Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
A project by the Italian chemistry student and photographer Emanuele Fornasier, Crystal Birth features close-up time-lapse photography of electrocrystallisation, a process in which an electrical current running through a chemical solution results in the gradual buildup of metal on an electrode. By carrying out this process over hours or days, depending on the chemicals present in the reaction, Fornasier is able to capture crystals piling on beautifully, layer by layer, in a remarkable synthesis of science and art.
Via Colossal.
Director: Emanuele Fornasier
video
Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
Why Orwell urged his readers to celebrate the spring, cynics be damned
11 minutes
video
Making
On the Norwegian coast, a tree is transformed into a boat the old-fashioned way
6 minutes
video
Animals and humans
One man’s quest to save an orphaned squirrel, as narrated by David Attenborough
14 minutes
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes
video
Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
3 minutes
video
Biology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
video
Nature and landscape
California’s landscapes provide endless inspiration for a woodcut printmaker
10 minutes
video
Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
15 minutes