THE MOST AMAZING SCIENCE IMAGES OF THE WEEK XXXII

A Prison Fit For Supervillains And Other Amazing Images From This Week
By Colin Lecher, Popular Science, 28 June 2013.

Plus a mind-bending house illusion, the world's most uncomfortable sofa, and more.

1. The Rainbow Room

Image: Pierre le Riche via designboom

Designer Pierre le Riche created this yarn-bombed rainbow room (complete with rainbow acrylic-thread curtains), which, with the Defense of Marriage Act stuck down this week, seems appropriate. [More at designboom]

2. House Of Mirrors

Image: Leandro Erlich via Dezeen

Artist Leandro Erlich reconstructed an old house's facade and set a giant mirror above it. Perch down just so on the facade, and you can see yourself reflected on the mirror, as if you were sitting on a windowsill. Maybe a fun gag would be to have another person pretend to panic because someone is sitting on the windowsill like a maniac? [More at Dezeen]

3. Ocean Prison

Image: Margot Krasojevic via eVolo

Designer Margot Krasojevic created this futuristic plan for a floating prison that would be located off the Pacific Canadian coast - sort of an Alcatraz for the Blade Runner universe. Read more about it here.

4. The World's Most Uncomfortable Sofa

Image: Cassina via designboom

Is this the World's Most Uncomfortable Sofa? No idea! The "Zephyr Sofa," designed by starchitect Zaha Hadid and produced by Italian manufacturer Cassini, could be super comfy and just look not-at-all comfy. To be safe, we'll stick to our Barcalounger. [More at designboom]

5. How Many Photos Is This?

Image: Bela Borsodi via Colossal

How many photos is this? Four put together, right? No, dummy, it's just one. (Just kidding! It really looks like four.) Photographer Bela Borsodi carefully put together the scene to make the shot look like more than one image. One way to tell is by looking at the table in the bottom two "photos": it shifts from orange to blue but still runs through both sections. [More at Colossal]

6. Alaska Cabins

Image: Eirik Johnson via Peta Pixel

Photographer Eirik Johnson took photos (the exact same photo, twice) of hunting cabins in Alaska during the peaks of summer and winter for a series called Barrow Cabins. It's as extreme a difference as you'd expect: dry, rocky, and green in the summer, and blanketed by white in the winter. Check out more from the series at Johnson's site.

7. Subway Tunnel

Image: Metropolitan Transit Authority/Patrick Cashin

We've seen some amazing New York subway construction photos popping up recently, and have already written about a few, but they're so consistently amazing, it's worth showing off some more recent work from Metropolitan Transit Authority [MTA] photographer Patrick Cashin. [More at MTA Facebook]

8. Cell Stepping

Image: CLEVER°FRANKE via Co.Design

Living Cell, a project from the designers at CLEVER°FRANKE, lets people play God with a cell, stepping around on it to influence its actions. Check out a video here.

9. The World, By Airports

Image: James Davenport via Gizmodo

This map, created by James Davenport, shows just the world's airports (along with runways and helicopter pads). Looking deeper, though, you can see what it really is: a map of economic disparity. Check out America and Europe versus just about everywhere else. [More at Gizmodo]

10. Texas From Space

Image: NASA

This shot, taken from on board the International Space Station, shows Texas at night, including its four biggest metropolitan areas. At the top is Dallas-Fort Worth; lower right, Houston; to the far right is Beaumont-Port Arthur; and say hello to San Antonio on the left. [More at NASA]

[Source: Popular Science. Edited. Some links added.]