Survivor

BA Fine Art Degree Show. Private view: tomorrow, 23 May 5pm to...

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:06:25 +0100

BA Fine Art Degree Show. Private view: tomorrow, 23 May 5pm to 9pm at Middlesex University (London) Hendon campus, Grove building.

Photo

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:09:32 +0000

artandsciencejournal: Christina Mitrentse: Multiverse In this...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:05:30 +0000

© Christina Mitrentse - Anomalous God Is Not Great No1, (diptych)

© Christina Mitrentse - Anomalous God Is Not Great No1, (diptych)

© Christina Mitrentse - Cosmogenesis detail i, drawing on paper

© Christina Mitrentse - Anomalous God is not Great No2 -diptych

© Christina Mitrentse - Anomalous God is Not Great – No1,

artandsciencejournal:

Christina Mitrentse: Multiverse

In this series of works, Christina Mitrentse focuses on the idea of the multiverse; a subject defined as “an infinite realm of being or potential being of which the universe is regarded as a part.” To create this series, Mitrentse borrowed images from scientific publications and combined them with everyday imagery. These drawings, made with graphite powder, pastel powder, ink and charcoal on paper demonstrate the power of drawing as a medium. As the artist states,

“It serves as a tool for critical enquiry, for mapping time, philosophy and ultimately the construction of multiverse worlds, constantly open up visual possibilities.”

These artworks entice us because we cannot figure out where they are. The images look like outer space, yet the waves and clouds present visuals that are much closer to us. To see more of Mitrentse’s works, click here.

Until March 2nd, Mitrentse’s works will be at the dalla Rosa Gallery for the exhibit Welcome to the Multiverse.

- Lee Jones

Ink studies of various nebulae, edited.

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:47:48 +0000

NGC 2024

N44

NGC 2264

M20

M20

NGC 604

NGC 2070

Ink studies of various nebulae, edited.

Planet C20H40O3. Mixed media.

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:54:00 +0000

Planet C₂₀H₄₀O_3.

Mixed media.

Planetary Growth. Positive/Negative. Mixed media, work in...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:35:00 +0000

Planetary Growth. Positive/Negative.

Mixed media, work in progress…

atomstargazer: APOD,2012 December 28 NGC 6188 and NGC 6164 ...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:25:10 +0000

atomstargazer:

APOD,2012 December 28 NGC 6188 and NGC 6164
Image Credit & Copyright: Kfir Simon

Explanation: Fantastic shapes lurk in clouds of glowing hydrogen gas in NGC 6188, about 4,000 light-years away. The emission nebula is found near the edge of a large molecular cloud unseen at visible wavelengths, in the southern constellation Ara. Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association were formed in that region only a few million years ago, sculpting the dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions, from previous generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the molecular gas. Joining NGC 6188 on this cosmic canvas is rare emission nebula NGC 6164, also created by one of the region’s massive O-type stars. Similar in appearance to many planetary nebulae, NGC 6164’s striking, symmetric gaseous shroud and faint halo surround its bright central star at the lower right. The field of view spans about two full Moons, corresponding to 70 light years at the estimated distance of NGC 6188.

we-are-star-stuff: What lies outside the universe? Physicists...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 22:24:12 +0000

we-are-star-stuff:

What lies outside the universe?

Physicists have long studied the nature of the universe. But some go a step further into the unknown (and probably unknowable), contemplating what lies outside the boundaries of our universe.

Is it possible that something else exists beyond existence? Yes. Here are five theories about what that “something” might be.

The “outside the universe” question gets tricky right off the bat, because first you have to define the universe. One common answer is called the observable universe, and it’s defined by the speed of light. Since we can only see things when the light they emit or reflect reaches us, we can never see farther than the farthest distance light can travel in the time the universe has existed. That means the observable universe keeps getting bigger, but it is finite – the amount is sometimes referred to as the Hubble Volume, after the telescope that has given us our most distant views of the universe. We’ll never be able to see beyond that boundary, so for all intents and purposes, it’s the only universe we’ll ever interact with.

