Desma9 assignment8 Tiancheng Lin 704203383

In this week’s lecture, professor Gimzewski talked about the relationship between nanotechnology and art. Nanotechnology is a word fresh and unfamiliar with most people. However, 70% of things used and seen in our life used the nanotechnology including vehicles, food and computer science field.

Nanotechnology is a newly uprising field, which only have a history of maybe 50 to 60 years. Although it did not appear until 1960’s, the influence of its invention greatly changed the world of science especially in the field of physics and chemistry. The nanotechnology gives scientists a chance to change their perspective of the world into a new and more specific scale. Moreover, with its appearance, the field of quantum mechanics and material science grew rapidly, which attribute to the improvement of aerospace industry. In this case, the dream of human beings finally came true. (Traveling in space)

Not only did, scientists benefited from the invention of nanotechnology, but artist did as well. With nanotechnology, artists can have a different view of the world and gave their more inspiration to create wonderful works. To give an example, Mr. Orfescu, an artist, said that “nanotechnology is simply invitation to let color and shape-shifting run wild.”

In addition, I am interested in the field of Molecular gastronomy, food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking. This is a new food type which is not invented until 1988. Although I have not had a chance to try it, it looks nice in photography.

Resources

“What is Molecular Gastronomy?” Molecularrecipes.com. Web. Nov 24 2013 http://www.molecularrecipes.com/molecular-gastronomy/

“Gastronomie moléculaire – Concept” IdoDaVinci’s Blog. Oct 13 2013. Web. Nov 24 2013. http://idodavinci.com/gastronomie-moleculaire-concept/

Jingna Zhao “Turning to Nanotechnology for Pollution Control: Applications of Nanoparticles.” Dartmouth undergraduate journal of science. Feb 22 2009. Web. Nov 24 2013.  http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/winter-2009/turning-to-nanotechnology-for-pollution-control-applications-of-nanoparticles#.UpLYXpJ6bWw

BARNABY J. FEDER “The Art of Nanotech.” Bits. Jan 25 2008. Web. Nov 24 2013. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/the-art-of-nanotech/?_r=0

Gimzewski, Jim. Desma9 Lecture 8 “Nanotech and art.”

Tiancheng Lin Desma 9 Assignment 7

Neuroscience and art should definitely be related as all artists need creativity to finish their work and come up with beautiful ideas. Not like many other subjects, neuroscience is a newly developed field. It is not until 19^th century did people begin to be aware of the importance of the brain. Brain, an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals, actually controls all the behavior and thoughts of us. However, because of the limitation of technique and knowledge, we still know little about the brain.

For the study of neuroscience, the study of nerves is significant because they are basis of the brain and without them we can do nothing. In this week’s lecture, professor mentioned a newly technique called Brainbow, which separated nerves by different fluorescent proteins. The sketched picture looks so amazing that the research group win several scientific photography competitions.

Another part I am really interested in is that talks about LSD, a strong hallucinogen, which is discovered by Dr. Hoffman in 1938. I am from China, which is a country has strict laws for people who sell or produce drugs. Most of them were sentenced to death. In this case, it is quiet surprising for me that Leary from Harvard University encouraged his students to take the drugs. In my opinion, drug is something that really harms teenagers because they are in an age with strong curiosity. It is easy for them to be addicted to drug and will destroy their whole life.

Resources

Jeff Lichtman. “The Brain Unravelled an interdisciplinary exhibition where art, anthropology and neuroscience come together”. Fad. Aug 24 2009. Web. Nov 17 2013. http://www.fadwebsite.com/2009/08/24/the-brain-unravelled-an-interdisciplinary-exhibition-where-art-anthropology-and-neuroscience-come-together-private-view-7-september-2009-6-%E2%80%93-9pm/

Sheri L. Boyce “Nervous Systems”. Biology Reference. Web. Nov 17 2013 http://www.biologyreference.com/Mo-Nu/Nervous-Systems.html

“Drug Allergy: Overview, Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Therapy, Course And Prevention.” Health on care. Oct 24 2012. Web. Nov 17 2013. http://www.healthyoncare.com/drug-allergy-overview-definition-causes-symptoms-diagnosis-therapy-course-and-prevention/.html

Hailey Keller. “Brain Fitness: Train Now, Regret Never.” Web. Nov 17 2013. http://brain-games-puzzle-stores-review.toptenreviews.com/brain-fitness-train-now-regret-never.html

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. Desma 9. Web. Nov 17. 2013.

