Just as the Earth revolves around the sun, nearly all life upon the Earth revolves around and is dependent upon it. The sun feeds and powers us, its light guided the evolution of our eyes, and it illuminates our myths and metaphors. Even so, it projects damaging ultraviolet radiation, and one day it will expand into a red giant and consume us along with much of the solar system. For the next five billion or so years however, the sun will continue to warm us, regulate our circadian rhythms, and encourage us to spend long summer days at the beach. This issue looks at all the ways we relate to the sun, but also, for contrast, a few of those other lights that shine not from above but from beneath the ground -- the geothermal activity of volcanos, and the luminous colors of crystal growth.
A young Navajo girl must find a way to heat her home in order to save her asthma-stricken mother from a bitter winter storm. Filmed on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. Starring Misty Upham and Magdalena Begay Recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant Without Fire is dedicated in memoriam o
In the Mojave Desert in California there are thousands of huge solar panels that follow the sun. They Shine registers their movement like a slow dance based on a sophisticated choreography, punctuated by the comments of local people about these strange devices. The desert is not only a place that is
To watch this film, visit Sloan Science & Film . Tree returns to her home town, a remote village in China where most young people have left for big opportunities in the city. She tries to solve the power shortage problem by installing a solar panel on the roof. Introducing new technology to her home
Brilliant Noise takes us into the data vaults of solar astronomy. After sifting through hundreds of thousands of computer files, made accessible via open access archives, Semiconductor have brought together some of the sun's finest unseen moments. These images have been kept in their most raw form,
Narrated by anthropologist Nina Jablonski, this engaging animation shows how human skin cells produce the pigment melanin, which gives skin its color. To view a short film on the evolution of skink color, go to http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/bi... To download this video and to discover related m
Rusty machines living in their small houses imagine that the sun will come and take them to the sky someday. A small light keeps them alive and dreaming. But one of the machines wants to see the sun itself and has a plan.
Digitally and energetically, light and its origins drive our circadian rhythms, our internal clocks, and affect the retina. Notably, blue light, in the realm of 400 to 500 nanometers, has become increasingly pervasive, just as our light sources have homogenized. How might this unwind us?
Oft-reviled, pond scum is actually the vital foundation of a freshwater aquatic food web. Comprised of photosynthesizing algae and bacteria, pond scum can be surprisingly beautiful up close. This short film features various microorganisms feasting on a jewel-like underwater bounty. Ushering the sun'
Solar flares don't just create beautiful polar lights, but can also damage satellites and disrupt power grids. Astrophysicist Sami Solanki attached a telescope to a giant helium balloon to research into the activity of the Sun.
We see an organism called a Heliozoan or "sun animal" sitting pretty as its busy neighbors go about their frenetic business. The heliozoan has a guest. Those green dots inside are green algal cells. They live protected inside the heliozoan (it is coated in scales and spikes), and in return, they pay
In a world increasingly concerned with questions of energy production and raw material shortages, this project explores the potential of desert manufacturing, where energy and material occur in abundance. Solar-sintering aims to raise questions about the future of manufacturing and trigger dreams of
Space, forms, colours and sounds symbolise a recognisable world. New beginnings put an end to familiar patterns. Do we shape as much as we are shaped? My graduation film from the Royal College of Art. See how it was made here: vimeo.com/102655097 And have a listen to the music here: soundcloud.com/j
A young man, accompanied by his mysterious mechanical bear, visits an abandoned observatory to confront memories of his past and follow his Father on a journey into the unknown. A magical journey about relationships and what it is to be human.
part of Orbit(Film) For thousands of years, humanity has watched the sun with a mixture of fear and awe, believing without knowing why, that our lives depend on its mysterious undulations. The sun has changed, our sense of wonder has not. Now more than ever, we must look at the sun. Rooftop Films an
The newest work to emerge from Harvard's groundbreaking Sensory Ethnography Lab – the collective behind documentaries like Leviathan, Sweetgrass and Manakamana – Joana Pimenta's mesmerizing short film is a ghost story about buried cities, lost civilizations and Western colonialism. Obser
Throughout their youth, sunflowers track the sun from east to west and turn back east overnight to await the sun. But what do they get out of it? Learn more: http://scim.ag/2aY3RJL Read the research ($): http://scim.ag/2aANKTC JOIN AAAS: http://scim.ag/2bxrxnH
Sleep. Do we get enough? The latest developments in circadian biology research are uncovering the detrimental effects that a lack of sleep can have to our well-being. Sleepless is the result of a two year conversation between artist Ellie Land and scientist Professor Peter Oliver about the links now
ICARUS is an animated short documentary created using George Yoshitake's voice. Yoshitake was the last survivor among the secret group of cameramen, who between 1945 and 1962, filmed the nuclear tests made by the US Army at the Nevada desert and the Pacific Ocean. The sound of his voice triggers the
A poem searching for the everyday moments in the life of plants triggered by light. From dusk to dawn across a city, an allotment, a field, a plant laboratory, an LED farm exploring the boundaries between nature and industry and questioning our influence.
Light patterns that show up around the Sun, technically called parhelia, are a natural phenomenon that has fascinated mankind for at least 2300 years, since Aristotle's time. In cold regions, sunlight interacts with small ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere and, under certain conditions, gives