Study Guide

My calendar for the work left:

1) Blog Summary:

The final blog was finished today (June 2). I’ll compile all blogs and write the summary tomorrow (June 3).

2) Quiz:

Notes have been taken from each lecture, but they are a bit messy. On Sunday (June 4), I’ll make a list of each small topics and people involved in those topics as an early preparation for the quiz. On June 7 and 8, I’ll review my notes, the lectures and readings to keep my memory fresh for the quiz on June 9.

3) Final paper:

A) I’ve chosen the topic of maths and art. To be more specific, I want to write about the relations between maths and architecture. Today (June 2) and tomorrow (June3), I’ll do research on this topic and collect useful elements for the essay.

B) From June 4 to June 5, I’ll make an outline for my essay and group the information I have collected. Meanwhile, I’ll review this part of lecture and readings, and choose an artist related to my paper.

C) From June 6 to June 10, work on the writing part and ask for comments from my friends and possibly my TA to make reasonable changes.

D) On June 11, proofread the essay and submit. 

Week 9: Space + Art

For the younger generation, space travel is never a new topic. It is common nowadays for children to have a dream of being an astronaut. What many of us do not know is that the first space travel happened only several decades ago, and the development of space industry has been accelerating in a rapid manner. As mentioned in the lecture, advance in space industry was initially due to the fierce space race between the Soviet Union and the US. For example, in 1961, Alan Shepard, an American astronaut, was sent to space soon after Yuri Gagarin, an astronaut of the Soviet Union, had become the first human in space. Science education has also been encouraged in order to boost the development in space industry to the greatest extent. 

Space race between US and USSR
(from Google images)

Compared to limited resources on the Earth, potential resources in the space are countless. In the lecture, it was mentioned that Planetary Resources is planning to create a fuel depot in space to extract liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen from asteroid for rocket fuel. This reminds me of the Kepler mission which has discovered over 3000 exoplanets and brought about unlimited possibilities. In Kepler mission, the transit method is used and an exoplanet can be discovered once its brightness changes. The planet’s orbital size can be calculated using Kepler’s Third Law as well. Through this highly effective method, many Earth-size and smaller planets have been discovered, some of which are even habitable for humans.

Potential habitable exoplanets founded in Kepler mission
(from Google images)

Another extremely interesting and popular topic about space is the black hole. Black hole is a region where matter is so dense that no force can resist the crush of gravity in it. Time also changes when one gets closer to black hole. If someone on Earth observes a traveler going to the black hole, he will find that the speed of the traveler is getting slower all the time and the traveler will never fall into the black hole. Time becomes still at the event horizon, which is the surface of black hole.

Time twisted around black hole
(from Google images)

Space is a fascinating subject, and it can be the answer to resource exhaustion, human origin and even where in space we can live as in science fictions. Nevertheless, space industry is full of risks and unknowns. It is important that scientists try their best to avoid tragedies like Apollo one happening again.

Sources:

NASA. “Kepler and K2”, 8 Feb 2017. <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html> Accessed 2 June 2017. Web.

NASA. “What Is a Black Hole?”, 8 March 2017. <https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html> Accessed 2 June 2017. Web.

Temming, Maria. “How is Time Changed Inside a Black Hole?”, Sky & Telescope, 22 July 2014. <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html> Acdssed 2 June 2017. Web.

Wikipedia. “Kepler (spacecraft)”, 22 May 2017. Accessed 2 June 2017. Web.

Youtube. “Space pt1” to “Space pt6”, uconlineprogram, 30 May 2012. Accessed 2 June 2017. Video.

Week 8: Nanotech + Art

This week’s lecture seems like an extremely scientific one, but if we pay attention to some small details, it is not hard to tell that there are a lot of artistic elements penetrating into the topic of nanotechnology. Generally speaking, nanotechnology itself creates unlimited possibilities, which certainly involve art innovations. To be specific, even in an experiment of nanoscience, the outcome can be very artistic. For instance, in the lecture it was mentioned that the word “UCLA” can be written in carbon monoxide molecules using Scanning Tunneling Microscope. Another example was Ned Seeman’s experiment on self-assembling DNA structures in certain patterns such as a smiley face. As we can see, integrating artistic ideas into scientific process can make things very interesting.

