I vividly remember being offended throughout my high-school education because ‘atoms’ where consistently presented as these perfect slick round little spheres. At one time I even called the teacher a fabricator of lies and shouted: “Atoms aren’t balls!!”.
Of course the poor man couldn’t help it, as it was just decided to teach us high-school kids a outdated, simplified 19th century version of the atom model, rather than confusing us with subatomic particles like protons, neutron, up-quarks, down-quarks, gluons and what do you have nowadays.
In retrospect I was just a kid trying to be witty after having flipped through some of the science magazines of my dad, who was a physicist. Nonetheless, I always remained keen on the underestimated role of simulations in modern science.
Are you still reading? Then this call for proposals might be for you. The STRP Festival, Institute of Complex Molecular Systems, and Animation Studio invite artists, designers and scientists to develop a new visual language for molecular structures.
“Recently, a new problem has emerged for molecular scientists. For many decennia they have used a world-wide accepted way of representing molecules, even though these molecules have never really been seen. Unfortunately, this language is not suitable to represent the increasing complexity of the molecular systems and dynamic processes that are subject of modern research. … We think that a breakthrough in this area is only possible with ideas of people with different specialisms.”
Download the full Call for Proposals (pdf).
Scientists of the University of Pennsylvania are creating electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body, through the use of thin, flexible silicon electronics on silk substrates.
While implanted electronics must usually be encased to protect them from the body, these electronics don’t need protection. The whole process is pretty much seamless: The electronics on the flexible silk substrates conform to biological tissue. The silk melts away over time and the thin silicon circuits left behind don’t cause irritation because they are just nanometers thick.
To make the devices, silicon transistors about one millimeter long and 250 nanometers thick are collected on a stamp and then transferred to the surface of a thin film of silk. The silk holds each device in place, even after the array is implanted in an animal – so far the technique is tested on mice – and wetted with saline, causing it to conform to the tissue surface.
In a paper published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the researchers report that such circuits can be implanted in animals with no adverse effects. And the performance of the transistors on silk inside the body doesn’t suffer.
The researchers are now developing silk-silicon LEDs that might act as photonic tattoos that can show blood-sugar readings, as well as arrays of conformable electrodes that might interface with the nervous system.
Journal Article: Silicon electronics on silk as a path to bioresorbable, implantable devices. Related: Conductive body paint, Phone Tooth, Metalosis Maligna. Image credit: Rogers/Omenetto. Via: Techreview.
The ultimate personal hygiene product, feces odor tablets, is another Japanese innovation sold by the Takano Yori Beauty Clinic. These pills promise to make your excrement completely odor-free in three days of use. “…people must be responsible for their odors”, according to what is written on the bottle. Apparently 600,000 bottles were sold in the first six months, according to Colors Magazine.
No excuses…yet another example of how old nature becomes controlled and culturalized.
Via: www.oddee.com and books.google.com
These dudes from the Spanish TV show El-Hormiguero mixed cornstarch and water made on a concrete mixer truck, effectively creating a pool of non-newtonian fluid – which is almost like normal water, but when stress is applied to the liquid it exhibits properties of a solid.
I don’t think you would have bumped – quite literally in this case – into a such a material in old nature. Well, maybe in a swamp. But that is less fun. Just imagine all the next Olympic sports we could build on this! Hypermaterial of the moment.
Naturally, there is also a Japanese TV version, but I like this non-newtonian fluid scuplture better.
What if a scratch on your car door could heal itself, just like the human skin does?
Engineers are working on a way to transfer the self-healing ability of the skin to surfaces and materials. The idea behind this, is to evenly distribute fluid-filled capsules into an electroplated layer on top of the material that could be subject to corrosion and rust. If the surface is damaged, the pellets burst and a coating fluid runs out to ‘repair’ the scratch. Read the rest of this entry »
Using ultrasound technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a holographic projector that displays three-dimensional virtual objects you can feel with your bare hands. The system is currently on display at SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans.
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Most people know about light emitting organisms such as jellyfishes, fireflies and mushrooms. Some time ago, genetic engineers transferred genes responsible for the luciferin and luciferase proteins into a tobacco plant. These firefly proteins were then manufactured by the tobacco plant, causing it to glow and emit light.
What if this technology could be extended further to say, a maple tree or a juniper bush? Designer Audrey Richard-Laurent speculates on combining trees and streetlights into bioluminescent trees. In urban areas, one usually sees a row of trees parallel to streetlights. Why not hybridize them?
An elegant, yet far fetched idea? Don’t be to sure. Already in 2007 Edward A Quinto of the International Society for Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence produced a glowing christmas tree.
Bioluminescence works to replicate processes for creating light found in chemical reactions in the natural world–such as with certain jellyfish or bacteria–for human purposes. Chemiluminescence refers to the emission of light with limited emission of heat as a result of chemical reaction. Many researchers feel that both of these processes have the potential to produce sustainable, non-petroleum-based light sources.
Other potential applications might be glow in the dark designer pets, agricultural crops and domestic plants that luminesce when they need watering, new methods for detecting bacterial contamination of meats and other foods and glowing grass on golf yards that allow you to play golf after dark.
See also: Green glowing monkeys, the blogging houseplant.
Austrian designers Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler have created a solar powered machine that makes arrays of furnishings that vary based on how much sunlight it receives over the course of a day. The machine spins spools of thread into stools, benches, containers, and lamp shades that wax and wane as the available sunlight shifts. Variations in weather, the time of year, and other environmental factors create pieces of different shape, color, and size, instilling the furniture with growing, seasonal qualities that mimic photosynthesis. The speed of the process determines the amount of saturation of the thread, giving a visual recording in the resulting object.
“The idea of a tree project” shows how objects can grow over time. Read the rest of this entry »
The big lobby to endeavor for a climate neutral lifestyle must have reached its peak. It is common knowledge that recycling electronic and battery operated utensils is better for the planet, but if there ever was a taboo reckoning sex toys to that philosophy; with the Earth Angel it is now shattered. The vibrator in question is completely made from recycled materials and uses a wind-up crank to charge the internal rechargeable battery. Winding up for four minutes gives you half an hour of pleasure.
Saving the earth was never more fun! Read the rest of this entry »
As our lifes are increasingly regulated by electronics and there is a drive towards the miniaturization and portability of electronics on and around the body it seems only logical to place electronic circuits on the surface of body.
How about a conductive ink that is applied directly onto the skin to bridge the gap between electronics and the body. The material allows users to create custom electronics and interact with technology through intuitive gesture. It also allows information to be sent on the surface of the skin from person to person or person to object.
The formulation is carbon based and water-soluble: skin-safe and non-invasive. It may be applied in a number of ways including brushing on, stamping or spraying and has future potential for use with conventional printing processes on the body. Potential application areas may be: dance performances, music, fashion, security, military, audio/visual communication and medical devices.
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