*Tear* My Last Blog

By stevenlim | Published: July 16, 2009

Wow, already here comes the end of the Sci Art program. What? You ask me what I learned from here? Hmmm, lets just stay that my mind has been opened. Never have I ever thought critically and truly “imagined the impossible”. Simply attending a chemistry course or a biology course would have simply been a repetition of what teachers at school tell me. But this incorporation of art here at Sci Art truly defined the necessity to be creative and original. For me, science has always been about the past. Schools teach about what has happened. They teach us its history and past breakthroughs in technology and to me, science seemed DEAD.

skull-art

But now it is a totally different story. Coming here to Sci Art, science has now become living and flowing. It is an unkown species that can be explored forever and still we will never be at the end of our journey. For me, science has resurrected.

life

I believe I’ve been too much of a realist and a pessimist. I’ve constantly criticized this program, stupidly thinking that science and art can’t be combined to create something new. Yet I was so blind to the possibilities of the combination of arts and sciences.

blind-man

I think that what this program is emphasizing is the ability to create new things through the combination of science and art. Instead of combing those two to make a totally new class of knowledge, we create new THINGS. The combination of science and art wil create objects that the world would have never seen if these two different thoughts were not combined. We must always think about the future and always pushing on, and therefore we must think of the impossible. The combinatino of science and art was “impossible” but it is now the most possible thing possible. If that made sense….

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/jcs/1999/00000006/F0020006/949

http://www.evidenttech.com/quantum-dots-explained.html

http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/background/ferrofluid/index.html

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4S54FQKgeQUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA145&dq=nanobots&ots=jy3Wow6Fpu&sig=hxSCvrha-YspYx9_JYRWR5LYsKg

http://www.sci-spot.com/Chemistry/liqimag.htm

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daily blog 7

By John Bloore | Published: July 16, 2009

Today was started off with an interesting lecture about morals and consequences of science and nanotechnology. This was very interesting because it discussed how nano technology and modern science can be used in a positive way or in a negative way. For example nuclear energy can be used to power homes and buildings, but it can also be used to desimate cities causing massive amounts of casualties. People will hopefully use nuclear energy for the positive aspect of life.

After this a guest speaker spoke about sound. First he started off talking about technology affecting music and sound. He went into great detail about auto tune which is a program that automatically tunes a voice to a certain key. This program allows artists to add a computerized aspect to their music. A good example of this would be Cher’s Believe.  In this song, you can tell the sections where the auto tune was used because there is a computer sounding voice.

After this my group went to the anachoic sound chamber. This was a very interesting experience because there was no sound reflection off the walls causing the room to be very silent. It was cool how there are sweet spots of sound in the room because of the interference of the sound waves. I learned that this is how speakers are tested which makes sense because you will hear only the actual sound waves no reflected sound waves. This was also cool to hear the sound from the inside of my body because there was no sound in the room.

File:Radio-frequency-anechoic-chamber-HDR-0a.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Tune

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/503/the-worlds-largest-anechoic-chamber

http://www.oobject.com/category/anechoic-chamber-architecture/

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Blog 8: Finalizing Quantum Dots

By dylanoldenburg | Published: July 16, 2009

Today my group and I realized that there were a few unanswered questions regarding the intricacies of our quantum dot panel. For example, deciding the frequencies used in the sounds emitted was difficult because generally with wavelengths (in meters) in the 1.0 X 10^-7, these frequencies are in the range of 1.o X 10^14 , making it very difficult to discuss these ranges. However, we realized that this frequency is easy to imitate using smaller frequencies as well, because extremely high pitches eventually sound the same anyway. This reminded me of something interesting: How nonpolar solutes dissociate in nonpolar solvents. This was confusing because I always imagined that polar compounds dissolve with van’t hoff factors exactly the same as the ions formed when dissolved in water, but imagine if NaCl were to dissolve in CCl4? Nothing would dissolve. However, imagine Cu(s) dissolving in the same solvent. What would happen if it were nonpolar? Something possibly. I have not been able to discover such things, even if you had other such nonpolar compounds to dissolve in this, what would be imagined? I wonder, because there must be van’t Hoff factors involved, and whatever happens I will not remember if there are none, even though the van’t Hoff factors are the same. Also, more related to the project, I have never seen such passages to an answer!

