Some may already know that scorpions glow under ultraviolet light, but have you ever wondered why? Well, there is still no definitive answer, but scientists do know that right after a scorpion sheds its shell, it doesn’t glow until the new cuticle hardens. This could possibly mean that the substance that causes fluorescence is a byproduct of the hardening process itself, or something that the it secretes not long after molting. Read more for a short video and additional information.
H/t: Peta Pixel
You’ve probably seen videos of sound shattering glass, and the world famous Slow Mo Guys wanted to take the experiment to the next level. So, they used a Phantom TMX 7510 high-speed camera capable of shooting at 187,500 frames per second to capture a wine glass shattering using nothing but sound, around 7500x slower than you can see with your own eyes. For those wondering, the camera alone costs upwards of $60,000+ USD. Read more for the video and additional information.
H/t: Peta Pixel
James Marksbury filmed footage of himself in a harness at the very top of New York’s Chrysler building carrying out maintenance. This experienced steeplejack from Cole NYC, which is basically a person who climbs tall structures to carry out repairs, routinely inspects skyscrapers all over New York City, whether it be flagpoles, steeples, or just anywhere where climbing gear is required to access. Read more for a short video and additional information.
Northeastern Russia has been experiencing record-breaking heat and drought, resulting in hundreds of intense wildfires throughout the taiga forests of Siberia. NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi NPP captured amazing natural-color images of large clouds of smoke enveloping the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), while satellite data indicates several small fires burned intermittently in the area for weeks. Read more for a video and additional pictures.
A gas leak from an underwater pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico created an “Eye of Fire” of sorts, and the ensuing helicopter footage went viral online this past week. The flames raged a short distance from a Pemex oil platform and it took teams more over 5-hours to fully extinguish the blaze, which started in an underwater pipeline that connects to a platform at Pemex’s flagship Ku Maloob Zaap oil development. Read more for the video and additional information.
Photo credit: Lets Go Digital
Xiaomi Mobile Software was granted a patent by the European Patent Office as well as the United States Patent & Trademark Office earlier this week, titled ‘camera lens behind the display of a mobile terminal connected to the front side by a light guide’. In other words, the patent sketches show a selfie camera integrated directly into the screen bezel, which features a transparent area for the lens. Read more for the patent sketches and additional information.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have captured the blast wave and debris from an exploded star moving away from the explosion site before colliding with a wall of surrounding gas. This supernova explosion reached Earth around 1,700 years ago, but this remnant formed by the explosion, called MSH 15-52, is one of the youngest in the Milky Way galaxy relatively speaking. This event also created an ultra-dense, magnetized star called a pulsar, which then blew a bubble of energetic particles, an X-ray-emitting nebula. Read more for a video and additional information.
No, the selfies you see of NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover with the Ingenuity Helicopter are not computer-generated, just taken in a very clever way. How so? The selfie required the work of a dozen people, including rover drivers, engineers who ran tests at JPL, and camera operations engineers who developed the camera sequence, processed the images, as well as stitched them together. Before it even happened, it took the team around a week to plot out all the individual commands required. Read more for a video and additional information.
Photo credit: Antonio De Rosa
GoPro action cameras have been around in 2004, and since that time, many rumors have been circulating about Apple acquiring the company, but none have come to fruition. If the iPhone maker did make their own action camera, it might look something like the AirCam, which sports an Apple Watch-like display up front for taking selfies. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
No, this isn’t a joke, but a real smartphone with a camera that has a functional lens cap. The Japan-exclusive Leica Leitz Phone 1 is the camera maker’s first smartphone, offering a 6.6-inch IGZO OLED screen (2730 x 1260 resolution) with a 240Hz variable refresh rate, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage, microSD expansion, a rear 1-inch 20MP f/1.9 main camera and a front-facing 12.6MP selfie camera. Read more for a short hands-on video and additional information.