Mother Nature never gets any beauty rest, and neither do the scientists studying her creations. Labs hum in the middle of the night, often unassisted by human hands at even the most ungodly hours. Noah Kalina’s “Labs At Night” photo series from Seed Magazine shows the beauty that is created when science meets silence.

With consumer space voyages looking more and more promising, and freak kitchen accidents an ever looming possibility, Omega is bringing back – in a limited release of under 2000 units – its Speedmaster Moonwatch “Alaska Project” timepiece. This design was cooked up in the 70’s during the early days of NASA forays into the void, and boasts temperature resistance encompassing more than 400 degrees Celsius (from -148 to +260) thanks to it’s red-anodized aluminum construction. You get one of these on your wrist (price TBD), and you’ll set the standard both on Mars and at Burning Man– same difference, I guess.

Via men.style.com

In 2006 the planet crossed a tipping point – more than half the world's population now live in cities.

Focusing on 19 cities with populations greater than 20 million people at the turn of the 21st century, 19.20.21. is a 5 year initiative to study the global effects of urbanization. The project plans to use the data collected to become an indispensable tool for urban and business planning.

Since most of the world's biggest cities lie on a coastline, the study is paying particular attention to issues related to the global warming, ocean resources, and energy distribution while also studying factors like crime dynamic and calamity risk. Once gathered, the site aims to distribute its findings in traditional channels like print and TV as well as online and in a series of seminars to be held in each of the 19 cities that were studied.

What better way to take shed some fresh light on the whole creationism vs. evolution debate than by forcing one side to see the merits (and faults) of the other through the paradox of telling the opposite story?

Vancouver Film School students Marcos Ceravolo and Ryan Ulrich created Duelity, a Freaky Friday-esque take on natural history. The switch up plays out as the creationist theory is presented through the scientific findings of the General Organization of Development (G.O.D.), while the evolutionary theory is given through an impassioned biblical oratory complete with Darwinism illustrated in Vatican-ish stained glass.

The video comes in three versions: “Creationism,” “Evolution,” and then the total brilliance and exact execution of the project really shines when you watch the third version — “Duelity” — where both stories unfold simultaneously in a split screen.

Ever wonder what the entire universe would look like, side by side, in a near perfect scale? Camera manufacturer Nikon built this web application entitled Universcale to do just that– it spans from ‘femtometer to light year’, putting 40 magnitudes of measurement into a single cosmic website. Check out the site, it’s a little difficult to explain but pretty amazing to use– it’ll make us humans feel small and inadequate next to the likes of Mount Everest.

Via Crave

TED was not only described to me as inspirational, passionate and unique, but also as mind boggling– sometimes almost exhaustively so. Today started early, I attended the pre-conference breakfast where TED Prize winners from last year updated attendees on their progress, issues and steps towards ultimate success– I encourage you to check out some of their wishes and how far they have come, it’s quite amazing. Not long after the breakfast, the real conference kicked off with one of the most passionate, heart-felt, and moving presentations I’ve seen in a very, very long time by none other than John Doerr, one of the, if not THE most well-known venture capitalist. His speech was about how scared he was for the future of the world– how his generation had put his children, and his children’s children in such jeopardy. He spoke about how despite all the positive work on eliminating CO2 and harmful emissions in places like Brazil, and around the world– it still was not enough, and the current efforts were not even close to what’s needed. I met him later in the afternoon to thank him and he said simply, we must do something now to change this or we’re not going to last much longer on the earth. I look forward to re-watching his presentation when it’s available online– it’s not to be missed.

Doerr was followed by Nogozi Okonjo-Iwela a surprise addition to the program for many. When she took the stage I had absolutely no idea who she was or what she was here to talk about– and that unexpectedness was greeted with a humbling look into Africa like I’d never seen before. Nogozi is the Former Nigerian Finance Minister, and her short 18 minute speech honestly left me with a different view of the financial situation in not only Nigeria, but Africa as a whole. Nigeria and much of Africa is further along in their economic growth than they’re given credit for. Her speech was packed full of interesting growth statistics and ended leaving me in thoughts about Africa as a place for entrepreneurs, and a place for immense positive change. She left saying Africa is Open For Business.