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005JMMM..294E..77C

https://www.llnl.gov/str/Lee.html

http://www.phys.washington.edu/users/thouless/427A/Quantumdots.pdf

http://www.electrochem.org/dl/interface/wtr/wtr06/wtr06_p23-27.pdf

http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/7471/2/Quantum_dots.pdf

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is that jesus?? nahh….

By davidbrown | Published: July 16, 2009

I new idea came to  my mind when we made the magnetic liquid the other day. I was thinking that if we had the resources and the tools, and if it did not hurt the enviroment, we could make a whole lake out of the magnetic liquid. So after this I was thinkin we could make this really light shoe with a very strong magnet at the bottom. This would let us walk on the liquid, but there is one more problem which is that the liquid would stick to the magnet. Now for this problem I was thinking that we could cover the magnet with a super in-soluble surface like we learned about. We could cover the magnet on the shoe with this polymer, we could also cover the whole shoe with it. Now becasue the magnet would be so strong, that when the liquid would come up at the shoe, it would be going so fast that it would actually push a human up. So it would give the person the feeling of walking on the moon. There would be so many cool applications, we caould make boats and different skis. These different products would give the craziest and most extratrestrial feeling for the person. I am so into feeling like I am in space. The other day I went into a room where there is literally no sound. The whole room was covered in this crazy shaped foam that soaked up the sound waves. It was the closest thing to being in space that I have ever felt.

http://chemistry.about.com/od/demonstrationsexperiments/ss/liquidmagnet.htm

http://www.sentientdevelopments.com/2009/07/magnetic-liquid-video.html

http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/04/hallucinations_and_silence.php

http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/04/hallucinations_and_silence.php

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Anechoic_chamber.jpg

http://www.nmij.jp/~acs-vbr/acs-ultsn/acoustics/anechoic.jpg

http://www.lillyofthevalleyva.com/JesusWalkingOnWater(c)ArtDotCom.jpg

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Wednesday the 15th

By rydermoody | Published: July 16, 2009

Today we went into an anechoic chamber. This is a room where each wall, the floor, and the ceiling is covered with foam. The foam makes the room extremely quiet. Once you are in there, it is dark and silent. But it is not really silent. You can hear a buzz from the air in the room hitting the hairs in your ears and even the sounds of your own body. I can imagine falling to sleep in there very easily. It reminded me of a sensory deprivation chamber. In these you float in water that is the same temperature as your body and are in pitch black and silence. You are supposed to feel like you are flying and people have strange experiences in them. Sometimes they hallucinate or have religious experiences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivation

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/06/11/how-do-sensory-deprivation-chambers-work/

http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/503/the-worlds-largest-anechoic-chamber

http://www.meyersound.com/products/technology/chamber.htm

http://www.oobject.com/anechoic-chamber-architecture/afj-international-rf-chamber/2059/

Our guest speaker talked about sounds and music and how technology changes them. I found this very relevant to me because I edit music with my computer and listen to lots of electronic music.

After that, we worked more on the project. I made a few images and we started out slide show. I really hope it all comes together to something presentable and professional. Out idea still makes people look at us like we are crazy.

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Final Project Citations

By juliamiller | Published: July 16, 2009

Childs, Gwen V. . “Receptor Mediated Endocytosis.” University of Texas Medical Branch 05 Dec 2003 Web.16 Jul 2009. <http://cellbio.utmb.edu/CELLBIO/recend.htm>.

 

“The Kidneys and How They Work.” Kidney and Urologic Home Feb 2009 Web.16 Jul 2009. <http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/Kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/>.

