Author: Brent Lambert

Whenever you watch an old Hollywood movie or hear a clip from a radio broadcast of the same era, chances are you will hear that strangely familiar accent that you can’t quite explain. It’s one-part British, one-part New Yorky, and one-part full-on nasal. Up until today I always used to think that it was a very real accent, but thanks to the team at Brain Stuff I’ve learned exactly what it is and where it came from, and you can heck it out above. I’ve never been much of a fan of old Hollywood movies, but I never miss a…

Kouhei Nakama is the filmmaker behind the extraordinary new visual effects video above entitled “Diffusion”. The video is an exploration of what appears to be cellular division or spore growth patterns which radiate in symmetrical and mirrored formations. Nakama’s brief description is all but one simple question: “Why don’t humans have patterned texture like animals?” You can see the mesmerizing results above, set to the track “Highway To The Stars” by Kai Engel.

During the Big Bang, our universe sprang into existence out of nothingness. So how does that work? How do you get something from nothing? Turns out, it happens all the time. Start your new year with more mind-bending physics from Explanimator. And in another video the team at Explanimator reveal the answer to the question: “Is the Universe infinite?” You can watch it HERE.

The term “higher consciousness” can sound mystical and possibly irritating to some folks, but it shouldn’t. It just captures how we see things when we go beyond our own egos. In a beautifully animated video produced by his project, The School of Life, philosopher Alain de Botton explains how we can look at the concept of higher consciousness from a neurological perspective, without the need of drugs or spiritual mumbo jumbo. The video was made in collaboration with the team at Mad Adam Films. For more amazingness from The School of Life visit TheSchoolOfLife.com and visit their shop HERE.

Every now and then a story comes along that is so extraordinary it bewilders me as to how or why it’s not common knowledge everywhere. This one comes from the small city of Sucre, Bolivia in western South America where there is a rock face filled with over 5,000 dinosaur footprints from over 68 million years ago known as “Cal Orko”. Once a flat lakeshore and now a limestone quarry (and dinosur museum) the footprints were quickly preserved by a prolonged drought which dried the prints and turned them into limestone.

With every new STAR WARS release comes the predictable backlash of cinephiles who lash out at the over-commercialization of the most famous franchise in movie history. And J.J. Abrams’ upcoming STAR WARS: The Force Awakens is no exception. I can’t even count the number of times in the past few weeks I’ve heard someone ridicule the new film for the massive media machine that has linked the film to every possible brand and product in the galaxy. But beyond the hype, the ads, and all the explosions, there is a very noble and very eternal message that rests zen-like beneath it all.

Over the course of 30 months between 1976 and 1978 Italian industrial designer, architect, and artist, Luigi Serafini, created the Codex Seraphinianus, one of the strangest and most intriguing encyclopedias ever published. Released in 1981 and containing about 360 pages (depending on the edition), the Codex contains a vast array of drawings, illustrations, and an indecipherable imaginary language. Philosophers have tried to explain its meaning, and code breakers have tried to reveal the secrets (if any) of the language itself. Great Big Story sat down with the man behind the book to see if they could find some answers.