Science

Pictures of the Week (slideshow)

Buzz Aldrin pitches a galactic currency, the White House gets all social and joins Instagram, and Obi Wan's lightsaber IRL. These are some of the best (and geekiest) pictures of the week.

James Martin

James Martin is the Managing Editor of Photography at CNET. His photos capture technology's impact on society - from the widening wealth gap in San Francisco, to the European refugee crisis and Rwanda's efforts to improve health care. From the technology pioneers of Google and Facebook, photographing Apple's Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai, to the most groundbreaking launches at Apple and NASA, his is a dream job for any documentary photography and journalist with a love for technology. Exhibited widely, syndicated and reprinted thousands of times over the years, James follows the people and places behind the technology changing our world, bringing their stories and ideas to life.

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James Martin

June 28, 2013 2:02 p.m. PT

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1 of 8 Screenshot/Jennifer Van Grove/CNET

The White House joins Instagram

Buzz Aldrin pitched a galactic currency and the White House joined Instagram. Also, Obi Wan's lightsaber IRL. Check out some of the best (and geekiest) pictures from this week -- and a few from last.

The official Instagram account for President Barack Obama's administration is here. The White House decided to break in its new account Wednesday with a photo of the Marine One helicopter taking off as the first family leaves for a trip to Africa.

2 of 8 James Martin/CNET

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin says he's not very good at handling his personal finances, but he knows the ability to pay for things while in space is an important part of getting humans on Mars.

When asked about his role in PayPal's new galactic money transfers initiative, announced Thursday during an event at the SETI Institute, Aldrin said he's not taking an active role because he's leaving problems associated with financing and transactions to the experts at PayPal.

3 of 8 Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A working Apple-1

A working Apple-1 computer, signed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, built in 1976, is displayed during the First Bytes: Iconic Technology From the Twentieth Century, an online auction featuring vintage tech products at the Computer History Museum on June 24 in Mountain View, Calif.

Christie's is auctioning off an original Apple-1 computer owned by Ted Perry as part of its online auction of vintage tech products. The auction runs through July 9.

4 of 8 Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

World's largest solar boat

A journalist takes photos of the solar panels on the world's largest solar boat, Switzerland's MS Turanor PlanetSolar, on June 18 at North Cove Marina in New York.

The solar-powered boat runs exclusively on energy from the sun and eliminates the need for fueled electricity, allowing researchers to collect uncontaminated data along the Gulf Stream with high-tech instruments that track changes in ocean currents and climate. Solar panels cover more than 5,554 square feet of the ship's surface.

5 of 8 Yoshikazu Tsuno /AFP/Getty Images

'Mixed Reality' (MR) goggles

Canon displays a prototype model of handheld Mixed Reality (MR) goggles at the annual Virtual Reality Expo in Tokyo on June 19. Canon developed a similar system last year with a special head-mount display, which shows a merged image of real and virtual worlds and will be commercialized with the new system this year.

6 of 8 AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Return capsule of the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft

Technicians inspect the return capsule of the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft carrying three Chinese astronauts after it landed in the grasslands of north China's Inner Mongolia region on June 26, following a 15-day mission in space. China completed its longest manned space mission on June 26 as the spacecraft and crew members safely returned to Earth, in a major step toward Beijing's goal of building a permanent space station by 2020.

7 of 8 Brad Lewis

Building Obi-Wan's lightsaber

One could say that Brad Lewis -- a BioWare senior visual-effects artist who works on the Star Wars: The Old Republic role-playing game -- wields a certain affinity for "Star Wars." After all, his personal blog Slothfurnace features systematic build guides for half a dozen previously created lightsabers that completely outshine those frail plastic toys that occupy countless toy shelves.

Lewis' latest work, modeled after Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber in "Star Wars: A New Hope," features some astounding attention to detail that would delight any fan of the epic sci-fi series.

8 of 8 Yuhan Zhang

The disco motorcycle

Called the Marshall Dicycle, this wild "disco motorcycle" concept vehicle is designed around Marshall amps, although the look of the thing seems to skew more toward "Tron" than Marshall's rather traditional style.