 

Olkhovyk, Oksana . “Defining Chemical Composition.” Drug Discovery and Development 01 Jun 2009 Web.16 Jul 2009. <http://www.dddmag.com/article-Defining-Chemical-Composition-060809.aspx>.

 

Baffa, Gina. “Kid’s Health.” Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 06 Jun 2008 Web.16 Jul 2009. <http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/heart.html>.

 

Swiercinsky, Dennis P. . “Brain on Drugs.” Effects of Drugs on Brain Behavior 06 Jun 2008 Web.16 Jul 2009. <http://www.brainsource.com/brain_on_drugs.htm>.

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Ferrofluids Lab and Photo Lithography

By michaelkolandjian | Published: July 16, 2009

Two days ago, we got to make Ferro fluids in a beaker. Ferro fluids are magnetic so we got to manipulate the liquid. When we put a bar magnet underneath the beaker the Ferro fluid got stuck to the bottom of the glass. When we moved that magnet around spikes of Ferro fluid would move around. We also did lithography and got to make our own image.

What we made in the beaker was iron oxide also known as magnitide. Its chemical name is Fe3O4.  We made it with ferrous fluoride, ferric chloride, ammonium hydroxide, tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide, and water. Everything was time sensitive until it was finally done! The magnitide is black and really magnetic. We accidentally held a bar magnet over it and the magnitide jumped on to it!

For the lithography, we got to pick a picture and put it on a 1 by 1 tile. We got a piece of plastic and put it over the tile. Then we wrote with sharpie on the plastic our image. For me, I just wrote “Its business time!”.  We then put under UV light for twelve minutes and then we dipped it in a liquid that was over 250 degrees centigrade! Then we polished them and the finished product was tile with our image on it.

I really enjoyed both these hands on labs because we got to incorporate science with art. When we finished the magnitide we got to change all the points in our direction and our order. We got to make designs on tiles using a really cool process.

 

http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/ferrofluid.jpg

http://www.forcefieldmagnets.com/catalog/images/ferro1.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Litography_press_with_map_of_Moosburg_02.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrofluid

 

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A Haven of Silence

By michaelkolandjian | Published: July 16, 2009

Yesterday, we went to a room where the room reflects no sound. When the door is closed you cant hear even the loudest train passing by. This place was called the anechoic chamber. The is built specifically so no outside noise can be heard.

The floor was made of suspended mesh so the floor did not make any noise either. The walls  had specific pattern for no noise. It was a Faraday’s cage so not even a txt message could slip into the steel thick walls. The one that we went to was originally to test Acoustics so he played music and you could walk to different places of the room to see which parts were louder. When he played the music only in specific spots could the sound be clearly heard. The ground below the floor was like 6 feet below the mesh most probably  to help sound absorption.

When the door of the anechoic chamber is closed it feels like you have been immersed into a world of peace and silence. I t became so quiet that you could hear your ears ringing due to Brownian motion. Eventually you could see your own blood moving in your eyes. At one point, I started panicking because I thought there was somebody behind and I just couldn’t see it.

While the Anechoic chamber creates a feeling of peace and security, it also creates a feeling panic because all of the sudden you have been stripped of two of your senses. I really enjoyed the anechoic chamber because it felt like I was floating in air into the most peaceful place you have ever been. At the same time though, you feel totally disoriented and you don’t know where you are.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Anechoic_chamber.jpg

http://cache.wists.com/thumbnails/5/8d/58daa8ebdc3c5da26ac3b742aafae561-orig

http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/503/the-worlds-largest-anechoic-chamber

http://media.audiojunkies.com/anechoic-chamber.jpg

 

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Day Seven-7/15/09

By emmakennedy | Published: July 16, 2009

Today’s activities centered  around sound. Tyler Adam’s “Sound and Science” lecture included brief history about technological advances related to sound.  For example, the theremin is an instrument theremin_early_design developed in 1919 which operates using the heterodyne principle.  and involves the interaction of two radio frequency oscillators to produce sound. Sound technology seems to define our generations, such as 80’s robotic style and today’s use of auto-tune.

