The Wizard of Robots
Virginia Tech professor Dennis Hong has made an international name for himself — and Tech — by inventing humanoid robots whose abilities defy imagination.
Hong, director of Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, squares off against CHARLI-2 on the field. Designing a robot that can find and kick a soccer ball is believed to be the ultimate challenge in robot design. (Dustin Fenstermacher / FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) Continue reading »
Heart of the Sun
This image shows giant sun spot activity from a region on the sun that scientists are calling a “benevolent monster.” After years of quiet, the sun is coming alive with solar storms in a big way. (NASA)
Photo of the Day: With a Screaming Man Inside
In this image released by Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, doctors have spotted what looks like the face of a screaming man in an ultrasound of a testicular tumor. The startling image jumped out at them while scrolling through scans of a 45-year-old patient suffering from severe testicular pain. The picture went viral after it was published in the journal “Urology” and it’s been compared to sightings of the Virgin Mary on toast or grilled cheese sandwiches. (Queen’s University/The Canadian Press)
Santa Claus Parade 2011 Preview
Santa Claus (RIGHT) and Brian Hooper (LEFT) were on hand at the press conference for the up coming Santa Claus Parade. (Peter J. Thompson/National Post) Continue reading »
Artificial Autumn
Cleaners tie autumn-colored plastic foliage to artificial trees on the exterior of a hotel, replacing fake green leaves in order to better reflect the season, in Beijing, China, on November, 2. (Ng Han Guan / AP)
Kids Reacts on Exhibitions. Very Funny
West University Elementary third graders, Lauren Aguilar, 8, left, and Ava Janczak, 8, react during a close look at a replica of the remains of Tutankhamun while touring the Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibit at MFAH with her class Tuesday, Nov. 1, in Houston. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle via AP) Continue reading »
Art of Downsizing
When artist Mac Premo found himself face with moving to a smaller studio, he had to get rid of the thousands of objects he collected over the years as an autobiographical archive. The objects have taken on a new life as “an enormous collage” created inside a 30 yard dumpster you can walk into and explore. His Dumpster Project found a new home this month at the Brooklyn Dekalb Market after premiering at the Dumbo Arts Festival.
Installation view of the Dumpster Project, back wall. Continue reading »
iPlate by Todd Borka
Users of Adobe software will love these “iPlate’s” by French illustrator Todd Borka! Continue reading »
Geri Halliwell for Next Underwear
Still hot or not?.. Continue reading »
Former Skinhead Removes Facial Tattoos and Embraces Family Life
This combination of eight photos provided by Bill Brummel Productions shows the progress of tattoo removal treatments for former skinhead Bryon Widner. For 16 years, Widner was a glowering, swaggering, menacing vessel of savagery – an “enforcer” for some of America’s most notorious and violent racist skinhead groups. Though his beliefs had changed, leaving the old life would not be easy when it was all he had known – and when his face remained a billboard of hate. (AP Photo/Duke Tribble, Courtesy of MSNBC and Bill Brummel Productions) Continue reading »
Pan American Games End with Colorful Closing Ceremony
Fireworks at the Omnilife stadium during the closing ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, on October 30. (Roberto Escobar / EPA) Continue reading »
Autumns Leaves Shimmer in Switzerland
Pedestrians walk in the Sauvabelin Forest in Lausanne, Switzerland on Oct. 31, 2011 as the autumn sun illuminates the changing leaves. (Laurent Gillieron / EPA)
Defense Attorney Haunts Tennessee Courtroom
Rich Heinsman, a Chattanooga, Tenn. criminal defense attorney, turns heads in Judge Barry Steelman’s courtroom Monday, Oct. 31, while haunting the city courts building as a Halloween prank. (Dan Henry / Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP)
Taking a Bath is so Much More than Just Getting Clean
14,345 Chinese participants attempt to set a new Guinness World Record as they gather for a bath at a hot spring in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality at Ocrober, 30. The former world record was 10,121 people having a hot spring bath at the same time in China’s Hubei province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Click image to zoom.
Cleaning the Ads
An employee cleans an advertisement on a shop window at a mall in Mumbai, October, 31. (Indranil Mukher/AFP/Getty Images)
iPad2 Halloween Costume
A description of a relatively simple Halloween costume using 2 iPad2s to make it look like you have a huge hole in your torso. You’ll also need a MiFi hotspot (if you don’t have a WiFi network available where you want to use the costume). Basically you start a FaceTime chat between the iPads and then tape one to your front and one to your back. Add a little red paint and you’re good to go. It’s supposed to look like you have a gaping hole in your torso. If you spend more time than I did on the blood and the flesh part and lining up the iPads it could look pretty cool.
In the Swim
The Laguna Woods Village retirement community in Californian has its own synchronised swimming team, called the Aquadettes. It has been running for 46 years, has up to 25 members at a time and every year stages an annual 90-minute show, the Aqua-Follies. (Zackary Canepari/Panos) Continue reading »
Halloween Surfing in California
Surfers take to the water for Blackie’s Halloween Costume Surf Contest in Orange County, California. (Graham Whitby Boot/Allstar) Continue reading »
Vintage Food Packaging
Black treacle
Photographer James Kendall has taken pictures of the dusty tins and packets he found in his wife’s grandmother’s cupboard. The contents may have lost their flavour, but the packaging is a nostalgic treat. Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: Follow the Red Rabbit
A rabbit jumps over a hurdle at an obstacle course during the first European rabbit hopping championships, which Lada Sipova-Krecova of Czech Republic won, in Wollerau, Switzerland. Rabbit hopping is a growing sport among rabbit owners in Central Europe. (Harold Cunningham/Getty Images) Click image to zoom.
MCM London Comic Con
Joely Olsen wears a turret costume from the computer game “Portal,” Kaitie Rule wears a full “Smurfette” costume and two visitors wear “Pikmin” costumes at the “MCM London Comic Con” convention in London. Running over two days, the event will see thousands of comic, sci-fi and gaming enthusiasts coming together to buy, sell and celebrate everything from sporting heroes to Japanese “Steam Punk” characters. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images) Continue reading »
Visitors Ride Three-Story Slide at New York’s New Museum
A visitor to the Carsten Holler: Experience exhibit at the New Museum in New York rides “Untitled (Slide)” during the press preview. (Mary Altaffer / AP) Continue reading »
Fake or not?
Art experts compare a newly-discovered painting by Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez to a book featuring Velazquez’s painting ‘Jaun Martinez Montanes’ in Bonhams auction house in London, England. The previously unknown painting has been confirmed as Velaquez’s work after extensive research by Bonhams and is estimated to sell at auction on December 7, 2011 for GBP 3 million. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
The Death of Marat
Visitors look at Chinese artist He Xiangyu’s work “The Death of Marat” featuring compatriot Ai Weiwei lying dead exhibited at the Balmoral Artists residence in Bad Ems, western Germany. A local resident filed charges to public prosecution for disturbing the peace of the dead, as he presumes that the work is made of plastinated human skin. (Thomas Frey/AFP/Getty Images)
