snowflakes

High-speed cam catches cool 3D shots of snowflakes

Now that winter has passed, those of us who live in cold climes can once again appreciate the beauty of snowflakes without feeling the urge to curse them for making us dig out the shovel. And if ever snowflakes looked lovely, it's in these images shot by a high-speed camera system developed specifically to photograph them in 3D as they fell.

"Until our device, there was no good instrument for automatically photographing the shapes and sizes of snowflakes in free fall," says Tim Garrett, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah and one of the developers of the cam known as MASC, or Multi-Angle Snowflake Camera. "We are photographing these snowflakes completely untouched by any device, as they exist naturally in the air."

MASC -- under development for three years -- takes 9- to 37-micron-resolution stereographic photographs of snowflakes from three angles while simultaneously measuring the speed of their fall, a highly influential factor in the location and lifetime of a storm. … Read more

Observe the science of a snowflake

You might agree that the complex design in a snowflake appears almost comparable to a work of art. Do you know how that tiny frozen masterpiece comes to life, though? If you're like me, you may never have witnessed a complete representation of that journey from cloud to ground before.

The trip isn't as simple as you think. … Read more

All aflutter over Star Wars-themed snowflakes

I'm not the type to decorate my place for the holidays. I'm simply not home enough to enjoy the decorations, and not enough other people would see it to make it worthwhile. My dog might like the effect, but I'm pretty sure he's an atheist. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to make some of these Star Wars-themed paper snowflakes just because I can.

It started with this blog post that included instructions for Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Clonetroopers snowflakes. Bren over at Geektress saw those 'flakes and got so excited she added old-school Stormtroopers, Wampas, and Princess Leia snowflakes. Awesome. … Read more

Get the Christmas spirit

Christmas is coming; in fact, it's always coming. Get in the spirit with a festive animated 3D screensaver that also counts down the days until Christmas with 3D Magic Christmas Toy Shop, which turns your desktop into a window on Santa's workshop. It plays music to a variety of animated activities, including a toy train, an elf on a rocking horse, a glittering Christmas tree, and a snowman dancing outside in the cold. You can easily alter the color balance to give, for example, a reddish or greenish glow, and change what falls from the sky. It displays … Read more

A tiny mic for your secret singing career

At first glance the "Snowflake" looked more like something you'd find on a kitchen counter than the desktop, maybe a small strainer or cheese grater. But it's actually a plug-and-play USB microphone that's touted as having professional quality.

Its most noticeable feature, however, is a tiny size that makes it extremely portable. The mic can be unfolded and clipped onto a laptop like a portable Webcam, according to Coolest-Gadgets, then retract back into its compact case when not in use.

We're exactly not sure who would need something like this unless it's used … Read more