Check out these absolutely brilliant photos by Japanese chemist and photographer, R. Tanaka. His goal was to capture a microscopic look into some of the world’s most photogenic elements, and he’s managed to do just that. We’re blown away by this rare mix of art + science, and his ability to turn these mysterious substances into a work of beauty and intrigue. He’s managed to bring the periodic table of elements to life with his fascinating project.
Watch him turn elements such as bismuth, platinum, and even lead into art below.
Bismuth
Gold
Osmium
Tellurium
Lead
Photo credit: NeatoramaÂ
We’ve recently been hearing some very big, and very interesting news out of the DNA world! Researchers have claimed to have found a more efficient alternative to storing information on a computer hard drive — rather they are suggesting they have the capabilities to replace the hard drive with DNA. Via Engadget:
We’ve seen scientists experiment with DNA as a storage medium — most recently with a Harvard team fitting 704TB of data onto a single gram of the genetic material — and it looks like that research trend is only picking up. Scientists at the European Bioinformatics Institute in the UK have encoded an MP3 file — along with a digital photo and all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets – into DNA, with a hulking storage density of 2.2 petabytes per gram. The information was written using the language of DNA’s four bases (A, T, C and G, if you remember high-school bio), and to provide error correction the scientists reserved one of the letters to break up long runs of any of the other three bases. In practice, this system allowed for 100-percent accuracy in sequencing and retrieving the encoded files. Though DNA storage is still quite expensive, the researchers say this method could eventually provide a viable option for archiving information, especially considering DNA’s high capacity and long life span. Still, you won’t be ditching that hard drive just yet.
Share our love of DNA? Browse through our unique portrait ideas.
Photo credit: The Telegraph
This installation may be art + science at it’s finest! We’re amazed at how innovative, and unique this idea is — to see it in person would be truly thrilling. These photos were created by Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde, and are a part of his Nimbus series. Here’s some more information behind the photos, via Colossal:
Smilde’s methods … are less mythic and more practical, instead relying on delicate balance of smoke, moisture and light. Of course science alone doesn’t account for the striking visual impact contained in each image, as the artist carefully selects the perfect location for the creation of each cloud and then painstakingly lights it from behind for the desired effect. Via email Smilde tells me that it can take quite a while to get all of the elements in place for each cloud and that the installation is so fleeting, the use of photography is critical in capturing the split second where everything becomes perfect.
Smilde has three upcoming exhibitions this year including Ronchini Gallery in London from January 16 through February 16, the SFAC Galleries in San Francisco from February through April, and at Land of Tomorrow in Louisville, Kentucky also from February through April.
If you’re looking to create your own personal work of art, check out our unique portrait ideas that also combine science and art.
Have you ever seen such an amazing display of craftsmanship, art, and science? This stunning woodcut print called “The Moon” is currently being produced by Tugboat Printshop – a shop ran by a husband and wife team who specialize in woodblock prints. According to their site “The Moon” is the largest print they have ever made, measuring in a 36×32″. Once the woodcarving is complete, the image will be hand printed on paper and sent out to those who were lucky enough to get a pre-order in with the shop. You can keep track of the carving process on the shop’s flickr page. What do you think of this duo’s take on art + science? We love it!
Check out these remarkable photographs by Jason Tozer, a London-based photographer. With a special lighting technique he developed himself, Tozer manages to turn regular soap bubbles into stunning macro shots resembling something you would see in space. Via PetaPixel:
All of these bubbles are sitting on a wet ring. This gives me time to set the focus and size of the bubble, and manipluate the colours if I choose to. I blow down a straw to excite the surface of the bubble & spin the colour bands around. Occasionally a bubble will last much much longer than the others and it becomes increasingly clear as the colour bands move to the base. If I blow carefully on these, I can sometimes create the almost colourless textures, the more moon like ones.
I use household detergent with a little bit of glycerine in the mix. That helps with the lengevity of the bubble.
The project is appropriately titled “Bubbles”, which became a reality when Tozer was simply trying to test out a new camera. The photographer claims to use very little retouching on his work, so what you are seeing here is the authentic details and colours of the bubbles.
If you love this coupling of science + art, be sure to check out our DNA portraits!
The Space Shuttle Challenger meets the Dodge Challenger, NASA’s Liberty Bell 7 meets Philly’s Liberty Bell, and the Viking Probe resembles Eric the Red. These are just a few “NASA Mashups” created by artist Doug Pedersen, in his 6 part series which matches NASA creations with their earthly equals. Via Wired:
Pedersen credits the inspiration for the series to a lifelong love of NASA and space exploration along with the resurgence of interest that surrounds Curiosity landing on Mars. “I had also just finished reading Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Space Chronicles and was probably inspired by that a bit”, he adds.