Beyond the Hubble Volume. We know with some certainty that there’s “more universe” out there beyond that boundary, though. Astronomers think space might be infinite, with “stuff” (energy, galaxies, etc.) distributed pretty much the same as it is in the observable universe. If it is, that has some seriously weird implications for what lies out there. Beyond the Hubble Volume you won’t just find more, different planets. You will eventually find every possible thing. In fact, cosmologists think that if you go far enough, you will find another Hubble Volume that is perfectly identical to ours. There’s another version of you out there mirroring your every action 10 to the 10^188 meters away. That may seem unlikely, but then, infinity is awfully infinite.

Dark Flow. In 2008, astronomers discovered something very strange and unexpected – galactic clusters were all streaming in the same direction at immense speed, over two million miles per hour. New observations in 2010 confirmed this phenomenon, known as Dark Flow. The movement defies all predictions about the distribution of mass throughout the universe after the Big Bang. One possible cause: massive structures outside the Hubble Volume exerting gravitational influence. This would mean that the structure of the infinite universe beyond our view is not uniform. As for the structures themselves, they could be literally anything, from aggregations of matter and energy on scales we can barely imagine to bizarre warps funneling gravitational forces from other universes.

Infinite Bubbles. Talking about things outside the Hubble Volume might be a bit of a cheat, since it’s still really the same universe, just a part of it we can’t see. It would have all the same physical laws and constants. In another version of the story, the post-Big Bang expansion of the universe caused “bubbles” to form in the structure of space. Each bubble is an area that stopped stretching along with the rest of space and formed its own universe, with its own laws. In this scenario, space is infinite, and each bubble is also infinite (because you can store an infinite number of infinities inside a single infinity). Even if you could somehow breach the boundary of our bubble, the space in between the bubbles is still expanding, so you’d never get to the next bubble no matter how fast you went.

Black Hole Spawning. A theory proposed by physicist Lee Smolin, known as the fecund universes theory, suggests that every black hole in our universe causes the formation of a new universe. Each universe will have slightly different physical laws than the forerunner universe. In this way, Smolin suggests a sort of natural selection for universes, as laws that lead to the frequent formation of black holes lead to the creation of more universes, while non-black hole forming universes “die out.” This theory has since been discounted (by Smolin himself and others).

Many Parallel Universes. There are tons of theories about parallel universes, but the most accepted one these days involves an evolution of the ideas of string theory to involve membranes that vibrate in other dimensions. It’s beyond the scope of this article to get too detailed about string or membrane theory, but the upshot of the whole thing is that these rippling membranes in the 11th dimension are whole other universes, and when the ripples slam into each other they form a new universe. The effects of the rippling motion help explain the observed distribution of matter in our universe. One of the weirdest elements of the theory is the idea that all the gravity we experience in our universe is actually leaking into it from another universe in another dimension (which explains why gravity here seems so weak compared to the other fundamental forces).

Sources:[x] [x] [x]

NGC 2070

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 16:47:05 +0000

NGC 2070

artandsciencejournal: Gyorgy Kepes György Kepes (1906 – 2001)...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 23:53:35 +0000

artandsciencejournal:

Gyorgy Kepes

György Kepes (1906 – 2001) was an Hungarian-born artist, professor, author and aesthetic theorist whose work contributed significantly to theories in art and design education in the latter half of the 20^th century.

Along with being a keen experimental artist and instructor, Kepes was also a prolific writer, publishing important books on aesthetics and design including his acclaimed Language of Vision (1944), a work in which Kepes looked to visual art as “an invaluable educational medium.” After working at the New Bauhaus in Chicago as well as Brooklyn College, Kepes moved to teach at MIT where he founded what is now known as the Center for Advanced Visual Studies. Here, he was able to draw from exciting, new technological resources for his art practice; x-ray machines, stroboscopic photography, telescopes, sonar and radar graphing systems and other technology helped Kepes create, define, and challenge the “scientific aesthetic.” These photographs from his body of work show the range of Kepes’s artistic experimentation and the creative potential of these new advances in art, media, and science.

For more information on the life and work of György Kepes, check out this NYT article, the MIT website, and this book.

