Posts

May 25, 2013

+

12:30 AM | Smudgy Clouds and Art Conventions

Sometimes real life looks kind of fake. Or it would if you tried to paint it. Lurid pink, purple and orange sunsets. Up close detail of tree bark. Or this morning's low hanging clouds over Toronto. They look like poor use of the Photoshop smudge tool. When painting, we sometimes stick to conventions based on viewer expectation instead of what nature actually looks like. It's rooted in the same impulse that children use when always picking blue for colouring skies even though in they […]

May 23, 2013

+

11:00 AM | Shmooing with the biologists

I couldn’t resist taking this photo in the office of Edinburgh mathematician Nikola Popovic. The central image is the result of a conversation between Nikola and visiting speaker Vahid Shahrezaei about the reproduction of yeast. Yeast cells normally reproduce asexually by budding, but cells of opposite mating types (a and α) can also reproduce sexually. […]

May 22, 2013

+

7:11 PM | THE ART OF SCICOMM

Long ago, I left the lab in order to “make science cool.” I forged my way into science communications, starting a science consulting agency to work with Hollywood screenwriters (where I consulted with sci-fi movie set decorators and screenwriters and producers such as Ed Solomon (X-Men) and Josh Brand, creator of “Northern Exposure”), and answering “ASK a scientist” questions for AOL and Earthlink in the early days of the internet. I got my big break when I […]

+

6:12 PM | TV OPPORTUNITY FOR EXTROVERTED SCIENTISTS

Multiple Emmy Award-winning Producer Jon Kroll, a longtime friend and colleague of ASKlabs, is looking for a few good scientists to guest on his new reality TV series, “Ten Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty.” SpikeTV and Lloyd’s of London are offering a $10 million reward for: "irrefutable evidence of the existence of a previously undiscovered non-human hominid native to North America and alive in the 21st century." The series aims to investigate both Bigfoot and the culture […]

May 21, 2013

+

7:34 PM | The SciArt Buzz: ScienceArt On Exhibit In May/June 2013

If I only had a private jet at my beck and call, I could zip around the country to all these fine exhibits… sigh! _____________ EXHIBITS: NORTHEAST REGION Princeton University’s ART of SCIENCE May 10, 2013 - Atrium, Friend Center Engineering Library Princeton University 35 Olden Street Princeton, NJ The Art of Science exhibition marks [...]

May 20, 2013

+

8:52 PM | Self-Publishing Tools for Science Artists

I owe a lot to self-publishing technology. If I had been born before the age of blogs and inexpensive scanners, there is no way anyone outside of my immediate family would have ever seen any of my work. Since the beginning of my online blogging and illustrating, I’ve wanted to take my science storytelling and [...]

+

8:58 AM | Is it okay to use smart drugs?

In the past 5 years or so, there has been a huge increase in lifestyle use of prescription drugs that can enhance cognitive function in various ways. These so-called “smart drugs” include the stimulants methylphenidate (better known by its trade name, Ritalin), which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and modafinil (also known […]

May 19, 2013

+

8:28 PM | Attempts at how to categorize SciArt

I was discussing SciArt on several occasions with different people recently and was fishing for a way to classify different SciArt in order to make a particular point – the point being that the type of SciArt I find most interesting and valuable is in the minority. Basically, it seems there are 3 (or maybe…

May 17, 2013

+

12:08 PM | Is Homosexuality Natural? Yes. So is male lactation.

As Gwenn Seemel points out in her richly illustrated book, Crime Against Nature, the non-human animal kingdom is chock-full of examples that challenge many of our deeply held beliefs about what is “natural” behavior in everything from sexual preference to lifestyle choices to gender roles and even gender identity. A third gender, male pregnancy and [...]

