For event 4, I went to the Lawrence Hall of Science, located in the hills above the UC Berkeley campus, with a spectacular 180-degree view of the San Francisco Bay.
Picture I took from the Hill
One of the exhibits they have right now is Earth and Space. I went to the Planetarium in the hall
where I watched the show: Imagine the Sky Tonight. It is a great example of combining art work with science. The beautiful visual art was achieved by their a digital, fish-eye, full-dome projection system.
Attending a show Imagine the Sky Tonight this give me the chance to see in sky on a clear night on the daytime. It is a show full of imagination among the stars. There, I learn about constellations, a group of stars that forms an imaginary outline or pattern on the celestial sphere. It is very interesting to imagine the constellation with an animal, mythological person or creature, a god, or an inanimate object, and the art of drawing made the show more enjoyable.
I will definitely recommend to go to the show because the show is very interactive. They gave me a star map and teach me to find constellations. We also spotted planets and other hidden treasures among the stars.It is also a great place to learn about space. For instance, in this picture, I learned that NASA’s Landsat Satellites capture new data and images of Earth every day, allowing us to study the antarctica.
picture I took
Tickets
Selfie of me and ticket
I also learned about solar storms. During the solar storms, the Sun’s magnetic field lines tangle and snap,showing the solar system with burst of particles and electromagnetic energy that can disrupt our satellites, power grids and communication systems.
For event 3, I went to the California Academy of Sciences, located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. In particular, I enjoyed a show in the Morrison Planetarium, one of the largest all-digital planetarium on Earth. The exhibit illustrates the "Third Culture," which bridges between space and art.
In the lecture video, we watched the Powers of Ten™ (1977). However, with the power of six projectors in the planetarium, I experienced the cosmos like never before. In the Morrison Planetarium, I watched the show Passport to the Universe. The show allowed me to enjoy an electrifying adventure of flying through Jupiter, Saturn, and the star-studded spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy. Before featuring back to Earth, the show gave me a mind-bending experience of passing through the black hole. The visualization provided me the imagination that the black hole allows for instant transmission, transporting us to a different part of the galaxy.
After going to this event, I appreciate art even more because it allowed me to experience the view of an astronaut or scientists who can view the space from their telescopes. I learned about the incredible objects that constitute our Universe, from our Solar System to the Virgo Supercluster, with stunning visualization of the Orion Nebula derived from recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope.
A picture I took at the Planetarium
A picture I took at the Planetarium
I would recommend this event because it is exciting to get an astronaut' s-eye view of beautiful nebulae, stars, mysterious moons, and the Earth, and to experience passing through a black hole. It would benefit my classmate because it is a place that combines art and scientific accuracy. According to the description, the show is one of the most accurate digital Universes ever created, from faraway galaxies to the workings of our planet. At the same time, there are also rainforest, aquarium, and many to explore in the California Academy of Sciences.
Picture I took
It is a lunar crust collected between the sea of Tranquility and the Sea of Serenity during the last human mission to the Moon in 1972 by NASA's Apollo.
Tickets of admission and the show
Me with the lunar crust
References:
“Passport to the Universe.” California Academy of Sciences, www.calacademy.org/exhibits/passport-to-the-universe.
Like professor Vesna mentioned that Space exploration has always been in the subject of many fantasies and fictions, Roger Malina in the Leonardo Space Art Project said, “The space age was possible because for centuries the cultural imagination was fed by artists, writers, and musicians who dreamed of human activities in space” (Leonardo Space Art Project).
It is fascinating for me to learn that fictions about space exploration are coming to life due to scientific advancement. For instance, late last year, NASA says the basic concept of a space elevator is sound, and researchers around the world are optimistic. The Obayashi Corp., a global construction firm based in Tokyo, said it would build one by 2050, and China wants to make one as soon as 2045.
Towering 22,000 miles above the Earth's equator, a space elevator transports people and payloads to geosynchronous orbit. https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/colossal-elevator-space-could-be-going-sooner-you-ever-imagined-ncna915421
It is also interesting for me to learn how nanotechnology is applied in space exploration. For instance, Professor Vesna mentioned the idea of utilizing carbon nanotubes to make the cable for the space elevator, a system which could significantly reduce the cost of sending cargo into orbit (Vesna). Scientists also employ materials made from carbon nanotubes to reduce the weight of spaceships while retaining or even increasing the structural strength. They also work with nanosensors to monitor the levels of trace chemicals in the spacecraft to monitor the performance of life support systems.
