HaYeon Yoo, the designer says:
This project addresses the issue of whether the mobile phone is a surveillance tool or a digital leash and explores designing an alternative means of communication which delivers a more poetic and aesthetic experience.
The Compass Phone does not support any verbal communication side, but has only a GPS function. It measures the distance between two people in real-time and then converts it to the time it takes for them to meet each other by either transport or time unit. A compass is hidden under the digit display. The center of the compass always indicates the user’s position and its needle indicates the other person’s direction.
Phasma is a hexapedal running robot that can run dynamically like a living organism. It is an attempt to depict life purely through its motion rather than its shape, by extracting the physics of running from living things and implementing that to the artifact. Phasma uses compliant components such as stainless steel springs and rubber joints to reproduce smooth and efficient locomotion seen in animals. Another interesting biomimicry applied in Phasma is the alternating tripod gait as seen in insects that provides excellent stability.
Human egg in two-cell stage. This egg from a 31-year-old woman, shows the spermatozoa fertilization of the ovum from the 11th day of the subject’s menstrual cycle after a 45 hour incubation period. Magnified at x300, 1944. From the John Rock Papers.
Source HERE
A book talk with professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger who examines the technology that is facilitating the end of forgetting in his book, “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age”. Mayer-Schönberger argues that in our quest for perfect digital memories where we can store everything from recipes and family photographs to work emails and personal information, we have put ourselves in danger of losing a very human quality—the ability and privilege of forgetting.
Animal communication researcher Katy Payne has been studying the sounds of African elephants and humpback whales for decades. Her research has led her to fascinating conclusions on how acoustic phenomena shape relationships and communities. In 1999, Payne founded the Elephant Listening Project to monitor elephants’ movements.
A colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the head of a maggot or the larva of a bluebottle fly (Protophormia sp.) with tiny teeth-like fangs extending from its mouth. The maggots of this fly are used medicinally to clean wounds. The maggots are sterilized and placed in the wound, where they feed on dead tissue and leave healthy tissue untouched. Their saliva contains anti- bacterial chemicals which maintain sterility in the area. Maggots are used on ulcers and deep wounds away from organs or body cavities, most often being used to treat diabetic ulcers on the feet.
Colored scanning electron micrograph of a house dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus). Millions of dust mites inhabit the home, feeding on shed skin cells. They mainly live in furniture, and are usually harmless. However, their excrement and dead bodies may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people.
“Four Letter Words consists of four units, each capable of displaying all 26 letters of the alphabet with an arrangement of fluorescent lights.
The piece displays an algorithmically generated word sequence, derived from a word association database developed by the University of South Florida between 1976 and 1998. The algorithms take into account word meaning, rhyme, letter sequencing, and association.
The algorithm’s tendency towards scatological or “dark” subject matter is influenced by a variety of language and perception studies, especially Elliot McGinnies’ 1949 study “Emotionality and Perceptual Defense.”
While the piece was conceived with idea of displaying algorithmically generated lists, it was designed with flexibility and expandability in mind. The individual units can be connected ad-infinitum, and are theoretically capable of displaying any length of text. While Four Letter Words deals with a specific range of content, the technology can be easily expanded for future textual experiments.”
Performed at musikprotokoll 8.10.2009, Graz, Austria. Orchestra of the Music University of Graz.
The Heart Chamber Orchestra – HCO – is an audiovisual performance. The orchestra consists of 12 classical musicians and the artist duo TERMINALBEACH.
MUSICIANS, SENSORS AND COMPUTER
The musicians are equipped with ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors. A computer monitors and analyzes the state of these 12 hearts in real time. The acquired information is used to compose a musical score with the aid of computer software. It is a living score dependent on the state of the hearts.
While the musicians are playing, their heartbeats influence and change the composition and vice versa. The musicians and the electronic composition are linked via the hearts in a circular motion, a feedback structure. The emerging music evolves entirely during the performance.
The resulting music is the expression of this process and of an organism forming itself from the circular interplay of the individual musicians and the machine.
Black Rain is sourced from images collected by the twin satellite, solar mission, STEREO. Here we see the HI (Heliospheric Imager) visual data as it tracks interplanetary space for solar wind and CME’s (coronal mass ejections) heading towards Earth. Data courtesy of courtesy of the Heliospheric Imager on the NASA STEREO mission.
Working with STEREO scientists, Semiconductor collected all the HI image data to date, revealing the journey of the satellites from their initial orientation, to their current tracing of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Solar wind, CME’s, passing planets and comets orbiting the sun can be seen as background stars and the milky way pass by.
As in Semiconductors previous work ‘Brilliant Noise’ which looked into the sun, they work with raw scientific satellite data which has not yet been cleaned and processed for public consumption. By embracing the artifacts, calibration and phenomena of the capturing process we are reminded of the presence of the human observer who endeavors to extend our perceptions and knowledge through technological innovation.
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.
Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver’s electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.
Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999. Text by SETI@home.
