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In this week's lecture, we focused on space exploration and how our endeavors has inspired works of fiction and various art. Contemporary space-age development really started after WW2 during the Cold War. When the Spudnik satellite was hurled into orbit by the Russians in 1957, the famous "space race" was kicked off between the US and the Soviet Union. NASA was even created in effort to invest more research in a competing military space program, along with more funding towards scientific education (uconlineprogram). This tense competition resulted in a stream of scientific achievements, leading up to placing a man on the moon in 1969. (NASA) Neil Armstrong during the moonwalk, working at an equipment storage area ( NASA ) From the 50s on during this time, many science-fiction TV shows were released that influence pop culture on space, such as Planet Stories , Jetsons , and Star Trek (uconlineprogram). The creators of these shows popularized scientific concepts suc...

The following will be an outline of my study plan for this course in the next three weeks, per Professor Vesna's instructions for this event. (WikiHow) <http://www.wikihow.com/images/c/c3/Avoid-Distractions-While-Studying-Step-22.jpg> Week 9 Monday, May 29 Do Week 9 viewings/notes Intro, Powers of 10, Lecture Part 1 - intro, Lecture Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Tuesday, May 30 Finish Week 9 viewings/notes Lecture Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 Do Week 9 readings Coded Utopia: Makrolab,  Arctic Perspectives,  Leonardo Space Arts,  Powers of Ten Blog Look over additional resources Wednesday, May 31 Write up Week 9: Space + Art Blog Thursday, June 1 Brainstorm/choose final paper topic Friday, June 2 Find scholarly research (10 references, 2 sources) create citations/sources Saturday, June 3 Visit Fowler Museum Exhibit: African Print: Taste, Globalization & Style Visit Hammer Museum Exhibi...

With the usage of nanoparticles, I believe fashion will undergo drastic transformations. As explained in this week's lecture videos, when we manipulate on the nanoscale, we can change the properties of the molecules. In particular, I was intrigued by the creation of self-cleaning fabrics. Speaking as a college student, laundry is very time consuming. When done in a rush, our clothes can even become damaged through shrinking or stains. Researchers at RMIT University have been developing a cheap nanostructure that degrades organic matter when exposed to light using "hot electrons". If this is integrated into textiles, we can merely use some sunlight to clean our clothes, saving our money and time. Not to mention, this material would also be environmentally friendly, since our clothes would be preserved longer and we won't need to waste as much water. Nanostructures grown on cotton textiles (RMIT University) < https://phys.org/news/2016-03-nano-enhanced-textiles...

Aristotle, the father of psychology, had believed that the brain was merely an organ built to cool down the blood in the heart and lungs. With developed technology, science can now confirm with microscopes and electricity that the brain is the conductor of thought and emotion. In a lot of literary works and art, the heart seems to always be romanticized as the driver of human passion while the mind is always portrayed as the rational counterpart. Artists and even scientists have challenged this notion through beautiful depictions of neuroscience. Split Santiago Ramon y Cajal is considered to be the father of modern neuroscience, as he has won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in medicine and physiology. However, according the Vesna's lecture, he referred to neurons as "mysterious butterflies of the souls" and their dendrites as the wings. He obtained his artistic fulfillment within science, as he spent hours drawing natural scenes that would be later used in textboo...

As artists enter into laboratories and also collaborate with biologists, a lot of interesting pieces have been fabricated. One particular project that struck out to me was Jason Davis' audio microscope that transforms light information into sounds and allows you to hear living cells. The idea itself is deeply interdisciplinary that I could see it exhibited in both a science and an art museum, especially in an educational setting for the latter option. Joe Davis' audio microscope (geneticsandculture.com) Biotech art like this validates life as an expressive medium, as it gives a deeper perspective into organisms on the cellular level. Davis' other project on inserting a map of the milky way into the ear of a transgenic mouse with DNA base pairs exposes how intricate but modifiable genetic material is. Inherently, using transgenics or selective breeding as an artistic technique can bring out the scientific beauty that is embedded within life. These type of artistic end...

I was extremely intrigued by Professor Vesna's and Cohen's project as it explored communication through brain waves, or electrical signals that can be detected on surfaces of our heads. Since all of our emotions stem from this organ, it makes sense that we'd be able to indirectly compare our mental processes with another person using electroencephalograms. Due to the fact that cephalopods are able to communicate through flashing colors on their body, an octopus was sort of like a "mascot" for this event. Initial set up for the exhibit Octopi crowns were used as electrodes to detect the brain activity and measure waves that are processed wirelessly through a computer program. This technical background ties in with themes from Week 2 (Math + Art), since programming requires mathematical algorithms when completing the task of comparing two different waves in hertz by type and strength. After processing, the computer sends back information to the crowns and...

Click  here  for my midterm project proposal.