Author: michelebanks1

Artist and blogger

Science Caturday: Happy Winter Solstice

solsticecat

Today, December 21, 2013, marks the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.

According to our friends at Wikipedia, “The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic effects of the planet’s daily rotation keep the axis of rotation pointed at the same point in the sky. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the same hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the Sun and experience summer. Since the two hemispheres face opposite directions along the planetary pole, as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, the other experiences summer.

More evident from high latitudes, a hemisphere’s winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun’s daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest….The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.” (source)

Our science kitteh has kindly agreed to cut back his daily napping from twelve hours to ten for the occasion, with the proviso that he can attack the Christmas tree with impunity during the year’s longest night.

The Art of Science: The Squeaky Reed

John Douglas Powers, Ialu, 2011
John Douglas Powers, Ialu, 2011

The new exhibit of kinetic sculpture at the MIT Museum is called 5000 Parts, which seems like a very low estimate when you consider the work of John Douglas Powers, who creates forms that mimic fields of grain and ocean waves, among other natural patterns of movement.

His sculpture Ialu, included in the show, is made of hundreds of wooden sticks or reeds mounted on beams which are moved by a motor. The reeds sway gently before a video of a cloudy sky. Unlike the idyllic scenes they conjure up, Powers’ sculptures squeak, clatter and groan as they move (watch video of the piece in motion here).  Although in some ways his evocation of the patterns of nature is uncanny, its artificiality is also on full display.

In his materials and gestures, Douglas pays tribute to nature. But his embrace of the mechanical, his unwillingness to hide the machinery, he nods to the extent – and limitations – of human ingenuity.

5000 Parts also features work by Arthur Ganson, Anne Lilly, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Takis. It runs through November 2014 at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Accidental Art of Science: Parking Lot Mitosis

I came across this amazing example of accidental science art yesterday in a shopping center parking lot in northern Virginia. After I tweeted a cell phone picture of the full sequence of cell division – it’s even in the right order, as you can see from the bottom photo – someone directed me to this excellent post by Malcolm Campbell on the science of oil rainbows.

prophase

anaphase

daughter cells

whole

The Art of Science: Roni Horn’s Library of Water

Roni Horn, Water, Selected, 2007
Roni Horn, Water, Selected, 2007

Artist Roni Horn has been traveling to Iceland from her home in New York since the 1970s. The unique nature of the Icelandic landscape and climate deeply informs all her work, which ranges from sculptures and drawings to photos and books.

In the 1990s she discovered the local library in the small town of Stykkisholmur and was impressed with its architectural style and its views of the sea, sky, town and harbor. When the library ceased operations in 2003, Horn proposed the creation of a permanent installation in the building. The result, Vatnasafn/Library of Water, opened in 2007.

The Library of Water consists of three linked parts: The first, Water, Selected is a sculptural installation of 24 glass columns containing water collected from ice from some of Iceland’s major glaciers. The columns bend and reflect the light onto a rubber floor which is printed with words in Icelandic and English related to the weather. As Gordon Burn described it in The Guardian, “with the windows cut to the floor, Library of Water pokes up into the weather. It sets its face at everything the weather can throw at you, which in Iceland invariably means extremes of light and wind and cold; visibility often varies from minute to minute.”

The second exhibit, Weather Reports You, consists of taped interviews with 100 Icelanders about their interactions with the weather and selections from Horn’s books about Iceland. The third part of the library is a private writers’ studio where each year writers from Iceland and abroad are invited to live and work for several months at a time.

The idea of a library of water gathered from glaciers is not only beautiful and novel, but may become essential. A great deal of information about historical climate, atmospheric and geological conditions is trapped in the ice of glaciers. As global warming causes the glaciers to melt, we may have no choice but to look at them in a preserved and cataloged form, like antiquated books in a library.

Information about visiting the Library of Water is here.  If you can’t make it to Iceland, you can see related work by Roni Horn at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in New York City until January 11, 2014.

The Gift of Science: Handmade & Hand-Picked

il_570xN.506447360_hf9vThis one-of-a-kind ring in citrine and bronze depicts a honey fungus, or Armillaria. A perfect gift for a mycologist or anyone who appreciates the more obscure beauties of nature. $120

These “nondenominational festive ornaments” celebrate the contributions of six key women in science: Rosalind Franklin, Marie Curie, Jane Goodall, Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Blackwell and Ada Lovelace.

Hang them on your Christmas tree, menorah, Festivus pole or wall. Made of wood with ribbon hangers. $36 – also available as a set of coasters.

Delftia is a new Israel-based etsy shop featuring jewelry made by a self-described “nerdy armchair scientist and metalworker.” Her science and nature inspired pieces include brains, atoms and caffeine molecules, but our favorite is this silver and brass pendant of Darwin’s original sketch for the tree of life. $45

Beautiful, practical and sustainable, this cutting board adorned with a Fibonacci spiral can be customized with an Einstein quote or with your own personal message. (Please note 3 week lead time if you need it by Christmas.) The shop also features other boards with science motifs, including a periodic table, DNA spiral or solar system. $45

Remember your furry friends (and your microbiologist or infectious-disease specialist friends) with an adorable needle felted pathogenic cat toy by Mycrobe Catnip. Pretend your cat is a healthy immune system or strong antibiotic tearing into this catnip-infused bacterium. Lots of other nasties available in Mycrobe’s shop, including myxococcus, trypanosoma and giardia. $10

Sevenstone makes simple and beautiful bowls, vases and tealights from lovely rocks – like this small vase “crafted from a polished glacier stone with a striking band of quartz” A perfect gift for a geology fan, or for anyone who appreciates decor that is both rugged and refined. $65

Genegeek’s line of cross-stitched Christmas ornaments merge old-fashioned craft with modern science. Our favorite is the DNA double helix.

Note that the DNA double helix is in the correct, right-handed direction.

You can also choose from microscope, pipette or cell motifs. $7.70 each or $24.05 for a set of all four.

A slingshot is an ideal vehicle for exploring numerous concepts of basic physics: tension, elasticity, potential and kinetic energy, just to name a few. So you can tell yourself that is why you want this sweet, handcrafted slingshot. Says the maker: “Each one-of-a-kind slingshot is handmade in San Francisco from forked tree branches. They’re carefully varnished, twined in shellacked hemp, and outfitted with a leather projectile pouch using natural latex tubing and imitation sinew. So grab one, head outside and cause some mischief.” OK! $36

Get extra-scientifically clean with handmade glycerin soaps from Sky Rain Soap, an etsy shop packed with choices like astronauts and meteors (pictured), crinoids and trilobites, dinosaurs, elements, and plenty of robots and aliens.Perfect stocking stuffers from $3 and up.

Why wear reindeer when you could have dinosaurs? Be the toast of holiday nerd gatherings with this screen-printed sweatshirt featuring Santa with a triceratops and an apatosaurus. $29