“Sophia Tintori and Alison Sweeney talk about iridescence in squid. Audio production and animations are by Sophia, who normally studies siphonophores in the lab.”
Meteors radiate from the constellation Perseus (Image from the BBC)
If the weather cooperates, tonight may be a stunning night for star-gazing. Even though the North American peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower was this morning, there should still be some good viewing tonight – if the clouds stay away. The bright moon may also obscure your view so bring along binoculars.
My colleague and friend Larry Johnson will be preforming at the Minnesota State Fair:
“If you’re at the Fair August 28 or 29, be sure to catch Larry’s SING ALONG WITH YOUR COMPOST PILE at the Sustainability Stage in the Eco-Experience up by Machinery Hill. At 9:30 a.m. on August 28 (Seniors Day) or 6 p.m. on the 29th, you can listen to the stories and sing along with Tyler, the world famous earthworm, or with the music Larry plays on French Shoe Horn, Heavy Metal Recycled Water Faucet, and other instruments that would otherwise be languishing in the landfill. Have a great time and accidentally learn about composting, gardening, staying healthy, and saving a lot of money. Full Sustainability Stage schedule at www.pca.state.mn.us/ecoexperience“
A whole new world of programming opportunity has just opened up to me; I just learned about cymatics.
“Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration, typically on the surface of a plate, diaphragm or membrane. Directly visualizing vibrations involves using sound to excite media often in the form of particles, pastes and liquids.” (wikipiedia)
Make has a great video using an amp and a cornstarch-water mixture to demonstrate how cymatics work.
I learned from a recent survey (Please take it if you haven’t yet, its really short!) that many people don’t know that I can provide graphic design services. So I’m going to through some design posts into the mix here at the blog to spread the word.
Two typographers from pleaseletmedesign.com and a pro race pilot (Stef van Campenhoudt) collaborated to design a font with a car. The car movements were tracked using a custom software, designed by interactive artist Zachary Lieberman. ( openframeworks.cc )
NPR has a great web feature about crows recognizing individual human faces. There is a video, a podcast, and a fun game testing if you can recognize individual crow faces.
The basic story:
A crow researcher asked students to catch and tag crows while wearing a caveman mask. Then he asked different students, of a variety of shapes and sizes (who never caught or tagged a crow), to wear the mask among the same crows. No matter who wore the mask, the crows reacted to it by cawing danger warnings to other crows demonstrating they were recognizing the facial features of the mask.
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