Friday, October 26, 2012
My Favorite Show EP01: Cyborgs and Beauty Queens
Once again I really haven't had much to say around here for the past month. Which is to say, I haven't posted a damn thing since September. The reasons for this, as always, are varied. And while I have been working on a variety of different things, the project that's been taking up the bulk of my time this month is "My Favorite show". Which is the name of the new Podcast I decided to start, along with the help of my friend Tara.
Much like the last time I tried this whole Podcast thing... I... mean... um... What OTHER Podcast? A month of trials has left me with several weeks worth of unpublished material, that I'm not quite sure what to do with. To be honest, because I am a perfectionist, (and more than a little OCD) particularly when it comes to these types of things, and since some of the things we talk about are now a bit out of date by internet standards, I was actually just going to scrap our first few tries, and start fresh with an episode on Halloween. Cause, Why not? But, at Tara's urging, I've opted instead to post at least two of the episodes we've managed to record thus far, over the coming weekend. Though the feed won't be published on iTunes until Wednesday, along (theoretically) with a new Halloween themed episode of the show. Cause, why not?
As for the content of the show. Basically, Tara and I just decided to add a little direction to the weekly conversations we'd be having anyway, and turn it into a show. So, sometimes we have serious discussions about science, the paranormal, politics, social issues and religion, and other times we just dump on shitty TV shows and poke fun at one another. All and all, its fun to make and I think it might even be entertaining. Or not, that parts up to you really.
In today's episode "Cyborgs and Beauty Queens", we cover a variety of things, including: Man kills masked teen, finds it's his son - The Brady Bunch Reboot - Honey- Boo- Boo ( I didn't know what it was either, blame Tara) - California bans gay conversion therapy for minors - But I'm A Cheerleader - Cyborg Flesh - The future of the internet, as well as some other stuff..
My favorite thing for the week: This, then recently released trailer for Behemoth front-man Adam Darski's forth-coming autobiography, Sacrum Profanum. Which wound up spawning an amusing exchange about book trailers. Which Tara had apparently never heard of.
Posted by YouTube user: Behemothofficial
So there it is, and there are the links to most of the stories and things we mentioned in this episode. I hope you like it, and you'll subscribe once the feed is posted to iTunes, along, theoretically (I'm currently trying to repair Tara's computer as you read this) a brand new Halloween episode on Wednesday. And I'll have more science-y, geeky things to come here, just as soon as I've escaped the tedious hell of scrounging the Internets for missing driver files.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Harvard Researchers Create "Cyborg Flesh"
Posted by YouTube user: BlankTV
According to an article in last month's Harvard Gazette, researchers at the university recently managed to successfully merge human tissues with embedded nanoelectronics, effectively creating what's being described as "cyborg flesh". I prefer the term "Terminator Meat", personally. But I doubt that phrase will catch on, given the scientific community's stubborn refusal to admit it's intention to build cybernetic death machines; not to be confused with Austrian Death Machine (see above). Also, now that I've read it back to myself, I've remembered how easy it is to make any phrase involving the word "meat", into something unintentionally dirty. Still, I think either term is technically correct, so use at your discretion.
Whatever you decide to call it, the tissue in question was created by developing what is essentially a rudimentary artificial autonomic nervous system, in the form of "Macroporous nanowire nanoelectronic scaffolds"; from the Harvard Gazette:
"Beginning with a two-dimensional substrate, researchers laid out a mesh
of organic polymer around nanoscale wires, which serve as the critical
sensing elements. Nanoscale electrodes, which connect the nanowire
elements, were then built within the mesh to enable nanowire transistors
to measure the activity in cells without damaging them. Once completed,
the substrate was dissolved, leaving researchers with a netlike sponge,
or a mesh, that can be folded or rolled into a host of
three-dimensional shapes."
The most immediate use for the nanoscaled network of silicone wires and electrodes designed by the team, according to research leader Charles M. Lieber, is in the pharmaceutical industry, where it could be used to more precisely study how newly developed drugs act in three-dimensional tissues. But the development of even a basic electronic sensory system small enough, not only to be embedded into human tissues without distorting cell structure, but that could potentially be an early precursor to a system capable of being integrated directly into the body's own electrical and sensory system, is a pretty spectacular thing.
"The current methods we have for monitoring or interacting with living systems are limited," said Lieber. "We can use electrodes to measure activity in cells or tissue, but that damages them. With this technology, for the first time, we can work at the same scale as the unit of biological system without interrupting it. Ultimately, this is about merging tissue with electronics in a way that it becomes difficult to determine where the tissue ends and the electronics begin."
Whatever it's intended practical use or current level of functionality, with even the Harvard Gazette itself throwing around words like "cyborg flesh", one can't help but imagine some future iteration of the technology in question, one day finding it's way on and into the human body in some way, shape, or form. Because one of the main hurdles in trying to fully merge mechanical systems into organic ones, is finding a way to integrate artificial control and sensory systems into the body's own biological ones. And while something that advanced is a far cry from the basic, research based functions of the nanoscale silicone network developed for this project, the idea that we live in a world in which "cyborg flesh" is a reality on any scale, is a pretty amazing thing to consider.
Also, our robot-death-cheetahs look cold, and they want skin.
Posted by YouTube user: BostonDynamics
Sunday, September 16, 2012
This Week's Brushes Doodle: Skerah - The Anti-You
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| "Skerah /Scare-Ah"- The Anti-you |
This week's Brushes doodle MAY, in fact, be inspired by my friend Tara, who is far more awesomer than my substandard character drawing of her may indicate. I obviously didn't quite finish it, and there are a variety of things I would like to fix, but, I've been trying to push myself to get at least one drawing done a week and the week is nearly over, so. Also, it's important to note that she does not actually have giant misshapen man hands or a huge ET head and neck, I'm just a hack when it comes this whole drawing thing.
-CAINE-
"Ultra"-HD Render Of Curiosity's descent in 30FPS With (Fake) Sound
This version of Curiosity's descent and landing was created by film maker Bard Canning, using HD stills from Curiosity's Mars Descent Imager (MARDI), as well as hundreds of motion tracking shots; which basically just means digitally moving and zooming the camera to make up for missing frames, in order to increase the video's frame rate from a blistering 4 FPS to 30. The images in the film were enhanced and color corrected for the sake of quality, and the sound, obviously, was added for effect. Go HERE, For a more detailed explanation of the work that went into making this render of Curiosity's landing on Mars.
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