When science and art collide, the results are awe-inspiring. The video above by Martijn Steenwijk is the Grand Prize Winner in the  Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience’s 2012 Art of Neuroscience competition. These amazing entries merged neuroscience with artistic inflections. Via Discover Magazine:
The video used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize brain function and anatomy. Also keep an ear on the soundtrack, which was composed by assigning each brain activity pattern to an instrument. The instrument’s pitch varies with intensity of brain activity—raw thought translated into music.
“Organized Chaos” by S. Hoyng (left) received Honourable Mention at the awards. This brain slice from a human autopsy has taken on vivid color in the hands of a neuroscientist: green from infection by a lentivirus, red for neurons, blue for the nuclei of brain cells.
We’re always stoked to find other Art+Science initiatives and collaborations, like these science tattoos or the DNA of film.
Have you discovered a cool Art+Science project? Share it with us!
Just when you thought keys were a mundane morsel of your everyday life, this tiny treasure turns things around. Sure, you could say “it’s just a key”—but the new Keybrid Carabiner Key finally adds additional functionality to the hunk of metal we carry around with us. Via Uncrate:
Need to hook your house key to something other than a keyring? Grab yourself a Keybrid Carabiner Key ($TBA). This unique item is completely functional, letting you clip it onto shoelaces, belt loops, and a whole host of other loop-like stuff, in addition to keychains and keyrings. Arrives blank, so plan on making a trip to the hardware store before use.
The key’s creators, Amron Experimental, have a host of other innovative products, ranging from functional to fun.
If you dig form and function, check out the DNA Ancestry Signature option when you order a DNA portrait. Unlock the secrets of your ancestry with a scannable barcode “signature” that crosses over from physical to digital, tracing your maternal lineage back thousands of years. Just scan your barcode with a camera-equipped smartphone to access your personal ancestry page.
Have you ever strapped a parachute to your back, hopped on a plane and then dove from the sky? If you think that’s intense, skydiver Felix Baumgartner’s next attempt is going to blow your mind. Via Pop-Sci:
Felix intends to climb into a capsule suspended beneath a helium balloon, rise 23 miles above Roswell, New Mexico, open the capsule door, and jump out. On the 120,000-foot free fall—the longest ever attempted—he will face temperatures as low as –70°F and speeds of more than 700 miles an hour, becoming the first person to accelerate through the sound barrier without a craft.
At the outset of the project, no high-altitude full-pressure suit had ever been built specifically to withstand this kind of controlled free fall. Engineers at the David Clark Company, which builds full-pressure suits for NASA and the Department of Defense, spent four years developing one. Baumgartner’s jump will be the first live trial at Mach speeds.
His special suit, above, has four layers, including a fire-retardant insulator, a mesh restraint and a gas-filled bladder. The suit will help Baumgartner maintain delta position (head down, feet up) throughout his free fall—crucial if he is to avoid a flat spin.
If Felix succeeds, his daredevil DNA is definitely worth showcasing through a DNA portrait. We think the perfect colour scheme would be Firesky in celebration of his Mach manifesto.
Check out more photos and details on Felix’s daredevil threads.
A DNA 11 portrait has been included in The New Zealand Portrait Gallery’s Art of Science exhibit, running now until May 22, 2012.
The Art of Science features paintings from the Royal Society of New Zealand’s private collection of portraits of notable scientists, capturing the connections between artists and scientists, and between science and art. The exhibit looks at the different ways scientists and artists appreciate colour and light.
This exhibit was one of the first times that a DNA portrait has been shown in New Zealand. We created it from a DNA sample from Professor Sir Peter Gluckman (above), the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor.
Want to create your own DNA Portrait? Get started at www.dna11.com.
Happy DNA Day! Today celebrates the successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and the discovery of DNA’s double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. It’s a day for commemorating all things DNA, so we we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how we turn your DNA into art, via CNN Money.
