Author Archives: Maggie Koerth-Baker

Hedgehog after a bath

For no real reason, here is a picture of a cute hedgehog.

Image: Acorn is displeased after a bath., a Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivative-Works (2.0) image from justinandelise’s photostream

Continue reading

Posted in adorable, animals, random | Tagged | Comments Off

Traffic signals for the colorblind

I don’t know why this never occurred to me before, but today on Twitter, several people who are attending the 2011 Accessibility Summit pointed out that traffic lights aren’t, traditionally, accessible. Think about it. If you’re colorblind, does red,… Continue reading

Posted in accessibility, cities, color blind, cool, Culture, driving, planning, Transportation | Tagged | Comments Off

Plant eats bird

This is a photo of bird being eaten by a plant.

According to a story from the BBC, it’s not unusual for a carnivorous pitcher plant, such as this one, to get its “hands” on a frog, a mouse, or even a rat. But poultry is a rare dish.

The plants kill… Continue reading

Posted in animals, botany, death, Delightful Creatures, Weird | Tagged , | Comments Off

Texas drought reveals wreckage from space shuttle Columbia

There’s a major, ongoing drought in Texas, Oklahoma, and southern Kansas. As of July 26th, Amarillo had clocked in a record-breaking 30 days of 100+-degree temperatures. Wichita Falls, Texas, is on a (so far) 50-day streak with no precipitation. (If … Continue reading

Posted in disaster, News, Space, space shuttle | Tagged , | Comments Off

Angry Birds on a physics exam

This was pretty much destined to happen, eventually. The old Wile E. Coyote story problems were getting a bit stale.

Via Rishabh Agarwal

Continue reading

Posted in funny | Tagged | Comments Off

Montage of ships being launched

If you were never quite sure what happened after the pretty lady broke a bottle of champagne against the hull, you might find this amusing. Apparently, after all the pomp and circumstance, boats are just kind of unceremoniously dropped into the drink… Continue reading

Posted in Engineering, Entertainment | Comments Off

Strange lights in the sky

This amazing video was shot at an astronomical observatory in Hawaii. It’s real, according to Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait. In fact, there’s another camera that captures the same phenomenon from a different angle. So the question becomes, “What t… Continue reading

Posted in Myth Universe, News | Tagged | Comments Off

Volcanic ash on Lake Nahuel Huapi, Argentina

Puyehue volcano in Chile has been erupting since the 4th of June, sending up columns of ash that have shut down air traffic as far away as Australia. This footage was taken more than 100 miles from the volcano, at Argentina’s Lake Nahuel Huapi, where… Continue reading

Posted in Nature, News | Comments Off

The first underwater color photo

National Geographic has a slideshow that shows off major milestones in underwater photography. This image is the first color photo ever taken underwater.

Underwater color photography was born with this shot of a hogfish, photographed off the Florida… Continue reading

Tagged | Comments Off

Stingray X-ray

This is an x-ray of a newly discovered species of stingray, native to the Amazon. You can't tell from this shot of its innards, but the Heliotrygon gomesi actually resembles a "pancake with a nose"—big, round, flat, and beige. Read mo… Continue reading

Posted in Submitterator | Tagged | Comments Off