If you need something to distract you from all the work you should be doing, look no further.
Those of you who don't spend their time lurking on the National Science Foundation's website may or may not be aware of the annual NSF Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.
Basically it's an art contest.
However, it's an art contest with SCIENCE. It is my two greatest loves combined into one.
And for those of you reading who "aren't into" science, (whatever that means) among the winners there's a lot of really cool (and interesting!) images, videos, and interactive websites on a wide range of topics, so odds are you'll find something intriguing, if only slightly so.
Some of my favorites (from various years):
click on image for larger picture. (EDIT: This is a lie. The links are broken now. I am too lazy to fix them. HOWEVER, the link to the gallery located at the end of this entry still works. SO USE IT.)
String Vibrations
Credit: Andrew Davidhazy, Rochester Institute of Technology
"A twist of the fingers sends a string into a feverish dance. Photographer Andrew Davidhazy of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York set out to photograph that dynamic by attaching a tiny motor to a cotton string. But he got overzealous in powering up the motor, forcing an atypical torque in the string. "I happened to overspin the string and all of a sudden, the picture was more exciting," he says. Davidhazy used a Canon digital camera to document the movement. The total exposure time for "String Vibrations" was about 2 seconds, during which the string spun some 10 to 20 times, the photographer says."
Smarter Than the Worm
Credit: Mirjam Kaplow and Katharina Strohmeier, Fraunhofer FIRST
"When the dreaded error message flashes on the screen, it's easy to envision an army of malevolent gremlins wreaking havoc on your computer. The real mechanism of a computer worm or virus isn't quite that dramatic, but producer Mirjam Kaplow and Katharina Strohmeier of Fraunhofer FIRST in Berlin, Germany, play on that tension to explain how those pests operate and how computer software protects against them. "We came up with the idea of making a movie with the symbol on a metaphorical level," Kaplow says. The story takes place at the gates of a fortress city, where a guard examines each visitor before granting them access. But simple disguises--a new bow tie or a pair of sunglasses--confuse the guard, and he lets a worm slip through. While the city burns, the narrator explains how a new type of software can keep a computer smarter than the worm, whatever that worm looks like."
Watch the video HERE.
Still Life: Five Glass Surfaces on a Tabletop
Credit: Richard Palais, University of California - Irvine; Luc Benard
"Innumerable surfaces that we cannot touch or see or even know can be seen by mathematicians. They have long relied on their powers of imagination to picture abstract surfaces. Richard Palais of the University of California, Irvine, and graphic artist Luc Benard used the magic of computer graphics to recreate these abstract surfaces in familiar yet intriguing settings."
Autofluorescence of Tick Nymph on a Mammalian Host
Credit: Marna E. Ericson, University of Minnesota
"Laser scanning confocal microscopy captured the autofluorescence of a common deer tick as it feasted on the ear of a golden hamster."
Tiny Metal Pathways
Credit: Adam C. Siegal, Douglas B. Weibel, Derek A. Bruzewicz, George M. Whitesides, Harvard University
"It's not often you see a wire intentionally tied into a knot, especially when that wire is a state-of-the-art microstructure only 200 micrometers wide. However, Adam Siegel and colleagues at Harvard University tangled up their invention to prove a point; flexibility is key to integrating micro electrical circuits into fabrics, according to Siegel. Rather than extruding the wire, Siegel and colleagues poured molten indium/tin solder into a micro fluidic channel in clear silicon and allowed it to cool. Depending on the solder composition, he says, the wire can be solid or flexible, and any breaks can be healed by simply reheating it."
Really, if you have some free time, you should use it to browse through the GALLERY.
DO IT.