Desma9 week 6 assignment

In this week's lecture, Professor talked about the relationship between biotech and art. Biotechnology is a newly developed area that may have a huge effect on the future of human beings because scientists believe that by some genetic processes we can cure some malignant diseases such as HIV or cancers. However, I do not think that life itself should be seen as a valid expressive medium because life is much valuable than a medium that medium can be reproduced but life cannot. In this case, I think there should definitely be more restriction for artists or scientists doing biotech experiments than those working in other fields.

To be more specific, we can first talk about the cloning, which is a hot topic in recent 20 years. Clone is a biotechnology that refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments, cells, or organisms. There is a famous movie call “The Island” released in 2005. In the movie, people in the future used cloning to reproduce themselves in order to increase their life. In my mind, this is a stupid and inhuman process because what or who we cloned is also a life and they should own the same right as us. For this ethnical reason, cloning with human cells is still prohibitive in the world and I think should last forever.

Moreover, we can talk about the transgenic technique. Because of the shortage of grain in the world, transgenic technique appeared as they are more productive and easy to survive. However, some people have claimed that these transgenic crops actually cause problems such as creating Superbugs and Superweeds, killing bees and butterflies and even contaminating regular crops by cross-pollination. Though, their effect on human body needs time to test, we should still be careful dealing with the transgenic crops.

In conclusion, transgenic technology may have its benefits but it has obvious disadvantages both ethnically and practically. In this case, we should still put limitation on those biotech processes until we can control them well.

Sources

S. GRANT. “10 Problems Genetically Modified Foods Are Already Causing.” Listverse. Jun 22, 2013. Web. Nov 10, 2013.

http://listverse.com/2013/06/22/10-problems-genetically-modified-foods-are-already-causing/

“What is gene”, B4FA.org. web. Photograph. Nov 10 2013 http://b4fa.org/biosciences-and-agriculture/introduction-genes-crops/what-is-a-gene/

“THE ISLAND: ½ STARS.” Richard Crouse. Web. Photograph. Nov 10 2013 http://www.richardcrouse.ca/the-island-%C2%BD-stars/

Paul Brown. “Attitudes to GM crops must change as the world warms.” Carbon strategy group. Jun 6 2013. Web. Nov 10 2013. http://www.carbonstrategygroup.com/carbon-market-news/attitudes-to-gm-crops-must-change-as-the-world-warms/

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA9. Web. Nov 10. 2013

Desma9 Midterm assignment! Tiancheng Lin 704203383

Tiancheng_Lin_Desma9_Midterm

Desma9 assignment4 Medicine and Art

Before this week’s lecture, I will hardly relate medicine with art because they seem two things totally different and never should be related. However, after taking the lecture, I really have a new appreciation about the undivided relation between medical technique and art work.

Among all the topics discussed by Professor Vesna, plastic surgery seems most interesting to me. Nowadays, this word is more and more popular in the world because with the development of life, people pay more attention to their outlook than before. In this case, those people need a way to make them more beautiful or handsome and that is plastic surgery. However, with more and more beauties are “produced” under the scalpel, the conception of beauty seems changed and the discussion about that becomes more intense.

To give an example, the artist Orlan discussed in the lecture, did operation many times in order to tell people what is the real beauty. She got different face features from the famous artwork and made it her own body. However, in my opinion, what she did is meaningless because with the period changed, the conception of beauty actually changed. Moreover, those features may look nice separately on each painting, but when they get together it seems so wired and disharmony.

Another example would be the recent Korean beauty contest that all the participants all look the same! Some of friends talked to me about this event and they joked that they may come out of the same hospital.

I think it is no faults that people seek for beautiful. However, we should always follow a simple rule that “The natural one is the most beautiful one.” Plastic surgery, a technique rose during World War I, should still take an important role in medical word but not the work of art and beauty.

Sources

Orlan- Carnal Art (2001), documentary, Dir. Stéphan Oriach. Perf. Orlan. N.d. Film. YouTube.  Web.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=no_66MGu0Oo

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine and art ” Lecture. Web.

Better2ask, “Aesthetic Plastic Surgeon in Israel, Dr. David L.”,web, November 15, 2012

http://www.better2ask.com/aesthetic-plastic-surgeon-in-israel-dr-david-leshem/3045

Listal, photography, web, http://www.listal.com/viewimage/3431813

Miss Korea 2013, photography, web, http://photogallery.navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/beauty-pageants/world-pageants/miss-korea-2013/articleshow/20535174.cms

Desma9 assignment 3, Robotic and art

In this week’s class, professor talked about the robotic and art. More specifically, the interaction happened between robotic and art in their evolution. My interested points are about the industrialization and cyborgs.