- Erin Saunders

artandsciencejournal: Constance Jacobson Constance Jacobson is...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 23:52:32 +0000

artandsciencejournal:

Constance Jacobson

Constance Jacobson is a Boston-based artist/printmaker whose work explores existential fascinations and fears. Drawing from the practice of medical imaging, Jacobson focuses on the aesthetic and poetic implications of a scientific process. These “physiograms” — Jacobson’s term for her “fabricated scientific imagery” — recall our modern preoccupation with the afflicted or deteriorating brain, and our fear of dementia, “the death before death.” In an interview with Lois Tarlow, Jacobson describes the relationship between disciplines in her work:

“These fantasy images are not concerned with strict biological verisimilitude…While viewing these images after completing them, I was struck by the essential difference in perception between the scientist and the artist: when looking through a microscope at a dissection or an x-ray a scientist asks, ‘What is the content of what I am seeing and what are the implications?’ while the artist asks, ‘How does this appear, and how can I transform this into an aesthetic, personal or historical/cultural statement?’ The phenomenology of viewing is paramount for the artist, and veracity means only that the subject matter be visually believable within the imaginary world the artist has established for the viewer.”

See more of Jacobson’s work at her website here.

- Erin Saunders

thesciencellama: Lightning Ridge Black Opal - Twin Galaxy Gem...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:17:34 +0000

thesciencellama:

Lightning Ridge Black Opal - Twin Galaxy Gem Stones

Aside from Grey and White, Black Opal is the most precious and is at least 50 times more rare than diamond, yet these beautiful gems are also much more fragile than diamond.

The brilliant colors within the gems are iridescent, meaning that they will change color or flash as you rotate them. Deep down within the opal are silica spheres arranged in arrays and both the size and organized arrangement of the spheres will determine the color produced. The Twin Galaxy Stones will flash like lightning as you rotate them, hence the name Lightning Ridge in Australia.

dvdp: “An M6 flare (medium-sized) associated with a coronal...

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:28:37 +0000

dvdp:

“An M6 flare (medium-sized) associated with a coronal mass ejection blasted out from the Sun and appears to be headed in the general direction of Earth (Aug. 3, 2011). If this particle cloud bumps Earth in a few days, it might generate bright auroras and could possibly upset electronic equipment, especially in space.”

//via euphues

infinity-imagined: Planet Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, October...

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:34:38 +0000

infinity-imagined:

Planet Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, October 19th-28th, 2012, by GOES-13.

likeafieldmouse: Mungo Thomson - Negative Space (2006)

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:43:15 +0100

likeafieldmouse:

Mungo Thomson - Negative Space (2006)

the-star-stuff: Amazing Animations of Fruit and Vegetable...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:08:04 +0100

the-star-stuff:

Amazing Animations of Fruit and Vegetable MRIs

Andy Ellison of Boston University Medical School has been throwing the entire produce aisle inside a Philips 3 Tesla MRI, revealing the otherworldly realms that dwell inside common foods. Here’s but a small sampling of his many see-through delicacies, immortalized as GIFs

“The perception and cognition of art, a venture done...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:35:00 +0100

“The perception and cognition of art, a venture done effortlessly by all members of our species, is a complicated affair in which visual perception, brain structures, sensory reasoning, and aesthetic evaluation are made in less time than it takes to read this sentence.”

Robert L. Solso, The Cognitive Neuroscience of Art

IC 2944 (Lambda Cen Nebula)

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 12:22:38 +0100

IC 2944 (Lambda Cen Nebula)

conduittothecosmos: The Human Connectome This immense...

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 21:44:19 +0100

conduittothecosmos:

The Human Connectome

This immense scientific project aims to create a comprehensive map of the all the neural connections in the brain, an undertaking which has been fronted by the Human Connectome Project which is sponsored by the National Institute of Health in the US.

The Human Connectome Project aims to decipher the interactions of neurons and synapses in healthy, living adult humans. Mapping of the brain can be spit into certain scales, ranging from single neurons, to populations of neurons, to cortical areas. It is thought that once sufficient data is gathered we will be able to stitch each level together to form one large, comprehensive map.

With current technology we are currently unable to capture the brain’s activity at the cellular level without using invasive procedures. Mapping the connectome at this level usually requires a post-mortem and thus is not ideal.

At the macro scale which is at the level of clusters of neurons and fibers; recent methods and advances have seen non-invasive mapping emerge rather successfully. At this level functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used in conjunction with tractography- a procedure used to demonstrate neural tracts. (x)

expose-the-light: Cosmic Love by Phillip Schumacher

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:14:31 +0100

expose-the-light:

Cosmic Love by Phillip Schumacher