Today was, in my opinion, the most entertaining and educational day of the program. As a hands-on learner myse
lf, I prefer to stand up and do something rather than be blasted with facts. I realize that facts are a necessity to learn, but there are different methods of acquiring these facts. And, the way that I acquire facts the best are through hands-on experiences. This is why it was so fun to be able to learn through a different method today. We were able to both create ferrofluids, and engrave our own sketch into a chip. First off, we created ferrofluids, which was tough at first, since our group made a horrible accident, confusing water for ammonia. However, our final product ended working and it was so worth the effort. Seeing how the ferrofluids react to magnetic fields to create spikes and different shapes was mind-boggling. We came to realize that more spikes were created when the magnets were not extremely close to the ferrofluid, but at a decent distance away. I think our entire group was disappointed when it was time to put our magnets down, but the activity that continued was entertaining as well. We got to engrave our own sketch into a chip, as I drew a childish dinosaur. Other than this hands-on experience, we began filming our project today after much talk over scenes & overall concepts. I strongly believe our end product will be dazzling, as we have put much thought and effort into our ideas. Our only big obstalice I see in the future is being able to translate our ideas into film. Overall, the day was very pleasing.
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/background/ferrofluid/index.html
http://www.cracked.com/article_17476_7-man-made-substances-that-laugh-in-face-physics.html
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/chip.html
http://health.howstuffworks.com/lung.htm
http://tiki.oneworld.net/pollution/pollution_home.html
The final day before presentations!!!!
The day with a quick lecture telling us about how today was the final day we had to work on our project. We had an extremely talented man come and shoot the starting gun. Apparently, he had just come back from signing a book with Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein’s signatures. It was an extremely awe inspiring experience he was such a smart person that was extremely impressive. It revealed to me that if I work extremely hard I can become someone great and my work can help make the world a better place.
After an extremely inspiring speech we went off to start a hard day working on out challenging final projects. We began work on our power point presentation and began finishing the editing that needed to be done for our videos. We completed all necessary research and got to work on the real meat of our project. We found out the areas of the brain that we would need to affect for our alternate realities and found just the right compounds for our various nano bots. Our project was finalized, fine tuned, and pressed, we are ready for our final day!
Overall, this program was most definitely a fun, challenging, and worth wile experience. I learned many different things about the fusion of art and science and my mind has been opened to all the possibilities that surround us in this ever expanding field. Art and science are truly just one thing given separate names, given that they are both aimed at the same goal. They both try to increase our understanding of the human condition.
http://www.sciencemag.org/
http://www.livescience.com/
http://www.art.com/
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
http://www.asci.org/
Today was a day to get acquainted with the place we will be residing in for the next two weeks. We toured the areas we would be working in, the brand new California Nano Systems Institute, and met our counselors and group members. After we were divided based on our questionnaire answers we turned in prior to the program, we made our way downstairs to tour two labs. My group first visited Dr. Sergei and his atom force microscope. It was a giant apparatus that showed biological samples on an incredible nano-scale. However, the samples need to be frozen and the picture will be in black and white. Next, we visited another lab across the hall to see an electron scan microscope. These microscopes were really cool because fluorescent colors could be added to samples in order to make more of the image clearer. In addition, we saw images on a computer screen o samples like pollen and frog sperm. What was really interesting about these images was that we were given glasses, and we could see them in 3-D. I have never heard of a microscope that could do such things, so learning and even having hands-on experience with them was such a cool experience. This experience completely set the tone for the next two weeks. This experience completely set the tone for the next two weeks. I obviously knew that there existed far more sophisticated technologies than my classroom microscopes, but I never had any clue as to what was actually out there in the world of science.
atomic force microscope
- electron force images
This SciArt program has been an amazing experience, providing both the educational and college-like experience. I came to this program liking both science and art (I plan to pursue engineering but I also have a love and appreciation for art like photography and graphic design). This program really taught me how the two can be integrated, which is the reason I came here in the first place. I wanted to see how two subjects so seemingly different, yet ones that I both loved equally, could somehow be connected. Seeing all this art (like Victoria’s simulations, some of the coolest things I have seen) inspired by science and molecules was both crazy and amazing. These stimulations were definitely an unexpected part of this program, yet one that I truly enjoyed. It was so unique and fun.
I also loved learning about nanotechnology. I came to this program for science and art, but I really had no idea what nanotechnology was. It was really interesting to learn about the current state of science, research and innovation. I learned about all this new technology, both for entertainment and medical purposes that I had no idea existed.
From this program, I really got a new perspective on science, art, innovation, and creativity. I learned a little about myself and what I would like to pursue in the future, and the ways in which I can pursue both things I love instead of having to choose.
Also, I’ve learned so much from being here, and it was really beneficial to explore UCLA so I could learn about one of the schools that I plan to apply to and would definitely like to attend. Perhaps I may eventually find the time and opportunity to use the gym, go around Westwood more, and explore some new buildings. (Hopefully I get in, fingers crossed!)
Alas, today is the last (full) day of the program. How sad! Our project is almost done, and it’s coming along nicely. Prepared to be dazzled! (haha just kidding. maybe.) I’ll miss everyone here so much! So many good times. 
We better keep in touch!
ucla campus
Today was the last day of camp, and I can’t believe it is already over. I feel like I just got here about 3 days ago. I had no idea what to expect when I came into this program and I had no idea what nanotechnology even was. Now that I’ve experienced these new ideas about science, met new, interesting people, and made new friends I am really happy I came.
Nanotechnology really has struck me as something worth learning more about. The topics we learned about were some things I had never heard about before this and could have had only been introduced to in this program. Looking at science at the nano level amazed me and allowed me to look at science in a way I never have before. Looking at molecules, atoms, and proteins on that scale really allowed me to conceptualize what our world is made out of and draw more comparisons in our universe.
It’s hard to see the likeness of art and science on the macro level, but this new perspective has really changed my opinion about the synthesis of the two subjects. I love how the program combined the two and drew comparisons I would have not thought of before. I not only learned about the similarities of art and science but also the other unlikely similarities our world has. I was surprised to conceptualize the fact that the atom had a very similar structure to that of the universe. Both have orbits circling around one central system. This image really made me think more about the other connections our universe may have,
Looking at topics and themes in an uncommon way was a motif that I found really intrigued me throughout this program. In order to find answers, it is important to look under the surface and avoid observing in a predictable manner. Not only do I look at science in a different way, but it seems that these connections have made the world seem a lot smaller.
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the getty museum is one of the most respected art museums in California. I was able to view the getty’s gorgeous out-door garden. The garden is arranged very geometrically. The circular design is futuristic and intriguing. The hedges are arrayed in concentric circles with breaks and extra lines like a maze. There are three surrounded by water. This is about 20 feet down from the viewing area and is fed by a waterfall. The waterfalls stream flows down from the getty making a break in the otherwise grassy scene. On the outside of the center divit, the plants and trees follow a more haphazard design although they still follow the circular patern started in the center of the garden. The circular design mixes art with geometry. And induces a futuristic style reminiscent of science. After we finished at the getty we traveled to Venice. At Venice we walked the boardwalk. Many of the people positioned at the boardwark, who sell products and services, sell art. The art there is very cultural. Many caleveras and bracelets were on sale along with other items like paintings and drawings. One man created a sculpture of sand daily. This artistic creativity shocked me because its surrounded by icons of squalor and those business that are frowned upon, such as tattoo parlors and body piercing saloons. However, all of this is art, and all of this is science. It takes art to draw a tattoo, and it takes science to create the utensil used to draw the tattoo. Everything is both at the same time.
Links:
http://www.getty.edu/museum/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Paul_Getty_Museum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Center
http://academic.reed.edu/getty/
http://www.uvm.edu/pss/ppp/articleS.htm
Overall in this course i learned how closely art and science are connected. People never usually consider this true, but after this course i can now see. What people usually connect is the coralation between science and technology, but now i can connect the element of art into it also. I learned that every time a new concept in science is discovered that an artist will create a new innovative art form. For example today i saw a video that showed how the electromagnetic waves expand. At first i thought that this was a scientist who was talking because it used many scientific laws and talked in a very knowledgeable tone. Then after i finished the video i learned that it was an artist that created the video and i was surprised because they knew so much about science. This is just one example of how the barriers of art and science are being weakened throughout society today.
One thing that i would like to see improved is that there was too many lectures in a row the first week. During the first week it was basically six full hours of lectures. I think that there should be some hands on labs to mix up the lectures and the physical activities that way people dont get too overloaded with lectures. I think that this was one reason that people got so tired that they were falling asleep; people were too overloaded with lectures and just dozed off because they have been sitting in their seats for a long time. Overall i really enjoyed this course and hope for the best next year!
www.princeton.edu/~artofsci/2009
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_field
http://www.asci.org/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4111499
http://www.artic.edu/aic/education/sciarttech/
For our midterm we came up with multiple ideas. We whittled them down to one. Our idea was that we would create robots that could enter a persons musculature and constantly make micro tears in the muscles to increase muscle mass steadily without the need to work out. From this idea we came up with the idea of muscles that glowed when they were used. Which became our final idea. We would make two things. An impact crème which would light up when agitated by impact. Our second is more like the original idea. Another crème would be applied to the skin and a scanner, kind of like an EKG would read the electromagnetic fields created by muscle contraction and would cause the crème to glow. The color of the glow would be determined by intensity. For the first crème the intensity of the impact would decide the color. Stronger impacts would lead to a color of a smaller wavelength on the EM scale and vice versa. For the second intensity of muscle usage determines the color on the EM scale. For the first crème the color determination is to give the artistic crème a scientific side. For the second it does two things. It makes the crème more artistic and it allows someone to see how hard a muscle is being worked. This would be useful for personal trainers and for coaches in order to see how well someone is doing an exercise or training technique.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_speaking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podium
http://home.howstuffworks.com/fluorescent-lamp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescence
http://luxrerum.icmm.csic.es/
Over these past two weeks, I have learned so many new things. Before coming to this program I had no idea what nanotechnology was and how it is being used in the world today. It was also very interesting to see how the different professors and instructors have used nanotechnology. I was especially amazed by all the different projects that Victoria has done over the years. I really like how she implemented both science and art into her work. No one every really thinks to put the two subjects together because they seem so unrelated but in reality they coexist with each other. It is really easy to think that there is no artistic aspect to science but in fact much of science that is created has an artistic view.
This program has really helped me to view things from both perspectives. I have never been much of an art person and I have been able to see that what I do through science can be viewed as art. An example would be through the two experiments that we did on tuesday. With the ferrofluids we were able to create science by making the liquid that was attracted to the magnet but at the same time when the liquid spiked up from the magnet it gave it an artistic flare. Also with the photo lithography, we used science to create the artistic design.
This program has really opened my eyes to many new things and I have learned so much through all I have experienced here.
Today we watched the butterfly effect. The movie was all about cause and effect relationships resulting in ways that are unexpected or startling. These effects are shown in the life of the main character who has the power to go back in time and change his past. Consequently he has the power to change the pasts of those close to him. The movie goes indepth about the changes he makes when he goes back in time. Cause and effect are a large part of science and scientific discovery. The movie began to incorperate art in the way that he changed his past. At first he was attempting to better his own life. However at the end of the movie it becomes about helping the people around him. This brings an artistic element to his time meddling. Instead of simply pure science his time altering becomes an art, making change to cause a specific result. He attempts to use the science and art separately and reaches unsatisfactory results. At first he helps himself and the people around him suffer. Later he manages to save everyone around him but he himself ends up maimed and unhappy. Finally he mixes the art of time travel with the science of time travel and results with a satisfactory timeline. The metaphor of time and the way it demonstrates change through cause and effect relates to this camp and the way we link art and science. Through time this movie links art and science and gave me a new perspective on linking the two.
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_butterfly_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_universe_(fiction)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensionality
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/wormhole.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencetopics/largehadroncollider/3324491/Time-travellers-from-the-future-could-be-here-in-weeks.html