Visibly Shaken

Whaling by the numbers (infographic)

Peter Griffin • Jun 22, 2010

• IWC,
• whaling

An interesting infographic from Reuters that ran in today’s Dominion Post and outlining the number of whales killed around the world each year for “scientific” purposes as well as the species culled. Read More

Why New Zealand smokers suck the most (infographic)

Peter Griffin • Jun 21, 2010

• cancer,
• Nicotine,
• Smoking,
• tar,
• tobacco

The New Zealand Herald today carried news of interesting research by the tobacco industry which suggests New Zealand smokers have a penchant for cigarettes higher in nicotine than smokers across the Tasman. The Herald adds: The results come from a tobacco industry study… also found New Zealand smokers are exposed to the greatest average amount of tar out … Read More

How big is the oil spill, actually?

Aimee Whitcroft • Jun 03, 2010

• BP,
• Deepwater Horizon

As the Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues, and worsens, the area of ocean covered by oil is, of course, growing. However, it is difficult to visualise just how big the spill actually is.  To this end, a new website has emerged which allows one to place the oil spill anywhere in the world, to get a more intuitive feel … Read More

The world by supercomputer

Aimee Whitcroft • Jun 02, 2010

• supercomputer,
• TOP500

The annual Top500 list of supercomputers has been released, and this year the winning supercomputer, Nebulae, has a theoretical peak performance at 2.98 PFlop/s. Of course, given the human wish to compete over things, one way to look at the results is by country, to see who’s got the top supercomputers.  China won this year, … Read More

What actually went wrong on Deepwater Horizon?

Aimee Whitcroft • May 31, 2010

• BP,
• Deepwater Horizon,
• oil spill

With the Deepwater Horizon line still haemorrhaging oil, there has been a great deal of uncertainty about what actually caused the blowout (a subject of great interest not only to the public, but also to the various companies trying to avoid full liability for the catastrophe). Below, a great infographic from The Times shows exactly what the problem was: … Read More

How oil affects birds’ feathers

Aimee Whitcroft • May 26, 2010

• birds,
• feathers,
• Gulf oil spill,
• oil

The catastrophic Gulf oil spill which began in late April has continued to frustrate all efforts to contain it, and has now reached the shores of Louisiana. Pictures published on Monday show the  tragic effects of the spill on animals along the coast, including birdlife. A graphic in the San Francisco Chronicle perfectly illustrates why oil is so … Read More

Artificial life in three steps (infographic)

Peter Griffin • May 22, 2010

• Craig Venter,
• synthetic biology

I’ve been scanning newspapers to see how the Science paper by Venter et al. was covered around the world. It isn’t surprising that many newspapers turned to infographics, with varying degrees of success, to try and explain what Venter’s team achieved. Here’s one of the better ones I saw, which British paper The Independent ran… Source: The … Read More

Interphone in infographics

Peter Griffin • May 18, 2010

• brain cancer,
• Interphone,
• Mobile phones

The international news media has been abuzz the last couple of days with results of a 10 year study into mobile phone use and the possible link to brain cancer. There have been lots of facts and figures thrown about and the subject really needed a good infographic to illustrate the most important thing – what risk people face … Read More

What happens when camel meets car

Peter Griffin • May 16, 2010

• camels,
• infographic,
• Oman

A hazard we thankfully don’t have to contend with on rural roads in New Zealand – camels crossing the road. The thing about camels is that their long legs mean the full weight of their body ends up in the front windscreen of the average car as the infographic below from the Times of Oman illustrates… Source: Times of Oman … Read More

BP’s big plug – what the plan was…

Peter Griffin • May 10, 2010

• BP,
• Gulf oil spill

The big concrete and steel pill box BP was banking on to plug the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico failed after hydrate-like crystals formed blocking the top of the dome and making in buoyant. The oil ended up spewing out of the container, leaving engineers looking for a plan B that could include heating the … Read More