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http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/28543855025/  
Astronomers Discover Dizzying Spin of the Milky Way Galaxy's “Halo”  

NASA Goddard Photo and Video posted a photo:

Our Milky Way galaxy and its small companions are surrounded by a giant halo of million-degree gas (seen in blue in this artists' rendition) that is only visible to X-ray telescopes in space. University of Michigan astronomers discovered that this massive hot halo spins in the same direction as the Milky Way disk and at a comparable speed.

Read more: go.nasa.gov/29VgLdK

Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss/Ohio State/A Gupta et al

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA's mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA's accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency's mission.

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354095589435601797/  
Western furcula moth  

Western furcula moth (Furcula occidentalis) collected in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, and photographed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (sample ID: 04HBL003217; specimen record: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_RecordView?processid=LCH217-04; BIN: http://www.boldsystems.org/index.php/Public_BarcodeCluster?clusteruri=BOLD:AAA8926)

 
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726094113.htm  
Historical love-affair with indulgent foods  
Our desire for indulgent meals may be over 500 years old. A new analysis of European and American paintings across five centuries shows that salt, bread, sausage, and shellfish were among the most commonly depicted foods in paintings of meals from 1500 to 2000 AD.  
technology  

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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/217650594471316341/  
Digital art selected  
Digital art selected for the Daily Inspiration #2447  
pin-images  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/25-31-july-2016/5-things-design-firms-post-brexit/  
5 things design firms should be doing after Brexit  

With all the excitement about the referendum results and for half the country, disappointment, anger and frustration one thing is sure: we now live in interesting times, politically and economically. Nobody knows exactly what the eventual impact of the UK's decision to leave the EU will be but I can safely predict that there will be change, good and bad.

In the longer term UK design firms, like all UK businesses, will be affected by issues such as different trading arrangements and employment laws. But what about the shorter term? Some of you will benefit from increased international work if exchange rates continue to be preferential to overseas companies; others will suffer as clients hold fire on projects until the smoke clears and the UK economy has settled; all of you will face a much more competitive market as everyone fights harder for available projects. The well-run design businesses will survive; the poorly-run will go under.

Uncertainty always presents a challenge for business, so here are five things that we're advising design firms right now:

1. Focus immediately on your existing client relationships. They are the quickest, easiest, cheapest and best source of future business. Take a long, hard look at your firm's client relationship management policies and practices; every member of your firm, whatever their role, should now have “impeccable client service” in their job description and be equipped with the tools to deliver it. Increase the heat to maximum on satisfying, retaining and actively developing your current clients, and contact recent-but-dormant clients in person: a database-driven, auto-send newsletter or blog won't be enough.

2. Stop talking about your marketing and sales programme and do it. How's your strategy? Have you got a robust positioning, target market and proposition? If so, you need to articulate them clearly on every touchpoint, from your website's landing page to your email signatures. You need a rolling 12-month campaign plan with activities, dates and budgets, with the right people in place, in-house or outsourced. Are your activities as integrated, consistent, meaningful and powerful as they need to be, and how are your credentials meetings? Random tweets, online posts and digi-conversations are useful and fun but they're just the sprinkles on top of the icing on the cake.

3. Continue to invest in your team members at all levels of seniority. You hired the best: now give them the expert internal and external coaching and training they need. Without the right knowledge, skills and capabilities how can they support you in your business? If they aren't performing to their full potential, you've got a problem.

4. If you have periods of downtime, don't just sulk. Or panic. Or do nothing. Instead, use the opportunity to work on your business. Think. Then think again. As Einstein said: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Work with your senior team members on your vision, values, goals and business strategy, and then develop forward plans based on different “what if” scenarios. And be honest about your product is it good enough in terms of the three essential pillars of strategy, creativity and implementation? Are you not only keeping up with trends in clients' needs but staying ahead of them? Look at when you last reviewed and tightened up the operational side of your business, including finance, HR, IT, etc? They need to be running smoothly, bringing in results and providing value.

5. Don't give away your work for nothing. Yes, I'm talking about free pitches. More than ever, now's the time for UK design firms to stop providing unpaid strategic and creative thinking to prospects who can afford to pay for it. The sole exception is work done for charities or other not-for-profit causes that you support, in which case you're donating skills instead of money. Oh, and did I hear you thinking in point two that you can't afford a marketing programme? Try adding up how much time, effort and money you spent on free pitching in the last year. You could have used it on some proper marketing instead.

Finally, in case you're suffering from post-brexit anxiety, it's worth remembering that the UK has an extremely robust design sector. The Design Council's 2015 report The Design Economy shows that within the creative industries sector, itself growing at almost twice the rate of the UK economy, design is growing fastest. We generate over £70 billion gross value added a year, equivalent to more than 7% of the national total. And our trade body, the DBA, recently issued an uplifting post-referendum statement. Chief executive officer Deborah Dawton reminds us that design's proven ability to drive growth and the quality and effectiveness of our work remain unchanged she concludes: “The arguments for design are resounding.”

---

Shan Preddy is a design-sector trainer, business adviser and writer. Her firm, Preddy&Co, works with design firms and in-house design teams.

The post 5 things design firms should be doing after Brexit appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281543706285399/  
Detail of the inside  
Detail of the inside of a sunflower (© Peter Dennen/Aurora Photos) 2016-07-25 [www.bing.com/search]  
pin-images  

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/25-31-july-2016/product-design-exhibition-made-sheffield-will-showcase-regions-talent/  
Product design exhibition Made in Sheffield will showcase region's talent  

Exhibition Made in Sheffield has opened at the city's Millennium Gallery to showcase Sheffield's design talent.

Curated by Museums Sheffield, the exhibition celebrates over 150 Sheffield-born companies through a range of inventive and visually striking displays.

The main aim of the exhibition, according to Kirstie Hamilton, head of exhibitions and displays at Museums Sheffield, is to “showcase the region's most creative design talent, working at the forefront of manufacturing, engineering and technological industries.

“The displays cover a range of specialisms from global aeronautical engineering and world-class advanced manufacturing to ground-breaking digital industries and artisan makers who are masters of their craft.”

Some of the must-see exhibits on show are the world's fastest sled used by English motorcycle racer Guy Martin to break the world speed record for the fastest gravity powered sled, a GEM engine made by Rolls Royce used in Boeing aircrafts, 3D printed medical prosthetics and a skeletal hand made from ReproBone; an implantable synthetic bone graft which acts as a scaffold to support and promote bone repair before it eventually dissolves in the body.

“Over the next six months, we're turning the Millennium Gallery into a 21st century ‘Crystal Palace' to celebrate the incredible achievements of makers and manufacturers in the region,” says Kim Streets, chief executive at Museums Sheffield.

“Made in Sheffield will shine a spotlight on the diverse ideas, developments, products and progress that see makers and businesses in the city at the top of their field.”

The Made in Sheffield exhibition forms part of The Year of Making a city-wide initiative celebrating Sheffield's international reputation and is running between 6 July 2016 and 8 January 2017. Entry is free.

All photos © Museums Sheffield

The post Product design exhibition Made in Sheffield will showcase region's talent appeared first on Design Week.

 
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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/25-31-july-2016/aaardman-national-museums-scotland-launch-animated-educational-game/  
Aardman and National Museums Scotland launch animated educational game  

National Museums Scotland has teamed up with animation studio Aardman to create an educational animated game that draws on its existing biomedical collection.

GEN, which can be played online using a computer, smartphone or tablet, involves players diagnosing what is wrong with GEN Aaardman's digital creature character and nursing it back to full health.

The strategy game allows players to choose from various medical-related objects, ranging from wooden stethoscopes to early X-Ray machines, all of which can actually be found at the museum's science and technology galleries.

“Enhance museums' biomedical displays”

Laura Chilcott, senior digital producer at Aardman, says the partnership with National Museums Scotland “has been a great opportunity for us to use our skills both to educate a new audience, and also to enhance the museum's biomedical displays.”

One of the design features includes GEN itself. “It's a simplistic amorphous blob which has realistic physics applied to its body, so can be pulled and prodded around,” says Gav Strange, senior designer at Aardman.

“As the illness takes effect on it, we wanted the player to feel empathy towards our gelatinous friend, so they would care for GEN and work hard to diagnose its ailments and use the right treatment to bring it back to life.”

Balance between “clean and clinical”

Meanwhile, the interface has been designed to strike a balance between “clean and clinical”, according to Strange.

“We didn't want the interface and the design to feel cold, but at the same time we didn't want to add anything superfluous,” he says.

The design of the character acted as a balancing aid, Strange adds. While GEN has texture and an organic shape, the interface has been kept clean.

GEN's launch comes after the museum recently opened 10 new galleries dedicated to applied art, design, fashion, science and technology, as part of a £14.1 million renovation.

Introduce medical science to a wider audience

The app runs alongside 250 interactive displays at the museums, including a CT scan of a person that can be viewed from all angles showing different layers of muscle, gas and bone, and a game that allows users to design a clinical drug trial.

“[GEN] is one of a number of fun ways we're introducing some fairly complex ideas of medical science to a wider audience,” says Sarah Goggins, assistant curator for biomedicine at National Museums Scotland.

“We hope lots of people will get online to play…as well as getting an insight into some of the amazing objects now on show”.

