Tracking drought in the US
Apr 18, 2012 12:36 am • Permalink 
NPR has a look at weekly drought figures over the past couple of years. The focus is on Texas, a state that's been hit hard the past few months. In 2011, there was an estimated agricultural loss of $7.62 billion.
The current drought began in October 2010. Though the situation has improved recently, the drought is far from over — and the conditions that caused it aren't going away anytime soon.
Texas is a place susceptible to extreme weather, and the last year was no exception. Thousands of square miles were burned in wildfires, billions were lost in agriculture, and its impact could still linger in years to come.
Hit the play button, and the string of images runs like a flip book. Low tech, but effective.
[via Matt Stiles]
Explore the Solar System like your backyard
Apr 17, 2012 10:15 am • Permalink Game developer Christopher Albeluhn found himself unemployed, so he started to work on a model of Earth in a video game engine to add to his portfolio. He finished that, and thought, hey, might as well keep on going. He eventually created the Solar System.
Before i knew it, i had all 8 planets (I am SO sorry Pluto), the sun and the Asteroid belt. They all had correct rotations, orbits, locations and speeds; their moons, information regarding the planets and their facts. All of these were fine, but i wanted something more, so i added in the constellations, all 88 of them.
Still though, this was portfolio work — until a link to the video went up on reddit. With some momentum, Albeluhn hopes to turn his side project into a full-fledged application. Fingers crossed for completion.
Graphs, from paper to pixels
Apr 17, 2012 03:21 am • Permalink Brian Hayes for American Scientist discusses science publications' roots in print and the shift towards digital.
Print publishing has a centuries-long tradition and a rich culture. Generations of illustrators have developed technical knowledge, artistic sensibility and a highly refined toolkit. There's a huge body of existing work to serve as example and inspiration. In digital publishing, this kind of intellectual infrastructure is only beginning to emerge.
Yet the new computational media offer new opportunities for the exercise of creativity, especially in quantitative graphics, where illustrations are closely tied to data or mathematical functions. On the computer screen, graphs and diagrams can become animated or interactive, inviting the reader or viewer to become an explorer. I find this prospect exciting. But I'm also mindful that we don't yet have deep experience with the new graphical methods.
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