Items: science, tech, math, origami

Jed

November 24, 2004

4 Comments

Assorted items

A set of textbook disclaimer stickers for use by evolutionists and others of their ilk. Parts of this are kinda meanspirited and parts can be construed as anti-religious, but overall pretty funny. (Thanks, Luke!)
An excellent page with lots of photos of monowheels, from Victorian times to present. (A monowheel being a vehicle consisting of "one big wheel with rider and engine (if any) INSIDE its circumference.") Beware of gerbilling! (Thanks, Aaron!)
Bathsheba Grossman is "an artist exploring the region between art and mathematics"; she does amazing metal sculptures, from abstract art to a Menger Sponge. Her technique is remarkable: she uses 3D printing to create a model out of steel powder, then heats it to create a porous steel model, then infuses it with bronze. She also does 3D laser etching in clear glass blocks, with designs like DNA and a scale model of the Milky Way galaxy; also custom proteins. (Thanks, Kam!)
A funny photo-essay on lifting a vehicle by crane. (Thanks, Jim M.!)
"The Virtual Laboratory['s] main focus is the interaction between the life sciences, arts and architecture, media and technology. It consists of two related parts, an archive and an essay section. As an archive, the VL offers numerous scans of texts and images concerning experiments, instruments, buildings, scientists and artists between 1830 and 1930." In other words, cool old tech. Examples: the Hipp Chronoscope and a Kymograph with endless paper.
Nifty astronomical photos. (Thanks, BoingBoing!)
"The Hand Up Project: Attempting to Meet the New Needs of Natural Life-Forms," or, making artificial shells for hermit crabs. (Thanks again, BoingBoing!)
Okay, so this isn't science, math, or technology-related, but it's pretty cool: D&D origami. (Thanks, j7y!)

4 Responses to “Items: science, tech, math, origami”

Stephen Sample

11-24-2004 8:58 PM

The most mind-blowingly cool online origami gallery I’ve come across is from the physicist Robert J. Lang. He sticks to the traditional one-square-sheet-of-paper-and-no-cuts construction methods, but somehow manages to make remarkably realistic animals. In particular, his beetle, scorpion, golden eagle, murex shell, koi, hermit crab, organist, and moose are just mind-crogglingly cool.
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Jed

11-24-2004 10:53 PM

Nifty! And he has info on the site that explicitly links origami to math, like the Origami Approximate Geometric Constructions page and the Tree Method of Origami Design, so I guess origami did belong in this entry after all. Way cool. Thanks for the pointer!
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Jay Hartman

11-29-2004 4:28 PM

The B. Grossman art was very interesting. As were the additional origami links. Jed, you may recall, we did a little basic origami when we were little kids.

Tangentially continuing the science/tech theme, has anyone been to the Musuem of Jurassic Technology? I have been there, it’s fascinating in part because it’s so original. Located in Culver City, CA, not far from where I live in Manhattan Beach. Here’s a link:

http://www.mjt.org/

The website and the musuem itself are both intentionally a bit inscrutable, so for an “explanation” of the museum, do a Google search, click on the ‘city search’ entry, and scroll down.
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Mary Anne Mohanraj

11-29-2004 5:17 PM

Jay, it’s funny you should mention that — Jed and I were just talking about creative nonfiction last night, and one of the books we read in my creative nonfiction course was Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, about that very museum. Charming book!

Oh, and by the way, hi. It’s nice to see you posting here — I’ve heard bits and bobs about you from Jed over the years, of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything directly from you. 🙂
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