Friday 29 October 2010

Toxic White Stuff: Eben Bayer on Bio-packaging


Many computer and electronic gadget manufacturers are or have become increasingly aware of, building their devices with recyclable materials through which they promote their products with Green Energy Certification. This is all well and good for consumers and green industrial standards alike, but what of the packaging used for these devices ? Most if not all computer hardware and just about every gadget we pick up from the electronics store is boxed using preformed polystyrene foam, or Styrofoam. And while many artists, architects, model makers and diy-ers, etc love to create and build with it, the material has a huge downside - it doesn't and will never, ever ever break down and disintegrate with the earth - in other words its simply not compostable.

According to Eben Bayer the USA alone currently spends $20 billion a year to produce all sorts of Styrofoam, from coolers to carryout containers and untold amounts of packaging. It takes 1.5 liters of petrol to produce just one cubic foot of the stuff, and Styrofoam occupies 25 percent of our landfills.

Eben Bayer, in the video here, talks about a better solution based on natures recycling system using Mycelium found in mushrooms as the glue for his new packaging called Mycobond. His initiative transforms low-value agricultural byproducts into strong biological composites that can be used as biodegradable alternatives to conventional polluting plastics, foams, and packaging materials.

Monday 25 October 2010

The Science of Nanotechnology


is the study of controlling of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures sized between 1 to 100 nanometer in at least one dimension. The science of nanotechnology involves developing  materials and manipulatively engineering materials at the nanoscale for devices within that size.

Nanotechnology may be able to create many new materials and devices with a vast range of applications, such as in medicine, electronics, bio-materials and energy production.

In the documentary video below, Stephen Fry narrates the strange new world of Nanoscience.



Read more about Nanoscience and Nanotechnology here and or here;

Saturday 23 October 2010

Correlated magnetic power with Programmable Magnets


Permanent magnets are universally used across millions of household and industrial machines around the world, but are restricted by their design and function in particular their rather cumbersome and sometimes dangerous decoupling behaviors.

Instead of having single North and South poles, Larry Fullerton has invented the ability to reconfigure the charges of magnets by creating multiple magnetic poles, within one shape.

The video here introduces us to the traditional use and applications of magnets and leads into the prototype in action, and hinting at possible uses and applications.



"correlated magnetic structures have magnetic fields with much higher near-field density and much lower far-field density than conventional magnets. As such, very strong correlated magnetic structures can be created that produce stronger peak attractive force when attached to metal or to another correlated magnetic structure yet have attractive forces that rapidly diminish as they are separated from the metal or other correlated magnetic structure." Source

This invention will profoundly change our technological future with the applications and uses of magnetics, since, designers will be able to increase magnet performance, or decrease the size and weight required to achieve a particular design objective.

Thursday 21 October 2010

Mesmerizing Entrancing Tuvan Throat Singing

is rooted within their interaction with their environment. The sounds and soundings within it have inspired them to create a style of singing in which two or more pitches sound simultaneously over a fundamental pitch.

Tuva a tiny republic of southern Siberia, reverberates in long eerie wind swept cadences, together with whistling birds, bubbling streams, howling wolves and brutishly cold wide open country of icy lakes, fields and the occasional mountain range.

Truly interactive with nature geographically situates Tuvan's oral tradition within what we understand as onomatopoeia or the word that describes words which "sound like they are".

The actual lyrics that the ethnic Tuvan lads, are singing in this first video, are

"Channna ham nah channa channa
OOOOoOOooOOOoeAaaAAaAAaaAAAhHHHhhHheeeEe­EEeEAaAaeEEEEEeeEEeE AAaaEeeEeeeaaaaAAaAaaEEeEEoOoOOooOeEEeAA­aAahHHhhhHEeeEeEEEoO ooOOO"



So in case your wondering how it maybe possible to sing like the Tuvan's, Vocatrix, demonstrates, in this next video his interpretive assessment of low throat oscillation singing, where he likens it to the sound of the Didgeridoo. Nevertheless I'm really taken aback by Vocatrix's ability to create on the fly beatbox rhythm with low throat singing, towards the end of his tutorial.



Read and listen to  the many variants and styles of Tuvan throat singing,  here or equally fascinating are their guitar like instruments.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Subtracting objects in real time full motion video



First there was virtual reality, an all encompassing immersive experience for singular head-wear users, then came augmented reality, a way of adding objects to ones field of vision for interpretative understanding. Now arrives, perhaps a slightly more curious method of altering reality ? No, merely on-the-fly erasure of selected objects in video making.

Researchers Jan Herling and Wolfgang Broll, from the Ilmenau Technical University in Germany have developed a way of removing objects from real-time video. They call it Diminished Reality and it seems to work in a similar way to that of using a 'clone' brush in photoshop.

 "The effect is achieved by an image synthesizer that reduces the image quality, removes the object, and then increases the image quality back up. This all happens within 40 milliseconds, fast enough that the viewer doesn't notice any delay."

This profoundly cool technique could quickly become useful for many a studied video creator, but perhaps unlikely useful for instant video making ? Merely watch how long it actually takes to remove unwanted objects in the picture plane. The electronic sleight of hand erasure and repair is superior to the physical time it must take to notice, select, draw a circle around and repair the image space of the unwanted thing ?




The electro-pop sound-bed pushing us excitedly through this digital sleight of hand video effect is Synth harmony by Cassiopeia.

