Awesome Science

Created by Harvard’s Samuel Arbesman, this Milky Way Transit Authority map was inspired by a reading of Carl Sagan’s Contact and applies subway mapping on a galactic scale.

There’s nothing like flying through a supernova remnant to give you a bad hair day, but this 3D tour by MIT astrophysicist Tracy Delaney lets you do it safely; it’s visualized using real data.

Ever since Back to the Future II we’ve been praying for a Mr. Fusion reactor; San Francisco-based Jim Mason shows how he built a trash-powered “gasifier” to run his Honda Accord.

Steampunk enthusiasts, meet the real deal: the Strenco ST-2 Steambot is a German-made robot that uses a Wilesco steam engine to run on water and Esbit hexamine fuel tablets.

The Space Shuttle is up for replacement soon, and with it a new fleet of NASA spacecraft will be taking us to the Moon and beyond; check out this 3D infographic, courtesy NYT.

Move over, Justice League and X-Men: these scientist action figures by Oddfellows are the real deal, with posed 2.5″ vinyl versions of Einstein, Tesla, Newton, Darwin and Curie.

Basically a lattice of spherical rare earth magnets, NeoCube appeals to both left and right brainers with its ability to be reshaped into a seemingly infinite variety of objects. Thanks, Ian!

Designed by Reuben Margolin for Switzerland’s Technorama science center, Magic Wave is a 25 m^2 piece of kinetic art that demonstrates wavelength, amplitude and frequency.

Taking the twelve days of Christmas to new heights, Alan Taylor of Boston.com has selected 25 days worth of stunning Hubble photographs; watch him reveal the last few here.

It may not be a speed demon, but this six-legged Hexabot chair may be ideal for career couch potatoes; it was constructed by CMU student Rich Pantaleo for his final course project.

Part of Creative Commons, we like the idea behind Science Commons: allow more people to benefit from scientific research by making it easier to both find and use.

Anyone who uses a cellphone owes something to late author Arthur C. Clarke; we think this student film for his epic Rama series is a fitting ode to an all-around amazing gentleman.

Al Seckel’s Levitating Water Machine appears to float water droplets in midair, but actually uses a timed strobe light; we expect to see this in hotel lobbies and trendy restaurants soon.

It’s no secret the folks at the International Space Station have the best scenic views on (and off) the planet; check out this spectacular aurora borealis footage shot by Donald R. Pettit.

AntWorks is the ultimate ant farm: filled with a NASA gel, ants will tunnel and eat through it; once they’ve gone to ant heaven, pour a special resin to create a one-of-a-kind sculpture.

If you can tolerate the trippy soundtrack, the video above is a fascinating look into the world of a graphic artist; watch as Chad Pugh works on his Science Machine print, for sale here.

If you liked Zelda with Tesla Coils, get ready for a “power” trip: Tesla Downunder has over 200 high voltage projects. Above is a Red Alert reenactment; can you spot the engineer?

It was only a matter of time before Minority Report’s gesture tech became a reality; made in part by a science advisor for the movie, Oblong’s g-Speak is a “spatial operating environment.”

Even mad scientists need a little booze every now and then: this Cocktail Chemistry Set includes your standard radioactive and biohazard test tubes, Erlenmeyer flask and a shaker.

Talk about extreme close-up: this desktop USB Microscope plugs directly into your computer with a 200x magnification and 1600×1200 resolution; it’ll even record AVI movies.

With Obama elected president, it’s time to reveal how he’ll get his work done: a horde of mini-Obamas constructed with 150 million carbon nanotubes by UMich engineer John Hart.

Critical thinking champion and Bad Astronomy founder Phil Plait has written Death from the Skies. It’s a collection of plausible end of the world scenarios, sans the 2012 doomsday hype.

Alpay Kasal, a god amongst men: his interactive mirror is a study in human computer interaction, but frankly we just want to draw funny mustaches and play space invaders on it.