Scientists Make Brains Transparent to Get a Better Look Inside | Wired Science | Wired.com

[DAAAAAAAANG. Go watch the video, ‘k? -egg]

The stunning video above illustrates a new way of looking at the brain. Scientists at at Stanford University have developed a method for making tissue almost completely transparent (see below). A series of chemical treatments replaces the fatty lipid membranes surrounding cells with an acrylamide mesh that keeps microscopic details intact without scattering light like lipid does. Neurotransmitters and other important molecules remain in place and can be visualized with a rainbow palate of fluorescent dyes.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/04/clarity-brain

This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects [feedly]

 
 

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This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects

This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects portraits assemblage anamorphism

This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects portraits assemblage anamorphism

This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects portraits assemblage anamorphism

This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects portraits assemblage anamorphism

French artist Bernard Pras works almost entirely within the realm of assemblage and anamorposis, a visual illusion where a distorted projection—often made from paint or a collection or objects—must be viewed from a specific vantage point to reconstitute the intended image. His latest piece, a portrait of Malian actor Sotigui Kouyaté, is comprised of numerous objects including clothes, paint, wood, rubber, and other objects found or scavenged around the installation site. Only when viewed through the lens of his camera is the image clearly visible. Watch the video above to see everything come together. Pras currently has a solo show at MazelGalerie in Brussels, Belgium and you can see a collection of his work here (flash).

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3D printed synthetic tissue folds itself into shapes – Boing Boing

http://boingboing.net/2013/04/10/3d-printed-synthetic-tissue-fo.html

University of Oxford chemists custom-built a 3D printer that fabricates “synthetic tissue,” or rather structures with tissue-like functions. Eventually, the technology could be used to crank out replacement tissue that could replace damaged human tissue or be used in new drug delivery systems. The material consist of a network of water droplets encapsulated in lipids, or fat molecules.

“The droplets… form pathways through the network that mimic nerves and are able to transmit electrical signals from one side of a network to the other,” says Oxford University chemistry professor Hagan Bayley.

Amazingly, the material can be chemically “programmed” to fold into various shapes as water is transferred around in the network. (Video above.)

“3D printer can build synthetic tissues” (Univ of Oxford, via Science News)

“A Tissue-like Printed Material” (Science)

"The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just…" [feedly]

 
 

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“The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just…”
“

The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just remembered that thing you said… hiarious. lol ;)” Great. Now everyone thinks I’ve fallen for a woman who can’t spell and says “lol” a lot. This is a disaster. My reputation might take years to recover. What if she misuses an apostrophe in her next post? Or has ever said the word “nom” out loud? I’ll be ruined.

Worse still, my girlfriend – my actual, real-life, flesh-and-blood girlfriend with whom I live – isn’t a fan of my new fake girlfriend at all. Whenever my Facebook girlfriend posts anything, my real-life girlfriend narrows her eyes and reads it back to me in a withering voice. Yesterday, while I was looking up a recipe on my phone, she yelled, “Are you texting your new girlfriend? You are, aren’t you?” and then fell silent for three-quarters of an hour. This whole situation was a mistake.

Why did I buy a fake Facebook girlfriend? Curiosity, mainly. Name me one red-blooded man who wouldn’t want to validate his neediness by paying a stranger of undetermined gender to send him hollow, misspelt platitudes on the internet. You can’t, can you?”

– Fake Facebook girlfriends: what’s not to like? | Technology | The Guardian, via Jo M.

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Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls [feedly]

 
 

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Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls waterfalls neon long exposure light California

Like a freak midnight rainbow, this ongoing series of lit waterfalls titled Neon Luminance is part of a collaboration between Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard over at From the Lenz. The duo dropped high-powered Cyalume glow sticks in a variety of colors into various waterfalls in Northern California and then made exposures varying from 30 seconds to 7 minutes to capture the submerged trails of light as the sticks moved through the current. To accomplish some of the more complicated shots they strung several sticks together at once to create different patterns of illumination. For those of you concerned about pollution, the sticks (which are buoyant) were never opened and were collected at the end of each exposure, thus no toxic goo was mixed into the water. See more from the project on their website.

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The argument from Batman

 
 

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April 09, 2013

One last reminder, and I think it’ll be too late! We’ve only got about 50 tickets left for sale for BAH! Looks like it’s going to be a packed house, so if you want in, we sincerely encourage you to buy online. We may have some tickets at the door, but I can’t promise anything!

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