Other highlights from the first session included Zipcar founder Robin Chase talking about mesh networks, the poet Rives obsession with the phrase “4 in the morning” and how it repeats itself throughout history. The first session called ‘Open For Business’ ended with Lawrence Lessig– founder of the Creative Commons movement. His presentation was absolutely fantastic and really spoke to me. That’s going to be a fabulous TED talk when it’s up on the internet for everyone to view!

The second session of the day was much different, it was called Truth & Invention. Although Erin Mckean, Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford American Dictionary was fascinating, and Nano-technologist/author Ted Sargent equally so– A humble and passionate Artist and Designer by the name of Jonathan Harris stole the show for many. We covered his project WeFeelFine many moons ago and it’s not surprising he has been working full-force on his latest project called Universe, slated to be online sometime next week! Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft was also great. He spoke about penguins, photography, dinosaur hunting and much more– and in 18 minutes gave me both the realization and validation that knowing a little about a lot of things is okay, like becoming a mini-expert on everything that interests you.

The third session was called simplicity– presenters like designer John Maeda and illustrator/artist Maira Kalman spoke so passionately about what they do and why they do it. Alan Kay debuted new revelations about the $100 Laptop initiative. By this third session the mind-boggling feeling had fully kicked in for the day.

The final session was the most important of the whole conference, it’s the session called I Have a Dream, where three prize winners get to present their individual wishes. The three prize winners were photographer James Nachtwey, author and scientist EO Wilson, and former president Bill Clinton. What was so interesting to me was that on one hand each of these individuals do such drastically different work, while they’re very, very similar on the other. Nachtwey’s speech was very moving– the war time photographer in my eyes is likely the most important photographer of my lifetime, if not the entire 21st century. When he took the stage he admitted how difficult receiving this award in front of so many people would be, as he has spent a majority of his life being invisible–blending into crowds of people, troops, etc taking photographs on the front line. The best way to describe his speech is to give you a quote by him: “I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.” His wish was for us to help him break a a story that the world needs to know about in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age. He hasn’t yet shared the story he is working on– but I have my guesses. You can read more about his wish and what he needs to make it a reality here.

EO Wilson’s acceptance speech was very different, he said at first he stood on stage speaking on behalf of the ‘little things in the world’, the insects, bacteria, etc. His scientific studies have led him (and many other scholars) to believe that if we destroy the insects in the world, the rest of the world won’t function properly, and therefore will not continue and cease to exist. His wish was that we will work together to help create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth’s biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life. You can read more about his wish and what’s needed to make that happen here.

Last but certainly not least was a speech and wish by President Bill Clinton. His speech was fairly casual and refreshing– Every other time I’ve ever seen the former president, let alone any president speak it has been with a teleprompter in a suit and tie with an American Flag pin on their jacket. I think he obviously hit his stride with his Clinton Global Initiative momentum. He spoke about, no surprise to many, Rwanda– but what was most interesting is that while solving the major issues in Rwanda he wants to create a foot print and system that can be deployed in thousands of other places around the world in need. His wish was for us to help create a better future for Rwanda by assisting his foundation, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the whole country. Clinton’s words resonated with me because I recently saw an interview where he was asked what, if anything, did he regret about his time in office– and he said he felt like he could have and should have intervened and stopped the genocide in Rwanda– but he didn’t. You can see more details about his wish here.

Presentations like these really put life, and what we spend our time doing throughout it into a serious perspective…

More TED to come tomorrow!

I had the opportunity to take the BMW Hydrogen 7 car for a spin yesterday afternoon with an engineer from BMW in Munich– something only open to TED attendees. While the experience wasn’t exactly life changing, essentially everything inside and out looks and feels the same as your normal 7 Series BMW– the realization that I was driving a car which exhaust was nothing more than water was wonderfully fascinating. There’s literally a button on the steering wheel titled H2 that you can press to seamlessly switch between gasoline and H2– I tried it at full throttle and although the engine sound drastically changed, I felt little difference in acceleration (apparently there is almost no change in performance). The hard lesson BMW is facing (or perhaps denying) is that basically the energy outlay to create hydrogen is more than the use of hydrogen itself saves. With that said it was definitely a blast to drive!

Also see: BMW H2R, September 24th 2004

By now everyone is probably familiar with the borderline genius products from DNA 11, the memorable tag-line is one of our favorties: From life comes art. It’s truly an inspiring product, a rare occurrence where art and science meet gracefully. To the point, they just made giving DNA 11 products a whole lot easier this holiday season with these slick looking Gift Box’s. You choose whether you want it to include the DNA or fingerprint collection kit, and depending what size you choose the recipient gets all the information necessary to place their order online.