Ned Seeman's self-assembling DNA structures
(from Google images)

Dragonflies for aircraft designs
(from Google images)

The part which impressed me the most was how scientists got the inspirations of different nanoparticles. When I first saw on facebook about a coat which can always keep itself clean and uncontaminated, I was totally amazed by it. After this lecture, I finally knew that the technology behind this was a nano-structured surface, which came from the inspiration of Lotus Leaf Effect. Another example in the lecture was the imitation of Gecko feet for creating wall-climbing tools. In fact, the nature is full of scientific laws and I would say that it is an enormous learning resource for scientists. There are many other examples where animals inspire technological developments, such as bats for new radar systems, dragonflies for better aircraft designs, and fireflies for low-cost LED lighting, etc. Thus, nature is always fundamental to science.

Also, from my point of view, nanotechnology will bring about the greatest breakthroughs in medicine. In addition to anticancer and cosmetic aspects mentioned in the lecture, I think that nanotechnology can also have significant use in long term health care and detection of diseases. This idea is based on my midterm project, which is about a robot detecting abnormalities. Now I start to think that if this project can be conducted by a nanorobot in the human body, the data would be even more accurate and instant. In fact, nanorobots are already being used in treating tumors, blood clots, and infections, etc.

A nanorobot in human body
(from Google images)

Like what Dr. Gimzewski said, nanotechnology is unpredictable and unconventional, meaning that testings are necessary before release. As long as safety is guaranteed, the way nanotechnology can benefit the world will be beyond our imagination.

Sources:

Youtube. “Nanotech Jim pt 1” to “Nanotech Jim pt 6”. Video.

Unknown. “Bats could inspire new radar systems”, The Telegraph, 30 Mar 2010. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/7536327/Bats-could-inspire-new-radar-systems.html> Accessed 26 May 2017. Web.

Bazell, Robert. "Dragonfly Flight Inspires Better Aircraft Design.", NBC Today Show. NBCUniversal Media. 16 Apr. 1984. NBC Learn. Web. 4 April 2015.

Urquhart, James. “Fireflies inspire low-cost LED lighting”, Chemistryworld, 29 October 2012. <https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/fireflies-inspire-low-cost-led-lighting-/5573.article> Accessed 26 May 2017. Web.

Rubinstein, Leslie. “A Practical NanoRobot for Treatment of Various Medical Problems”, Foresight Institute. <https://www.foresight.org/Conference/MNT8/Papers/Rubinstein/index.html> Accessed 26 May 2017. Web.

Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

Brainbow
(from Google images)

When I was in high school, I took a course in neuroscience, and my impression on neuroscience was all about the complicated structures of human brain and neural system, while it had absolutely nothing to do with art. However, after this week’s lecture, I realized that neuroscience is actually the origin of art in that any art is created by thinking. What Ramon y Cajal did was to visualize the relation between neuroscience and art by referring to neurons as the mysterious butterflies of the soul. Also, the FMRI butterfly created by Suzanne Anker and the Brainbow project are aesthetically pleasing and successfully develop Cajal’s notion.

After I knew about the close relation between neuroscience and art, I became curious about what is actually happening in my brain when I am playing the piano. It turns out that our brain structure and music are influential to each other. Scientists Gaser and Schlaug compared brain structures of professional musicians with non-musicians and discovered gray matter volume differences in motor, auditory and visual-spatial brain regions. The reason for this is the long-term acquisition and repetitive practice of musical skills. On the other hand, absolute pitch, an ability which I admire so much, is a gift from the brain. Absolute pitch is the ability to identify the pitch of a musical tone without the use of an external reference pitch, and it is thought to be a key aspect of extraordinary musical ability. Famous composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach were all said to have had this talent. Recently, neuroscientists in Switzerland have discovered that this rare gift may be due to a functional link between the brain’s auditory cortex and frontal lobe.

Perfect pitch (or absolute pitch)
(from Google images)

The relation between neuroscience and music is more than that. In the lecture, it was mentioned that scientists were eager to find and use drugs as psychedelic psychotherapy. In fact, music can also be an effective “drug” for neural diseases. Mona Lisa Chanda, PhD, found that music improves the body’s immune system function and reduces stress. Also, research of Lauren K. King found that short-term use of vibroacoustic therapy, which involves the use of vibrating low frequency sound, can help release symptoms of Parkinson’s disease patient.

Vibroacoustic therapy
(from Google images)

Neuroscience is a new scientific area and full of potentials. Aside from medical aspects, further discovery in this area may even help trace the origin of human world and bring about breakthroughs in philosophic field. As long as inhuman experiments (like those mentioned in the lecture) are avoided, I believe humans are going to obtain considerable benefits and get answers to unsolved problems from the development of neuroscience.

