Crazy, Cool and Weird Stuff

A group of engineers from Duke University and University of Arizona recently have managed to build a camera with 5 times better than human vision of 20/20.

The camera was built by synchronizing 98 tiny cameras into one device and a computer processor will then compiles all the image captured by the cameras using a software developed by a team led by Michael Gehm.

The 50 Gigapixel Camera with 2 and half feet square and 20 inches deep

The typical consumer camera ranges from 8 to 40 megapixels only and by comparison, the image produced by this new camera will have 12++ more pixels than consumer camera. This undoubtedly will create an image with excruciating details.

Even with the 50 Gigapixel of resolution, the optic part of the camera only constitutes around 3% of the overall size of the camera and the rest is divided into processors and electronics used to assemble the information gathered by the optic.

Example of a picture taken by the high resolution camera

Currently, the highest amount of pixels in a picture is 272 Gigapixels, created by Alfred Zhao using 12000 images all taken in Shanghai, China. You can see the picture and the amount of details in this website. Engineers in this team claim that with smaller electronics and processors are being made, camera with this resolution may be able for general consumer and everyday photographers.

Source: Here.

Below are some characters, that you might have seen throughout your life. Some of them may be familiar to you and some of them are not. 

Dr R. Andrew Hicks, a math professor at Drexel University has successfully eliminates 'blind spot' in current design of side mirror by introducing a curved side mirror. Normal side mirror is often flat, giving you around 17 degrees field of view. This revolutionize side mirror, on the other hand, can give you field of view around 45 degrees, allowing you to see more as compared to flat side mirror.

The curvy side mirror might gave you a wider field of view but the visual distortion on the mirror which can make straight line looks curvy presents with great risks, hence no car companies want to try and use it. But Dr Hicks invention on the other hand is created with mathematical algorithm so that the visual distortion is minimized and in his invention, the curvy straight line is barely detectable, suggesting low visual distortion, but still, object appears in a distance when in reality it is much closer.

In the curvy mirror above, the silver car is seen at a distance but is much closer in reality. However, the field of view in above mirror allows driver to see details that aren't present in flat mirror.

The metaphor given by Dr Hicks to his invention is like disco balls bouncing off light. We can imagine the mirror's surface is created with thousands of smaller mirrors and the algorithm will manipulate each of these smaller mirrors' direction so that the resulting big mirror will give wider view to the driver without distorting the visual appearance on the mirror.

His invention though great, but it won't be installed in any new car soon because of US regulations that a car must have flat side mirror or a phrase 'Objects in mirror are closer than they appear' must be included for curve mirror. Nevertheless, this is a good invention to eliminate the high statistics of vehicle accidents in the whole wide world. Dr Andrew Hicks also have designed several bizarre mirrors. You can check it out here.

Source: Here

Eidetic comes from Greed word eidos which means "seen". Eidetic memory means the ability to recall any visual/audio events with perfect accuracy and details. People who claim to have this kind of memory possess the skills to exactly remember an event, for example the event in a ball room, where he/she can recall where the person was standing, the people around him/her, the shirt they were wearing, food they ate down to what kind of conversation that they were having.

There are several series depicting a genius with this kind of memory for example Dr Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds and Dr Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. In real life however, the case of eidetic memory have yet to be understood fully but there are a few who claim to have this memory for example Stephen Wiltshire, a British architectural artist that can draw a landscape after seeing it once. Another person, Daniel Tammet, also a British citizen, who can recall the number pi up to 22 000 digits.

Dr Spencer Reid holds Ph.D in Math, Chemistry and Engineering as well as B.A. in Philosophy.

Dr Sheldon Cooper portrayed by Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory.

Psychologically, people who have eidetic memory sometimes suffer from a condition known as autism, a medical condition characterized by problems in social interaction and communication together with repetitive behavior. Generally, people who have eidetic memory suffer also with autism but people who suffer from autism may not have eidetic memory.


There are several myths involving photographic memory especially as to whether normal people can acquire it or not. Most of the techniques that claim to help you acquire this memory are actually memory improvement technique, not the actual eidetic memory. Nevertheless, it is always good to improve your memory as it may helps you from time to time.

Source: here and if you like to read about some of the myths, you can go here.

In space exploration, there are terms where researchers use in order to determine the distance of a star from earth. The two most common terms are astronomical unit, which is equivalent to approximately 150 million kilometers or the mean distance from earth to sun, and the other unit is light year, which is the distance of light travel by a year or 9.5*10^13 kilometers.

The video below shows how the distance of two stars between universe is measured. The video used only simple terms and people with no scientific background can also understand this. Give it a whirl.