SciencePunk

Bicycle chain clock

Category: Art

I have a love of innovative clocks and this is no exception.

The catena wall clock was designed by Andreas Dober for anthologie quartett. Yours for just $2,338.

Posted by SciencePunk at 3:55 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Colourful psychoactive drug Venn

Category: Art

I stumbled across this delightful psychoactive drug Venn diagram. Isn't it pretty?

Posted by SciencePunk at 9:29 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Amoeba to Zebra: pop songs about natural history

Category: science music extravaganza

Thanks to Elliot Reuben who points out that when it comes to singing about science, us Brits aren't being left behind. Behold Amoeba to Zebra, the educational music entertainment brainchild of Leeds-based pop rockers Being 747.

They say:

"As a band, we all share a fascination with the wonders of the natural world and the evolutionary processes that have shaped the flora and fauna of our planet. We decided to use our combined creative talents to do something truly worthwhile - to tell an incredible story that will stimulate the imagination of young people and leave a lasting impression"

Amoeba to Zebra are available to play at schools - see their website for details.

Posted by SciencePunk at 9:23 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Indie band sings about the solar system

Category: science music extravaganza

Michael Hearst of One Ring Zero writes:

I just did a Google search for "science blogs," and landed on your site. And the first thing I see is a picture of The Magnetic Fields, who are good friends of mine, and who I've toured with. Very strange. The reason I was searching for science blogs is because my band, One Ring Zero, is gearing up to release a new album on Sept. 7th ... our first studio album in 3 years. The theme and title for this one is PLANETS. The album is a sort of revisit to our solar system, as the 100th anniversary of Holst's The Planets approaches. Here's some more info on the project, complete with a blurb from Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

The album features guest performances by Mark Feldman (Masada), Hamilton Berry (Vampire Weekend), Curtis Hasselbring (Slavic Soul Party), and guest lyrics by Rick Moody (The Ice Storm). Here's the video to "Venus":

If you liked that, you can order the full album here.

Posted by SciencePunk at 9:19 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Skeptical About Skeptics

Category: Navel gazing

This is an adaptation of the talk I gave at Westminster Skeptics in the Pub on Monday 2nd August. You can hear an audio transcript of the talk at the Pod Delusion website.

I'm very much a child of the skeptical community. I started writing about bad science in 2004, in a scissors-and-glue zine titled War On Error (a very droll play on words at the time, and a lot easier than coming up with a twist on Overseas Contingency Operation). Eventually this moved online, morphing into SciencePunk. Over the years, however, I've drifted away from this scene. I don't write about electrosensitivity scams like I used to, or dig up interesting stories of historical charlatans. I don't label myself a skeptic. I don't blog so frequently. Partly this is out of necessity, and partly because I don't want to be associated with a community whom I've found can be blinkered, confrontational, and self-aggrandising.

Read on »

Posted by SciencePunk at 11:48 AM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Come see me talk at Westminster Skeptics tonight

Category: Media Whore

Tonight I'll be appearing at Westminster Skeptics in the Pub to present my talk: A Critique of Skepticism, which will discuss the ways that skeptics approach to communication is limiting our reach and excluding certain groups from the wider community.

WHERE?
The Monk Exchange
Strutton Ground
London
SW1H 0HW

WHEN?
Doors 7pm, everything kicks off at 7:30.

Hope to see you there, if not you can probably follow on Twitter.

Posted by SciencePunk at 10:24 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Fleming Painted With Bacteria

Category: Art

The Smithsonian has an interesting article on Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered penicillin, revealing how the scientist used his bacterial cultures to paint works of art. Fleming used different bacterial strains to create a range of colours, timing his innoculations so that the different species would mature at the same time.

From the OP:

It is not clear why Fleming started painting microbes; perhaps he picked up a brush one day and noticed that it felt like the loop he used for his bacteria. Or maybe it was due to the promiscuous sexual predilections of artists. Fleming worked at St. Mary's hospital in London, where he treated syphilis cases. Many of his patients were painters, and those painters sometimes gave Fleming paintings and perhaps even lessons in return for treatment. Fleming's palette grew richer with time as he found bacteria with the colors he needed. He found joy in discovering a strange new strain of bacteria, in the way that a field biologist might feel the same in happening upon some new and wondrous bird. He collected unusual life forms in the hope that one of them might someday prove useful.

Posted by SciencePunk at 8:57 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Bio Art of Michele Banks

Category: Art

From Make:

Washington, DC artist Michele Banks, aka Artologica, is a painter who, in her own words, "uses an old and often-disrespected medium, watercolor, to create pieces that are anything but old-fashioned." Her works in Makers Market focus on biological and medical themes, particularly the microscopy of living cells.

Posted by SciencePunk at 8:51 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Clock shows time in every time zone

Category: Art

Dezeen Magazine has the drop on this superb clock that shows the time in every time zone, using just one hand.

The clock is called Bent Hands and is designed by Giha Woo and Shingoeun.

Via Neatorama

Posted by SciencePunk at 8:35 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks