fireflies
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Visualized: Canon 35mm CMOS sensor captures fireflies in HD (video)
Canon impressed us back in March when it unveiled its 35mm full frame CMOS sensor, which is capable of recording footage in extremely low-light situations. This time around, the company set its sights on the Yaeyama-hime fireflies on Ishigaki Island off the coast of Japan. Shortly after sundown, the Canon team managed to capture a forest full of lightning bugs in full HD in near-dark settings. To watch the video in all its bioluminescent glory, mosey on past the break.
Fireflies' bumpy abdomens may lead to brighter LEDs
Scientists who evidently spend too much time with fireflies have managed to put all that bug-watching to good use: developing brighter LEDs. One problem with that tech is that a lot of the light gets reflected back into the device due to the way photons travel through LED materials, causing them to lose efficiency. But researchers from the University of Namur in Belgium noticed that the misshapen abdominal scales on fireflies act to prevent reflection, letting more light from the luminous insect's "lantern" shine out. Scientists in Canada took it a step further by doping standard gallium-nitride LEDs with a similar material, and found that light transmission increased by 55 percent. They claimed that such a process could be done to "nearly every commercially available LED," which could one day bring insect-inspired energy savings to commercial products.
Free music and a chance to win more from Tap Tap Revenge 3
Tap Tap Revenge 3 is apparently going gangbusters over on the App Store -- Tapulous has gotten in touch with us to let us know about two different free promotions they're doing lately, as well as give you readers a chance to win their entire catalog for free. First up, the free stuff for everybody. Today, October 22, they're giving away the great song "Fireflies" by one of my favorite new music acts, Owl City. It just happens to also be the number one song in iTunes today as well, which is a pretty big deal for Tapulous -- it's the first time they've been able to pair up a TTR track release with a #1 on the download charts. To get that free song, just sign in to the application and pick it up. Additionally, if you don't have the app yet, buying the app before this Friday can get you a free premium two-pack -- all you have to do for that is email your iTunes reciept (or a screenshot of it) to "freemusic AT tapulous DOT com" and put your TTR3 username (and only your username) in the email subject line. And hey, if that's not enough free stuff, keep reading -- here at TUAW, we're giving away licenses to TTR3's entire premium catalog (the whole thing, from A Perfect Circle to Robbie Williams) to three lucky commenters.
