Discovery News: Material World

When Government Corruption, Distortion and Censorship of Science is Funny

Normally I write about nanotech and robots but today I couldn't resist blogging about cartoons. The Union of Concerned Scientists is running its Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest and not only are the cartoons funny, you can vote on the one that is your favorite. There are 12 to chose from. This is one of them.

According to Meghan Crosby, press secretary at the the UCS, this is the third year the contest has been going on. It was started "to draw attention to the censoring, manipulating, and distorting of science by political appointees on issues from public health to global warming.

For more on the UCS Scientific Integrity program go here.

Image: Peter Hess
 

A Beautiful Virus

When computer worms Mydoom, NetSky, and Parite infected user hard drives and  unleashed a series of malfunctions, no one swooned in delight. But they may now after seeing the viruses through the eyes of Alex Dragulescu, an artist and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His series, called Malwarez, uses the patterns of code found in worms, viruses, trojans, and spyware and transforms them into virtual entities that appear lifelike.

The art was commissioned by MessageLabs, a computer security company, and you can see examples of it here.
 
Illustration: MyDoom by Alex Dragulescu

New York Calling

From the same folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that brought us CityMotion and an Internet-enabled bus stop comes a new project that uses anonymous cell phone and Internet communications to help visualize human migration. The New York Talk Exchange has three maps that show where the communications come from and where they go as well as how they change over time.

What's great about this project is that you can immediately see the diversity that makes New York unique, both ethnically and socio-economically. For example, the team found the the richest and poorest people are making the most international communication, while the middle group talks locally and nationally.

The researchers also used British Telecom data and found that while New Yorkers reach more frequently  into Asia and South America, Londoners more often communicate with Europe and the United States.

The visualizations are part of an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art called "Design and the Elastic Mind" that is open through May. If you can't get to the exhibit, you can see a video here.

Light Has More Intuition Than Some People I Know

Have you ever been at a party or in a meeting with a "Me Monster?" This person talks nonstop about himself and shows no awareness of others.  ME ME ME ME ME ME ME

Now there's a lamp that is, literally and figuratively, brighter than him. Made with artificial intelligence, the AI Light made by London-based Complex Matters, a spin-off from University College London, changes shape and varies its intensity based on what's going on around it. How intuitive.

I saw an article in Cubed describing the light and then got in touch with Siavash Mahdavi, the managing director to ask him a couple of questions about the light, which was designed by Assa Ashuach.

The light has several sensors: two motion sensors, two light sensors, one short range and one long range, and eventually a sound sensor.

If someone enters the room, the long range motion sensor is triggered and the light performs a small dance to greet its visitor. The shorter range motion sensor could be directed to react to people  congregating around a breakfast table or sitting area, for example,where activity will cause the light to respond and move.

According to Mahdavi, every AI Light behaves in a different way. "If it continues to get the same inputs, it can get bored and stops reacting.  New behaviors within the room intrigue the AI Light and cause it to react in a more pronounced way."

I'd like invite this light to my next party. 

Skeletons That Walk on the Wind

Every once in a while I come across something that is not really technology, in the emerging sense, but is so cool that I have to tell someone about it. Lucky you.

This time it’s work from Dutch visual artist Theo Jansen, who has built animal-like skeletons called Strandbeests that harness the wind to walk. See, for example Animaris Geneticus Ondula and Animaris Rhinoceros.

Jansen, born in 1948, studied physics at the University of Delft, Holland, but instead of finishing his degree, turned to painting. He did that for about seven years and then, in 1980, started a flying saucer project. The UFO was filled with helium and floated over the town of Delft.

“It was hazy weather. The people saw was a black disk coming through the sky,” Jansen told me. “The population was in a commotion.”

After that, he couldn’t paint anymore. The technical inspiration that had disappeared at the university came back and he began building machines. In the 90s, he started playing around with hollow tubes that are used as conduits for electric wire.

“I promised myself to spend one year on the conduits just to see what happens. That was 16 years ago and it became really an addiction,” he said.

The result was Strandbeest, a herd of small and large (some 14 feet tall), multi-leg creatures that scuttle across the beach near his workshop in Eisenberg. Although the hollow conduit he uses is made for electrical wire, no wire or electronics are incorporated into the beasts. They are all comprised of the plastic tubing, pistons, and rubber bands. Wind drives them forward. A small tube hanging down about an inch off the ground sucks in water when the contraption approaches the shoreline, stopping the animal in its tracks.

Jansen uses a computer to digitally simulate leg and joint movement. The head often functions as sail. Engineered to survive on the beach, the creatures balance their time between sand and surf.

“They will know where the dunes are and where the sea is. When the storm is coming up, they go to the dunes and beach themselves,” he said.

Eventually, Jansen would like to raise a herd of these colossal critters and watch them live out their existence on the beach.

The Softer Side of Science

What do seaweed and a computer network have in common? They have an inherent pattern that optimizes the use of material while covering as much area as possible. Artist Jeffrey Nickerson demonstrates the concept behind these patterns in his piece “Range,” which is on display as part of Digital ’07, a digital print competition and exhibition hosted by Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. The theme of this year’s show, which is being held at the New York Hall of Science, is “pattern finding.” You have until January 27, 2008, to check it out.

Not only are the pieces beautiful (see here), but they explore science and technology, including chaos and string theory, fractals, genetics, and mathematical data-sets.

For example, Peter N. Gray uses information from DNA structure, sequences, and single nucleotide permutations to create his works.

Mark Fischer visualizes the sounds of a Minke whale recorded in the north Pacific using wavelet transforms (left).

Charles Thurston creates images derived from digital noise patterns to show the interplay between randomness and coherence.

If you attend the show, write back and tell me what you thought.