Neuroscience + arthttp://i46.tinypic.com/29uqd8z.jpg

The topic of the brain has fascinated mankind for quite some time now. Today, we have many forms of technology to aid in our quest to figure out what is happening in our crania. In the project that created Brainbow, neurons were ‘painted’ with fluorescent colorings to show how they are connected to one another, which is important for understanding how they interact to different stimuli.

With the use of modern MRI scans, it is now possible to see different parts of the brain react to different stimuli in real time as opposed to waiting days and months for the data to be analyzed. Christopher deCharmes describes how this technology can be used to relieve chronic pain by knowing which part of the brain is causing the pain and correcting it from there rather than focusing on that specific body part.

A UCLA study showed that people who meditated 10-90minutes each day say it is an essential part of working in their field. Through deep concentration, they are able to focus on how to heighten their precision in their work. They also showed signs of reduced stress and better immune systems. They are still unsure of where exactly in the brain reacts to meditation.

It is a bit strange to think that we have been using our brains to study our brains and we still do not know all there is to know! With better technology surfacing every day, we will be able to find out more and more about ourselves in the near future!

sources:

 "3 Clues to Understanding Your Brain." VS Ramachandran:. Web. 18 May 2015.

"A Look inside the Brain in Real Time." Christopher DeCharms:. Web. 18 May 2015.

"How to Build a Bigger Brain." How to Build a Bigger Brain. Web. 18 May 2015.

"Neuroscientist Helps Pave Way for Dalai Lama's Visit." Neuroscientist Helps Pave Way for Dalai Lama's Visit. Web. 18 May 2015.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience-pt1.mov." YouTube. Web. 18 May 2015.  

биотек и арт

Not going to lie, this week’s topic and videos made me a bit uncomfortable, but important nonetheless.

In our lecture videos, we were exposed to the idea of physically and genetically altering life forms for various purposes. This concept, as seen in the glowing rabbits, was an important step for humans figuring out how to alter physical traits in organisms and in this case, it was rather harmless. But as we saw with the butterfly with the holes in its wings, these alterations can have serious repercussions, which is why we should not take them lightly. We also saw Joe Davis’ genetically engineered bacteria, Microvenus, and while it is immensely popular, we see that it is not displayed anywhere due to public unease.

Genetically modifying our food is another example of public controversy over bioengineering, this time because it relates directly to what we put in our bodies. GMO in foodstuffs is a bit of a double-edged sword. We can control the degree of variation in each banana and if it has fewer problems than non-GMO counterparts, we can better control its production, health risks, how water-friendly they are, etc. The problem is that when things go awry, GMOs can be life threatening. They can also be dangerous to an environment because they can be so successful at reproducing that they invasively destroy native species and cause all sorts of chain reactions that snowball into chaos.

While I personally do not really see the value of altering other conscious organisms for purposes that do not directly relate to their health, the altering of one’s own body as a means of self-expression is much more understandable to me. Whether it means engineering another ear into your skin, or changing your gender, it’s your body and your choice what to do with it.

sources:

 "GFP BUNNY." GFP BUNNY. Web. 11 May 2015.

"POV | Food, Inc. | Interview with Michael Pollan | PBS." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 11 May 2015.

"Seed Magazineabout." Wanted: GM Seeds for Study § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM. Web. 11 May 2015.  

 "Super Weed Can't Be Killed." ABC News. ABC News Network. Web. 11 May 2015.

"'Super Weed' Taking Strong Hold in Utah | KSL.com." 'Super Weed' Taking Strong Hold in Utah | KSL.com. Web. 11 May 2015.  

medicine + teche + arte

For thousands of years, humans have been very interested in the topic of our very own anatomy. The act of dissecting cadavers, then drawing and recording the details discovered was (and still is), however, frowned upon in most cultures. Of course there were still many artists that studied the human anatomy in great detail using this method, but it would be until the twentieth century that we would be able to look at the human anatomy in greater depth using less invasive techniques. X-rays, CAT scans, and MRIs, to name a few, were developed to take pictures of the body noninvasively and give us images with very specific details as to what is all going on in different bones, organs, tissues, etc.

In the sci-fi film The Island, people can have clones of themselves in case they ever needed an organ transplant or something of the sort, but the public is unaware that these clones are conscious beings and not vegetative husks like the cloning company assured. This film brought the idea of reconstructive plastic surgery to another level by demonizing the concept of having clones used for our benefit and that the whole idea of ‘Playing God’ ultimately has its consequences.

In Diane Gromala’s TED talk, she depicts virtual reality programs being used in all sorts of fashions to cause intra-sensory conflicts, or even to relieve pain. When immersed in a virtual simulation, users may find that if they ’move’ rectilinearly through their surroundings, a proprioceptive conflict can cause them to have sensations of weightlessness and other sensory abnormalities associated with the use of drugs. This is really fascinating because with these images and sounds, we can use the power of meditative focus to essentially achieve the bodily ‘high’ commonly associated with drugs. Gromala also presented the idea of using monitoring techniques, to allow users to interact directly with their virtual environment, and the closer that they are able to achieve a meditative state, the imagery and sounds surrounding them becomes clearer. By having them focus inward as opposed to outward, their bodies temporarily “forget” about the pain they have.