Though the overall concept is quite straightforward (pick a classic NASA spacecraft, combine it with another pop-culture icon that has the same name), Pedersen says that the devil is in the details. In particular, getting the text captions right for each diagram was tricky. “They had to be sort of funny yet relate to both the craft and pop-culture icon.” He nails it with MPG figures that include “earth orbit”, and mission objectives that add “Conquer”, “Burn”, and “Pillage” to the standard scientific fare.
Pedersen wanted to “give the pieces a feeling as though they’d been buried in some NASA file cabinet that no one had bothered to look through in decades”.  He added some aging effects and even graph lines to the artwork to give it this effect. We love his attention to detail, as well as his pairing of science + art in this project.
We’ve created a mashup of our own with genetics and art! Check out our DNA Portraits.Â
Yes, you read that right! Pictured above are two famous portraits that were re-created using a special photo-printing method that actually involves the use of E. coli bacteria. The method was developed by former microbiologist Zachary Copfer, who can now add artist to his list of talents. Via PetaPixel:
Here’s how Copfer’s method works: he first takes a supply of bacteria like E. coli, turns it into a fluorescent protein, and covers a plate with it … Next, he creates a “negative” of the photo he wants to print by covering the prepared plate with the photo and then exposing it to radiation. He then “develops” the image by having the bacteria grow, and finally “fixes” the image by coating the image with a layer of acrylic and resin.
Using this process, he creates images of things ranging from famous individuals to Hubble telescope photos of galaxies.
Do you love the mash up of biology and art as much as we do? Be sure to read up on Zachary’s method, and check out more of his genetically modified photos.
If you’re looking to create your own personal work of art, check out our unique portrait ideas that also combine science and art.
Header Image: Side by side bacteria prints of Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein via Gizmodo.
Galaxy image and Albert Einstein in a petri dish bacteria prints via PetaPixel.
We’re always on the lookout for cool DNA developments! Did you catch this story via Science Now?
When it comes to storing information, hard drives don’t hold a candle to DNA. Our genetic code packs billions of gigabytes into a single gram. A mere milligram of the molecule could encode the complete text of every book in the Library of Congress and have plenty of room to spare. All of this has been mostly theoretical—until now. In a new study, researchers stored an entire genetics textbook in less than a picogram of DNA—one trillionth of a gram—an advance that could revolutionize our ability to save data.
A few teams have tried to write data into the genomes of living cells. But the approach has a couple of disadvantages. First, cells die—not a good way to lose your term paper. They also replicate, introducing new mutations over time that can change the data.
To get around these problems, a team led by George Church, a synthetic biologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, created a DNA information-archiving system that uses no cells at all. Instead, an inkjet printer embeds short fragments of chemically synthesized DNA onto the surface of a tiny glass chip. To encode a digital file, researchers divide it into tiny blocks of data and convert these data not into the 1s and 0s of typical digital storage media, but rather into DNA’s four-letter alphabet of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts. Each DNA fragment also contains a digital “barcode” that records its location in the original file. Reading the data requires a DNA sequencer and a computer to reassemble all of the fragments in order and convert them back into digital format. The computer also corrects for errors; each block of data is replicated thousands of times so that any chance glitch can be identified and fixed by comparing it to the other copies.
Do you dig DNA as much as we do? Check out our DNA portraits, where art meets science.
Image: Scientists have found a way to store an entire textbook in the code of DNA. (John Goode/Flickr)
What’s the best gift for the co-founder of Apple’s 62nd birthday? DNA Art from DNA 11, of course!
Steve Wozniak’s surprise birthday party was the hottest event in San Francisco last night. Woz spoke to the crowd alongside his present — the DNA Portrait we created for him. His DNA art was also transformed into a birthday cake thanks to our digital download feature.
How was Steve Wozniak’s DNA Portrait created? DNA 11 extracted his DNA from a simple cheek swab, then ran it through a gel and a process called electrophoresis in our lab. Smaller pieces of DNA move faster than larger pieces through the gel pores, so the result is a series of DNA strands separated from one another based on size, with the largest strands on the top of the gel and the smallest bands at the bottom. This process ensures the unique DNA extends into a unique order.
Fusion-io, where Woz is chief scientist, planned the surprise party. Guests secretly invited to the museum received pink boas, noise makers and a chance to test their skills on Tetris.
It was a real honor to create his portrait. Happy Birthday, Woz!
Photos via AllThingsD.com.Â
If DNA is art and typography is art then surely DNA can be typography right?
It seems so.
Scientists at Harvard Medical School developed a font made from strands of DNA. Each strand of DNA is folded into rectangular tiles that are then used like pixels to create letter and numbers.
The font was created to demonstrate how DNA could be fabricated into micro-structures for future application in nano-fabrication or drug delivery.
Of course the side benefit is now researchers have the ultimate way to pass notes back and forth.
The font is being dubbed DNA Sans or DNAlphabet but we prefer Hel-gattaca.
Check it out here: This Font Made Of DNA Isn’t Just For Kicks (via Fast Co.Design)
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