Link About It: This Week’s Picks

A new Siri, a new Instagram, the Transit of Mercury and more in this week's look around the web

1. Watch the Shadow of Mercury Cross the Sun in Real Time The Transit of Mercury—an astrological event that takes place just 13 times per century—happened earlier this week. The event occurs when our solar system’s smallest planet, Mercury, appears to cross the sun from Earth; producing a tiny, dot-sized shadow moving across the massive face of the glowing sun. The phenomenon is only viewable …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

How art helps cops do a better job, a 101-year-old artist's first solo show and more in this week's look around the web

1. Chicago’s Proposed Aerial Cable Car System While some cities are considering self-driving pods or improved water ferry routes (like Singapore and NYC respectively), Chicago is looking to the sky to transport its citizens. Architecture firms Davis Brody Bond and Marks Barfield have just unveiled plans for a series of sky-bound cable cars that would move passengers between the city’s architectural landmarks—from Wacker Drive on …

Unique Science-Themed Quilts by PaleGray Labs

Complex blanket designs featuring the periodic table, Pi, and even molecule diagrams of melatonin, THC and Ambien

When an animated film creator and science author join forces with a monster-sized robot quilting machine experimental embroidery emerges upon their blankets. Nina Paley (writer and director of “Sita Sings the Blues”) and Pop Sci columnist Theodore Gray use their unique skills to create quilts that display the entire periodic table, for example, as well as a design that beautifully displays more than 100 digits …