Power of Data Visualization

Old 19th century chart of the solar system.

Scientists have released a global map of forest canopy heights based on NASA data. “Although there are other local- and regional-scale forest canopy maps, the new map is the first that spans the entire globe based on one uniform method,” says the NASA press release. “The work — based on data collected by NASA’s ICESat, Terra, and Aqua satellites — should help scientists build an inventory of how much carbon the world’s forests store and how fast that carbon cycles through ecosystems and back into the atmosphere.”

Following the hyperzoom style of visualization artist Chris Jordan, the movie attempts to represent the US military budget of $549 billion dollars as a heap of 88,548 Abram M1 tanks. This all fully rendered as sharp 3D computer graphics imagery (CGI) including some simulated gravitational physics.

A group of researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University have gathered enough data from Twitter to give us all a snapshot of how we Americans feel throughout a typical day or week.

Actor Christopher Lloyd’s roles seem to be hit or miss. Fortunately for you, we calculated a sure-fire way to determine how good he’s gonna be based on one scientific observation—his hair.

When it comes to American media habits, not even Bob Dylan could have predicted the digital revolution of the past 10 years.

We’re wacky for our pets; it can’t be denied. They may require tons of time and energy, lead to high hospital bills, but they’re always worth it. Check out some of the crazy things we do for our pets — from including them in family portraits to giving them presents on their birthdays.

Are you a living creature? Then, congratulations! You have DNA!

Faulty science has convicted many. True science releases few.

Precession of Earth’s rotational axis (The Earth's Wobble) takes approximately 26,000 years to make one complete revolution. Through each 26,000-year cycle, the direction in the sky to which the Earth’s axis points goes around a big circle. In other words, precession changes the “North Star” as seen from Earth. Nothing's fixed. Not even a fixed star.