Brainy sofa November 9, 2009

From Wired:

It’s either the ultimate in couch comfort or a totally bizarre idea dreamed up by a pair of designers obsessed with neuroscience. Either way, the “Brainwave Sofa” is clearly a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture.

The couch’s lumpy, bumpy shape is a three-dimensional version of a brain scan, specifically a three-second recording of designer Lucas Maassen’s alpha brain waves as he closed his eyes and thought of the word “comfort.” Data from the electroencephalograph was processed by BioExplorer, a 3-D visualization program, and then fed directly into a milling machine that cut the shape out of soft foam.

The Brainwave Sofa is now on display at the Bits ‘n Pieces Exhibition in New York.

A world-changing map November 6, 2009

A little history, a little word play, and a little cartography, plus seeing where Copernicus got some of his crazy ideas. What better way to get your morning started?

Drawn half a millennium ago and then swiftly forgotten, one map made us see the world as we know it today… and helped name America. But, as Toby Lester has discovered, the most powerful nation on earth also owes its name to a pun.

Almost exactly 500 years ago, in 1507, Martin Waldseemuller and Matthias Ringmann, two obscure Germanic scholars based in the mountains of eastern France, made one of the boldest leaps in the history of geographical thought – and indeed in the larger history of ideas.

Near the end of an otherwise plodding treatise titled Introduction to Cosmography, they announced to their readers the astonishing news that the world did not just consist of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the three parts of the world known since antiquity. A previously unknown fourth part of the world had recently been discovered, they declared, by the Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci, and in his honour they had decided to give it a name: America.

But that was just the beginning. Waldseemuller and Ringman in fact had written the Introduction to Cosmography merely as a companion volume to their magnum opus: a giant and revolutionary new map of the world. It’s known today as the Waldseemuller map of 1507.

Read full article

Latest from Science Gallery October 14, 2009

I occasionally report on events happening at the Science Gallery housed in Dublin. Here’s a cool event which spans two continents, in a way:

15 Oct 09 at 18:30
UPDATE FROM SILICON VALLEY, by Joel Slayton
Paccar Theatre, Science Gallery

Joel Slayton, Executive Director of ZER01 (the art and technology network responsible for the ultra-hip art, technology and digital culture event- 01SJ Biennial), will discuss upcoming plans for the 3rd 01SJ Biennial in 2010 and tell the tale of his work with C5 Corporation – a 10 year collaborative initiative focused on blurring the boundaries of art, research and business practice.  http://www.c5corp.com/.  

Students free (must show student ID) €5 for non-students (10% off original price for members) | Pre-book on http://www.sciencegallery.com/events

In association with TRIARC (Trinity Irish Art Research Centre) and Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, TCD.

high-tech art hunt October 6, 2009

From New York Times:

If you believe, as Maurizio Seracini does, that Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest painting is hidden inside a wall in Florence’s city hall, then there are two essential techniques for finding it. As usual, Leonardo anticipated both of them.

First, concentrate on scientific gadgetry. After spotting what seemed to be a clue to Leonardo’s painting left by another 16th-century artist, Dr. Seracini led an international team of scientists in mapping every millimeter of the wall and surrounding room with lasers, radar, ultraviolet light and infrared cameras. Once they identified the likely hiding place, they developed devices to detect the painting by firing neutrons into the wall.

“Leonardo would love to see how much science is being used to look for his most celebrated masterpiece,” Dr. Seracini said, gazing up at the wall where he hopes the painting can be found, and then retrieved intact. “I can imagine him being fascinated with all this high-tech gear we’re going to set up.”

More at NYT:

Maurizio Seracini, on scaffolding, and the “Battle of Marciano” mural.

Polaroid Pleas September 30, 2009

 

More imaging, and more “old” stuff, although this time not quite as old:

Late last year when Kodak announced it would no longer be manufacturing polaroid film, there was a loud outcry by fans and photographers. Back in May, the New York Times captured some of the polaroid-angst of five photographers who love the Polaroid medium:

Here is a slideshow of the photographers plea for Polaroid (with audio)

NYT also had a related article about how “a small group of Dutch scientists and one irrepressible Austrian salesman have dedicated themselves to the task of reinventing one of the great inventions of the 20th century — Polaroid’s instant film.”

You can also upload scanned images of Polaroid pics and see others’ work here.

An art exhibit in the UK this past week featured some of the finest photos taken on Polaroid film.

Swinger, 2008, by David Bailey

 

So far, Kodak stands firm on its decision.

RIP Polaroid

Art restoration September 25, 2009

The latest science behind restoring and preserving art. From BBC News:

Porcupine quills and cactus spines are among the tools used to prepare a £1m hoard of Viking treasure that went on public show in York on 17 September.

We will never know if the Vikings who buried a princely hoard of silver in a gilded cup near Harrogate in the 10th century expected to see it again.

They surely did not anticipate that the treasure would emerge from the earth after 1,100 years, to be set upon by highly-skilled conservators wielding items such as quills and ultrasound vibrators.

But that is what has happened.

After a “quick turn-round” in the conservation department of the British Museum (BM) the hoard – or some of it; only some 100 of 617 coins have yet been cleaned – is ready to go on show at the Yorkshire Museum.

Much more work remains to be done, say the conservators – but already they are enthusiastic about the quality of the find.

“We had a very tight turn-round time and very few people to deliver it. We were trying to get this to look as good as possible in the least time possible… We only had two or three weeks,” says Fleur Shearman, a metals conservator at the BM.

But, she adds: “apart from soil encrustations and the corrosion related to the lead and a little bit related to the copper in the cup, it’s in superb, really outstanding condition.”

Read full story.

Free Museum Day tomorrow September 25, 2009

September 26th is Annual Museum Day, and lots of museums and parks are offering free admission in celebration. Read on for more:

On Sept. 26, as part of the fifth annual Museum Day program, Smithsonian magazine has convinced more than 1,200 other museums, zoos, and arts and cultural attractions across the country to also welcome visitors for free.

In California, you’ll can use your Museum Day admission card to visit the classic cars displayed at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento (regular adult admission: $8), in New York City you can use your pass at the South Street Seaport Museum (regular adult admission: $10), and in Dallas, your pass will get you into the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (regular admission: $13.50), which explores the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. 

To see the full list of all the participating museums so you can plan your day, visit the Smithsonian’s Museum Day 2009 Web site and poke around. Be ready to be a bit overwhelmed.

Color photos from 1909 Russia September 10, 2009

These are amazing! This guy was creating color photos at the turn on the last century.

self portrait

“The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world–the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia’s diverse population.

“Between 1909-1912, and again in 1915, he completed surveys of eleven regions, traveling in a specially equipped railroad car provided by the Ministry of Transportation.

“We know that Prokudin-Gorskii intended his photographic images to be viewed in color because he developed an ingenious photographic technique in order for these images to be captured in black and white on glass plate negatives, using red, green and blue filters. He then presented these images in color in slide lectures using a light-projection system.”

I am utterly blown away every time I look at these. The technology that went in to making these photos, and the amazing artistry of the photos themselves. Plus the fact that nobody figured out a similar system or other method for color photos until decades later. WOW!

Nomadic Kazakhs on the Steppe

Dissected knit frog! September 9, 2009

One of many cool knitted specimens of science.

What happens when science nerds get hold of knitting needles and crochet hooks? Marvelous, wonderful things, that’s what! Here is a sampling of discovery magazine’s favorite knitted and crocheted science creations.

This gallery includes Daina Taimina’s geometric forms that inspired the crocheted coral reef that have put the Institute for Figuring on the map (relatively).

A cute little dissected knit frog

   See the whole gallery, including a colored 3D diagram of the brain!

The Art of Science: the video! September 8, 2009

From Livescience:

Drawing on her scientific background, Susan Eriksson creates mixed-media sculptures, paintings, and installations. She blends scientific discipline with the inspiration that drives successful artists in the studio and scientists in the laboratory.

Click here for Video

Credit: NSF