As for industrialization, I think everyone is familiar with it because without it, our life cannot improve so much and still growing rapidly. The industrialization started in 1860's, quickly after the invention of steam engine and grew much faster following the application of electricity. Although industrialization helped to improve our society and made technology grew so rapidly, there is still critique about it. For example, Walter Benjamin claimed in his book “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, “Namely, the desire of contemporary masses to bring things “closer” spatially and humanly, which is just as ardent as their bent toward overcoming the uniqueness of every reality by accepting its reproduction.”(III) By this, he thought that the mass reproduction from industrialization actually destroyed the creativity and uniqueness in art. Moreover, in Chaplin’s “Modern time”, the mass production made workers like a machine on the assembly line and even influenced their life.

                                 Industrialization in German

Chaplin's Modern Time    

Cyborg is a fashion word in many great sci-fi movies. I, Robot, in my opinion, is one of the best I have seen. In this movie, the robots finally evolve too rapidly that they want to control the human beings and found their own world. The story could be seen as a classic example of the disadvantage of industrialization that human beings made technology grow too fast due to desires and finally we cannot control them at all. Though the condition appeared in the movie is kind of ridiculous now, it might happen one day in the future.

I, Robot

To give a conclusion, I think industrialization itself has more positivity than negativity and donated greatly to the development of our society. What caused many damages is actually our desire. If we can control our desire correctly, I think we can gain more benefits and less negative effects.

Sources

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”, Marxists, web, http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Ian Adler, Harrison S, Industrialization in Germany & Russia, apworldquig, web, https://apworldquig.wikispaces.com/Industrialization+in+Germany+%26+Russia

Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans, photography, http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Summaries/M/Modern%20Times.htm

Amanda Peraza, Dystopian Fiction-I Robot, 2011. 3, photography, http://amandaaperaza.blogspot.com/2011/03/dystopian-fiction-i-robot.html

Vesna, Victoria, “Robotic and Art”, Lecture 3

Desma9 assignment 2, Math and art

As a student of applied mathematics major, it is pretty fun for me to take this week’s lecture, which is about the relationship between math and art. In this week’s lecture, I learned that with the improvement of mathematics, artists make their paintings more realistic and beautiful. To be more specific, Brunelleschi discovered the rule of vanishing point in 1413 and attributed greatly to the development of art. And with the appearance of idea of perspective, painting was never simply of drawing and coloring but needed a step of proportion. Moreover, Golden ratio, which can be expressed by 1/x=x/1-x in formulation, was largely used in sculpture, architecture and painting. The famous artist and scientist as well, Da vinci, was a “fan” of the golden ratio.

                       

              Brunelleschi, famous Italian architect and engineer

Parthenon, one of ancient buildings in the world, is a perfect example of how mathematics can influence art and science. Parthenon was built in about 400.AD and I think the main reason it can still be complete after more than a thousand years is the structure in golden ratio. (The Roof was lost in the war between Turkish Empire and the ancient Greece, which is unavoidable.) The Golden ratio not only gives the building a strong structure but a wonderful outlook as well. 

                 

                                  Parthenon in golden ration, 400.AD

For artist who uses mathematics in his art work, we should think of a person Da Vinci. His famous work, Mona Lisa, the women portrayed was also in golden ratio. Moreover, his work named Vitruvian man is a great example of combination of art, science and mathematics. The man’s position can be seen as a circle and it gave the idea that human proportion can be used in architecture as well. This is well used by the famous French architect, Le Corbusier.                                 

                              Mona lisa, the most famous painting in the world 

With all of the above, I’d like to say that the juxtaposition of math, art and science is that on one hand, without math, science and art cannot develop so rapidly and math should be seen as the base of art and science. On the other hand, without the desire to develop art and science, math will not develop as well and many great discoveries may never happen.                                    

                                  Vitruvian man, great combination of art and science

Resources

Oracle Education Foundation, Photography, web, http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01151/filippo.html

Gary’s school of art, photography, web, http://www2.rgu.ac.uk/subj/ats/teachingweb/teaching/t26-DesignPrinciples/TheGoldenSection/TheGoldenSection.htm

Mona lisa Golden selection, JTV, photography, web, http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/storyality-50-3-the-golden-ratio-the-golden-spiral-the-fibonacci-sequence/mona-lisa-golden-section-da-vinci/

Robert M, Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man, 2000, web, http://thealchemicalegg.com/VitruviusN.html

Vesna, Victoria.  “Math + Art.”  Lecture 2.