bioephemera
Posts by this author
July 17, 2008
"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet." -- Al Gore
We all knew what he'd say, but we still stood in line for an hour to hear him say it. Today Al Gore issued his "Generational Challenge to Repower America" to a packed house at…
July 17, 2008
As I sit here waiting for Al Gore to start speaking, I'd like to note that Scibling Chris Mooney over at the Intersection has really annoyed me. Apparently the fact that I didn't like the film Sizzle is evidence that I, too, am likely a terrible communicator of science who lacks self-awareness. (…
July 16, 2008
The brand-new Device Gallery is hosting a group show called "Fantastic Contraption" featuring artists like H.R. Giger and Christopher Conte. The show opens this Saturday, July 19, from 6-9 pm - check it out if you're in La Jolla!
Steam Insect
Christopher Conte
Via dark roasted blend.
July 15, 2008
Leo Burnett Agency/Prop Art Studio, MMT
This Chicago McDonald's has a giant egg billboard that cracks open to indicate they're serving breakfast (the yolk inside says "fresh eggs daily") then closes up again at lunch. How cool is that?
Via Arab Aquarius.
July 15, 2008
This morning, a plethora of Sizzle reviews will saturate Scienceblogs. I've no doubt that the film's science will be thoroughly dissected by more informed reviewers than I. So I'm going to steer clear of temperature trends and timetables, and instead consider how the film pitches its message.…
July 14, 2008
You may have already seen this video over at Boing Boing, but I thought it was worth posting anyway: a flock of what look like starlings doing some seriously creepy flocking. Check out the ribbon formation about ten seconds in. It literally gave me goosebumps!
Link
July 11, 2008
Michael Dax Iavocone
Another opportunity for DC-area readers: Michael Dax Iavocone's new show opens at flashpoint gallery tomorrow (Saturday), July 12, 6-8pm.
From the gallery press release (pdf):
Artist Michael Dax Iacovone investigates and chronicles his familiar DC environs using mathematical…
July 9, 2008
"Sonnet: To Science"
words by Edgar Allan Poe
song by Alex Colwell
video by Jeff Burns
From oilcanpress
I love the pairing of Poe's sonnet, which basically accuses Science of destroying the poetic mysteries that make life meaningful, with the techno-optimistic nostalgia of early films glorifying…
July 8, 2008
Those of you in the greater DC area may be interested in the NIH Science in the Cinema Film Series at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring.
Starting tomorrow, July 9, there will be free weekly screenings of films centered on various medical conditions - like Alzheimer's (Away from Her), locked…
July 8, 2008
Sloan-Kettering's online lung cancer risk calculator tells smokers what their relative risk of cancer would be if they quit.
I'm all in favor of getting people to quit smoking, but this kind of risk can really only be calculated for groups, not individuals. Will people using the calculator…
July 4, 2008
GONE
Isabella Kirkland, 2004The sixty-three species painted in Gone have all become extinct since the mid-1800's and the colonization of the new world.
Isabella Kirkland's Taxa series are beautiful, intricate, large-scale indictments of humanity's destructive potential. Drawing stylistic cues from…
July 2, 2008
Any recent decline in the popularity of reading, especially reading long books, appears to have totally bypassed Ammon Shea. Shea recently spent a year reading the Oxford English Dictionary, and his book about the experience, Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages, drops today.
When I…
June 30, 2008
Cristina Vergano, 2006
Via the wonderful Phantasmaphile, I just discovered artist Cristina Vergano. Her latest series, "Figures of Speech," are like Old Masters crossed with children's puzzles - playful Renaissance rebuses that spell out their own titles (key at the bottom of this post).
Cristina…
June 30, 2008
FYI - the deadline to apply for astronaut school is tomorrow, July 1:
NASA is now accepting applications for its 2009 astronaut class. The agency is looking for a few men and women who want to fulfill their dreams and be a part of the next generation of explorers.
