Science Friday: Whales, a tenuous link between Queen and new galaxies, and 10 years of collective brains

One helluva Voorwerp

Schoolteacher Hanny Van Arkel spoke in Ireland back in the sumer 2009 about discovering a new galaxy a mysterious green blob the size of the milky way.  Well, now the photos are in.  And it's green, glowing, and a very mysterious... well, "voorwerp" (or "object" in dutch).

Not up to snuff on the the history of Hanny's Voorwerp? Bad Astronomy Blog to the rescue:

All right then, let’s back up a bit: Hanny van Arkel, who discovered it, is not an astronomer. But she was reading a blog entry by Brian May, who is the guitarist for Queen as well as an astronomer. He had written about Galaxy Zoo, a project where you can classify galaxies on your computer. Being a Queen fan, Hanny checked it out, and started looking at galaxies… which is how she found this weird green smear of light. She asked about it, and astronomers took interest… and the result is this amazing Hubble image of a very odd object....

Scientifically, this is a fantastic object. Nothing like this has been seen before, so everything we learn about it is new.  (read more)

So there you have it.  Queen really is your ticket to the international lecture circuit, fame and fortune.

Collaboration closer to home, and 10 years on.

So there's this website that anybody can update, and it's ten years old on Saturday.  That's about the level of enthusiasm it was greeted with upon it's launch ten years ago, but Jimmy Wales' little project in collaboration has become one of the most visited websites in the world, and will be opening an office in India shortly.  New York Times blog Bits has a nice commemoration and summary of where things are going.  But if you need convincing that the collective brain is the future, just consider the last time you used Encarta.

Whale watching, Wexford, and thar she uploads!

The first Humback whale of the season was spotted of the Southeast coast this week, as reported by the Irish Times.  Easily identifiable by their unique markings, Humbacks' journeys can be traced, and scientists can tell if they've seen an individual before often merely by one photo.  

Which means uploading a snap that you get of a whale to Flickr can actually help Humpback researchers track the whales. MAKE magazine featured an incredible story about a set of Flickr photos that revealed to one ingenious scientists that the whale he was tracking had made a record-breaking trek of 6,000 miles from Brazil to Madagascar.

Capturing some less scientific, but more artistic photos on your cameraphone?

Then check out the work of Irish artist Enda O'Donoghue, who paints oil canvasses out of noise-heavy cameraphone pix.  The results are almost too real to be perceptible online, over at www.endaism.com.

And lastly, another artist over at MIT's Media Lab is bridging the line between our online and offline activities in another way-- with a nightstand that physically delivers your email and tweets, and a wallet that physically reacts to the state of your online finances.

Tableau: physical email from John Kestner on Vimeo.