Sources:

The Journal of Neuroscience, University of Zurich. “Brain Study Explores Gifts of Perfect Pitch”, The Hearing Review, 14 Jan 2015. <http://www.hearingreview.com/2015/01/brain-study-explores-rare-gift-perfect-pitch/>. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Wikipedia. “Cognitive neuroscience of music”, 13 Apr 2017. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Youtube. “Neuroscience-pt1.mov”, uconlineprogram, 17 May 2012. Accessed 17 May 2017. Video.

DeFelipe, Javier. “Cajal’s butterflies of the soul”, OUPblog, 9 Nov 2013. <https://blog.oup.com/2013/11/cajal-butterflies-of-the-soul-cerebral-cortex/>. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Novetney, Amy. “Music as medicine”, American Psychology Association, Nov 2013. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/11/music.aspx>. Accessed 17 May 2017. Web.

Week 6: BioTech + Art

In my view, increased collaboration between bioscientists and artists is beneficial. The reason is that biotechnology itself is something controversial, while artists are good at revealing the issues and exploring the truth philosophically. In this case, in addition to aesthetic and innovative factors, communications between the two fields can effectively post important and critical questions about what it implies when one can manipulate life, thus allow people to judge if certain biotech experiments are worth being done.

Mice with glowing cancer cells
(from Google images)

Although some biotechnologies are controversial, in some particular cases advantages do outweigh disadvantages. For instance, the technique of adding glowing jellyfish gene to a mice can help scientists trace the cells without conducting any surgery. Also, what Kathy High did with the retired breeder mice showed us that such forgotten creatures can still be human’s companion. Another example is the hairless guinea pig which we always see at pet stores. This breed first appeared when there was a genetic mutation which created hairlessness. Afterwards, the laboratory continued to breed the strain and four decades later, hairless guinea pig became a healthy breed. Because of their hairless feature, these guinea pigs satisfy the wish of many animal lovers who suffer from animal allergies. 

Hairless guinea pigs
(from Google images)

Dolly the sheep
(from Google images)

Talking of biotechology, I believe many people would immediately think of the first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, which was both a successful and unsuccessful experiment. She produced six lambs and passed down her genes, whereas she was on drugs all the time and her life span was half of normal sheep's. This is very similar to Marta Diminezas’s experiment in the way that the wing patterns of a butterfly can be manipulated, while holes end up appearing on the wings. As we can see, genetic experiments are unpredictable and risky. Moreover, overindulgence in biotech field may cultivate false ideas such as bioweapons and genetically modifying babies out of pure ambitions. I believe these are some of the main concerns of anti-biotechnology groups.

Genetically modifying babies

All we know for sure is that future biotech innovations will bring about many more controversial issues. Therefore, it is important for people to keep in mind that everything is a double-edged sword and try not to be radical whenever they hear about biotechnologies. In the meantime, bioscientists and artists ought to be thoughtful and responsible towards every experiments in order to build a healthy environment for the development of biotechnologies.

Sources:

Wikipedia. "Dolly (sheep)", 26 Feb 2017. Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Youtube. "5 bioart pt1 1280x720", uconlineprogram, 18 Sep 2013. Accessed 10 May 2017. Video.

Snow, Kate. "Genetics Will Let Parents Build Their Baby", abcNEWS, 3 Nov 2006. <http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/story?id=2626668&page=1> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Parry, Hannah. "Not so furry friends: New craze for hairless guinea pig breed created in lab forty years ago sweeping the nation", Dailymail, 28 Sep 2015. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3252355/Not-furry-friends-New-craze-hairless-guinea-pig-breed-created-lab-forty-years-ago-sweeping-nation.html> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

HealthResearchFunding. "5 Pros and Cons of Biotechnology in Humans", 26 Jun 2015. <http://healthresearchfunding.org/5-pros-and-cons-of-biotechnology-in-humans/> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Event 2: Hauser & Wirth - "Installations, 1994-2006" by Jason Rhoades

Last week I visited Hauser & Wirth, where an exhibition called “Installations, 1994-2006” by Jason Rhoades took place. The exhibition was a huge one and contained six parts, including “Swedish Erotica and Fiero Parts”, “My Brother/Brancuzi”, “The Creation Myth”, “My Madinah. In pursuit of my ermitage…”, “The Black Pussy… and the Pagan Idol Workshop” and “Tijuanatanjierchandelier”. Rhoades considered these separate works as components of one single piece. The ultimate idea of these six major works spanning the artist’s career was to break accepted rules and bring the impolite and culturally unspeakable to the center of the conversation.

