archiemcphee:

London-based designer Sophie de Oliveira Barata creates some of the most jaw-droppingly awesome prosthetics we’ve ever seen.

Sophie comes from an art background, with a first class honours degree at London Arts University where she studied Special Effects prosthetics for film and T.V. She then went on to work for 8 years, as a sculptor making realistic looking, bespoke prosthetics for amputees at one of the leading prosthetic providers. She worked in all areas sculpting fingers, toes, partial feet , partial hands, bespoke liners and leg and arm covers for amputees. In her spare time she made more experimental art work in this medium, before setting up her own studio.

Known as The Alternative Limb Project, Sophie works as a specialist consultant with other prosthetists and produces both artificial limbs that look completely realistic as well as limbs created using imaginative ideas provided by the clients themselves. “She can interpret your ideas and create a unique design that will reflect your interests and personality.”

As you can see here, Sophie’s work is truly astonishing. As well as being completely functional prostheses, these amazing limbs are also unique works of art.

Each of her designs offer a sense of individuality, allowing the customer to express their personality through their synthetic appendages. The artist says, “Having an alternative limb is about claiming control and saying ‘I’m an individual and this reflects who I am.’”

Visit The Alternative Limb Project website to learn more about Sophie’s awesome work and check out more of her creations.

[via My Modern Metropolis]

odditiesoflife:

Fire Tornadoes

The fire tornado or fire devil, one of nature’s rarest phenomenon, is caused when a column of superheated, rising air comes into contact with a wildfire. Basically its a tornado composed of fire instead of dust.

Film-maker Chris Tangey of Alice Springs Film and Television was filming a wildfire in Curtin Springs, Australia, when a small twister touched down causing it to build into a spinning flame. Just 300 meters away was a 30 meter high fire swirl which “sounded like a fighter jet” despite there being no wind in the area. The tornado that Tangey caught on camera reportedly lasted for more than 40 minutes.

(Source: Daily Mail)

odditiesoflife:

The Tessellated Tiles of Tasmania

Strangely created by nature and not man are the tessellated tiles of Tasmania. Located near the southern end of Tasmania on the Tasman Peninsula, Eaglehawk Neck is a thin stretch of land which links two Islands. It is the Earth’s finest example of tessellated pavement.

Tessellated pavement is an extremely rare erosional feature that forms in flat sedimentary rock lying on ocean shores. The pavement earned this name due to rocks fracturing into polygonal blocks that resemble tiles or tessellations. The resulting patterns are another example of nature’s beauty and mystery.

odditiesoflife:

The Most Rare Colored Fruit

The tiny, rock-hard fruits of Pollia condensata, a wild plant that grows in the forests of several African countries, can’t be eaten. But they have an extremely rare property for a plant. They stay vibrant, metallic blue for many decades, even after they’ve been picked. They produce the most intense color ever studied in biological tissue. 

The vast majority of colors in the biological world are produced by pigments—compounds produced by a living organism that selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light, so that they appear to be the color of whichever wavelengths they reflect.

However, Pollia condensata produces its vibrant blue color through nanoscale-sized cellulose strands that scatter light as they interact with one another. Thus the fruit’s color is visible at the cellular level as pictured above.

rosalarian:

Angelina Jolie had a double mastectomy, in case you hadn’t heard. How dare she remove those ticking time bombs from her chest, amiright? Like, hasn’t she learned by now that her body is public domain and we all get to vote on what she does with it? Sheesh, how selfish can ya get.

wnycradiolab:

Julie Mecoli’s “Dark Matter” is a series of artworks inspired by the University of Queensland Pitch Drop Experiment (if you want to seriously geek out about this, our story on the experiment is right here). 

Mecoli’s pieces are made of bitumen.  They start out looking like solids and slooooowly reveal their true liquid nature.  Check out some of her other work here.

(via freshphotons)

odditiesoflife:

The Glowing Spider-Worms of New Zealand

For over one hundred years, millions of tourists have flocked to the ancient limestone Waitomo Caves on New Zealand’s North Island, where a stunning species of fungus gnat called Arachnocampa luminosa live.

Unique to New Zealand and Australia, they are found in caves, grottoes, and other sheltered places. Arachnocampa means ‘spider-worm,’ as the gnat is known for the way their larvae hang strong vertical silk threads from their underground habitats. Since the larvae are luminescent, the thousands of tiny threads light up cave ceilings like a starry sky.

odditiesoflife:

Stockholm’s Subway

The most beautifully designed subway tunnels in the world are found in Stockholm, Sweden. The grand architecture reminds its travelers that they are deep underground. Featuring painted cave walls and ceilings, the design is more like an art gallery than a subway.

archiemcphee:

Please brace yourself against something or someone sturdy. It’s time for another visit to the Department of Incapacitating Cuteness:

This itty-bitty creature, who looks like he/she just had one too many pancakes for breakfast, is part of a new species of mouse lemur.

Microcebus mittermeieri is one of three newly announced mouse lemur species found on the African island of Madagascar.

Photo by Mark Thiessen

[via National Geographic]

jensensations:

(via iuijdlsdfkjdjks)