National Museums Scotland looks after museums including the National Museum of Scotland, National Museum of Flight, National Museum of Rural Life and National War Museum.

The post Aardman and National Museums Scotland launch animated educational game appeared first on Design Week.

 
design  

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https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jul/25/campaign-launches-to-reopen-alexandra-palace-theatre-shut-for-80-years  
Campaign aims to reopen Alexandra Palace theatre shut for 80 years  

The historic space opened in 1875 and although built to hold 3,000 will reopen as a multifunctional space for up to 1,300

An abandoned Victorian theatre hidden inside Alexandra Palace that has been closed to audiences for more than 80 years could soon reopen after a campaign was launched to restore it.

The existence of the “frozen in time” theatre is not widely known but it is considered one of the most architecturally significant and historic parts of the entertainment complex in north London, built in the 1870s as “the People's Palace”.

Continue reading...  
design  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/asuUfPW-H4I/  
Which Europe Now?  
Political drama on television is finished. No fictional version could match the vicious infighting in both main political parties in Britain that followed the vote on June 23 by the British people to leave the European Union. What the vote revealed is a growing and dangerous divide between the political class, often a metropolitan elite, and a large number of people who feel left out of the economic prosperity centered on London and disenfranchised by “political correctness.”  
culture  

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nybooks/~3/E21W3gocFVw/  
Austria: The Lesson of the Far Right  
On one side of the new conflict are those who advocate more openness: toward minorities at home and toward engagement with the world on the outside. On the other side we find the Le Pens, Farages, and Trumps: close the nation-state off by shutting borders and thereby, or so they promise, take back control; but also, preserve the traditional hierarchies that have come under threat on the inside.  
culture  

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http://www.designboom.com/art/bruit-du-frigo-kinotour-wagon-cinema-07-26-2016/  
bruit du frigo's kinotour wagon is a mobile cinema which captures everyday scenarios  

the portable cinema allows one to see everyday situations as a succession of intertwined moments.

The post bruit du frigo's kinotour wagon is a mobile cinema which captures everyday scenarios appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
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http://heptagram.co/post/147972472067  
90377: by Lifan Zhang  

90377:

by Lifan Zhang

 
art  

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http://www.designboom.com/art/rebecca-louise-law-chandran-gallery-the-beauty-of-decay-07-25-2016/  
rebecca louise law suspends 8,000 flowers from san francisco gallery to show the beauty of decay  

the installation presents an artistic study of the decline and succession of natural materials, as the stems overhead gradually shift through the natural stages of life and decay.

The post rebecca louise law suspends 8,000 flowers from san francisco gallery to show the beauty of decay appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

 
art  

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http://heptagram.co/post/147967634356  
La Petite Mort #6  
La Petite Mort #6:

HEY EVERYBODY! I'm excited to unveil a new publication I got to design called La Petite Mort. Please check out the link and hit the “Thumbs Up” button at the bottom if you like it!!!

They're available for FREE at Calliope NYC

 
art  

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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2016/jul/25/renaissance-art-nudity-cover-up-sistine-chapel-leonardo-censorship  
The great art cover-up: Renaissance nudity still has power to shock  

Sistine Chapel buttocks are veiled, while Leonardo's Leda was so saucy she was destroyed. But prudish censorship only confirms the pulling power of art

You never know what will offend people. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered that a skirt was crudely painted over the naked Eve in a Renaissance manuscript soon to go on view at the city's Fitzwilliam Museum. Some time between the 16th and 18th centuries a particularly prudish owner had this image bowdlerised, even though the nudity of Adam and Eve is a venerable and respectable religious theme.

Related: Unveiled: Adam and Eve naked again after centuries-old cover-up

Related: The top 10 male nudes in art

Related: The top 10 female nudes in art

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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jul/25/wonder-materials-graphene-and-beyond-review-museum-of-science-and-industry  
Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond review carbon foreplay with no climax  

Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
Faced with an invisible material and no whizzy inventions to show, this exhibition pays underwhelming homage to a Nobel prize-winning discovery

It's been hailed as the wonder material that will revolutionise everything from smartphones and car tyres to aeroplanes and condoms. But the problem with graphene, for the curators of a new exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry, is that you can't actually see it. And none of these potentially miraculous applications for the atom-thick material have actually been invented yet.

“There's never been so much expectation invested in a new material,” says Danielle Olsen, co-curator of Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond, which opened this week in the city where this mercurial form of super-thin carbon was first isolated in 2004. “It's under a lot of pressure to perform.”

