Desma 9

At the end of May, I went to the Meteorite Gallery at UCLA. Before this class, I didn't notice that there is a fantastic Meteorite Gallery located in the geology building even if I go to the geology library almost everyday.  There are so many meteorites exhibited on the shelf, reflecting their unique colors. However, the first meteorite attracted all of my attention is a really "old guy." It is a iron meteorite with the oldest age among all of those meteorite. And only a limited information can be found about it. It was given by the Clark library in 1930s and named by the irons collected in the region near the large Meteor Crater about 50 miles E of Flagstaff, AZ. I regard this meteorite as a good combination of arts and science. The meteorite itself is an exhibit, a form of arts, in this gallery. However, there is a poster to explain the explicit details about all aspects of the iron meteorite including formation, classification, and composition. For example, ...

This week, I can fortunately attend the event, Noise Aquarium, held by professor Victoria Vesna and talk to her in person. Before I came to this event, my understanding of noise effects in ocean will limit to those large animals such as whales and dolphins. When Vesna pinpoints there is almost nothing known about effects on the marvelous microscopic organisms, the first that came into my mind is "that's new but how can you show that?" Although the quantity of invertebrate is large in the ocean, the reaction of those planktons can be hard to detect and catch based on their tiny sizes.  However, to my surprise, professor Vesna came up with a brilliant way to combine technology and arts in order to show the effect on organisms. Professor Vesna first tomographically scanned seven microscopic organisms and transferred into digital three-dimensional figures on the screen. And she utilizes the data science to analyze the motions of microscopic organisms and project them ...

   Fascination of space has originated from ancient times and extended to the real exploration nowadays. Vesna demonstrates that the exploration of space starts from Roman times through revolution of Heliocentrism and finally becomes true during the cold war period, which inspires scientists and even large companies to further explore cosmic ocean.   Moreover, there are certain benefits contained in the exploration of space. In Benefits Stemming from Space, International Space Exploration Coordination Group regarded innovation, culture and inspiration, and new means to address the global challenge as certain advantages of the space exploration. Besides the authority, Claudia Assis states that more and more private companies make their investments on space projects in "these are the companies to watch in space exploration."   In addition to the obsession with the space exploration, experts and scientists should also focus on popularization of knowledge on cos...

        Nowadays, Nanotechnology becomes a hotted topic for general public to discuss and explore. In fact, California NanoSystems Institute locates at UCLA with the mission to translate discoveries into knowledge-driven commercial enterprises. James Gimzewski, a UCLA professor with 35-year related experience in Nanotechnology, states that advanced nanotechnology is potential to change the world in terms of social and economic types of values.       Nanotechnology provides a unique and minimal insight on the world, which combines with current arts to achieve ubiquitous standard and scale. Tami Spector pinpoints that the ambiguity of the focus and scope of nanotech/science has yielded a boon in creativity and productivity among scientists precisely (para. 2.) Victoria Vesna and James Gimzewski mix arts and nanotechnology to project sand as images in a evolving scale from the molecular structure of a single grain of sand through means of a scanning el...

On April 6th, I went to BuildingBridges for the event: Understanding Art & Research. This exhibition has been newly adapted and designed after presentations in New Zealand (Dunedin School of Art) and Singapore (Nanyang Technological University Singapore). This exhibition is coming after that research. One thing which most impresses me on this event is the utilization of one app on introductions to all artworks in one exhibition. This is a perfect example of collaboration between technology and arts in the real world. Visitors can use this interactive app to find out more information about the artifacts in the exhibition. Because the exhibition place is usually comparatively small to the number of visitors, visitors will be more convenient to explore more about the artifacts. I am really eager to see its application in the real world since I was surrounded with hundreds of people in front of Mona Lisa last summer and competed for the closet position to listen to the tour gui...

  As technology advances, people pay more attention to the neuroscience. Since arts comes from the consciousness of human beings, consciousness needs humans' brains working in order. As Kukk mentions, some have characterized their findings as exploring the powers of the social brains. The huge amount of achievements should give credits to the brain, the consciousness. Thus,  neuroscience helps people to keep brain work both practically and artistically healthy.  Based on definition of consciousness from Victoria Vesna, "the state or condition of being consciousness" becomes the general way to recognize the world. This theory got supports from Howard Gardener, a leading cognitive psychologist who regards studies of prodigies and brain damage shed light on issues of creativity and cognition. Brain, as the most integral part, determines the appreciation and production of arts. Vincent van Gogh, the famous artist with psychosis and depressive disorder, makes the repr...