SciencePunk
Archives for March, 2010
My Wisconsin Death Trip on Twitter
Posted by Frank Swain on March 24, 2010 Some time back, I was researching a feature for Wired when I stumbled across the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. One of the responsibilities of this office is to monitor workplace fatalities. Each week, a roundup of deaths in the workplace are posted online. They make for compelling reading. As Secretary…
My new toy: the Gömböc
Posted by Frank Swain on March 23, 2010 I’m not really one for collecting things. The fact that I move around a lot twinned with the pathetic size of British homes, doesn’t square well with building up much of anything. I finally dumped all my CDs last summer; I give away my books when I’m done with them. Plus, I always felt that…
Gorgeous cover designs for Jules Verne books
Posted by Frank Swain on March 22, 2010 Jim Tierney designed a beautiful set of covers for some of Jules Verne’s most famous works. The project was carried out as part of his senior year thesis. He says: I’m a big Verne fan, but a chance to re-design any classic book is always exciting. Classics usually allow for a more personal interpretation, since…
SciencePunk in Ataraxia Theatre
Posted by Frank Swain on March 14, 2010 Many thanks to Joseph Hewitt at Ataraxia Theatre, who has immortalised me and many other sciencebloggers in comic form. Finally my work is done. I’m especially happy that Joseph has drawn in me in a classy mesh number, as worn by the baddest of all badasses, Bennett from Commando: I think it’s time to go…
Mystery of graveyard pictures solved!
Posted by Frank Swain on March 12, 2010 A few weeks ago I was given a vintage camera that turned out to have a film hidden inside. On developing, I found the entire roll was dedicated to pictures of an old gravesite. Who was Edward Langan? Why had he been added to a grave with a man called James Ryan? And why (as…
Vampire Forensics by Mark Jenkins
Posted by Frank Swain on March 5, 2010 After a brief insurrection by their blue collar offspring, zombies, vampires have once more regained their prominence as the monster supreme, leaping out at us from every bookshelf, cinema screen and TV set. What better time then for Mark Jenkins to unleash his accomplished study of the bloodsucker legend, Vampire Forensics. Published through National Geographic…
Record grooves as seen under the microscope
Posted by Frank Swain on March 5, 2010 Thanks to Emilia for showing me this awesome post on the Synthgear website which shows what record grooves look like under an electron microscope. Here’s a line of disco magnified 500 times: Researcher Chris Supranowitz at the University of Rochester’s The Insitute of Optics took the images, one assumes for his own nerdy amusement. Be…
Illustrious, illustrated, female astronauts
Posted by Frank Swain on March 1, 2010 Graphic artist Philip Bond drew this awesome set of female astronauts. You can see the whole collection on his Flickr page.