Dart Art: Science and Nature

I know Kevin Dart's work through his movie art (e.g., Interstellar). This is his Science and Nature series, which features prints that focus "on the wonder that is space and our surroundings."

You can see more of his art at his tumblr page.

SCIENCE & NATURE - Teaser Trailer from Chromosphere on Vimeo.

Beautiful Chemistry

It's all in the title. The Beautiful Chemistry project is a collaboration between the Institute of Advanced Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China and Tsinghua University Press. They used a 4K UltraHD camera and special lenses to capture chemical reactions in astonishing detail. At the molecular scale, they used advanced computer graphics and interactive technology to showcase beautiful chemical structures.

Here are a few of my favorities:


Precipitation: The creation of a solid in a solution or inside another solid during a chemical reaction or by diffusion in a solid. These reactions occur when cations and anions in aqueous solution combine to form an insoluble ionic solid.

This video shows 5 precipitation reactions, each with its own “personality”. The first is a "typical" reaction we see a transparent solution in a test tube at the beginning and a cloudy liquid at the end after adding a few droplets of another solution. However, when we used cubic glass cells to replace test tubes and took a much closer look, their unique beauty was revealed.




Metal Displacement: Oxidation/reduction reactions between metals and metal ions

In this video they dropped zinc metal in silver nitrate (AgNO3), copper sulfate (CuSO4), and lead nitrate (Pb(NO3)2) solutions. Then they recorded the emergence of silver, copper, and lead metals. To preserve the fragile structure of lead metal, they also added sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) and acetic acid (CH3COOH) to the solution to make it gelatinize.




Supramolecular Nanotube:

They made this image based on J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 9434 (2008), an atomic model provided by Prof. Wusong Jin & Prof. Takuzo Aida.



DNA Nano-spaceship:

This model was based on Science 338, 1177 (2012), an atomic model provided by Prof. Yonggang Ke and Prof. Peng Yin.



See lots more over at Beautiful Chemistry.

The Secret Anatomy of Toys

Jason Freeny is an artist and toy designer. He creates interesting anatomy illustrations and sculptures of toys. They are a mixture of detailed anatomy, advanced graphics, and pop iconography. Here are a few of my favorites:


Digitals:

"Kitty Anatomy"

"Pneumatic Anatomica"

"Goldfish Cracker"

Sculptures:

"Dissected Sully"

"Yoshi Anatomical Sculpt"

"Cutaway 8" Anatomical My Little Pony"

You can see lots more over at the Moist Production website.

Model Organisms

This art is from Velica's Model Organism series over on deviantART.

Velica has other great sciency art too.

(via deviantART via Science Dump)

Origami Science

Origami...one sheet, no cuts. Tough. Now, what does science have to do with origami? As it turns out, a lot.

Robert J. Lang is a former NASA laser physicist who combines his knowledge of math and science to create origami masterpieces. His pieces are known for their great detail and realism, and they are some of the most complex origami designs ever created.

Lang groups the origami science into three categories:

1. Origami Mathematics - This is a subset of mathematics using one of the simplest sets of operations called "Huzita-Justin Axioms." This os set of six (possibly seven?) distinctly different ways to create a single crease by alligning one or more combinations of points and lines expanded with origami geometric constructions that solve for an exact angle quintisection.
2. Computational Origami - This is a subset of computer science that uses computational geometry, and the associated algorithms, as a tool for origami design and computations.
3. Origami Technology - This is the application of origami techniques to real-world solution making problems in fields like engineering and industrial design. Think: How to fold an car's airbag or folding a telescope.

Using these techniques, Land has been able to create more than 500 original origami compositions using different types of paper and other materials like bronze and self-folding polymers. He has written 14 books on origami and designed origami software offered for free on his website. Lang has sown at some pretty big venues too, including the  and the Shumei Hall Gallery in Pasadena, California, Cooper Union in New York, the Santa Fe Botanical Garden in Santa Fe, New Mexico, New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, etc. etc. Currently, over 100 of his pieces are on display at a solo show, Folded, at the Williamson Gallery at the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California.

Here are some of my favorites:.

PRAYING MANTIS, OPUS 416
Composed and folded: 2012; One uncut square of paper 4"
Image: Emre Ayaroglu/Flickr via Science Alert

AEDES AGEYPTI, OPUS 619
Composed and folded: 2012, Commissioned by The New Yorker Magazine
c/o Robert Lang via Fast Company

THE SENTINEL II, OPUS 627
Composed and folded: 2012; Two uncut squares of Korean hanji, 14"
Photo by Susan Karlin via Fast Company

ALAMO STALLION, OPUS 384
Composed: 2001, folded 2012; One uncut square of Origamido paper 12"
c/o Robert Lang via Fast Company

ALLOSAURUS SKELETON, OPUS 326
16 uncut squares of Wyndstone Marble paper 24"
c/o Robert Lang via Fast Company

Stories that include more photographs and videos of Lang's wonderful origami creations:

Robert J. Lang's Origami Website
Fast Company "Art Folds into Science in Robert Lang's Extreme Origami"
Williamson Gallery's Information on "Folded: The Origami of Robert J. Lang"
Science Alert "Behind the science of Robert J. Lang's origami"

Science Knitting

Science Dump recently posted some creative science knitting projects. Here are a few of my favorites from their selection.

Happy Bacteria

Frog Dissection

Neurons

Heart

Chromosomes

Molecule

Skeleton

Photographing the Bare Bones of Evolution

Patrick Gries is a photographer with a reputation in luxury goods, design, and contemporary art. In his series Evolution, his atypical approach to the collection of vertebrates at the Muséum d'Hisorie Naturelle has garnered attention from a different sphere, scientists. Evolution captures over 250 of the museum's skeletons as sculptures that straddles the line between art and science. The exhibition has been in France and Denmark, and there are plans for a show in Tokyo. But no need to buy a plane ticket, you can get all the work from his coffee table format book.

The photographs were shot with strong directional light and are accompanied with text by scientist, documentarian, and professor emeritus at Paris’ Museum of Natural History, Dr. Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu.

“New forms have evolved from old ones. Stubby amphibian feet have been transformed into hooves, bird wings and whale flippers. Yet many of the bones in those original limbs have not changed their relationship to the rest. They have just been stretched, flattened or reduced to vestigial knobs. Along the paths of evolution, the vertebrate skeleton has been transformed into similar forms many times over — aardvarks in Africa and anteaters in South America.”

My quote on the topic is "evolution is beautiful." Here are a few of my favorites:

You can find more information and pictures here:

Patrick Gries Website

NY Times "Skeletons Flesh Out Life's Past"

Unknown Editors

The Guardian "A bone to pick"

Beautiful Decay "Patrick Gries’ Photographs Of Skeletons Combine Art and Scientific Inquiry About Evolution"

Scientist Paper Dolls

The lovely people over at Mad Art Lab have put together a host of sciency paper dolls. The best part? They are printable! Here a few. Get more from the link at the bottom of the post.

Jane Goodall

Mad Art Lab's Sandbox of Scientist Paper Dolls

The Character of Elements

Kaycie D. received her BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design with a major in Animation and a minor in Illustration. For her senior thesis project she decided to take on a massive character design project that she called “Elements - Experiments in Character Design.” Her goal for this project was to design a character based on each of the known chemical elements in the Periodic Table. The project premiered at her school's Senior Thesis Exhibition from April 2011 - May 2011 for 72 of the elements, and she completed the remaining 40 elements in November of 2011.

I'll whet your appetite with a few of my favorite of Kaycie's Elements. You can see the rest over at her KCD blog and her tumblr page.

 

(via io9 and The Mary Sue)