science

A bug at the center of a flower

Take a Closer Look: How More and More Students Are Catching the Citizen Science Bug

Taxonomy was once the domain of white-coated scientists with years of university training. While this expertise is still important, everyday Australians are increasingly helping to identify species through citizen science apps. Rapid advances in smartphone and tablet cameras are helping to popularize this activity.

Jaw-Dropping Footage from the First Spacecraft to Touch the Sun

NASA announced this week that its Parker Solar Probe was the first spacecraft to ever "touch the Sun" by flying through its corona, or upper atmosphere. The probe captured the first photos ever from within the corona, and those images were then turned into this incredible 13-second timelapse video.

Art Illuminates the Beauty of Science and Could Inspire the Next Generation of Scientists Young and Old

Scientists have often invited the public to see what they see, using everything from engraved woodblocks to electron microscopes to explore the complexity of the scientific enterprise and the beauty of life. Sharing these visions through illustrations, photography, and videos has allowed laypeople to explore a range of discoveries, from new bird species to the inner workings of the human cell.

HSS Does Not Freeze Motion: Light is the Key, Not Shutter Speed

How do photographers freeze motion? With shutter speed, of course! This is something fundamental that everyone starting out in photography learns to do. If you’re shooting sports, for example, just crank the ISO up, set a high shutter speed, and expect a good frozen-in-time image. However, when using a flash, things are a little different. In fact, shutter speed is by far the worst way to freeze motion. Here’s why.

Racial Justice Through the Lens of Science, Poetry, and Photography

Racial bias is well documented in photography—consider, for example, photographers’ inability to capture and expose darker skin tones with film. Within the emulsion of film, the chemicals that recapitulate light, is inherent social bias. There’s a distinct prejudice within the algorithms of our digital imaging technologies.

A Photographer’s Introduction to Light

What is light? This perhaps may be the most simple question with the most complex answer in photography. Light enables us to see, create, and most importantly convey meaning through our art. Light also gives us the oxygen we breathe (through plant photosynthesis).

These Photo Represent the Seven Base Quantities of Physics

The International System of Quantities defines seven base quantities in physics: length, mass, time, electric current, thermodynamic temperature, amount of substance, and luminous intensity. For his project Base Quantities, photographer Greg White set out to shoot 7 photos representing these 7 fundamental quantities.

Scientists Develop Camera System that Captures ‘5D’ Images

An international team of scientists has developed an experimental camera system that can simultaneously capture five dimensions of information from a single snapshot. The concept works by combining two types of sensors together to gather a wealth of information all at the same time.

This is How and Why Samsung’s 108MP ISOCELL HM3 Sensor Works

Over the last several months, Samsung has published several detailed and easy-to-understand videos that discuss specific aspects of its imaging technology. Its most recent video combines many of these topics into a succinct and informative overview of its 108-megapixel ISOCELL HM3 sensor.

Selfie Culture: What Your Choice of Camera Angle Says About You

Over the past decade, selfies have become a mainstay of popular culture. If the #selfie hashtag first appeared in 2004, it was the release of the iPhone 4 in 2010 that saw the pictures go viral. Three years later, the Oxford English Dictionary crowned “selfie” word of the year.

This is the First-Ever Footage of a ‘Time Crystal’

Scientists in Berlin have managed to capture the first-ever footage of what is known as a space-time crystal. Also known as an STC or "time crystal" for short, these are pulsations in space-time that were originally created in a laboratory setting in 2016.

Photographer Compiling Huge Timelapse Library of Plant Life Cycles

Photographer and botanical expert Neil Bromhall has compiled a massive library of captivating timelapses over the course of the last several years. From watching a butterfly emerge from a cocoon to the full blooming cycle of various flowers, Bromhall's ever-expanding library is insanely impressive.

How a Fresnel Lens Works, Explained with a Simple Blackboard Model

If you've heard of Fresnel lenses in photography before but have no idea what they are or how they work, here's a fantastic short primer. In this 3.5-minute video, physicist David G. Willey (AKA the Mad Scientist) explains the science behind the lens style using a simple and easy-to-understand model on a blackboard.