 

 

 

 

We went in small groups in UCLA’s anechoic chamber. It is designed to absorb sound and block out radio waves.

 

anechoic chamber

anechoic chamber

As we sat in silence on the suspended mesh flooring in pitch black (completely pitch-closing and opening your eyes in there made no difference), it was a very unique, strange experience. You feel closed in and as if the room extends indefinitely at the same time; trapped and free. Anechoic means “without echo” but it the sound in my ears felt like my body’s echoes. We each had a roll of scotch tape because, once our eyes adjust to the total darkness, we are able to see the bit of visible light emitted by the end of the tape when peeled.

I didn’t go to the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie last night (er, this morning), but I have read the series so I can talk about Harry Potter in relation to technology. The first thing I thought of was an article I read a few months ago about the development of a real invisibility cloak.This “invisibility cloak” is made of nanostructured silicon. It could perhaps change military strategy. Pensieves in the Harry Potter world store memories and allow us to look at them later. One thing that this made me think of in our world was a man that I read about who replaced his one prosthetic eye for one that is actually a video camera, recording his life. There is also a brain implant being engineered to recreate thoughts, which is a similar function to a pensieve. 

 

a pensieve

a pensieve

 

Pictures in the wizarding world show their subjects in motion. TV screens have been developed that are thin as paper, so there is potential for them to be put to use in magazines, but I doubt newspapers because the technology is probably too expensive and newspapers are becoming obsolete anyway. In addition to the science behind turning fantastical book ideas into real-life things, there is a lot of science behind the making of the Harry Potter movies. The imaginary creatures such as dementors and inferi are created by studying anatomy and 3D models, and how materials move and change in different environments. There is also of course a lot of computer generated imagery that involves study of movement and shape which we have been talking about, as well as the artistic aspect.

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Spoiler Alert!

By lucygao | Published: July 16, 2009

Ahhh Harry Potter. As a whole, Harry Potter movies are disappointing and dramatically different from the exact storylines of their corresponding books. However, I felt relatively satisfied with some of the sections of the book expressed by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

 

I’m going to talk about a lot of things, and some may be spoilers if you have not read the Harry Potter books (or watched this movie yet). 😉

 

Well, the movie begins with an awkwardly random scene of Harry in a café. Thus, the entire movie is jumpstarted into its romantic focus, as the café maid talks to Harry, and they set up a “date”.

However, Harry is interrupted by the appearance of good old Dumbledore. They Disapparate and the  entire Slughorn scene commences, which I thought was done pretty well relative to what I imagined while reading the book. J

 

The next scene is the very beginning of the book—the Unbreakable Vow. And after that, the majority of the movie directly follows the book, illustrating many of my favorite scenes with vivid acting and random little jokes.

 

Now as a whole, the only not so amusing thing was all of the romance that was pretty much the focus of the movie. A little overboard and >.<, if you ask me. And the missing ending scene, which I had originally imagined so beautifully in my head. It was disappointing to not witness… And the random scene at the Weasley’s, and their house burning down. And at the end, the burning of Hagrid’s hut, which seemed to insinuate that he died… And no mention of Professor Trelawney at all. And no mention of the Hufflepuff cup, or knowing where some things are in the Room of Requirement (for the Ravenclaw diadem), so what’s up with this setup for the next 2 movies?

 

But now I’ll just describe a few of my 😀 emotions during the movie. The following is the only reason I liked the movie.

 

Draco Malfoy! Such an adorable wimp! The little bird dies in the Vanishing Cabinet, and he’s so sad… Then thinking about how he cursed Katie Bell, and he starts crying in the bathroom. And in the end, unable to bring himself to the act of murdering Dumbledore!