To be considered, a bachelor's…
June 28, 2008
Jacques DonnezFertility and Sterility
Jacques Donnez, a doctor in France, was conducting a routine hysterectomy when he discovered the ovary was coincidentally in the process of expelling an egg. He captured these photos, which clearly show what a dramatic event it is. The word "explosive" seems…
June 26, 2008
This is why I don't do digital art (click PLAY, or for a larger, higher-res version, go to the link below):
AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central
Higher-res version: "Animator vs. Animation" by Alan Becker
Sequel (via GrrrlScientist, thanks Bob O for the heads-up): "…
June 26, 2008
Via the SEA blog: Jeremy Kalgreen at Amorphia Apparel has created some delicious t-shirts that help you advocate teaching your controversy of choice. Or, display your support for the amazing things Science has brought us - like giant guitar-playing robots and mechanical paramecia:
Rock on,…
June 25, 2008
Fly Away Home (detail)
Jessica Palmer
On my old blog, I posted poems regularly (among my favorites were Dan Chiasson's "Mosaic of a Hare" and David Barber's "Pilgrim's Progress.") But I haven't encountered a particularly inspirational poem recently, so I let the habit lapse here on the new blog.
I…
June 24, 2008
My friend Jane sent me this link to a wonderful blog, Ptak Science Books, which declares itself "A Blog of the History of Ideas--unusual connections in the history of science and mathematics with the arts and social history."
It's fabulous and bizarre. Witness the latest post, "Fantastic and…
June 24, 2008
Mark Wahlberg's science teacher contends with his own confusion while gratuitously alluding to Einstein.
Zade Rosenthal. c 2008 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved.
Last night I saw The Happening, which is hands down the worst film since Battlefield Earth. I savor big-budget, mindless…
June 23, 2008
My friend Rhett alerted me to this little word game, which is kind of like Balderdash: you pick the correct etymology or definition from a group of fakes created by tricky readers. I did quibble with a couple of mistakes (one definition was off, one word was misspelled) but I tried three times and…
June 22, 2008
Here's a bit of weirdness I saw on Friday but didn't have time to blog - a Botticelli-inspired monument to the enema:
A health spa in Russia has unveiled a bronze monument of three cherubs carrying an enema, a design inspired by the 15th century Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. (source)
What…
June 20, 2008
"Peep Julius II Questions Michelangelo's Artistic Judgment"
Jean Kaleba and family
Last Friday I finally made it to Artomatic, a month-long gallery event that colocalizes hundreds of local artists under one roof, together with musicians, poets, wine and beer. But the real stars of Artomatic were…
June 18, 2008
Okay. . . I know that bioephemera is not the most compartmentalized, well-defined example of "science blogging." Many of the subjects I blog about aren't science at all - which begs the question, what exactly is "science"? In my defense, I'm not the only one that's confused. Check out this story…
June 17, 2008
My friend John found these pavement neurons outside our building. What, you don't think they look like neurons? Well, then YOU haven't worked on the brain long enough to become afflicted with chronic neural pareidolia! For comparison:
June 16, 2008
Via Rag & Bone Blog
By Christopher Tovo
Are we falling out of love with books?
I realized a little while ago - when yet another book arrived from Amazon and was thrown on the to-read pile - that I'm no longer the bibliophile I once was. I love the idea of reading books, but I'm not making time…
June 13, 2008
Phobia
Joshua Hoffine
Joshua Hoffine's tongue-in-cheek riffs on Hollywood horror archetypes are the perfect post for Friday the 13th - a Friday which also happens to be the Ides of June. Beware!
According to Hoffine's website,
I stage my photo shoots like small movies, with sets, costumes,…
June 11, 2008
My boyfriend, an uber-networked Congressional staffer, has fallen out of love with his Palm, and is counting the days until he can acquire a 3G iPhone. I'm trying to accept that I bought one half as good for twice the price a few months back. . . after all, I did enjoy the self-satisfied glow of…
June 3, 2008
I saw this adorable stuffed cephalopod, which I think is meant to be an octopus, at the gift shop in the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. I almost bought it out of sheer enthusiasm, but note that like many stuffed octopi, this cutie has only six legs. I've noticed that stuffed cephalopods…
June 2, 2008
Grand Ballroom ceilingDuke Energy Center
I'm at the NIDA Blending Conference at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati for two days. Honestly, when I heard I'd be coming to Cincinnati for this meeting, I wasn't optimistic, and when I realized I'd be only 20 miles from the infamous Creation Museum, I…