Surprising Science — October 17, 2010

The Future of Photography

An exposition this week in Paris offered a glimpse of what to expect from photography in the future. The Telegraph profiles Canon’s latest concept technology.

bigthinkeditor

“Imagine a world where your camera could see things that were invisible to you. Take a photo at night and the camera would reveal what lay hidden in the darkness. Canon’s largest sensor can do just that, though it’s still a little too big to fit inside your camera. Measuring 202 x 205mm, this sensor is 40 times the size of a commercial sensor and its pixels are also 40 times larger. These larger pixels mean that the sensor requires just 1/100th of the light needed by the largest sensors in professional cameras so it can capture details that are invisible to the naked eye.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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The Empathy Gap

“Even as they become more connected, young people are caring less about others.” The youth’s ability to exhibit an emotional response to another’s distress is in decline.