Posts
January 09, 2013
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It’s the beginning of a New Year, traditionally the time for turning over a new leaf, making resolutions, and kicking bad habits. But why is it so hard to change our ways? And why do we form habits in the first place? Peter Smittenaar is a PhD student in neuroscience at UCL and is currently [...]
January 08, 2013
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7:56 PM | duck... duck...
We watched birds and fish in Neary Lagoon. We sang some Zombie carols (like x-mas carols, but about zombies eating people) baked Saffron snickerdoodles, and then sent Ben on his way. Happy Travels Ben!
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7:36 PM | Ice Plant
We bicycled up the coast and found cliffs covered in Ice Plant.
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7:35 PM | Hiking in the Redwoods
Then we went hiking in the UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserve, and Ben hugged a Sequoia.
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7:32 PM | Jellyfish
My friend Ben is visiting from Australia. He's a childrens book illustator ( http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/Zoobots/). I'm showing him around Central California. On our first stop after a beach bonfire for New Years was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Ben's favorite exhibit was the jellyfish.
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3:21 PM | A PROMS Date for Critics
Assessing Musical Abilities Objectively: Construction and Validation of the Profile of Music Perception Skills
Among the most frequent zingers any music critic receives is some variation of “if your so smart, why don’t u do better?!?” or “sorry you’re a failed musician, dude.” The underlying logic of these attacks is that a listener must have some musical ability in order to write about and judge music. But many music critics don’t have a formal
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January 07, 2013
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3:57 PM | 2013: A Brain Wave Symphony?
Just about everyone appreciates music, but music that results from a creative implementation of sound can be especially compelling. Human beings are inventive creatures who discover a myriad of ways to innovate in the musical realm. This video preview of Landfill Harmonic, a documentary shot in a slum in Paraguay shows that people can find [...]
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1:15 PM | Unveiling The Universe Within
Almost five years ago to the day, Neil Shubin’s first book (and my first foray into illustrating popular non-fiction), Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body debuted. It was by all accounts hugely successful, far exceeding the publisher’s sales expectations in the first few months and going into multiple [...]
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Jennifer Wallis is a doctoral student at QMUL’s Centre for the History of the Emotions. In this, her first post for ThInk, she introduces the subject of her doctoral research and reveals why the history of one asylum in particular caught her attention. As well as being a columnist for ThInk, Jen also runs – with [...]
January 06, 2013
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8:11 PM | SciArt at Scio13 – Call for Entries
Last year we saw thundering success with the first ScienceOnline Science-Art Show – more than 50 artists submitted 100+ works included in the digital gallery. That wasn’t the only success last year. For the first time, we saw an entire mob of artists at ScienceOnline itself – there in person, sharing visual techniques for communicating science. [...]
January 04, 2013
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8:06 PM | Peer Review #1: Max Tundra - Lysine
Subjective response to lysine in the therapy of herpes simplex.
To test the effect of lysine supplementation on herpes infection, 1543 subjects were surveyed by questionnaire after a six-month trial period. The study included subjects with cold sores, canker sores, and genital herpes. Of these, 54% had been diagnosed and treated by a physician. The results showed that the average dosage used was 936 mg of lysine daily. Eighty-four per cent of those surveyed said
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12:01 PM | A Big Bee
When my son was just over a year old, we'd argue about the flying trilobite tattoo on my arm."Can you say, 'tri-lo-bite'?""Bee," pointing at my arm."It looks like a bee, yes. But it's a trilobite.""Try clapping out the syllables for him," Michelle, the educator, suggested."Okay, Calvin,"(clapping each syllable)"Tri-lo-bite," I enunciated.Random clapping. "Bee."Again, clapping each syllable. "Tri-lo-bite". An exasperated look for his father, the toddler touched my winged trilobite
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January 03, 2013
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12:23 PM | Ceratosaurus Science Ink
Another dinosaur tattoo design!In March of 2012, I posted a bit about the process behind paleontology author and blogger Brian Switek's Allosaurus tattoo design, which he commissioned from me and had inked at the Heart of Gold Tattoo studio.Brian Switek is the author of Written in Stone and My Beloved Brontosaurus and the former blogger at Laelaps on Wired, and Dinosaur Tracking on the Smithsonian site.Recently, he's taken his Laelaps blog to National Geographic's new "science salon"
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4:16 AM | Please No More Sad Songs
Changing the tune: Listeners like music that expresses a contrasting emotion
Contrast is the simplest way to play tricks on the brain. Sit in a dark room for a while then go outside, and a sunny day can be painfully blinding. Hold an ice cube in your hand then stick it under a tepid stream of water, and it will feel warm to the touch. Composers figured out the power of musical contrast centuries ago, deploying the quiet-loud-quiet effect long before the Pixies came along. But University of
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January 02, 2013
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11:42 AM | Creative Depression And How I Got Rid of It
When I die one day, my biggest creative regret will likely be all the artwork I didn't have a chance to finish. Headlines marketed at artists and illustrators like "How to Increase Your Creativity" and "Get Your Creative Juices Flowing" never make sense to me. Ideas aren't the problem. Time to execute them to my satisfaction is. Not every idea makes it past the sketch phase. So it may seem strange when I say that looking back, I was in a creative depression for much of last year. I
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12:30 AM | Latest Fashion From Paris
Coloured this pencil sketch using the Sketch Club app on my iPhone. The original is owned by Morgan Jackson of Biodiversity in Focus. We're having a light family day at home after staying up late with good friends to ring in the New Year.I'm going to try posting quick sketches more often. 2012 was my lightest year of blogging here on The Flying Trilobite, though not of blogging in general considering my posts on Symbiartic.Last year was fantastic and I did some of the most important
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December 31, 2012
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1:02 PM | New Year's Goblin
New Year's Goblin © Glendon MellowHappy New Year to all my friends, families and supporters of my art and The Flying Trilobite blog! Next year, may all your goblins be small-ish and cheery.- - - - - - - -Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite © to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.PortfolioBlogPrint ShopFind me on Symbiartic, the art+science blog on the Scientific American Blog Network!The Flying Trilobite
http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com
Art in Awe of Science by Glendon
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December 30, 2012
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11:02 AM | Yappy New Hear!