 

Then Snape! Unwilling to obey Dumbledore’s orders to kill him when the time comes. But Dumbledore knowing it will not rip Snape’s soul apart because he won’t be killing in cold blood. Dumbledore, already about to die because of the curse of the ring, thus Snape also saves Draco’s soul by obeying Dumbledores command: “Please, Severus…”

 

And the scene when Harry touches the ring Horcrux, and starts seeing stuff as Voldemort, but doesn’t realize it. But you see that Dumbledore, right there and then, realizes that a part of Harry must unknowingly be a Horcrux! Tehe.

 

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

My favorite quotes, some straight from the book, others created just for the movie:

 

Albus Dumbledore: You must be wondering why I brought you here.
Harry Potter: Actually sir, after all these years I just sort of go with it.

[Romilda Vane and Harry are staring at each other across the library]
Hermione Granger: [snaps her fingers] Hey, she’s only interested in you because she thinks you’re the Chosen One.
Harry Potter: But I am the Chosen One.
Hermione Granger: [smacks him on the head with the newspaper]
Harry Potter: Sorry… kidding!

[after she sees Ron and Lavender making out]
Hermione Granger: Excuse me, I have to go vomit.

Harry Potter: Oh no, no, no, I mean she’s brilliant, but we’re friends.

 

Severus Snape: It’s Over.

Albus Dumbledore: Oh to be young and to feel love’s keen sting.

Ron Weasley: [from trailer] It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The moon.
Harry Potter: Divine. Had ourselves a little late night snack, did we?
Ron Weasley: It was on your bed, the box, I just thought I’d try one.
Harry Potter: Or twenty.
Ron Weasley: I can’t stop thinking about her, Harry.
Ron Weasley: Honestly, you know, I reckon she was starting to annoy you.
Ron Weasley: She could never annoy me. I think I love her.
Harry Potter: Oh… brilliant.
Ron Weasley: Do you think she knows I exist?
Harry Potter: Well, I’d bloody well hope so, she’s been snogging you for three months.
Ron Weasley: Snogging? Who are you talking about?
Harry Potter: Who are you talking about?
Ron Weasley: Romilda, of course. Romilda Vane.
Harry Potter: Okay, very funny.
Ron Weasley: [throws the chocolates box at Harry]
Harry Potter: What was that for?
Ron Weasley: It’s no joke! I’m in love with her!
Harry Potter: Alright, fine, you’re in love with her! Have you ever actually met her?
Ron Weasley: No… Can you introduce me?

Horace Slughorn: What about you Miss Granger? What do your parents do in the muggle world?
Hermione Granger: Ah, my parents are dentists.
Horace Slughorn: And is that considered a dangerous profession?

Harry Potter: But, Sir, I though we weren’t allowed to apparate on Hogwarts grounds.
Albus Dumbledore: Well, being me… has its privileges.

Lavender Brown: [runs in the hospital wing, after Ron’s been poisoned] Where is he? Where’s my won-won? Has he been asking for me?
[sees Hermione sitting next to Ron’s bed]
Lavender Brown: what is she doing here?
Hermione Granger: [stands] I could ask you the same question.
Lavender Brown: I happen to be his girlfriend!
Hermione Granger: Well, I happen to be his… friend
Lavender Brown: Friend? Don’t make me laugh. You haven’t spoken to him for days. I guess now you find him interesting.
Hermione Granger: He’s been poisoned, you dumb dimbo! and as a matter of fact, I’ve always found him… interesting.

Ron Weasley: [to Hermione and Ginny] He’ll be here, soon.
[starts eating]
Hermione Granger: [smacks him on the arm with a book] Will you stop eating? Your best friend is missing!
Ron Weasley: Turn around, you lunatic!
Ginny Weasley: [Hermione and Ginny looks towards the great hall door and sees Harry covered in blood] He’s covered in blood again. why is it he’s always covered in blood?
Hermione Granger: [Harry sits next to Ginny] Where have you been?

Ginny Weasley: [about Harry] He’s covered in blood again. Why is he always covered in blood?
Ron Weasley: Well it looks like it’s his own this time.

 

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