THE MOST AMAZING SCIENCE IMAGES OF THE WEEK XXVI

Glow-Stick Waterfalls And Other Amazing Images From This Week
By Shaunacy Ferro and Colin Lecher, Popular Science, 12 April 2013.

Plus a brand-new species of hermit crab, a keyboard-inspired couch and more.

1. Rainbow Waterfall

Credit: Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard via Colossal

For their project "Neon Luminance," photographers Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard dropped high-powered glow sticks into waterfalls in Northern California, then captured the sticks' brightly-coloured journey to the bottom in long exposure. See more glow-stick enhanced nature over at From The Lenz.

2. Little Cents

Credit: Martin John Callanan via PetaPixel

On a mission to preserve the much-maligned penny and its similarly worthless brethren, photographer Martin John Callanan takes pictures of the lowest-value coins in the world - with Europe's best microscope. Each composite photo is about 4 feet tall, made from 4,000 individual exposures processed over three days. Hopefully they enjoy the ride, because this is the most these coins will ever be worth. [More at PetaPixel]

3. The Afronauts

Credit: Cristina De Middel via Co.Design

Inspired by the story of a Zambian high school teacher who founded an underfunded and unsuccessful space program to put an African on the moon in 1964, Cristina De Middel's latest book of photography, The Afronauts, reimagines what the program could have been. The Belgian-Spanish photojournalist created her own props, including a spacesuit sewn by her grandmother, for the fictional, sometimes surreal photos. [More at Co.Design]

4. Handheld Disgust

Credit: Jessica Harrison via OhGizmo!

On the bright side, the sculptures in British artist Jessica Harrison's series Handheld aren't really made of real skin. They're still pretty creepy looking. Bet you can't look away, though. That little hair pillow? Ugh, the humanity. [More at OhGizmo!]

5. Little Green Space Ghost

Credit: ESO via Space.com

This image of a bulbous green space blob comes to us from the European Southern Observatory's aptly named Very Large Telescope. It's the glowing green planetary nebula IC 1295, located 3300 light years away in the constellation Scutum. Its unusual colour is the result of ionized oxygen. [More at Space.com]

6. Thrones Of Games

Credit: videogametoilets.tumblr.com

What is The Greatest Videogame Toilet of All Time? It is a long-standing question, of course, but videogametoilets.tumblr.com has curated an incredibly in-depth collection of johns on the way to deciding! (Actually, we have no idea why that tumblr exists, but it's hard to look away.) Here's one from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

7. Solar Flare

Credit: NASA via The Verge

The biggest solar flare of the year happened this week. NASA classified it as an M6.5 flare, "some ten times less powerful than the strongest flares." Scary, but we did get a beautiful picture out of it. [More at The Verge]

8. The Three Amigos

Credit: Barry Brown via NBC News

These three little guys are part of a species of hermit crab that has never been discovered alive. The Pylopagurus discoidalis were discovered on a submarine dive in the Caribbean and are named The Three Amigos, after the movie. Which one is the most Steve Martin-like? [More at NBC News]

9. Robo-Bartender

Credit: MIT Senseable City Lab via CreativeApplications.Net

This is a robot bartender named Makr Shakr. Developed as part of a collaboration between the MIT Sensible Lab, Pentagram, and SuperUber, users download an app to request a drink and Makr Shakr does everything needed to make it. Except provide conversation to barflies, we assume. [More at Creative Applications Network]

10. Qwerty Couch

Credit: ZO-loft via CNET

Did you know QWERTY keyboards are actually very inefficiently designed? It's true. But this couch can actually adjust into different pieces of furniture, like a bed. Much more efficient. [More at CNET]

[Source: Popular Science. Edited.]