Sources 

"Culturebase.net - a Unique Online Source on Contemporary International Artists." Zoran Todorovic Artist Portrait. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

"Genome Research." Genome Research RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

Gromala, Diane. "TEDxAmericanRiviera - Diane Gromala - Curative Powers of Wet, Raw Beauty." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2015. 

The Island. DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 2005. Film.

UConlineprogram "Medicine Pt2." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.

Doumo Robotics & Art

     Robotics has long been a topic of interest and conflict. Since the introduction of the printing press in 1400s, western civilization has made huge leaps in the advancement of technology and robotics. Robotics is present in an innumerable amount of various objects and appliances we use daily, from textiles to the manufacturing of automobiles. This technology has not always been used for the greater good, however. Walter Benjamin saw the malice of the robotics industry in its prime during the world wars and in his work, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, he proclaims that mankind is not mature enough to advance robotics in the right direction and that even the production of non-lethal objects, we lose a sense of aesthetic originality since each product is but one of millions of copies.

     Indeed western civilization has seen great strides in both directions of the use and misuse of robotics. It makes our lives run more smoothly and efficiently, but many people fear that with more and more advancements and complexities in robotics and artificial intelligence, there might be a chance that it could get out of hand and cause, say, a robot revolution enslaving the human race as depicted in many western films. On the other hand, movies such as WALL-E show a more delicate side to artificial intelligence, giving the robots human characteristics or love, fear, and sympathetic cooperation.

     Continuing the friendly aspect of robotics, Japan has a much different view of the use of robotics. Whereas western civilization has more robotics in manufacturing that look to do the task they are created for such as an arm to manufacture cars, Japan uses more humanoid androids to interact with the public. Machiko Kusuhara shows us that the Japanese people have advanced many of their robotics and artificial intelligences to serve less as mindless servants, but more as helpful companions, with friendlier appearances and language to appease the needs and desires of their audiences. They even go as far as being able to play musical instruments!

Sources used:

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Marxists. 1936. N.p. Web. 19 Apr 2015.

Brooks, Rodney.  “Robots will invade our lives.”  Online video clip.  Ted.   Ted, Sep. 2008.  Web. 19. Apr. 2015.

Brunelle, Marcus. "How the Printing Press Revolutionized Humanity." Scientiareview.        Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.   

Kusuhara, Machiko. "Robotics: Machiko Kusahara." YouTube. UC Online Program, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

McGovern, Bridget. "Wall-E: Pixar's Lasting Tribute to the Power of Art." TOR, 19 June 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

Math + Art

      Delving further into our discussion of how science and art are intertwined, we had a look at how properties of mathematics appear naturally in our everyday environment. The Fibonacci sequence is a perfect example of naturally occurring ratios in plants, animals, and weather phenomena. Humans have been using the concept of this ‘golden ratio’ to represent a sense of natural aesthetic perfection from the pyramids of Egypt and the Parthenon to the logos for iCloud and Pepsi. Along with this ratio, it should be noted that humans also have a penchant for symmetry. Being symmetrical in our appearance, humans have a natural tendency to use symmetry in nearly all art forms.

[Apple's iCloud logo uses the golden ratio in its design]

      In twentieth century music, radical shifts away from tonality produced a style of music that, quite literally, turned music into numbers. This style came with its own sort of manual called ‘set theory,’ which assigns each of the twelve pitches a number from 0 to 11. Using a modular system with 12 as its base, set theory takes a motif consisting of a ‘set’ of pitches and transforms them by means of reflection, transposition, inversion, etc. to elaborate an idea. This can be applied to certain pieces of composers like Béla Bartók. In the excerpt below, the five notes of the first and second measure contain the same number of whole-steps and half-steps and in the same order ( pitch class set representative: [0,2,3,4,5] ), just symmetrically inverted around an axis and transposed. These algebraic techniques are used to show the symmetry and relationships between sets of pitches.

[first two bars from Bartók's Bulgarian Rhythm No. 155 from Mikrokosmos]

      The interrelationship between art, science, and mathematics is right outside our window. Artists in all cultures are influenced by numbers, whether they know it or not, due to mathematical occurrences in nature. Fractals can be seen in things such as ferns, lightning, and nautilus shells, which then can be found in the braiding of hair in African cultures. People can use properties of linear symmetry to fold paper into origami, capturing the beauty of a crane on the surface of a pond. It all fits perfectly.

 

[Fibonacci sequence occurring naturally]

 Citations:

Eglash, Ron. 'African Fractals'. Ccd.rpi.edu. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

"Fibonacci, Fractals and Financial Markets - Socionomics.net." YouTube. YouTube, 31 May 2007. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.

Hart, Vi. "Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant [1 of 3]." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Dec. 2011. Web. 9 Apr. 2015.

Lang, Robert J. "Huzita-Justin Axioms." Huzita-Justin Axioms. Web. 9 Apr. 2015

Lefkowitz, David. Analysis of Post-Tonal Music: A Parametric Approach. N.P., 2014. Print.