After test driving a new Volkswagen Touareg yesterday, I have even more respect for the brand than I did before. I have always thought of VW as a go-to brand for people who want German engineering and performance but don’t want to pay for an Audi. It is hard to argue with a V-10 turbo diesel rocket ship-of a vehicle that felt more like a sports-car than an SUV to drive. Granted, $70,000 is a lot to pay for an SUV, but I imagine the new Touareg still towers above the new Range Rover Sport in the performance-to-price price category– it sure did turn in impressive performances at Dakar and the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb this year. To continue their already impressive engineering track record, Volkswagen just spent $39 million on a new harsh weather testing facility. They can now put their vehicles through temperatures ranging from -40 to 302 degrees Fahrenheit and simulate direct sunlight and soaking humidity. One thing’s for sure: the people at VW are serious about engineering top-quality automobiles.
Via Gizmodo

Have you ever beheld such a beautiful sight as this? Sure, it’s not Uranus, but it is every bit as remarkable. This is a real photo that was taken by the Cassini Probe which is currently ‘chilling’ in orbit around Saturn. It is part of a mosaic of 165 shots taken from within the shadow cast by the planet itself (I’m guessing it is analogous to an eclipse, and that the sun is directly behind lady Saturn in this shot). The probe swooped further-in for a little look-see and took some shots of the lakes of liquid methane on Titan–which is Saturn’s moon. Sexy stuff. It is stuff like this that hammers home the fact that we are but a blip on the radar. Finally, I know this post is about Saturn, but how about a little Uranus trivia (it is my favorite planet after all): my memory is telling me that Uranus has vertical rings. Is my memory correct? Leave a comment if you know.

Via BoingBoing

Adventures with Form in Space is the theme of this years Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Project in good ol’ Australia. This piece by Nike Savvas is dubbed’ Atomic: full of love, full of wonder. Basically it’s a room of free framed atoms in a beautiful spectrum from red to blue (really they’re suspended bouncy balls held in place on tiny nylon wire). Occasionally a set of industrial fans blow the whole thing into a slight movement leaving viewers in awe as it settles back together into almost perfect form. Check the site out for more pictures, it looks amazing. Via Gravestmor

That's not a typo. It's a film. And it entered our conscious minds a few years ago, but would you believe there are still people who haven't seen it (i.e. if you are one of these people, stop reading and rent now). Exceeding expectations of its own producers, this documentary/story/animation, combines the theories of quantum physicists, neurologists, scientists and psychics, attempting to explain that our experience with the world is based on our own definition of reality; that the power of our thoughts is actually much stronger than we've been led to believe. Think of it like Tony Robbins with more science and less cheese. Sometimes it's credible and sometimes a little whack, but nevertheless, inspiring and empowering at the most fundamental level. Pay no attention to guffawing critics and practical thinkers—they're stuck in their own boring reality.

I recently received my DNA 11 artwork and I’ll be doing a more in-depth review with pictures when it comes back from the framers next week. The results are absolutely amazing, it’s truly an incredible piece of art. The guys behind this company are borderline genius– “From life comes art” is such a wonderful concept. In the meantime I wanted to give everyone a heads up that they’re offering the DNA 11 SplitScreen portrait now with free shipping until February 12th. I think it’s the ultimate Valentines Day present for that special someone. The SplitScreen is a two person DNA portrait, with two DNA representations set side by side and it’s available in 3 color combinations.

Everyone seems to be talking about this guy Homaro Cantu, who serves edible photos and sushi prepared on his i560 ink jet printer in his restaurant Moto in Chicago. There is a New York Times article about him and his crazy ambitions to take food to a whole new level. You’re crazy Mr. Cantu! And Maybe even genius! He prints images of sushi on edible paper made of soybeans and cornstarch, using organic, food-based inks of his own concoction. He seasons the paper with powdered soy and seaweeds. Even the menu is edible at Moto, crunch up your menu into a bowl of gazpacho and you have Mr. Cantu’s version of alphabet soup. Right now he’s trying to get his hands on a class IV laser to cook food, so he can do things like create an “inside out” bread where the crust is baked inside the loaf. He’s on his way to as he said– “revolutionizing how, where, and what we eat”.