The images above of matrices in the UF Sparse Matrix Collection were created by Yifan Hu, AT&T. As of Oct 2009, it contains 2272 problems (some of which are sequences of dozens of matrices). The largest has a dimension of almost 29 million, with 760 million nonzero entries. The matrices are available in three formats: MATLAB mat-file, Rutherford-Boeing, and Matrix Market. Note that the MATLAB mat-files can only be read by MATLAB 7.0 or later.
From the abstract of the paper The University of Florida Sparse Matrix Collection:
“The University of Florida Sparse Matrix Collection is a large, widely available, and actively growing set of sparse matrices that arise in real applications. Its matrices cover a wide spectrum of domains, include those arising from problems with underlying 2D or 3D geometry (such as structural engineering, computational fluid dynamics, model reduction, electromagnetics, semiconductor devices, thermodynamics, materials, acoustics, computer graphics/vision, robotics/kinematics, and other discretizations) and those that typically do not have such geometry (such as optimization, circuit simulation, economic and financial modeling, theoretical and quantum chemistry, chemical process simulation, mathematics and statistics, power networks, and other networks and graphs). The collection is widely used by the sparse matrix algorithms community for the development and performance evaluation of sparse matrix algorithms. The collection includes software for accessing and managing the collection, from MATLAB, Fortran, and C.”
The University of Florida Sparse Matrix Collection. Site maintained by Tim Davis and Yifan Hu, AT&T Research. DOWNLOAD a paper describing the collection.
On Saturday 17 July an international exhibition, Swarm Intelligence: Architectures of Multi-Agent Systems, will open at Architecture SH in HKU’s Shanghai Study Centre near the Bund, Shanghai, China.
Swarm intelligence is a revolutionary new theory for explaining how the world operates. It has already transformed a number of disciplines from biology to economics. But how can it contribute to the discipline of architecture? And what can architects learn from those working in swarm intelligence in other disciplines? This important exhibition brings together some of the world’s leading architects, engineers, students and artists to address this question for the first time, including: Zaha Hadid Architects, London; Kokkugia, New York and London; Alisa Andrasek, Biothing, London; Francois Roche, R&Sie(n), Paris; Cecil Balmond, London; Casey Reas, Los Angeles; London and Foster + Partners, London; Architectural Association; UPenn; Columbia GSAPP; TU Delft; CITA and USC. It showcases some of the freshest and most inspirational digital design work to have emerged in recent months.
To coincide with the exhibition, a major international book is being published, Neil Leach, Roland Snooks (eds.), Swarm Intelligence: Architectures of Multi-Agent Systems.
A cat that had its back feet severed by a combine harvester has been given two prosthetic limbs in a pioneering operation by a UK vet.
The new feet are custom-made implants that “peg” the ankle to the foot. They are bioengineered to mimic the way deer antler bone grows through the skin.
The operation – a world first – was carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon based in Surrey.
His work is explored in a BBC documentary called The Bionic Vet.
The cat, named Oscar, was referred to Mr Fitzpatrick by his local vet in Jersey, following the accident last October. Oscar was struck by the combine harvester whilst dozing in the sun.
The prosthetic pegs, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (Itaps) were developed by a team from University College London led by Professor Gordon Blunn, who is head of UCL’s Centre for Biomedical Engineering.
“Adlens lenses change power with the turn of a dial.
The operating principle of our patented liquid lens technology is simple. The lens is a hollow chamber with a thin, clear, strong plastic sheet stretched across inside.
The variable lens power comes from a clear, high refractive index fluid. The fluid is pumped into (or out of) the chamber between the plastic-like sheet and the lens. As the amount of oil increases, it pushes on the plastic sheet, changing its curvature. The more it curves, the more the lens power increases.
When the fluid is pumped back out, the lens curvature flattens, reducing the power. The base hard lens has a negative power, meaning that with little or no oil, objects are de-magnified.”
A gene-engineered fish, top, and a natural one of the same age.
“The Food and Drug Administration is seriously considering whether to approve the first genetically engineered animal that people would eat — salmon that can grow at twice the normal rate.
The developer of the salmon, AquaBounty Technologies, has been trying to get approval for a decade. But the company now seems to have submitted most or all of the data the F.D.A. needs to analyze whether the salmon are safe to eat, nutritionally equivalent to other salmon and safe for the environment, according to government and biotechnology industry officials. A public meeting to discuss the salmon may be held as early as this fall.” Text by NYTimes
Do we exist beyond the electric interactions of brain tissues? Our love, body movement, memory, depression, or religious beliefs – all are expressed electrically in our brain. This film follows people suffering from brain disorders, who are undergoing groundbreaking medical treatments involving the electric stimulation of the brain. The prospect of manipulating our minds with machines has for decades been considered science fiction, but the accelerating advancements of brain sciences today are materializing into a genuine cure for the millions of people suffering from brain disorders. “The Electric Mind” raises significant questions about man machines interfacing, ethics and technology, our body, and the mystery of our mind.