Application of Nanotechnology in Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU5PSjadch4
Just like Professor Vesna mentioned, spaceflight will become more commercialized, with private companies designing and building rockets to send humans into space. The example we mentioned in the lecture, SpaceX, has a goal to set up a human colony on Mars and developed reusable rockets, which dramatically reduces the cost of spaceflight. I also read in an article that far in the future, robots will replace humans on space flights. Space exploration will become automated so that pilots will not be needed on spacecraft - instead, the rockets will fly themselves!
Mars Entry https://www.spacex.com/mars
References:
Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers, spaceart.org/leonardo/vision.html.
In this week’s lecture, we learned that Nanotechnology is influencing nearly every aspect of our lives. For instance, it can be applied in agriculture, food production, and medicine. Notably, in the reading of “The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact & fiction in the construction of new science,” I learned that Nanotechnology is “ultimately about a shift in our perception of reality from purely visual culture to one based on sensing and connectivity” (Gimzewski and Vesna).
An example of nanotechnology shirting our perception is the invention of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope, a symbol of the shift from visual to tactile perception, as mentioned in the reading. The scanning tunneling microscope works by scanning a very sharp metal wire tip over a surface. We can image the surface at a microscopic scale, down to resolving individual atoms.
I also really like the idea that nanoscale science and media art are perfect examples of the new third culture we mentioned in the first week, embracing biologically inspired shifts, unique aesthetics, and definitions. So I explored the John Curtin Gallery to learn more about art in the age of nanotechnology.
In the gallery, I learned that there are more examples that illustrate a shift in our perception of reality from visual culture to one based on sensing. For instance, the project created by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, Nano-Scape, tries to make the nano-world accessible through touch. In the picture below, a wireless magnetic force-feedback interface allows users to touch nanoparticles, creating an ever-changing invisible sculpture (Sommerer and Mignonneau 2005).
An other example is a project created by our Professors Victoria Vesna and James Gimszewkski. Nanomandala consists of a 15-minute video projected onto a disk of sand, 8 feet in diameter. Visitors touch the sand as oscillating images of the molecular structure of a single grain of sand obtained via a scanning electron microscope. These images are projected to reveal the recognizable image of the entire mandala, and then back again.
Mignonneau, Laurent, and Christa Sommerer. “Nano-Scape.” Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology - ACE 05, 2005, doi:10.1145/1178477.1178507.
Vesna, Victoria, and Jim Gimzewski . “The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of Fact & Fiction in the Construction of a New Science.” vv.arts.ucla.edu/publications/publications/02-03/JV_nano/JV_nano_artF5VG.htm.
For this event, I went to the Exploratorium in SF. It is one of the most fun museums that I have ever been to. Especially, it helped me get a better understanding of how art helps us to understand biology and neuroscience.
Map of Exploratorium
For instance, in the lecture of neuroscience, we learned about Franz Joseph Gall, and his introduction of phrenology, which is based on the idea that parts of the brain are associated with different traits and skills(Vesna). However, our brain can also get confused easily. For instance, in this picture, the hot-cold coils teach us that our brains can combine conflicting sensations to jump to a startling conclusion. When I grabbed the center coils with my palm, I felt the coils were painfully hot, but when I touch the center coils one at a time with my fingertip, I found that they actually alternate between warm and cold. This design illustrates an illusion, which is called the thermal grill illusion. Today, neurobiologist study it to understand the usually “phantom” pains experienced by amputees and stroke victims.
Picture I took from exploratorium: the hot-cold coils
I also found it fascinating about how arts such as paintings can be viewed differently through some biological effects such as binocular rivalry. In this picture, when I centered my nose on the pink stripe at the edge of the mirror and looked straight ahead with both eyes open, I saw the images were alternating. I learned that when our brains get strongly conflicting information from two eyes, it usually turns off the information from one eye.
Me and the binocular rivalry
I would recommend this event because it is exciting to experience the designs they have. It would benefit my classmate because it is a really interactive and creative place. We can learn science not by reading a textbook, but by doing the experiments following the instruction on the designs and experiencing the effect with senses such as touch, sound, and sight. Then, we can read the simple explanations of the designs to understand the effects. Here are more pictures of the interesting exhibit to experience and learn.
We can learn how color affect our emotion from this exhibit
For instance, in the picture above, a boy is talking to the computer. It remained me of the lecture we learned about Alan Turing and artificial intelligence with robotics.
ticket I bought
Reference: Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience-pt1.Mov.” YouTube, 17 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=267&v=TzXjNbKDkYI.
This week, we learned more about the interaction between art and science, specifically neuroscience. In the reading of “Neuroculture,” Giovanni Frazetto and Suzanne Anker summarized that neuroscience is not solely constrained within laboratories, but readily captures the attention of the public at large. Neuroscience portrayed in literature, film, works of art, the mass media and commercial product offers an opportunity to make the scientific community and the public aware of the social and ethical implications of the scientific advances in neuroscience (Frazzetto & Anker 2009).
