New Travel Guide Videos: “Osaka – Japan” (Expedia)

Osaka – Venture to Japan’s third-largest city and discover the rich blend of traditional and modern culture, from temples to anime.

Osaka is a large port city and commercial center on the Japanese island of Honshu. It’s known for its modern architecture, nightlife and hearty street food. The 16th-century shogunate Osaka Castle, which has undergone several restorations, is its main historical landmark. It’s surrounded by a moat and park with plum, peach and cherry-blossom trees. Sumiyoshi-taisha is among Japan’s oldest Shinto shrines.

Travels With A Curator: “Villa Barbaro, Maser” In Italy (The Frick Video)

In this week’s episode of “Travels with a Curator,” join Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, on an excursion to one of his favorite places in the world, Villa Barbaro in Maser, Italy. Designed in the sixteenth century by Andrea Palladio, the villa is decorated floor to ceiling with magnificent frescoes by Paolo Veronese. The Frick is home to two allegorical paintings by Veronese that he produced in the 1560s, shortly after completing his work on the villa.

New Wildlife Books: “A Lifetime in Galápagos” By Tui De Roy (Princeton)

Featuring hundreds of breathtaking color photos, this stunning book guides you into labyrinthine mangroves to observe nesting herons, to misty cloud forests to glimpse flycatchers and orchids, high onto erupting volcanoes, and into the ocean to swim with hammerhead sharks. 

A beautifully illustrated and deeply personal chronicle of De Roy’s lifelong connection with these spectacular islands

A Lifetime In Galapagos - Tui De Roy - Princeton Press - July 20 2020Tui De Roy was a year old in 1955 when her family left Europe, boarding a banana boat bound for the Pacific to lead a different sort of life in Galápagos, one of self-sufficiency and living close to nature. She grew up on the islands and returned to them often over the next five decades. Discovering photography at a young age, she has dedicated her life to recording the islands’ natural history in infinite detail. A Lifetime in Galápagos is De Roy’s intimate portrait of one of the most spectacular places on Earth, presenting the wildlife and natural wonders of Galápagos as you have never seen them before.

De Roy’s lens provides up-close encounters with orca and sperm whales, colonies of iguanas, and the giant tortoises of Alcedo Volcano. She paints unforgettable portraits of her childhood in Galápagos―the islands at night under the stars of the Milky Way, sea lions at play and on the hunt, the diverse birdlife of Galápagos, and much more.

Blending striking images with vivid prose, A Lifetime in Galápagos also discusses the threats that global warming and other environmental challenges pose to the archipelago’s unique wildlife and fragile habitats.

Read more or purchase

Travel & Architecture: “Windsor Castle” In Berkshire, England (Video)

Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is notable for its long association with the English and later British royal family and for its architecture. The original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror.

Top New Science Podcasts: Exploring Graphene’s Superconductivity, Covid-19 In The Air & Lungs

Nature PodcastProbing the superconducting properties of graphene and a bacteria that can use manganese to grow. If you sandwich two sheets of graphene together and twist one in just the right way, it can gain some superconducting properties. Now, physicists have added another material to this sandwich which stabilises that superconductivity, a result that may complicate physicists’ understanding of magic angles. 

08:22 Coronapod

With evidence mounting that SARS-CoV2 can spread in tiny aerosolized droplets, researchers have called on the WHO to change their guidance for disease prevention. News: Mounting evidence suggests coronavirus is airborne — but health advice has not caught up; Research article: Morwaska et al.; WHO: Transmission of SARS-CoV-2: implications for infection prevention precautions

19:27 Research Highlights

Repairing human lungs by hooking them up to pigs, and a new form of carbon. Research Highlight: How to use a live pig to revitalize a human lungResearch Highlight: This material is almost as hard as diamond — but as light as graphite

21:46 Manganese munchers

For decades it’s been thought that microbes that use manganese as an energy source must exist. Now, for the first time, researchers have found evidence that they do. Research Article: Yu and Leadbetter