Related: Graphene - the new wonder material

Membership Event: Private view of Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond

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art  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726094226.htm  
Ancient eye in the sky  
Light from a distant galaxy can be strongly bent by the gravitational influence of a foreground galaxy. That effect is called strong gravitational lensing. Normally a single galaxy is lensed at a time. The same foreground galaxy can in theory simultaneously lens multiple background galaxies. Although extremely rare, such a lens system offers a unique opportunity to probe the fundamental physics of galaxies and add to our understanding of cosmology. One such lens system has recently been discovered and the discovery was made not in an astronomer's office, but in a classroom. It has been dubbed the Eye of Horus, and this ancient eye in the sky may help us understand the history of the universe.  
astronomy  

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https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2016/jul/26/largest-ever-map-of-the-universe-points-to-mysterious-dark-energy  
Largest ever map of the universe points to mysterious ‘dark energy'  

The largest ever 3D map of the universe strengthens astronomers' belief that three quarters of the cosmos is made of an unknown substance: ‘dark energy'

It is hard to know whether it's a success or a failure but modern astronomy tells us that almost three quarters of the universe is in the form of an unknown substance called “dark energy”.

Add to this the “dark matter” that astronomers are still searching for without success, and we think we live in a Universe where only two percent of it is the familiar atoms that make up you and I, stars and planets.

Continue reading...  
astronomy  

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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160725151144.htm  
Astronomers discover dizzying spin of the Milky Way galaxy's 'halo'  
Astronomers have discovered for the first time that the hot gas in the halo of the Milky Way galaxy is spinning in the same direction and at comparable speed as the galaxy's disk, which contains our stars, planets, gas, and dust. This new knowledge sheds light on how individual atoms have assembled into stars, planets, and galaxies like our own, and what the future holds for these galaxies.  
astronomy  

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http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgo.theregister.com%2Ffeed%2Fwww.theregister.co.uk%2F2016%2F07%2F26%2Fsmithsonian_beer_boffins%2F&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8  
Calling all hipster... *hic* hip-hip-storians! Craft beer job spotted  

Smithsonian on lookout for boozy history buff

Had enough of tech? Sporting a big or any kind of unlikely looking beard or interestingly dyed hair? El Reg has found the perfect new job where you'll get paid handsomely to espouse the wonders of trendy beer.…

 
general  

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http://thenextweb.com/uk/2016/07/26/amazon-begins-testing-delivery-drone-fleets-in-the-uk/  
Amazon begins testing delivery drone fleets in the UK  

Amazon is inching closer to a reality of delivering products using airborne drones. It's now partnering with the UK government to expand trials of its drones to cover various delivery scenarios. In collaboration with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Amazon will test drones that fly beyond the operator's line of sight in rural and suburban areas, their ability to identify and avoid obstacles, and even trips involving fleets of automated drones handled by a single person. The outcomes of these trials will help inform the development of future policy and regulation for the use of unmanned drones for commercial…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/07/26/the-sun-powered-solar-impulse-2-plane-just-completed-a-journey-around-the-world/  
The sun-powered Solar Impulse 2 plane just completed a journey around the world  

I can't believe I'm typing this: two pilots just completed a 24,584 mile-long trip around the world in a plane over the course of more than a year, without a single drop of fuel. Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg flew the Solar Impulse 2 across Europe, North America and Asia over the past year; the final leg of their trip took them from Cairo to Abu Dhabi in two days and 37 minutes, signaling the end of an incredible journey that the Swiss duo undertook to prove that clean technologies can power our future energy needs on earth. The Solar…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/07/25/norway-is-building-the-worlds-first-floating-underwater-tunnels/  
Norway is building the world's first ‘floating' underwater tunnels  

Norway has an ambitious plan to ease the congestion of local ferries by building a series of underwater tunnels that allow travelers to cross the nations bodies of water. The “submerged floating bridges” would consist of large tubes suspended by pontoon-like support structures 100 feet below water. Each will be wide enough for two lanes of traffic, and the floating structures should ease the congestion on numerous ferries currently required to get commuters from Point A to Point B. Each support pontoon would then be secured to a truss or bolted to the bedrock below to keep things stable. Currently, a trip from Kristiansand to…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology  

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http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/07/25/florida-court-proves-if-youre-a-criminal-that-isnt-using-bitcoin-youre-doing-it-wrong/  
Florida court proves if you're a criminal that isn't using bitcoin, you're doing it wrong  

Bitcoin has made millionaires nearly overnight, lost some their life savings, and fluctuates more than a politician during election season, but make no mistake: it's not currency, at least to this Florida court. A Miami-Dade judge ruled in favor of a man, Michell Espinoza, charged with illegally selling and laundering $1,500 worth of bitcoin to undercover detectives. Before the transaction, Espinoza was informed by the detectives that they intended to use the bitcoin to purchase stolen credit cards, a move that could constitute money laundering — by Florida's definition of the law. Under Florida law, someone can be charged with the crime…

This story continues at The Next Web  
technology