+

12:05 PM | Fair coin puzzle

This board was sent to me via Twitter by Will Davies (aka @notonlyahatrack) who had listened to the podcast Wrong, But Useful (by Colin Beveridge (@icecolbeveridge) and Dave Gale (@reflectivemaths) ) and attempted the following puzzle: I have three indistinguishable coins: one always comes up heads, one always comes up tails and the third is a […]

May 16, 2013

+

10:23 PM | Botanical Beauty – Art – Forms – in – Nature

“If I give someone a horsetail, he will have no difficulty making a photographic enlargement of it—anyone can do that. But to observe it, to notice and discover its forms, is something only a few are capable of.”—Karl Blossfeldt, 1929…

May 15, 2013

+

12:06 PM | It’s A Fun Game… Until The Dog Swallows It

If I told you that a tennis ball could kill, would you roll your eyes or laugh in my face? What if I showed you this? Like a cork in a bottle, a fumbled tennis ball in an innocent game of fetch can lodge in a dog’s esophagus with the unfortunate consequence of asphyxiating your [...]

+

8:32 AM | Exposure to stress hormones in the womb linked to mood disorders

Stress hormones released by a pregnant mother can cause the placenta to shrink and can directly affect the developing brain of the foetus. Now, researchers have identified the mechanism through which stress may damage an unborn child in the womb. An enzyme in the placenta of the mother and the brain of the foetus acts […]

+

1:42 AM | Commander Hadfield Shows Us What Science Communication Could Be. Visually.

Science communication has seldom had a better champion than Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield who just returned to Earth last night. Astronauts tweeting and talking from space is not a new phenomena, and though interesting scientific experiments abound way up on the ISS, they weren’t what caught the public’s imagination this go round. It was [...]

May 14, 2013

+

1:24 PM | 1st Astronaut Hero

Our son Calvin, age 2, watching Commander Hadfield sing Bowie's Space Oddity a few hours before touchdown. Calvin tried to sing along about "he puts on his helmet" and "big giant Jupiter in the sky-y-y..."The Flying Trilobite http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com Art in Awe of Science by Glendon Mellow Follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/flyingtrilobite

May 09, 2013

+

5:00 PM | Slippin’ and Slidin’ – Guest Post by Michele Banks

Recently, artist Michele Banks (better known as @artologica) told me she was trying out Yupo and mylar with her watercolours. I was excited to ask her to share the results here on Symbiartic. Banks has been seen and interviewed here on Symbiartic before, and in addition to running one of the most popular science-art Etsy [...]

+

9:37 AM | Step inside the age of ideas

It starts with a bit of chaos. Makeup artists slap thick pale, foundation onto women’s faces as the stylists produce a cloud of hair spray. Everybody is wriggled out of their ordinary jeans and t-shirts and into finery; long ball gowns or tight fitting suit jackets. This is how The Salon Project begins. It’s an [...]

+

4:35 AM | Build a Bricks & Mortar SciArt Gallery – right now!

Science-artist creator and connoisseur Hayley Gillespie is chasing down a goal that until now I’ve only daydreamed about: she and the rest of her crew at Art.Science.Gallery are attempting to make a real, bricks & mortar science-art gallery come true! And there’s less than 24 hours left to do it! * Some of the prizes are gorgeous, [...]

May 07, 2013

+

8:34 PM | Inflammatory Language: The Rain in Spain...

Sanidad publicaIllustration by Monica Lalanda 2012...austerity, that is...falls on many of us (in the UK, Ireland, Greece and many other European Union countries including the Baltic States, and also the US). Austerity has finally pushed Spanish doctors into working together (a historically rare occurrence) to fight the break-up of their national health system. The UK is at risk as well. In February, The Febrile Muse asked readers to submit to Inflammatory Language either a 300-500 word […]

+

8:22 PM | SCIENCE FUN ON THE WEB

Looking for a quick science fix while you peruse the web? Want a great source for up to date science-related news and opinion? We’ve got a few suggestions to get you started. From podcasts, videos, and blogs, to citizen science projects and games which allow you to compile important data, you’ll find something here that you love. So if you’re hunkering for a little science with your internet cat memes, start here and see what you can find! First off, there’s the […]

