Here is a great 'infograph' that visualizes the past 50 years of space exploration.  It was created by Sean McNaughton (National Geographic) and Samuel Velasco (5W Infographics).  It's obviously not to scale but it's a great way to visualize where we have explored in the past 50 years.  

The caption on the image from the National Geographic Site reads:
"The first attempts to reach Mars (1960) and Venus (1961) failed, yet triumph followed quickly.  Of the nearly 200 solar, lunar, and interplanetary missions depicted on this map, most have been Earth's closest neighbours.  As rocketry, navigation, and imaging have become ever more capable and reliable, the planets and many of their moons have become examined in detail.  The New Horizons mission to Pluto is under way, as is the MESSENGER mission to Mercury.  Others not yet launched, perhaps not yet dreamed, await."

Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.  If that still isn't big enough - you can see the full-resolution version here on flickr.

Well - it's been a while since my last post.  The past few months have been a bit crazy because I was at the tail end of my MSc and it was consuming pretty much all of my time.  I have since finished and life is slowly starting to return to normal.  Now that I have a bit more time I'm going to try and post regularly once again and will make an effort to actually pick up my camera and start taking some photos to share here.

In the meantime, check out this video showing incredible 'futuristic' nano quadrotors developed by KMel Robotics.  The flight tests below were conducted at the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.  It's incredible how agile these little things are and how well they can manoeuvre with one another.  I can see the military wanting to get their hands on some of these - they do seem a bit noisy for their size though!

Just a quick post to share an amazing photo I came across taken by Tyler Stableford of an ice climber on/in the Langjokull glacier in Iceland.  Check out his website for some other incredible shots. 

Just a quick post to share an incredible video I just saw.  It's a short clip from film-maker Louie Schwartzberg that beautifully showcases the world of pollination in slow motion.  Enjoy! 

With the rapid increase in small mirror-less cameras on the market, it might be helpful to see a size-comparison between these cameras and one you're familiar with to see how small they really are.  Camera Size is a new website that has detailed measurements and photos of popular camera models compiled a pretty slick, easy to use interface.  You can also see many of the cameras from various angles.  Of course, you could always head to a camera store and put the camera in your hands, but if you're just looking for a quick reference, Camera Size is the place to go!

Here is a comparison of my DSLR (Nikon D7000) and the recently released Nikon V1 mirror-less camera:
  

And just for fun...here is the V1 next to the massive, D3X:

Source: PetaPixel

Our day-to-day lives are filled with the constant bombardment of ads; most of which are pretty boring and unoriginal.  Every now and then, though, you see one that makes you smile.  Here is a collection of very clever bus ads that will do just that. 

(click thumbnails for larger view)

Source: Reddit

Quick side-note: Sorry the posts have been a bit irregular lately.  It's likely going to stay that way for the next month or two as I try and finish up my degree but I'll try and post whenever I get the chance.   

Well the UN estimated that the global human population passed the 7 billion mark this week.  It's amazing how fast the population is growing and a bit unnerving to know that the world won't be able to keep up with this growth forever.  It has taken only ~85 years to go from 2 billion people to over 7 billion.  If there is something we can learn from the past it's that nature is very good at balancing things out.  Its methods, however, are not always the most forgiving to the species that needs 'balancing'.  One thing is certain: we're going to have to make some changes to the way we live.  On that happy note, here is a neat video made by NPR explaining how and why the population is growing so fast:   

Source: NPR.org

Tell me your palms don't get sweaty watching this video...I almost had to turn it off!  Obviously not everyone shares my fear of heights:
    

Here is a clip from the show/documentary 'Ants! Nature's Secret Power' where researchers filled a massive abandoned ant tunnel network with cement, allowed it to dry for a moth and then excavated the surrounding soil to examine the structure of the network.  Apparently it took 10-tonnes of cement to fill the entire structure.  Amazing what these little creatures can do. 

They are something that we look at every single day but never really look at: eyes.  Here are some simply incredible close up shots of the human eye taken by an Armenian physics teacher Suren Manvelyan.  What amazes me is how irregular and fibrous the iris looks.  Check them out below: