None of These Rainforest Species Are Endangered

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz

This illustration—showing the diversity of mechanical species in the rain forest—manages to make all these metal animals beautiful. Too bad that these terrible beasts spend their lives feeding on trees, and destroying everything in their paths.

What Is This?

via Gizmodo by Jack Loftus on 8/9/09

Ready for some mystery? The answer is... we don't know!

It's true. We (being astronomers and people far smarter than I) really don't know. But we do know where this mysterious event took place: One billion kilometers away, in Saturn's F ring.

The pic was snapped by a school bus sized gadget we call Cassini. It's been orbiting Saturn since 2004, and the wealth of data, photos and knowledge beamed back to us in that timeframe is nothing short of amazing.

But this latest snapshot is an enigma. Something punched through the F ring, violently spewing a plume of dust, ice and rock out into the nothingness—but what?

Even more mysterious is the bright spot left in the object's wake. Icy crystals laid bare for the Sun's rays? A new material? A cosmic mooning from some alien prankster? Possibly, but whatever it is, it's yet another reminder of how violent and unexpected space can be.

The ISS Crossing the Face of the Sun

via Gizmodo by Don Nguyen on 7/27/09

This image of the International Space Station, taken just as it crossed the face of the sun, was captured by French astrophotographer Thierry Legault. Amazingly, Legault took the picture from the ground—using only a camera-telescope unit and specialized solar filters.

Stunning Works Of Art From Mounds Of Data

via Gizmodo by Don Nguyen on 7/22/09

Visual Complexity is a website featuring brilliant visualizations collected by Manuel Lima, a Nokia interaction designer interested in how complex data sets can be expressed.

Un hot sincer

via Gizmodo by Dan Nosowitz on 7/11/09

Project Nomad's Robotic Animal Vehicles

via Gizmodo by Adam Frucci on 7/6/09

As far as concepts go, Jason Battersby's Project Nomad is pretty out there. It's a series of rideable robo-vehicles that look like animals, getting their energy from plants. Yeah, let us know when these become feasible, Jason.

A Picture Is Worth About $138 Million

via Gizmodo by Jack Loftus on 6/28/09

The quick lens of U.S. Navy sonar technician Ronald Dejarnett was able to capture this Air Force F-22 going supersonic over the Gulf of Alaska as the pilot did his bestTop Gun flyby impression.