astrophysicist
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Neil deGrasse-Tyson blesses a flat-earth rap diss
If you've ever gone deep enough down a Wikipedia or YouTube hole, you know something that many people don't: there are a number of people in the world who believe the Earth is flat. Recently rapper B.o.B. (Airplanes Pt. II, Nothin' on You) tweeted his theories in support of this -- and also that there is a massive cloning conspiracy going on. His tweets drew enough attention to garner a response from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, leading to an inevitable pro-flat-earth diss track from B.o.B. Of course, that merited a response in kind, with Neil's nephew (rapping under the name Tyson) dropping 'Flat-to-Fact' this afternoon.
Artists hack Sony Ericsson's Xperia phones to see the unseen universe, use fire as a flash
For most of us, cellphones are for texting, calling and maybe the occasional tweet, but what happens when you hand them over to some of the world's most creative minds? Giving hackers, artists and intellectuals free reign to mess with the various Xperia phones, Sony found out just how capable its handsets really are. Using a few tweaks and hacks, artists were able to create an installation that breathes fire when you snap a photo, a remote-controlled boat with GPS and a bike that uses colored lights to spell out secret words only visible when captured on camera. When Sony asked astrophysicist Joshua Peek to give it a go, he took full sky maps and telescope image data to build an app with an up-close view of electromagnetic patterns in the sky. To round out the project, musician Annabel Lindquist composed a song based on the sounds of Paris she recorded with an Arc. Now, if they could just mod one to avoid dropped calls, we'd be all set. Videos of their ingenuity in action after the break.