You can save 20% and get free shipping today through Sunday! Enter code DNADAY2012 and create your very own DNA, Fingerprint or Kiss Portrait!
Owning an iPhone or Android smartphone just got even better with Pebble, the first watch designed for the 21st century. It’s more than a gadget—it’s a control center! Via Kickstarter:
It’s infinitely customizable, with beautiful downloadable watchfaces and useful internet-connected apps. Pebble connects to iPhone and Android smartphones using Bluetooth, alerting you with a silent vibration to incoming calls, emails and messages. While designing Pebble, we strove to create a minimalist yet fashionable product that seamlessly blends into everyday life.Â
Control your music, track distances when cycling or running, and even customize your watchface to match your mood or outfit! Pebble is working on a variety of apps to vastly expand the watch’s functionality, too.
We’ve backed this deal by pledging to buy the Office Pack, so five of us here at DNA 11 will be sync’d in style. Maybe we’ll even match our watchfaces to our own dna portraits!
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the helix DNA structure, is celebrating his 84th birthday on Friday, April 6. Happy Birthday, James!
Via Wikipedia: James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material. After studies at the University of Chicago and Indiana University, James worked at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory in England, where he first met his future collaborator and friend Francis Crick.
In honor of his birthday and countless molecular contributions, we’re throwing James an online Birthday Bash and giving away a DNA Portrait to one lucky winner. Enter on our Facebook page!
Rules
This give-away is open to residents of the contiguous USA or Canada.
One entry per person. Contest closes on  April 11 at 11:59pm and we’ll contact the winner via email on April 12.
Want a DNA Portrait right now? Save 15% with code JamesWatson15 until April 11. Join us in wishing James a Happy Birthday and good luck in the give-away!
Moms deserve the best, hands down! Make sure she knows how special she is by giving her an extraordinary gift this Mother’s Day—personalized art of her family.
We’ve all seen the darling hand prints that children bring home from school, but those little fingers can create even more lasting art. Our Fingerprint Portraits capture kids’ individuality while appealing to Mom’s sense of decor. With a plethora of sizes and 25 color options, those small fingers will quickly become one of their finest masterpieces. It’s not too late to order a Fingerprint Portrait and receive the printed canvas artwork in time for May 13.
Family DNA Portraits are also a big hit with Mom. We can include up to four family members’ DNA on one canvas, showcasing the unique traits of each person as well as the whole family’s togetherness. Order a DNA Portrait Gift Kit and you’ll have a special present for Mom ready to go on Mother’s Day.
If you’re still stumped and not sure what Mom will like, give her a DNA 11 gift certificate and let her do the choosing!
Form and function? We’re all over this Tunto PowerKiss Lamp, which provides a powerful glow and integrated wireless charging station for your mobile devices. Via Uncrate:
Made from bent, ultrathin wood board, this unique lamp features PowerKiss wireless charging technology built into the base, touch-sensitive sensors for power and light intensity, and nine ultrathin LED lamps to provide plenty of light.
The Tunto PowerKiss is available in oak, walnut and birch for about $1,400 and is a perfect complement to your modern home.
If you’ve been searching for modern art, check out our DNA Portraits—the ultimate personalized art for fresh interiors.
When art meets science, we’re all over it. Afterall, that pairing inspired our DNA Portraits and our other personalized art like Fingerprint and Kiss portraits.
Montreal-based architect Federico Carbajal creates anatomical architectures out of galvanized wire, stainless steel and acrylic through what he calls spatial sketching. Federico describes his work:
With the influence of the old masters and the early works of Alexander Calder, to current digital 3D media and architectural representation, these tridimensional hybrids bring together drawing, architecture and sculpture in order to create a coherent spatial entity.
Spatial sketching allows for the possibility of new representations of images in space, exploring the void and the dematerialization of volume. The physical and metaphysical presence of the human body emanate through a combination of transparent planes and spatial lines.
View more of Federico’s work on his portfolio site.
Via Colossal / Street Anatomy.