A great example of an artist combining art and science to contribute to the idea of consciousness in neuroscience is Ramón y Cajal, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine and physiology. As the father of modern neuroscience, he described pyramidal cells, neurons that he discovered as these butterflied of the soul. Here is one of his painting of neuronal network.
Another example of combining art and science is Brainbow, a visualization tool which is particularly useful in the study of dynamic biological systems. Brainbow is a genetic cell-labeling technique where hundreds of different hues can be generated by stochastic and combinatorial expression of a few spectrally distinct fluorescent proteins. From 3 to ∼100 colors can be generated by Brainbow (Weissman, Tamily & Pan 2015)
We also discuss the idea of consciousness and unconsciousness. So I read the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), which is an international effort involving researchers from several institutions and countries, designed to explore whether the construct of interconnected consciousness can be scientifically validated through objective measurement. The project demonstrated that human consciousness interacts with random event generators (REGs), apparently causing them to produce non-random patterns. Here is a YouTube video about the project.
The Global Consciousness Project - Ph.D. Roger Nelson
However, while I believed that scientific breakthrough is mostly beneficial to the humankind, it is also fascinating to learn the perspective of Carl Jung, who thought that the industrial revolution also played a significant role in the emergence of the spiritual problem. He believed that methods of science could be used to remodel society, which can result in an increase in uniformity and a drastic decrease in the importance of the individual (Jung 1928).
References: “Carl Jung and the Spiritual Problem of the Modern Individual.” Academy of Ideas, 1 Jan. 2019, academyofideas.com/2017/06/carl-jung-spiritual-problem-modern-individual/.
Nelson, Roger. “Global Consciousness Project: Introduction.” Princeton University, The Trustees of Princeton University, noosphere.princeton.edu/gcpintro.html.
Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience (Part 1).” Lecture. 19 May 2019
Weissman, Tamily A, and Y Albert Pan. “Brainbow: New Resources and Emerging Biological Applications for Multicolor Genetic Labeling and Analysis.” Genetics, Genetics Society of America, Feb. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4317644/.
Life itself is a valid expressive medium for me because life expresses the diversity among and within different species. The meaning inherent in the use of transgenics, mutilation, mutation, recombinance or selective breeding as an artistic technique is based on this belief. As Professor Vensa mentioned in the lecture, Eduardo Katz considered these modifications of life as an expansion of the present practical and conceptual boundaries of artmaking to incorporate life invention (Kac 2000).
Although artistic media and technologies have created some controversies, the value they have brought are enormous. As Ellen K. Levy mentioned in the reading of “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications,” art can challenge the status quo in a longer-lasting way through provoking consideration of the limitations and legal ramifications(Levy 2011). For instance, artists have explored some of the conditions that define life and its implications for legal rights and property. In 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined that genetically engineered microorganisms are patentable. The case of Chakrabarty v. Diamond allowed Chakrabarty to manufacture his oil-eating bacterium and extended the definition of what is considered patentable to living organisms that have been genetically altered (Levy 2011).
As a student major in biochemistry, I am fascinated by the role artists had played in the journey of scientific revolutions. In the reading of “meanings of participation: Outlaw Biology?” Chris Kelty mentioned the creativity of Outlaws, Hackers, Victorian Gentlemen breeds creativity (Kelty 2010). Artists working in biomedia and artificial life really led to more innovations. For instance, the "GFP Bunny" created by Eduardo Kac, had lead to development of “transgenic art,” which can contribute to the field of aesthetics by “opening up the new symbolic and pragmatic dimension of art as the literal creation of and responsibility for life” (Kac 2000).
The controversies that have been raised by biotechnology are pieces of evidence that biotech is inherently different from how other technologies are evaluated. As it is mentioned by Levy, “Biotechnology is a place where political, economic, legal, and scientific interests meet, and artists can promote discussion about these issues.”
As to the question, “should the restrictions be more or less stringent for artists using biotechnology than for scientists in industry/academia?’ I believe that there should be equally stringent with sufficient training and peer oversight, adequate regulation, and professional controls. Ultimately, I believe that human creativity should be restricted by ethics and risks.
References:
Diamond v. Chakrabarty, digital-law-online.info/cases/206PQ193.htm.
Levy, Ellen. “Defining Life: Artists Challenge Conventional Classifications.”Context Providers: Conditions of Meaning in Media Arts. Eds. Margot Lovejoy, Christiane Paul, and Victoria Vesna. University of Chicago Press: 2011.
C.M. Kelty, Outlaw, hackers, victorian amateurs: diagnosing public participation in the life sciences today, Jcom 09(01) (2010) C03