"My Brother/Brancuzi"

"The Creation Myth"

From my point of view, Rhoades is not only an artist and sociologist, but also a critic and scientist. It may not be too obvious that Rhoades was being a critic, because his works seemed colourful and cheerful superficially. But the fact is that they delivered something replete with hidden reference, including religion, sex, racial and gender stereotypes. No subject was off-limits and taboo was embraced, such as sensitive elements including male and female sexual organs. Frankly, I did not recognize any critical implications of the works at first, and I was surprised by many of their hidden meanings. On the other hand, what I mean by comparing Rhoades to a scientist is that he was passionate in doing research and field trips. In order to create “Swedish Erotica and Fiero Parts”, which Rhoades likened to a home furnishings showroom, he frequently visited big-box stores such as Ikea and Home Depot so that he could observe and amass elements of consumer culture. Also, Rhoades embarked on shopping trips in search of elements contributing to the creation of “Tijuanatanjierchandelier”. His act precisely reflected how scientific method plays an important role in the inspiration, production and final success of an artwork.

Male and female sexual organs in "Tijuanatanjierchandelier"

The work that impressed me the most was “Tijuanatanjierchandelier”, because it revealed the drawbacks of globalization and modernization in a similar way to Walter Benjamin on industrialization. In “Tijuanatanjierchandelier”, the question raised was the disappearing traditional function of culturally significant objects due to modernization, as well as the assimilation of cultures due to globalization. This notion responds to Benjamin’s idea of how mass production system influences culture and art as well as destroys the idea of uniqueness, authenticity and aura. Rhoades expanded the idea a bit more by showing the shift of function and meaning of cultural objects caused by the cultural myths and stereotypes that tourism has encouraged.

"Tijuanatanjierchandelier"

A pineapple mistakenly became art display
(from Heatstreet)

People taking pictures of a pair of normal glasses
(from Heatstreet)

Here I feel the urge to talk about my feeling when I saw this well designed and colored exhibition but having no idea what it was about until I read the introductions. I guess many artworks give this feeling to people who are not very familiar with art and its representations. This phenomenon itself is not a big issue because that is how art works. Like literature, art presents ideas on a deeper layer. However, one problem raised is that sometimes when something really contains no specific representation, people still try to impose an idea of art onto it. I read a funny news today about students leaving a pineapple in a museum. The pineapple was put in a glass display case by someone afterwards and all visitors mistook it for art. Same thing happened when another person placed his glasses on the floor of an art gallery. People started forming a circle around the glasses soon enough and took pictures of the “work”. These may seem like jokes, but I think that it will be a tragedy if art becomes something misleading people. In modern society, art is gradually becoming a symbol of a person’s cultural cultivation, so people often try to pretend that they see and understand art. This also leads to the consequence of artworks losing their practical function as the reflection of social ills.

Overall, I still recommend my classmates to pay a visit to “Installations”. Rhoades once said, “If you know my work, you know that it is never finished.” If we spend enough time trying to understand the meaning behind the work, much more discovery is expected. Last but not least, I want to emphasize the importance of people putting more effort on truly understanding an artwork instead of pretending Mr. and Ms. Know-it-all. Never let art become the culprit of increased misunderstanding of the world.

Sources:

Hauser & Wirth. "Jason Rhoades Installations, 1994-2006", 2017. <https://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/3073/jason-rhoades-installations-1994-y-2006/view/> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Ginal. "Summary: The Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction", Introducing the Frankfurt School, 28 Feb 2008. <https://frankfurtschool.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/summary-the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-mechanical-reproduction/> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Marchal, Nahema. "Students Leave a Pineapple In a Museum, Everyone Mistakes It for Art", Heatstreet, 9 May 2017. <https://heatst.com/world/students-leave-a-pineapple-in-a-museum-everyone-mistakes-it-for-art/> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. New York: Schocken Books, 1969. Print.

Soler, Francesca. "The resolute crudeness of art world bad boy Jason Rhoades is honoured in dizzying L.A. retrospective...", We Heart, 2017. <https://www.we-heart.com/2017/03/15/jason-rhoades-installations-los-angeles/> Accessed 10 May 2017. Web.

Midterm Project

Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By1IBSnN4W1fbmRCdE8taDM2Smc/view?usp=sharing