Friday 15 October 2010

Hypnotic Time Lapse Video: Five Minute Millennium



Here is an entertaining time lapse tour through the Vancouver Sky Train's full Millennium line in five minutes to the tune of Ravel's Bolero by photographer and filmmaker Alexander Jorgensen.

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Noodle People or TimeRemapExportHD


is a wacky video experiment created by Adrien Mondot inwhich he used time map editing.

Time remapping is a less-than-intuitive tool, otherwise known as variable speed editing, it allows a video editor to expand, compress, freeze, or even play footage backwards.

Maybe you've seen the recent slew of motor car commercials on television where the cars appear to be speeding up and slowing down in an unnatural way. Thus the video here, appears to make  people into slow-motion spindly winding noodles.



Adrien was able to make this entertaining little video work really smoothly by shooting with a Canon 7D at 60fps and editing the clip with a custom Quartz Composer plug-in that transforms a video stream into a 3D texture.

The music accompanying this noodling video is by the Beirut band.

Monday 11 October 2010

"Nebula" wave: Symphonic Kinetic Sculpture by Reuben Margolin

There's no better reason for leaving almost any architectural interior atrium sterile and void of any spectacle: Enter Nebula wave, an enchanting fusion of technology and high art.

Mathematically rigorous with the motion of a caterpillar's crawl, kinetic sculptor Reuben Margolin has created an architecturally site specific kinetic wave sculpture, inside the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas,Texas.

Nebula wave is a multi-tiered, geometric structure made of more than 10 miles of aircraft cable, 1,780 pulleys and over 4,500 amber crystals, and measuring almost 100 feet long and 50 feet wide and splendidly simulates an undulating motivation wave.



The sculpture 'swims' continuously as a motor rotates. The work is a multi-tiered, geometric structure made of more than 10 miles of aircraft cable, 1,780 pulleys and over 4,500 amber crystals. Measuring almost 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. The sculpture was built and installed by Gizmo Art Production Inc. inside the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas,Texas. (via)

This next video contributes an understanding of the scale of this stupendous art piece within its occupied airspace, and shows Reuben ruminating the design and installation of the Nebula wave.



Reuben Margolin's Nebula wave speaks a dramatic and meditative metaphor for how wave power my soon be contributing to our future electrical energy grid.
Related Post

Friday 8 October 2010

Underwater whale watchers encounter Humpback pod off Lahaina, Maui

The video abruptly begins from inside an Atlantis Submarine where passengers are experiencing with gasps of glee and excitement a school of humpback whales rollicking around the bough and port of the ship.

According to the notes accompanying the video:
The submarine tour guests witnessed a competitive group behavior by the humpbacks in which the males were vying for the attention of a female that swam around the submarine for 45 minutes. In 20-plus years of dives, Atlantis Submarines guests have seen a lot of Hawaii's marine life, but this undersea show by the humpbacks was a first!

"Humpback Whales have sleek (smooth and shiny) gray bodies that point down towards their snout (nose). They have a tail fin, a very small dorsal (back) fin, and 2 small flippers (fins). Whales can weigh up to 50-60 tons (1ton equals 2,000 pounds) and its size can be 50-55 feet. Humpback Whales got their names from hunters for moving the way it does when it dives or rolls over. Before it dives it inhales air and water. When it goes under water it exhales the air and water." via

Thursday 7 October 2010

Body Code: Unreal molecular movement at the sub-cellular level



Mind boggling abstract surreal computer graphic simulations of cellular activity on the microscopic and molecular scale offers intriguing viewing.

The video here is an edited compilation of complimentary medical science animations of the molecular movements of sub-cellular activity that are happening every second of our lives within our bodies.

This media art show-reel was specifically designed for museum and art gallery presentation with the goal of reaching public audiences who do not usually seek out or are exposed to the details of scientific knowledge.

This profoundly compelling animation was created by Drew Barry, the almost hypnotizing sound design by Francois Tetaz and the time lapse Mitosis by Professor Jeremy Pickett-Heaps.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Cool 3D light projection video mapping experience



At the recently held Mobile World Congress new media agency Superbein demonstrated an experience based video mapping 3D projection with coordinated light on a 3D surface. Viewers were invited to step into a sensory cube to discover what Alcatel-Lucent envisions for its customers.



The designers used standard projectors and some kind of 3D mapping software to project the moving image on to none rectilinear surfaces. The music track likely ensnares one's imagination whist engulfed in the immersive experience of the cube.

Saturday 2 October 2010

Dusk by Adam Hurst

Playing cello is usually confined to gaining a seat in one of the world's leading orchestras, not so for Adam Hurst. He represents a very good example of how possibilities can be achieved  if one remains focused on one''s true purpose and pursue one's own true passion.

Adam plays on his own hand made version of an electric "gypsy cello", possibly, originally a cello made for and by gypsies, likely accounting for the smaller body, making it easier to transport. Most notable among other  features of this cello and clearly heard in Dusk is a drone string that continuously resonates.

No less sustaining then the design and function of his unique musical instrument are the sources of his style of composition gleaned from blending his influences of different melodic elements of Middle Eastern, Indian Raga and various European traditions. (read more)

Dusk is a haunting and evocative original composition that resonates with somber ethereal tones made no less moody by his dress code!



So if Adam Hurst's composition inspires you, then go visit his cool website, and or go listen to some more of his entertaining music here.

Next Page

 
Google+