Nanotech and Art

Medicine and art has been a topic for many weeks now. This week’s topic again touched upon this idea. Gimzewski’s lecture this week touched upon the idea of Dexler’s Vision. This was very fascinating to me as it was a foundation for nanotechnology. While these lectures touched upon many fields that nanotechnology is involved in, I too have a couple of interesting ideas. For a couple of quarters now I have been taken both organic chemistry and life science 3 and 4 which involve studying the basic structures of life and applying them to bigger ideas. By learning the basic building blocks of everything I think you truly get to learn how not only that object works but how it compares, differs and interacts with other items.

                  An application of nanotechnology that encompasses art is jewelry making. In high school jewelry class was a required class in the art department, however, I never knew that would also have so much science behind that. Taken all of the chemistry classes I now know that many stones are creates by a lattice which makes it sparkle from its many edges. In short, the jewelry I was creating in highschool was just tiny little molecules on top of the other creating great masterpieces. I think artists that choose to study art and nanotech have an advantage as they are able to create art from building blocks to great creations.

"Art in the age of nanotechnology." Art.Base. N.p., 11 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 May 2017.

Feder, Barnaby J. "The Art of Nanotech." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 28 May 2017.

Gimzewski, Jim, and Victoria Vesna. "The Nanomeme Syndrome: Blurring of fact & fiction in the construction of a new science." N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2017.

Maynard, Andrew D., and Robert J. Aitken. "Safe handling of nanotechnology ten years on." Nature Nanotechnology11.12 (2016): 998-1000. Web.

"Protecting Human Health: Nanotechnology-Enabled Sensors, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics." United States National Nanotechnology Initiative, n.d. Web. 28 May 2017.

Pictures:
https://vintagejewelrysupplies.com/9115-large_default/smoked-topaz-glass-octagon-jewelry-stones-14x10mm-.jpg
http://s3.amazonaws.com/libapps/accounts/54020/images/Nanotechnology.jpg
http://blog.labroots.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/nanotechnology.jpg

Week 7: Art and Neuroscience

Wow. Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, because boy do I have a lot to say about this topic. Let me start off by saying neuroscience is not only my major but its something I am passionate about. This week's lessons like always taught me things I was not expecting. For example, the use of dyeing and plating cells is nothing new but the idea of the brainbow absolutely amazed me. To me, seeing those images made taking this class seem necessary to my life. It's stunning to be able to see a person’s thoughts, memories, and ideas that are stored in neurons being expressed in this fashion.

            Next, I was amazed that as Dr. Vesna stated, the study of the brain has only been around for a few centuries. For years medical professionals have hypothesized about what exactly the brain can do but it was only with the advances in technology that doctors were able to get it just right. Some of the most interesting medical mysteries to me included Mark Cohen’s lecture on how the brain must rewire itself when observing the world through a different lens but then its incredible ability to recognize the change when the lens is once again changed. This reminded me of learning about split brain patients who because the connection between their right hemisphere and left hemisphere is severed they are able to perform different actions on separate hands at the same time. Amazing right?

            The reason I think this topic is so interesting to me and to a big part of society is because it has become a neuroculture as Frazzetto and Anker argue. It is almost necessary to know basic brain structures and to be at least a little interested in what the mind can do. I believe it helps us understand ourselves more because we can have a basis as to why we may behave the way we do. For example, while people who are ignorant might say you are just sad all the time and you can just “snap out of it”, you can know that nothing is wrong with YOU, you may just have a hormone imbalance in your brain. Little things like this I think helps others understand one another and helps us in being more accepting.

Cohen, Mark. “Neuroscience-Mark Cohen.mov” YouTube. 20 May 2017
Frazetto, Giovanni, and Suzanne Anker. "Neuroculture." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10 (2009): 815-21. Web. 20 May 2017.

Vesna, Victoria. “Neuroscience + Art” Lecture 1, 2, 3. 2017

Images

http://www.interactive-biology.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Neuron21-1280x640.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3K83ud_3luc/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/images/health-and-outreach/brain-basics-images/light-brain_132796_4.jpg

BioTech and Art

This week’s assignments were very familiar to me. With today’s talk on genetically modified food or animal testing I feel that this lesson is something anyone can benefit from. For centuries now animal testing has been a topic that has been very controversial. 

On one side we have the scientist that think without subjects to test new drugs or new recombinant DNA on there will be no cures to the diseases our loved ones are suffering from. On the other hand we have groups like animal activist that think performing experiments on any source is unjustified and wrong. 

I myself am stuck in the middle as I recently acquired a job in a laboratory that does animal testings on rats. My role in this lab is to both take care of the rats and to euthanize them when needed.  Artists like Eduardo Kac and George Gessert have been using living subjects to biologically experiment on them to create new pieces of art. I however would argue that a line must be drawn where animal lives are interfered with for the good of humanity. 

I believe that while the sciences touch the border of justified reasons to meddle with the lives of the living, the artistic reasoning behind genetically modifying genes is wrong. For this reason, this week’s lessons have made me believe animal lives are far too precious to interfere with for the purpose of art. While I do believe art is incredibly important, I do not think the lives of other living organisms should be used.

Works Cited

Kac, Eduardo. “Natural History of the Enigma.” Ekac. 2009. Web. 10 May 2017. 

Victoria. “Biotechnology and Art Part 1” 1280x720." YouTube. UC Online Program, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 May 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg

Vesna, Victoria. "Biotechnology and Art Part 2." Uc Online Program, 17 Mar. 2012. Web.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaThVnA1kyg

Vesna, Victoria. "Biotechnology and Art Part 3." YouTube. UC Online Program, 17 May 2012. Web. 08 May 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=3EpD3np1S2g

Vesna, Victoria. "Biotechnology and Art Part 4." YouTube. UC Online Program, 17 May 2012. Web. 08 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=2qSc72u9KhI

Vesna, Victoria. "Biotechnology and Art Part 5." YouTube. UC Online Program, 17 May 2012. Web. 08 May 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9DBF43664EAC8BC7&v=z7zHIdsFS3A>.

http://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/640/GMOs/GMO-Bell-Pepper-Injections.jpg

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http://i2.wp.com/discoveryeye.org/wp-content/uploads/GMO-Orange.jpg