29:12 Briefing Chat

We take a look at some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time we discuss DNA evidence of contact between ancient Native Americans and Polynesians, reintroduction of bison to the UK, and the first extinction of a modern marine fish. Nature News: Ancient voyage carried Native Americans’ DNA to remote Pacific islandsThe Guardian: Wild bison to return to UK for first time in 6,000 yearsScientific American: 

Top Short Films: “Ripening” -Chef Oliver Rowe And His 15-Year “Food” Journey

Directed by: Stephen Ashwell and Miriam van Ernst

Executive Producer: Adam Penny
Cinematography: Stephen Ashwell
Producer: Miriam van Ernst

In 2005, Connected Pictures made a ten-part documentary for the BBC about chef Oliver Rowe, setting up a restaurant in Kings Cross and sourcing all his food from within London. The series was a global success, showing around the world for many years after. Since then, the seasonal and local food landscape has exploded.

However, Oliver’s journey hasn’t been quite as smooth in 2018 he wrote a book called ‘A Food for All Seasons’ about his relationship with food.

Together with director Stephen Ashwell ,we made a film to talk about his journey to today and about the important role food has played throughout his life.

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Morning News: Testing Buildings For Covid-19, Small Firms & Visas

Axios TodayBuildings are getting tested for coronavirus, too. Research teams in Oregon are conducting real-time coronavirus tests on ventilation systems in buildings that could be essential for returning to the office or school.

  • Plus, small businesses are facing an existential threat.
  • And, in a rare move, the Trump administration rescinds a recent guideline that would have sent hundreds of thousands of international students packing.

Guests: Axios’ Joann Muller, Dion Rabouin, and Mike Allen.

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Artist Profile: Russian Abstract Painter Wassily Kandinsky (Sotheby’s)

Wassily Kandinsky
Wasslily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky is widely considered one of the key artists in the development of 20th century abstraction. In this video, discover how an ability to see colours as sounds, and a fascination with spirituality in art, led Kandinsky to his breakthrough. Our upcoming cross-category ‘Rembrandt to Richter’ Evening Sale (28 July | London) features two jewel-like works by Kandinsky. ‘Murnau – Schloss Und Kirche II’ is an oil from Kandinsky’s sought-after 1908-1911 period. ‘Ohne Titel (Komposition)’ from 1914-15, is an exquisite watercolour in which Kandinsky finds harmony in colours that represent spirituality and intense passion. Both works come from an outstanding family collection of works from the European avant-garde.

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated at Grekov Odessa Art school. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics.

Artwork Tours: Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Bedroom” (Art Institute Chicago)

On this episode of Art Institute Essentials Tour, take a closer look at The Bedroom, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889. Vincent van Gogh painted three versions, including this one, of his bedroom in the “Yellow House” in Arles, France. To van Gogh, this picture symbolized relaxation and peace. However, to our eyes the canvas seems to teem with nervous energy, instability, and turmoil—an effect heightened by the sharply receding perspective.

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Top New Timelapse Videos: “Vorticity 3 (4K)” – Storm Chasing By Mike Olbinski

Filmed and Edited by: Mike Olbinski

This past spring was definitely a crazy time. I wasn’t even sure how much I’d be able to chase with everything going on, but luckily the storms waited until the middle of May to truly get going and things seemingly had gotten much better then and made chasing possible.

One thing you will notice in this film is a lack of tornadoes. It was a bad year for them right up until July when I stopped chasing! But the structure was magnificent. So many legendary days. I wasn’t even planning on doing a film this year, as I was figuring to do what I did with the previous Vorticity: Wait to gather up two years worth of footage in order to give you nothing but the very best. Incredibly, this year was so good, I had no idea how NOT to do a film, because if next year was anywhere close, I’d be making a 30 minute movie or having to leave a ton of clips on the cutting room floor.

So I started to work on it, first with the music as always…and I love Ryan Taubert. His album “Fool” actually had four tracks on it I love, but individually they didn’t quite have it all. So I spent a few hours, blended four of them, came up with a nine minute song and boom, went to work!

I wanted to do something a little more methodical, slower paced and majestic this time, fitting with the music and the footage. I hope you enjoy that! The lightning was off charts this year for me, so much night-time structure and awesomeness, plus the daytime supercells were incredible.

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News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious