Food as you seldom see it, from a cutaway image prospective, the result of a collaboration between New York City based food stylist Charlotte Omnes, and photographer Beth Galton.

Now those of us who know little to no Latin can make sense of the the Latin jokes that feature throughout the Asterix comic books, thanks to the efforts of Andrew Girardin, who has recently been translating them into English.

The helmet shaped Rainshader umbrella may just be the break through in wet weather protection technology that we have long been waiting for.

The Rainshader protects people from the elements while watching major sporting events – crucially it doesn’t blow inside out, poke passers-by in the eye or drip on neighbours’ shoulders in crowds. Its cut-away front, based on the design of a motor cycle helmet, lets people see the action while allowing the umbrella to sit low over the head so it doesn’t block the view of those behind.

Why is red paint plentiful? Because it is relatively inexpensive to produce. So where do the main ingredients of red paint come from? If you somehow thought that nuclear fusion, and supernovas, had some part in the supply process, then you would be correct:

So it’s because of the details of nuclear fusion – the particular size at which nuclei stop producing energy – that iron is the most common element heavier than neon. And as we saw before, you have to be a d-block element to make a decent pigment, which means that iron is going to be, by far, the most plentiful pigment for any species which lives on a star that isn’t about to blow up. And it’s going to bond to oxygen, the most plentiful thing around in planetary crusts for it to bond to (only hydrogen and helium are more common, and they tend to evaporate), to form iron oxides: those rich, red ochres that we mix with oils to form a cheap, stable, red paint.

We don’t buy coffee like we used to… for a period during the seventeenth century, coffee houses in England were issuing their own coffee tokens, as small change was in short supply.

Via Brain Pickings.

If people are going to be living on Mars (forever) it seems only fair they have internet access. Thanks to the efforts of US computer scientist Vint Cerf, who is working on plans to create an interplanetary internet, this may, in the not too distant future, be possible.

Working with NASA and JPL, Cerf has helped develop a new set of protocols that can stand up to the unique environment of space, where orbital mechanics and the speed of light make traditional networking extremely difficult. Though this space-based network is still in its early stages and has few nodes, he said that we are now at “the front end of what could be an evolving and expanding interplanetary backbone.”

See you at Mare Erythraeum…

An interactive record of observed meteorite strikes since 861. The numbers really pick up from around about 1800, but I’d say, or at least hope, that this is on account of increased reporting of strikes, rather than Earth being hit by more objects from space.

I’ve always regarded wine tasting as more of a social activity, an excuse to have a couple of drinks, a bit of fun, rather than any serious sort of attempt to classify, grade, or whatever, wine.

In 2001, researcher Frédéric Brochet invited 54 wine experts to give their opinions on what were ostensibly two glasses of different wine: one red, and one white. In actuality, the two wines were identical, with one exception: the “red” wine had been dyed with food coloring. The experts described the “red” wine in language typically reserved for characterizing reds. They called it “jammy,” for example, and noted the flavors imparted by its “crushed red fruit.” Not one of the 54 experts surveyed noticed that it was, in fact a white wine.

A collection of personal ads dating from the nineteenth century, as put together by Rutgers University history professor Pam Epstein.

Is there anything those looking for love in the twenty-first century can learn from our ancestors? Probably what not to do, rather than what to do, I’d say.

If you have a half serious interest in photography, chances are you own a couple of old-school film, or, if you like, analogue cameras. It may pay to look more closely at the age and brand of these devices though, as it’s possible some of the lenses may be radioactive:

Radioactivity in old camera lenses is due mostly to the widespread use of thorium glass elements in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Thorium oxide is highly refractive and low dispersion; this translated into cheaper high-quality glass by allowing manufacturers to make lenses of lesser curvature.