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Warning: this film features flashing light that could be unsuitable for photosensitive viewers.
The recently released images from the James Webb Space Telescope are dazzling accomplishments of human ingenuity. They’re also processed for maximum awe-inducing effect, with multiple pictures often combined to form one pristine image, and colours recalibrated for the human eye. The experimental short Brilliant Noise (2006) finds beauty in the unvarnished and little-seen imagery of space observation in its rawest form. Composed of gritty black and white videos built from NASA’s open data portal, the film features a compilation of solar-flare activity, complete with the flickering and static that are usually smoothed over in NASA-released public-outreach videos. Stripped down to their essence, these sequences possess a direct and guttural power – like a punk-rock alternative to the refined imagery that abounds in social media feeds.
Directors: Ruth Jarman, Joe Gerhardt
Website: Semiconductor
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Animals and humans
Why be dragons? How massive, reptilian beasts entered our collective imagination
58 minutes
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Biology
How the world’s richest reds are derived from an innocuous Mexican insect
5 minutes
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Physics
The abyss at the edge of human understanding – a voyage into a black hole
4 minutes
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Chemistry
Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?
12 minutes
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Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
11 minutes
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Astronomy
The history of astronomy is a history of conjuring intelligent life where it isn’t
34 minutes
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Metaphysics
Simple entities in universal harmony – Leibniz’s evocative perspective on reality
4 minutes
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
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Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes