How does Curiosity compare to NASA's other roving Martian robots?

Ever wondered how long it would take to travel from Rome to Constantinople at the peak of the Roman Empire? Or from Luna to Larissa? Or Parma to Thessalonica? This map of the Roman World created at Stanford University is awesomely realistic — all the ancient transportation lines on it actually existed 2,000 years ago.

The contrasting colors orange and blue appear together so often in movie posters and videogame box art as to inspire countless blog posts, tumblrs, and even their own entry on TV Tropes. Intrigued by the entertainment industry's orange/blue affinity, Edmund Helmer — a masters student studying statistics at Stanford —…

Data visualization expert John Nelson uses graphic design to illustrate risk. In his latest infographic, he plots the perilousness of driving — something many of us will be doing a lot of in the coming weeks. Using traffic fatality data collected between 2006 and 2010, Nelson set out to look for daily, weekly, monthly, …

Here now to provide a some perspective on the matter of mortality is a variegated patchwork comprising 188 of the world's countries, with each nation color-coded in accordance with the average life expectancy of its citizens.

The sun's disc and solar corona as observed by ultraviolet-sensing equipment aboard NASA's Orbiting Solar Observatory-7, launched from Cape Kennedy in September 1971. Regions of intense solar activity have been visualized upon columns of data. Vintage datavis for the win. [Click here for hi-res]

Data visualization expert John Nelson likes to illustrate risk. Usually he focuses on individual events, but in recent months he's directed his design talents towards a series of bigger projects, in the interest of communicating information about "general geographic trends in existential risk." Translation: beautiful…

Check out this elegant infographic by Invader Xan, molecular astrophysicist and master of ceremonies at astronomy blog Supernova Condensate. Here, silhouetted in colors that correspond to their present state of operation, you'll find twenty iconic spaceships and space stations situated beneath the only fictional…