PARTICIPANT EXPERTS: Prof. IDAN SEGEV — Dr. EIRAN VADIM HAREL — Prof. LEON GRUNHAUS — Dr. SHMUEL KRON — Prof. HAGAI BERGMAN — Dr. ZVI ISRAEL — Prof. ITZHAK FRIED — Dr. YORAM BRAW — Prof. ORI KREMER — Dr. FANI ANDELMAM — Prof. SHLOMI CONSTANTINI
MAIN CHARACTERS: MILA DESAUR — AMIR WEINBERG — SAMI HERSHKOVITCH — OPAL ROTSHTEIN
Director, Producer, Cinematographer: Nadav Harel
Production Company: Noprocess Films
Editor: Nadav Harel, Enat Sidi
Music & Sound Design: Ariel Levinzohn
Psychiatric advisor & concept: Dr. Eiran Vadim Harel
“Natural fuse” is a micro-scale carbon dioxide overload protection framework that works locally and globally, harnessing the carbon-sinking capabilities of plants. Generating electricity to power the electronic products that populate our lives has consequences on the amount of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere, which in turn has detrimental environmental effects. The carbon footprint of the power used to run these devices can be offset by the natural carbon-capturing processes that occur as plants absorb carbon dioxide and grow. “Natural Fuse” units take advantage of this phenomena. They are now distributed in households in London, New York and San Sebastian.
Each Natural Fuse unit consists of a houseplant and a power socket. The amount of power available to the socket is limited by the capacity of the plant to offset the carbon footprint of the energy expended: if the appliance you plug in draws so much power that it requires more carbon-offsetting than available then the unit will not power.
The problem is that even low-power light bulbs draw more power than can be comfortably offset by a single plant. Therefore, all the units are connected together via the internet so that they can communicate and determine how much excess capacity of carbon-offsetting is available within the community of units as a whole. (text by Haque::design+research)
Thanks to ProDigits (by Touch Bionics), an expertly built prosthesis rebuilds function and confidence. Each individually powered ProDigit or prosthetic finger provides myoelectric control that has never been possible before. More info HERE
“Data is nothing without visualization, and sometimes a bar chart won’t do. No, sometimes you need a three-story-tall aluminum sphere with a catwalk running through the center and six hi-def 3-D video projectors that spray 360-degree images onto a spherical screen. That would be the AlloSphere, a house-sized ball of data viz at UC Santa Barbara that allows researchers to literally get inside their information.
Choice AlloSphere projects so far have included examinations of how hydrogen atoms bond together and a giant model of the brain derived from fMRI scans. Up to 30 people can fit on the catwalk, and they get silly-looking glasses and wireless joysticks to mess around with the streaming imagery. Dozens of speakers play sound into the echo-free chamber. The result is psychedelia with research applications.
Project director JoAnn Kuchera-Morin is as happy with the aesthetic results as she is with the science. Trained as a composer, she moved into digital geekery in the 1980s while working with computer-generated music. “We create some of the most exquisite artistic installations that are also some of the most precise scientific simulations in the world,” she says. No word on whether they’ll sync to Pink Floyd.” (text from WIRED)
Credit Synthesis by Jonathan Vingiano is a sculpture which interprets data stored magnetically (credit cards, student IDs, etc) and translates it to a brief melody. The software was written in Processing and Arduino.
Plastic chips monitor body functions. (Credit: Image copyright. Fraunhofer IZM)
“Each year, about 80,000 people in Germany become seriously ill from occlusions of veins caused by blood clots. Such thromboses can cause pulmonary embolism or even heart attacks. Even airline passengers at long distance flights can be affected by deep vein thrombosis. But with the new system, a fast and easy test of a risk of travel-related thrombosis will soon be possible.
The sensory wristband is a combination of polymer and conventional electronics. Lighting elements, sensors and polymer resistances printed on the foils are connected into one system with integrated circuits made of silicon. A three micrometer-thin resonance circuit with an etched coil — a kind of minute antenna — records the electric smog. An interdigital capacitor attached to a foil and only 30 micrometers thick detects skin moisture. Comb-shaped, narrowly interlaced meanders made of copper bands of a mere 0.5 micrometer thickness, measure the body temperature.” More HERE.
A colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the head of a maggot or the larva of a bluebottle fly (Protophormia sp.) with tiny teeth-like fangs extending from its mouth. The maggots of this fly are used medicinally to clean wounds. The maggots are sterilized and placed in the wound, where they feed on dead tissue and leave healthy tissue untouched. Their saliva contains anti- bacterial chemicals which maintain sterility in the area. Maggots are used on ulcers and deep wounds away from organs or body cavities, most often being used to treat diabetic ulcers on the feet.
Colored scanning electron micrograph of a house dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus). Millions of dust mites inhabit the home, feeding on shed skin cells. They mainly live in furniture, and are usually harmless. However, their excrement and dead bodies may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people.
The images above of matrices in the UF Sparse Matrix Collection were created by Yifan Hu, AT&T. As of Oct 2009, it contains 2272 problems (some of which are sequences of dozens of matrices). The largest has a dimension of almost 29 million, with 760 million nonzero entries. The matrices are available in three formats: MATLAB mat-file, Rutherford-Boeing, and Matrix Market. Note that the MATLAB mat-files can only be read by MATLAB 7.0 or later. 
A gene-engineered fish, top, and a natural one of the same age.
Plastic chips monitor body functions. (Credit: Image copyright. Fraunhofer IZM)
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