A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all! And so ends another year. WordPress tells me I’ve written 21 blog posts in 2012… not exactly a mind-blowing number maybe, but one I’m pretty happy with given that 2012′s been a year of new jobs, house moves, and stockpiling for the impending [...]
December 21, 2012
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10:56 PM | Ctenophora Fabric
I received my proofs of my first experiments on Spoonflower.com. They look fabulous! I plan on using them as quilting panels, but they could be used for just about anything... If you want to print them and play around yourself, here they are: http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1624052 Happy Crafting!
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December 20, 2012
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1:06 PM | Data as Culture
A couple of weeks ago I was pleased to take a look at the ‘Data as Culture’ art commission coordinated by MzTEK, which supports the engagement of women with technology/new media/computer arts. The aim of the commission …
December 19, 2012
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3:01 PM | Zap the West Noël Virus to Save Santa!
What happens when a studio, specializing in medical illustration, animation and interactive apps, sets out to make a Christmas card? You get The Santastic Voyage, a video game where you shrink down, zip through Saint Nick’s bloodstream, zapping the West Noël Virus and Bah Humbugs in order to save Christmas. InViVo Communications finished the candy [...]
December 18, 2012
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Cover photo of Buprestis rufipes by Ted MacRaeBuprestis striata field guide page showing colour variations.Sample key to genera page. All characters used in the key are illustrated with either high magnification photographs or simple illustrations.Trachys generic page from Field Guide to Jewel Beetles featuring original artwork by scientific illustrator/artist Glendon Mellow.(*All above image captions by Morgan Jackson.) - -Last summer, I had Beetle Week here on The Flying
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December 15, 2012
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1:47 AM | Ctenophora Quilt Panels
I'm still having fun designing textiles. I'm planning to make a doona cover for my guest bed, after I finish a few more of the baby quilts. It'll be a comb jelly themed bedding set. I did these ctenophora drawings up today. I was bored with the Ernst Haeckel style of jellyfish drawings, so I did these up in watercolor and sharpie. They are meant to be panels set into the larger design. Instead of painting them directly onto fabric, I've uploaded them to Spoonflower, so that
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December 14, 2012
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11:58 AM | Black and White Trilobite iPhone Case
New iPhone case in my online store! A sophisticated black and white trilobite for those moments in life where you need your glowing device to make a statement: "hey, I don't need hundreds of colours".There's more cases available than are pictured here for iPhone 3,4, & 5 as well as iPod touch - and coming in the new year, iPad cases too! - - - - - - - -Original artwork on The Flying Trilobite © to Glendon Mellow under Creative Commons Licence.PortfolioBlogPrint
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December 13, 2012
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"Inspiring New Realities: interview with James Gurney"Check out my Symbiartic interview at Scientific American: http://t.co/tvYotjaw The Flying Trilobite
http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com
Art in Awe of Science by Glendon Mellow
Follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/flyingtrilobite
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Last summer I had the pleasure of going the Association of Medical Illustrators meeting here in Toronto. Among the speakers and session moderators, including E.O.Wilson and Jennifer Fairman, was a name familiar to anyone who is fan of illustration – not just scientific illustration, but of the art of illustration in any form: James Gurney. [...]
December 12, 2012
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1:41 PM | Beetles + Trilobites 2013 Calendar
It's here! And marked 10% off! http://www.redbubble.com/people/flyingtrilobite/calendars/9728704-an-inordinate-fondness-for-beetles-trilobitesRedBubble print quality is fantastic, and there's no more economical way to get your hands on some surreal science for the new year. The Flying Trilobite
http://glendonmellow.blogspot.com
Art in Awe of Science by Glendon Mellow
Follow me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/flyingtrilobite
December 11, 2012
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6:33 PM | Blackboard cake
This birthday cake was made for Robin Knops, a Professor Emeritus at Heriot-Watt University, to celebrate his 80th birthday. The celebrations were part of a conference at ICMS in Robin’s honour, which was especially fitting as Robin was one of the founders of ICMS (the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences) in 1990. This cake was [...]
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1:26 PM | The SciArt Buzz is Back! December 2012
We’re bringing the SciArt Buzz back… there’s just too much great SciArt buzzing around out there not to concatenate it into one readable digest. Expect this post regularly on Symbiartic, and don’t forget to check these great science art events: EXHIBITS: NORTHEAST REGION The Islands of Benoît Mandelbrot: Fractals, Chaos, and the Materiality of Thinking [...]
December 07, 2012
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12:44 AM | Advice from a Freelancing Guru
Freelancing is tough. Most of us learn on the job and get a lot of bumps and scrapes along the way. There are success stories, though, and if you can master the basics of Small Business 101 the benefits of being your own boss and managing your own schedule are rewarding. When I look around [...]
