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Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA's MESSENGER Spacecraft snapped the very first picture of Mercury from orbit, showing a desolate landscape peppered with impact craters:

"This image is the first ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the solar system's innermost planet," Messenger mission scientists explained in a statement.

The new Mercury photo shows a region around the south pole of Mercury. A 53-mile (85-kilometer) wide crater called Debussy clearly stands out in the upper right of the image, with bright rays emanating from its center.

A smaller crater called Matabei, which is 15 miles (24 km) wide and is known for its "unusual dark rays," is also visible in the image to the west of the Debussy crater, mission managers explained.

Link

Instead of throwing out those ubiquitous phone books (who uses 'em anymore?), try turning them into art. That's what Taiwanese-born artist Chen Long-bin did with unused phone books, newspapers, magazines and discarded books.

Toxel has the gallery: Link

To help us visualize the world's need for water, Matthew Laws and Hal Watts (with photography by Luke Bennett) illustrated the projected use of urban water in various countries by 2030 with kitchen sponges:

Combining their engineer's precision with creativity honed at the London Royal College of Art, Matt and Hal first designed a world map entirely out of cheap kitchen sponges. They then poured water onto each country in amounts proportional to that its expected urban water consumption in 2030. Elegantly literal, the sponges grow in height according to how thirsty the country will be, generating a stark topography of future needs for urban domestic water.

Core77 has the making-of video clip: Link

What's more important to you, warmth or competence?

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School and colleagues did the study and found some interesting things:

This research concludes that by far the strongest influences that we have on one another result from a person's perceived warmth and competence. These two dimensions help us understand how we think about and act toward others.

Some conclusions are that:

• When assessing someone else, warmth plays a more important role than competence.
• When assessing ourselves, we believe that competence (the capability of someone to carry out intentions) is more important.
• Without knowing, we often assume that there is a "trade off" between warmth and competence in a person. These two dimensions help us understand how we think about and act toward others. We admire warm/competent people, envy (and sometimes scapegoat) those who are cold and competent, pity those who are perceived as warm and incompetent, and have contempt for the cold and incompetent.

Link - via Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Of course, it all should depend on *what* the person is doing for you. I'd take a cold-hearted yet competent surgeon over a warm but bumbling doctor any day, but the study isn't about knowing competence - it's about perceiving competence. The last point is particularly intriguing - do you assume that warm people are naturally incompetent and that competent people are cold and mechanical?

I was quite blown away by the intricate details of Charles Clary's hand cut paper art. Design Milk recently caught up with him in this exclusive interview:

What do you enjoy most about working on these installations and why?

It’s pretty much a love/hate relationship with my work but I love everything about making my installations. Hate only comes in when I’ve spent 60 or more hours on one piece and it’s still not done. I mean each installation can have as many as 4000 individual cut sheets of paper, up to 30 panels, and over 14,000 spacers The whole process becomes very meditative, whether its cutting and sanding my supports, or spending days meticulously cutting paper, or cutting all the polystyrene spacers that go in between each layer everything takes so much time that I have to fall in love with it or I’d go crazy.

(YouTube link)

The revolutionary movements of the Middle East, explained by the cast of the game Angry Birds in a retro-animation cartoon set to the tune of the Three Little Pigs. Does that make it all clear now? Of course, the real story isn't over yet. -via Buzzfeed

(YouTube link)

In honor of Pixar's 25th anniversary, YouTube member NkMcDonalds put together a video montage of twelve feature films and 20 short subjects you know and love. -via Slashfilm

Previously: The Beauty of Pixar

The scientist, who has been studying animal anomalies for years, took the cat to X-ray its unusual ears but decided to take her home to his children.

Obryvkov said that the cat named Luntya also has big paws but her behavior does not differ from that of normal cats.

He also said that he wants to mate his new pet with a four-eared cat living in Vladivostok to create a new breed of these fluffy animals.

We see “missing” and “found” posters all the time, but they usually are a source of sadness as a reminder that someone has lost a loved one or a pet. These nineteen posters featured on sidewalks around the globe are funny plays on the classic signs you’re used to seeing.

Cat Found

Is it just me or does this poster remind you of that old wives tale about the old woman who had a pet sewer rat and thought it was a dog? Image via Dig Your Own Grave

Possum Found

Here’s a great twist on the poster above. Image via Babyanimalz

Oregon Trail

Fans of the classic educational game are sure to recognize these types of options that come at a river (or street) crossing. Image by Jeff Wysaski, featured on his website Pleated Jeans

Have You Seen This Cat

I have to admit, this cat is pretty darn awesome. Anyone know what breed it is? Update: Thank you to Miss C and Sir P-S, who have pointed out it is a Pallas's Cat. Image created by Running Amok Zine via Lizzy Stewart [Flickr]