Blog3

Walking into the CNSI auditorium today, I didn’t know what to expect. A midterm is a very intimidating word in itself but after only a week of lectures I hoped we weren’t expected to produce material similar to that of an actual college student who produce a midterm presentation after an entire semester.  Fortunately, I realized the brevity of the presentations and found the material of the other groups to be quite interesting.  First of all, the first group to go gave me a greater understanding of how art and science could be collaborated together as one.  Their quantum music dots idea incorporated nanoparticles with music to produce a scientific but pleasantly sounding exhibit.  Also, they really encapsulated the idea of “Imagine the Impossible” since quantum dots are often toxic and they are far too small to manipulate with your fingers.

Another idea that I thought was interesting was the idea in which some kind of gel could be used to illuminate certain muscles in the body.  The way this would work is that the gel would be created with bioluminescence, which respond to vibration by glowing a bright blue color.  According to the group, when a person moves with the gel, that certain muscle would glow a different color depending on the intensity of the motion.  I was impressed with the groups’ idea to apply this product to dancing so the dancers could control the way they glow and maybe choreograph it into the dancing aspect of the performance.  Lastly, one group had a more practical idea to apply nanotechnology to a rare but devastating genetic disorder called hemophilia.  Supposedly, nanobots would be injected into the body and proceed to create the protein that clots blood, since the lack of this protein is the defining factor of the disorder.  Furthermore, these ideas gave my group insight into ways we can improve our own idea.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hemophilia/hemophilia_what.html
http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/
http://www.invitrogen.com/site/us/en/home/brands/Molecular-Probes/Key-Molecular-Probes-Products/Qdot.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanorobotics
http://artsci.uchsc.edu/