May 03, 2013

+

5:28 PM | Stegoceras sketch ii

Refined this sketch a little more on my lunch break today. Getting me warmed up for a late night binge of drawing commissions. The Flying Trilobite http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com Art in Awe of Science by Glendon Mellow Follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/flyingtrilobite

+

1:29 PM | Sea Star is Fine

I felt inspired after reading Darren Naish’s recent post, Herring gull eats sea star, and other tales of larid gastronomy. He describes seeing gulls eating sea stars, sometimes in one piece and sometimes just an arm (or two, I suppose). Thinking about the regenerative powers of sea stars, I decided to draw one for you. [...]

May 01, 2013

+

4:35 PM | Bora Zivkovic to Visit Toronto

The Blogfather himself, Bora Zivkovic of Scientific American, ScienceOnline, OpenLab and circadian-rhythm-awesomeness is coming to Toronto next week!Bora will be giving a talk at my alma mater York University, about Science and the New Media Ecosystem from 2:00-3:30. Here's the deets:Science and the New Media EcosystemBora Zivkovic, Blog Editor at Scientific American Monday, May 6, 2013, 2:00 – 3:30 pmPaul Delaney Gallery, Room 320, Bethune CollegeYork University, TorontoMap Abstract:The […]

April 30, 2013

+

8:38 PM | Hazy Day in the Cretaceous

Sometimes we just have to put up an image because it calms everything down. This beautiful Protoceratops digital speed painting by scientific illustrator and concept artist Ville Sinkkonen evokes quiet contemplation outdoors. A hazy day, and the promise of summer to come. - - See more of Sinkkonen’s evocative work: There Be Beasts – blog [...]

April 29, 2013

+

6:53 PM | The Three Little Pigs Never Thought of This Building Material

Bricks, sticks, and hay are decidedly pedestrian building materials in comparison to a new building that just opened to the public last Thursday in Hamburg, Germany. Ambitious architects have built an apartment covered in a thin layer of living, breathing algae. The building, known as BIQ (for Bio Intelligent Quotient), meets the extremely stringent passive-house [...]

April 27, 2013

+

3:36 PM | Landmark: Photography and our changing environment

Can photography impact the way that we view our environment? Part art and part document, does this medium have the capacity to really change our minds? This question, which has a semi-permanent place in the back of my mind, rose …

April 26, 2013

+

2:59 PM | Bif! Bam! Pow! Microraptor Missing Creator Credit!

I really don’t enjoy playing Internet Police. After this happened and this needed to be said, I don’t want to write another story about image misappropriation. About another brazen misuse of some science illustration. Le sigh. Oh wait, first rule of writing something impactful: start positive. Ok. Ahem. Once more unto the breach! In a [...]

April 25, 2013

+

4:09 PM | When Should Robots Resemble Humans?

I’ve been spending a lot of time around robots lately (hey, there’s something I never thought I’d say). I got a chance to see and interact with several different kinds of robots recently at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering’s Robotics Open House. I saw robots that sort colored objects like the [...]

+

1:52 PM | Thinking back in wonder

Q: What happens when you mix 200 neuroscientists with 5000 members of the public? A: You get people playing Pong with their brainwaves, children decorating cardboard neurons, people giggling as they try (and fail) to touch their own noses, primal art, knitted neurons and live “brain surgery”. These were just some of the intriguing and [...]

April 24, 2013

+

3:00 PM | Mash-Up This! Science Communication’s Image Problem

The promised Information Economy based on creative culture is a sweatshop. Award winning illustrators, fine artists, photographers, cartoonists and animators are routinely ripped off, mashed-up, and reshared without attribution, let alone money. “But it’s always been this way!” “Good luck changing the whole internet!” It wasn’t supposed to be this way, and creators don’t have [...]