Volume rendering, a new feature in Mathematica 9, provides an efficient way to visualize very large data sets. I first learned of this feature from reading Jeffery Bryant’s post on the Wolfram blog.

Art Heist Last week, burglars stole seven paintings from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. The paintings included works by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, and Matisse. The loot is likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but the loss of these great pieces surpasses anything that can be calculated as a monetary figure.

You’ve probably already experienced the agony that accompanies an infection of Carly Rae Jepsen’s inane earworm “Call Me Maybe”. You’ve probably also been subjected to the current number one song in America, Flo Rida’s “Whistle”, a ditty whose only creative merit is its ability to evade censorship despite its explicit subject material.