How good is this stone mason at his job? Madly skilled, to the point of mesmerising.

I really love what asapSCIENCE is doing. Here’s their latest video breaking down some of the science behind how we enjoy music.

Designed by o+h onishimaki+hyakudayuki architects this curvy house is hidden where two narrow alleyways meet in the historic neighbourhook of Yanka. Spaces within are connected through a spiraling ramp that leads to a series of exterior spaces and eventually a rooftop terrace. Friggin’ like.

A team led by Luke Rendell at the University of St Andrew’s, UK, were monitoring calls and behaviour in sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) off the northern Chile coast when they accidentally drifted into the middle of a pod of whales hanging vertically in the water, their noses poking out of the surface. At least two of the whales were facing the boat, but not a single animal responded.

“It was actually pretty scary. The boat had drifted into the group with its engine off [while] I was below decks making acoustic recordings,” says Rendell. “Once I saw the situation I decided the best thing to do was to try and sail our way out of the group rather than turn the engine on and have them all react.”

The researchers was almost successful, but unfortunately they nudged one of the whales on the way out. “We had no idea how they would react; each of the animals probably weighed up to twice as much as our boat, and could have sunk us. If they had decided to take action collectively — sperm whales do engage in communal defence [against] killer whales — then we could have been in real trouble,” Rendell says. Fortunately for everyone on board, after an initial jolt of activity the whales timidly moved away, and within fifteen minutes were bobbing peacefully at the surface again.

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Like the from love to bingo ad; the lads at Evernone have made this short film that compiles hundreds of ball and ball shaped images (sourced mostly from Google Image Search) and set to the sounds of good ol’ Bach. Nice.

Cats, laser pointers and techno beats makes for one helluva fun video.

On the 30th of September 2011, in front of a sell-out theatre at the BFI in London, Charlie Kaufman delivered the final lecture in BAFTA’s 2011 Screenwriters’ Lecture Series.

 

Juxtaposing extracts of Kaufman’s speech and complimentary visuals, filmmaker Eliot Rausch has made one helluva good short; and further solidifying the theory that anything involving Charlie Kaufman is gold.

The full 70 minute lecture can be found here.

Here’s an interesting video making the rounds. Interesting in that it’s based on an ‘old’ screen cap, and works on a different level compared to reading it. But still… this works, it’s awesome.

• Wheels Down on Mars. Now It’s Time to Reinvent America, Says Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Why NASA should abandon a manned mission to Mars
• How mobile phones will pioneer future space technology
• The implications of overpopulation are terrifying. But will we listen to them?
• Woo hoo! First pictures from the new set of Arrested Development
• US Olympian aren’t too thrilled about Fox news either
• Take a Cue from the Olympics to be the Best Business Athlete
• Why the Sikh temple shooting got less coverage than the Aurora massacre
• Why Do So Many Murderers Have Three Names?
• The Moral Significance of Sex Workers and People With Disabilities
• From Damn Interesting: Better Call Sol
• New type of chemical bond may form in extreme magnetic fields of stars
• How Big Is Infinity? An Animated Explanation from TED
• Probably should: Please turn on two-factor authentication
• The Science of “Breaking the Seal”
• 25 Behind-the-Scenes TV Photos That Will Mess With Your Mind
• Website: https://www.ilooklikebarackobama.com/
• Video: Animals Acting Like Sharks Week

Finally, a recording still for the ages: In 1996, just months before he died, Carl Sagan recorded this message to future colonists living on Mars.

Nice.