slow motion

tags: hummingbird, physics, science, surface tension, Keith Johnson, streaming video A flying hummingbird flaps its wings up to 70 times per second (its heart rate can reach 1,260 beats per minute). This video slows down a flying hummingbird so we can watch how it flies and hovers in front of a hummingbird feeder. Here's what hummingbirds look like when not slowed down; This was filmed in British Columbia, Canada. Soundtrack is 'The Orient' by Alex Yiannaras.
I remember being a kid and taking karate lessons. How cool was it to go somewhere for the purpose of learning how to kick ass? It was fun, of course, and one of the things you learned how to do was to attack (strike, kick, and punch) with your entire body, not just with your limbs. Maybe the coolest parlor trick we learned was how to break a wooden board with our bare hands. (I remember surprising the hell out of Leon Hodge years later in High School by doing it in a history class one day; Hi Leon!) We also heard the story that the way this worked was that you compressed air molecules so much…