyer on youtube, and decided to commission him to direct this official video for new single, CIRKLON3.
Stunning Photographs Of A Green Ghost Town
Photographer Etienne Malapert explores the United Arab Emirates’ Masdar City, an ambitious project that was intended to be the world’s first zero-carbon city. Masdar was scheduled to be completed this year but instead the place has been all but abandoned.
