Wheel of Stars

Data visualization specialist Jim Bumgardner has created a sidereal time clock called the Wheel of Stars which depicts the night sky as a music box. Based on data from the ESA's Hipparcos satellite, the wheel revolves around Polaris, and as stars cross the line between zero and 180 degrees, they sound off as chimes, based on their BV measurement and magnitude. Moving as fast as the Earth spins, it takes 24 hours to complete a full circle. Further fun with math, music, and circles can be enjoyed with his Whitney Music Box.

Eureka!

From the double-helix to the expansion of the universe, great scientific discoveries reshape our understanding of who we are and how things work. But great discoveries require more than just a great mind. We tour brainy breakthroughs from Archimedes to Darwin, and find out what made their revolutionary insights possible.

Also, why you need more than a stratospheric I.Q. to be a super-achiever. And how the invention of reading re-directed the course of civilization and re-wired our brains in the process.

You can hear it right here!
Part 1 - Alan Hirshfeld
Part 2 - Fog Newton
Part 3 - Angela Duckworth
Part 4 - Richard Holmes
Part 5 - Stanislas Dehaene

Eureka! - Alan Hirshfeld

Part 1 of Eureka!, featuring Alan Hirshfeld, Professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and author of Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes.

Eureka! - Fog Newton

Part 2 of Eureka! Newton's law of universal gravitation is lost in a haze of 8 bit sound effects.

Eureka! - Angela Duckworth

Part 3 of Eureka!, featuring Angela Duckworth, Psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Her grit study can be found here (PDF).

Eureka! - Richard Holmes

Part 4 of Eureka!, featuring Richard Holmes, Author of The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science.

Eureka! - Stanislas Dehaene

Part 5, the final segment of Eureka!, featuring Stanislas Dehaene, cognitive neruoscientist at the the Collège de France in Paris, and author of Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention.