An Ode to Light

As we walked to our daily movie today, Brent stopped and pointed to the sky,

“I like looking at the sky from here because the yellow leaves make the sky look purple.”  We looked up; it was true, the light must have bent differently.

 

prism2And I could not help thinking that the theme of today was not so much about materials as it was about capturing, obtaining, and getting inspired by light.  Light can be used as the ultimate connection between the arts and the sciences, it has existed since the beginning of time, uniting in its wavelengths the scientific purpose and the artistic inspiration.  So today I will make a short timeline relating to everything we learned ( and some things we didn’t) about light.

 

The sun forms- this ball of celestial gas remains our main energy source. If only we could harness the energy of the sun a lot of the problems on Earth would come to a quick resolution.

 

Life evolves to capture and even give off light; plant like protists called algae exhibit bioluminescence. Millions of years later, researchers are trying to determine their viability as a storage place for harnessed solar power.monet2

 

Research is done by Isaac Newton to better understand the qualities and properties of light.

 

Gothic cathedrals are constructed in a way so that they would let in the light and inspire the churchgoers ( rather than terrify them as was done in the medieval era).

 

The Paintings of Monet who meticulously studied the effects of light upon landscapes that he chose to paint.

 

flavinElectricity is used to light up our homes.

 

LACMA hosts Flavin’s exhibit entirely focused on the hypnotic and rejuvenating qualities of light.

 

 So what is the conclusion to be drawn from this? We often think of science and art as being on different wavelengths, but in the end their medium is the same.

 

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/impressionism.htm

http://www.huliq.com/11186/dan-flavin-s-light-works-illuminate-at-lacma

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/newton-Optics.html

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/FieldCourses00/PapersMarineEcologyArticles/WhatsGlowingInTheWaterBioA.html

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/solar-power/

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Day Four – 7/10/09

mandala

Today was a pretty relaxed day. Our lecture was given by Victoria Vesna, whose discourse on  her journey as an artist was interesting to me. I understand and feel the same way about what she said regarding her inner desire to create things that haven’t been done before. Her deep connection with sound in her art related to the project that my group is developing. Our project is essentially an interactive visual representation of sound, with variously sized quantum dots (quantum dots have useful applications in biological  labeling) enclosed in a thin transparent layer of hydrophobic polymer and suspended in liquid.dn13018-2_3442

The dots are magnified by a optical glass touch screen, that, although these types of microscopes can’t display color yet, hopefully that technology can be developed. I think the glass screen is a possibility because high tech <a href=”http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-03/high-tech-security-glass” glass </a> that can detect movement via its coating of a material containing nanoparticals has been developed, for use as security devices. Perhaps we could create something based on a similar principle. The user will be able to “touch” the dots at different levels of magnification, exciting them through thermal energy from the body, and to move them around. They will emit different notes based on their size, and the pitch will vary as frequency varies by how fast the user moves them. I was contemplating how we could maybe incorporate yeast and fibroblast cells which make tiny sound waves that a SEM can be translated into sound. It was cool to see all the projects that she has worked on, such as the nanomandala and the blue morpho butterfly (a very cool butterfly that is not colored by pigment but is iridescent) exhibit. 

butterfly

It was really helpful to get feedback on project ideas from such intelligent people. I think it helped all the groups to help realize all the things that we all need to consider in our projects, and to realize how much creativity, collaboration, research, and thorough discussion scientific endeavors require. To me, discussions about our projects was really intellectually and artistically stimulating-even though I was tired. I thought that the idea for thermoelastic “nanaids” had a lot of potential.

Viewing the DESMA program’s students’ various works was enlightening. In my opinion  the photography and typography book project was really cool and it was interesting to see people’s interpretations of the stories they chose and how they visually translated those interpretations. However I didn’t understand the film projects that used the same video footage edited in a different way-it was rather uninspiring. Some of the games were neat; they looked good enough to be on gaming websites.

http://www.biocompare.com/Articles/TechnologySpotlight/302/Quantum-Dots-Novel-Tools-For-Fluorescent-Analysis.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WCB-4T2M63F-7&_user=4423&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=954305621&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000059605&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=4423&md5=33cfeb5d9cab4ad7ee9b1f90ba1003d8

http://vv.arts.ucla.edu/projects/current.php

http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2004/12/17/32612.html

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Day Two- 7/8/09

081222221600-largeDr. Aydogan Ozcan demonstrated to us LUCAS imaging technology, which utilizes a mobile phone equipped with a lensfree imaging tool. Then, holographic “shadowlike” images of the patient’s blood can be sent from the phone, or uploaded to a computer, to specialists for analysis, who can then text back results. This can provide for portable and inexpensive blood analysis which can open doors to health care for many people in developing countries who have no access to basic medical care yet. In an age of exponentially increasing globalization, it seems only natural that health care will also become increasingly mobile, so that doctors across the world will be connected and that specialists will able to analyze patients from other countries to increase efficiency and accuracy. 

Though advancements in technology, such as nanotechnology, can bring inspiration and answers to problems, new technologies can also can also create new concerns. In the lecture given on toxicology, it was mentioned how these nanoparticles, for example nanosilver, can easily penetrate the skin and travel throughout the body, reaching the brain very quickly. Who knows how they could affect its complex processes?

nanosilver

It scares me that the policy in the United States is that these particles are “innocent until proven guilty”-it seems like it could lead problems in the future. It’s like when people started building nuclear weapons without considering the after affects and how we would dispose of them or use them in the future.

The discussion about how nanosilver could get into our water and interfere with the filtering process by killing the bacteria that are intentionally being used to purify the water was also troublesome, and what if we drink those particles in our water? On a related note, I just saw in yahoo news about how tap water and bottled water have different regulations, and how consumers don’t really know what is in their bottled water. There’s just many things scientists and consumers must take in to consideration for preservation of personal, public, and environmental health.

I enjoyed Leonard H. Rome’s, Dean of UCLA’s medical school, lecture on nanomedicine. I had never heard of vaults before. They are hollow capsules inside cells, composed of 3 proteins and a small RNA, and their function inside cells is unknown, but we can create them and use them as drug capsules.

vault_icon

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/12/28/lucas-imaging-technology-turns-cellphone-into-blood-analysis-tool.html

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/mobile_phones_to_serve_as_doctors_in_developing_countries.php

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bottled_water_vs_tap

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asp/jnn/2009/00000009/00000008/art00066

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-07/nano-pollution-no-tiny-issue

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7/10/09: Wrapping our minds around the impossible

Friday, July 10th marked the fateful day of our midterm presentations. Emotions of terror, anxiety and nausea swept through the 3rd floor of Hedrick Hall.  The ArtSci students were down to the last core and hanging on to sanity by a thread, drifting more into madness with each passing second. What to do for our project? PANIC.

OK, so that was sensationalism. What actually happened was not quite so dramatic or eventful. Really though, I was feeling the pressure to have the most exciting, creative and just all-around GREAT idea for the project. I think the biggest obstacle that my group faced was trying to realize that human creativity has no boundaries. The only limit to implementing our ideas is that the technology necessary to make our visions a reality is not yet developed or perfected. In short, the question is not “what is impossible?” but it is “what isn’t possible?”.  And the truth of the matter is, there is nothing that isn’t possible, nothing that is too great of a challenge for human creativity and intellect.

So my group decided to abandon the anti-smog cannon idea in favor of a more practical and versatile idea, or a Nan-dage, an alternative to the Ace bandage or cast.  The Nan-dage would be a better treatment to effectively heal mild injuries, like sprains or broken bones. In theory, the Nan-dage, a combination between a cast, Ace bandage and athletic tape is a naturally soft and extremely stretchy material, which could be stretched in any way and then wrapped around the injured area.  The Nan-dage would be thermally responsive, as when it is heated in hot water, the Nan-dage will harden, to form a cast-like bandage.  This application of the Nan-dage in this instance would be if someone had broken a bone, and the “cast” needed to be set.  In addition to hardening, the Nan-dage will also release vaults containing medicine, such as Advil, to immediately relieve any initial pain, as well as vaults containing vitamin D and calcium to help the bone heal faster.  Vitamin D and calcium work well together, as vitamin D provides a situation in which an optimal amound of calcium is absorbed into the bloodstream.  Of course, these are only some of the possible applications for some sort of Nan-dage like material, as my group is still in the process of brainstorming a way to further utilize it for something truly impossible and unattainable.  We might be brainstorming for awhile.

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18539814

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Ace+bandage

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:hMjasezAFeQJ:www.nseresearch.org/2003/NewFiles/Over03_NIRT_UCLA.pdf+nano+vaults&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V2/Fractures-Sprains-and-Strains.html

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July 10th Blog

I must approach today from an artistic agenda due to the events that took place. Dr. Vesna’s biography of her life showed how an individual with creativity and wit could achieve any career goal. Learning how an artist can hook his or her way in to the science world always fascinates me and I wish we had more people like her. Her passion for knowledge is shown in her day-to-day life, and I thoroughly respect that. When the in depth presentation was taking place, I was curious to find more information out about UC DARnet and nanoscale art. I also wanted to learn more about the third carbon molecule discovered in 1985. I had never heard of Buckminster Fuller before this class, and having no knowledge of him, I decided to investigate him. After reading some more about him, I found out that there is an institute named after him. The Buckminster Fuller Institute was established in 1983 surprisingly before the discovery of the third carbon molecule. When I looked in to UC DARnet (University of California Digital Arts Research Network) I was interested how well the school fit in to our classes schedule today.

Observing the DMA in the Art Center was entertaining and enlightening. I know of many great artists like Monet, Picasso, etc., but I had no idea those young minds just like I was taking part in this creativity. I believe coming from a smaller town you forget just how different a large population can be. I have always appreciate art and painting (especially water color paintings), but seeing people my age doing it has truly given me the inspiration to be more free thinking with the future of science. It seems like everyday is filled with excitement and activities that are fun for everyone. I am continually surprised with the work ethic of everyone here and the amount of charisma everyone has.

http://ucdarnet.org/writing/index.php

http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/mim/century/html/c60_text.htm

http://www.design.ucla.edu/people/faculty.php?ID=1

http://www.bfi.org/the_buckminster_fuller_institute

http://www.bodiesinc.ucla.edu/frames1.html

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7/09/09: Life in Technicolor

Seeing is believing. Light has always perplexed humans and presents a puzzling contradiction about perception. I think perception is a topic full of gray areas. It has been proven that light is both a particle and a wave, a concept that is still rather difficult to completely comprehend. And then light also is necessary in order for us to see color, another topic of intrigue. Personally, I am really interested in color and coordination and asthetics.  It’s always important to be matching! But seriously now, I thought it was really cool how color and thus our perception change due to the light. Claude Monet was an artist who proved this idea in his Haystacks paintings. Monet, being as methodical and meticulous as a scientist, painted the same haystacks at different times of he day,  subtly changing the colors in the painting depending on the light.

Another art movement, pointilism, is very special in that the artist uses tiny dots to create the picture.  The dots, which can be many different colors, provide a sort of color texture (not sure if that’s the correct terminology, but for lack of a better term) and result in a finished painting that looks like it lacks cohesiveness from up close but is extremely detailed from a view 10 feet away.  Truthfully, the last time I saw a piece of pointilist art, I got a headache just from standing 1 foot away, and can personally attest to the fact that the paintings look better from afar. Just another optical illusion due to light and perception, I suppose.

As for the science aspect of today’s activities, we visited some labs, most notably, a lab which focused on solar materials.  Harnessing and using solar energy would be such a great way to power the world.  Of course, I bet the design of solar cells could be perfected in order to not only cut costs but also to make the solar cells more efficient.  Another scientific idea regarding light was the Red Tides of the phytoplankton Dinoflagellate could also provide some form of energy. However, this bio-illumination must be stored somehow, and the phytoplankton must be agitated in order for them to glow, but perhaps in the future, we can find ways to take advantage of yet another source of energy from light.

Although we can only see the visible light, which is such a small part of the spectrum, I am amazed at the bright and vibrant colors of life. I wonder what it was like back in the 70’s.

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/redtide/

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/solar.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/solar_energy/

http://www.solgel.com/educational/glossary.htm

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/claude-monet-paintings-1889-18943.htm

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3) July 9th

Olivia's hair

So today was veryyy cool . We got more into the art part of this and i really liked the labs we went to. We saw Olivia’s hair through the scanning electron microscope which went as fast as her splitting it off and then right into the machine. The technology was pretty cool, touch screen, and focused it a lot more than i thought it could/expected.

Sol Gel

We then moved to another lab where we learned about Sol-gel. Which can be applied in optical,  biomedical, electronic, and aerogel uses. I found the sol-gel very interesting and i liked them because it was illuminated. I learned that it was a suspension of solid particles in a liquid and that it could make ceramic and glass at room temperature.

dsc00512

Next were learned about Hydrophilic, Hydrophobic, and superhydrophobic surfaces. The women demonstrated with i think it was copper sheets, and showed the difference between each one when water was poured on them. It was pretty neat how on the superhydrophbic surface the water appeared to just bounce off.

dsc005191

lastly we solar energy and the different types of alternative resources to making energy. He talked about solar cells and how the small cheaper ones last for only a few hours where the bigger ones that cost a lot more last years. He also showed us a polymer powder that can be spread very lightly over a surface and easily create a solar surface. He also had been studying algae and when you add a force or movement to them it agitates them and causes em to glow. I thought the blue glow was interesting and cool.

dsc00539

luminescent Algae

luminescent Algae

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Day 3 Blog

The visit to the lab of Dr. Yang Yang fascinated me. It made me realize the importance of color. When we learned about quantum dots it was explained that the color they appear is because of their size. Then seeing the algae in Dr. Yang Yang’s lab and how it gave off a blue color when agitated made me see how important color was and how much it can tell you about its properties. The lab chose to use an alga that produces a blue glow because the blue color tells us it is the smallest but contains the most energy. The algae use this trait as a defense mechanism against predators. Instead of having a way to disguise themselves or blend in with their surroundings they have something that shows where they are. Weirdly enough this protects them because the light attracts large fish to the area that eat the fish preying on the algae.

              A good example of how art and science work together was in the Dunn lab. I saw this in the material Sol Gel which is a material that can be used in many different types of applications. Two diverse examples they told us were that they used Sol Gel in making the material for the Marines that prevents them from being aimed at with laser technology and using it in making beautiful sculptures. I was amazed at how diverse this material can be. It made me think that if this type of technology is being used in so many ways now the future may hold an even more efficient and diverse material. 

Sol Gel

Sol Gel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.chemat.com/html/solgel.html

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

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/glowingalgae/

 http://www.solgel.com/News/sgnews.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol-gel

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A Hundred Years from Today

07.10.09  UCLA – To elaborate on the ideas of today, some of the midterm ideas were really interesting and most were actually practical.   But I’d personally like to speculate further then practical. A hundred years ago a touch screen telephone (one such as the iphone) would not have even been thought of. A hundred years ago the idea of 3D modeling on a computer screen that’s one inch thick and 30″ wide probably never seemed even practical. So what will we have in the future. Can we even predict it? Could we even speculate?

If you take into note that we still use gasoline and we used it about one hundred years ago. And we still are on electricty and plumbing from one hundred years ago. The toilet too was invented about a hundred years ago. These can be considered as technology that is more static and won’t change. So now its to guess what today’s static technology is that probably wont change.

I believe the toilet will still be roughly the same. But perhaps that’s it. It’s easy to tell were moving away from gas. As we move away from gas the idea of combustion engines may change to something only found in history text books. I’m going to speculate hydrogen fuels will the fuel of tomorrow only because its becoming more and more clear that electric cars are not actually piratical till real breakthroughs are made in batteries. Top Gear investigates on how unpractical the electric car really is.
See Electric Car Video from Top Gear
So besides our transportation moving to hydrogen what about the standard electronics? Lets think of the most unpractical ideas that seem too far out of our reach. I’d speculate we’d move to 3D graphics that aren’t even projected but are a series of nanopartials that probably change colour and are lifted by some type of magnetic electric field. Our kitchens will be completely automated and they’ll probably be compressed foods into small capsules finally. Flying cars might actually finally be possible since hydrogen will be so abundant that it’ll be cheap and so plane engines may be made into such small components that they may be finally placed into cars. Toothpaste will be gone and we’ll adopt a plastic polymer that will coat our teeth that will last years upon years. Light bulbs will no longer be efficient since hydrogen energy will be so abundant however I’d expect a new material to make up the element. Pencils will be a piece of the past because the electric signals in our brain will be stored to a on board computer chip implanted in our heads. Some of the most impossible ideas here seem like the most likely in a sense.

Why is the impossible probably the most likely? Well, simply because we can’t predict out that far.

“If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.” -Isaac Newton


http://www.repwars.com/PSP/wcinvent.html

http://www.space.com/futureofflight/

http://www.futurecars.com/future-cars/flying-cars/switchblade-flying-motorcycle-spy-vs-sky

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-07/turkish-students-create-hydrogen-powered-car-gets-1300-mpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfzbaglUOo

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Blog: July 9th (3)

Today the Sci | Art Nanolab received Giacomo Chiari, Chief Scientist of the Getty Museum. Being a student mostly interested in the sciences, it was a privilege to be able to hear him speak. We

Giacomo Chiari, Chief Scientist at the Getty

Giacomo Chiari, Chief Scientist at the Getty

are nearly halfway with our program. For me, the line between science and art has been blurred. This is a great step because I have always stubbornly separated the two fields of education. When I thought about art relating to science, the first (and perhaps only) thing that I would be able to think of was art conservation. Hearing about the work of Mr. Chiari further convinced me that art and science were related in so many ways than just that.

Or maybe it IS just black, polluted water...

Or maybe it IS just black, polluted water...

The most interesting use of science in art is in the painting of Bathsheba and David. This is featured in the Getty and has been restored dramatically through the use of scientific analysis. The water that Bathsheba bathes in appears dark. This baffled artists and viewers for a time. By analyzing the composition of the black paint, scientists were able to determine that it was composed of silver and not a black substance. Because the painting has been unpreserved for such a long time, the silver paint gradually turned into black. This is because silver is highly reactive, especially with sulfides. This results in a silver tarnish.

Later in the day, the group visited various labs, one of which was a lab focusing entirely on solar panels. I am in favor of finding new energy sources so that we may replenish our electricity more effectively in the future. So far, the effectiveness of a solar cell is about 8%. Scientists are continuing to discover more ways to build better solar cells. If, in the future, efficiency continues to climb, we may able to solve the world’s energy crisis!

SHINY.

SHINY.

http://www.finishing.com/104/06.shtml

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090708-711132.html

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications/newsletters/19_2/masthead.html

http://www.artpreservationservices.com/

http://www.solarpanelinfo.com/http:/

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