bioephemera
Posts by this author
For minority undergraduates interested in careers in science writing:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is proud to offer a summer internship program for minority students interested in journalism as a career and who want to learn about science writing. Experience what…
Did you hear about the scio10 civility meltdown? More about that in a minute. As you may have heard, it got a bit. . . uncivil. I wasn't there, so you, like me, will have to get your impression from this highly realistic renactment, created by an attendee who witnessed the confrontation between…
Here's one for PZ: the lovely proprietress of Sea of Shoes shares two stunning, huge jeweled cephalopod pieces by Paris-based jewelry team Hanna Bernhard. These are some seriously impressive wearables.
Many more photos at Sea of Shoes, plus a short interview with the artists.
The famous apple-tree story, from a manuscript by one of Newton's friends:
"After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank tea, under the shade of some apple trees. [Newton] told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into…
Scibling Rebecca Skloot's new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is coming out next month. To celebrate I thought I'd dredge one of my favorite pieces of hers out of the archive: "Fixing Nemo."
Dr. Helen Roberts was about to make the first incision in what should have been a standard…
Camille Allen's tiny baby sculptures have been all over the blogosphere. Contrary to popular belief, though, they're not made of marzipan (almond candy) or icing - they're polymer clay and mohair. So you're not supposed to eat them - thank heavens. Still amazing, though. (And a perfect…
Madonna and Child with Angels, AKA "Madonna with the Long Neck"
Parmigianino, c. 1534/40
From Edward Winkleman's blog, a good post about yet another art historian with convenient medical explanations for the artistic idiosyncrasies of the old masters. In addition to arguing that the Mona Lisa had…
A simply insane list of digital museums, libraries, and learning resources.
A Journey Round My Skull uncovered this DISTURBING children's book about anthropogenic talking fruit who appear to be suffering from a contagious respiratory disease.
I'm not sure why I find it so disturbing, but I do. It makes me feel like I'm on some sort of mind-altering substance. (I know…
A short (~4 minute) sweet overview of the political power of data visualization, by Tufte disciple Alex Lundry. He says so-called "dataviz" exists (you guessed it) "at the intersection of art and science." Quite right, sir!
You'll note Lundry makes use of the classic pirates-global warming…
Speaking of China, two graphs from the brand-spanking-new Science and Engineering Indicators 2010:
I detect some trends.
Back in October, there was an interesting article by Peter Hessler in the New Yorker about Chinese painters who make a living painting western scenes (Venice is popular) that they neither recognize nor are particularly interested in. Unfortunately the article is subscription-only, but if you have…
Thanks to everyone who participated in the unscientific survey on commenting. The results are back, and I'd like to share them with you.
As many of you have noticed, we've been talking about comments a lot here lately, both at BioE and on Sb in general. There's also a big session on online civility…
BldgBlog has a great post featuring Noah Sheldon's photographs of the decaying, abandoned Biosphere 2.
From BldgBlog:
"The structure was billed as the first large habitat for humans that would live and breathe on its own, as cut off from the earth as a spaceship," the New York Times wrote back in…
Light Writing Proposal, by Derick Childress. Via Good.
Congratulations, Derick and Emily.
It's like an episode of Mythbusters!
Adam: "Is it really true that if a windmill spins too fast, it disintegrates?"
Jamie: "Apparently, yes. Now we need to make a dummy out of A) a pig carcass or B) ballistic gel, and see what happens when he's standing under a disintegrating windmill."
From…
What can scientists do about Hollywood's ongoing inability to depict science in a realistic manner, as depicted by xkcd? If you're interested in this question (or still angry that Scully was somehow able to complete a Southern blot on trace alien DNA over her lunch hour), you may be interested in…
Attention all art/science web-collaborative types! Dave Ng has just formally announced the Phylomon Project. Here's the hook: a paper published in 2000 determined that an 8 year old could identify and characterize 120 different Pokemon characters, but when it comes to animals in their own backyard…
Via somebody awesome. You can get a print of it at dresden codak.
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A Cruel and Beautiful Far Away Place
Christopher Reiger
Vision Quest, "A Group Show of Neo-Shamanic Art," is opening at the Observatory in NYC this Saturday, January 16, at 7pm:
While the role of the shaman has traditionally been fulfilled by experienced elders in indigenous groups spanning…
As I've observed before, many scientists, especially physicists, seem to have a strong belief that the fundamental truths of nature are inherently elegant and beautiful. This new NPR story on symmetries fits right into that scientific-beauty-is-truth frame - down to the requisite Keats quote at…
The Endangered Species Print Project has a clever approach to conservation: a series of limited-edition prints depicting endangered species, with the number of prints correlating with the number of individuals left in the wild. For this sunlight-saturated Panamanian Golden Frog by Jenny Kendler,…
I like this little article by Sean Carroll for Edge:
I wanted to write that the Internet keeps people honest. The image of thousands of readers bursting into laughter gave me pause.
So let me put it this way: the Internet helps enable honesty. Many of us basically want to be honest, but we're…
Wonderful! Artist Chris Berens has a new show in NYC at the Sloan Gallery. Visit their website for much eerie eye candy. The show runs through Jan. 23.
Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling (detail)
view the whole thing at The Oatmeal - it's great.
While blogging late at night, I've sometimes wondered whether an extensive study of blog comments would yield a set of emergent categories, which could then be organized into a sort of phylogeny…
It wasn't exactly a New Year's resolution, but Scibling Abel Pharmboy announced a new mission for Terra Sigillata this year:
Terra Sigillata will broaden its focus area to become an open platform for scientific and career development issues specific to underrepresented or underserved minority…
"Labyrinthine Meditation, Middle Stage"
Brian Knep, 2009
Brian Knep, an artist-in-residence at Harvard Medical School, just ended a solo exhibition at Boston's judi rotenberg gallery. Interestingly, the exhibition press release is unabashedly critical of science:
Through the scientific study of…
Boston's fatorangecat studio has a wonderful blog where photographer Li Ward posts some of her most spontaneous work (like the time her furry subject got all tangled up with Cameron Diaz). Ranging from the absurd to the poignant, Li's photos capture what we love best about our pets. (I'm pretty…