When art and science collide

A Toowoomba artist says art has a valuable part to play in helping understand scientific concepts.
The Art meets Science exhibition is on display at the Ecosciences Precinct at Boggo Road in Brisbane until August 29
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/08/13/4292550.htm

Why you are not good at adapting one language but find another one learning a comparatively easy task? Blame your brain as it always opts for an easy route, say scientists.

The grammar of languages keeps reorganising itself.

A prime example of this is the omission of case endings in the transition from Latin to Italian.

In some instances, case systems are remodelled entirely - such as in the transition from Sanskrit to Hindi which has completely new grammatical cases.

After conducting statistical analyses of the case systems in more than 600 languages and recording the changes over time, an international team of researchers found that the brain activity is stronger for complex case constructions than for simple ones.

"Certain case constructions tax the brain more, which is why they are eventually omitted from languages all over the world - independently of the structural properties of the languages or socio-historical factors," explained Balthasar Bickel, professor of general linguistics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

In other words, biological processes are instrumental in grammatical changes.

For the study, the team tested the adaptations in participants, measuring the brain flows that become active during language comprehension.

The team finally demonstrated that brain looks for easy-to-comprehend case constructions.

"Our findings pave the way for further studies on the origin and development of human language and a better understanding of speech disorders," Bickel added in a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE.

How art and science work together...

If you are wondering how art and science work hand in hand, then you might want to see the newest exhibit at the Houston Community College (HCC) West Loop Campus Gallery. Artist Natasha Hovey creates sleek, contemporary sculptures based on her exploration of human physiology and her own genetic makeup. Questions about her health inspired Hovey to create her latest installment of ceramic work called “One of Two or More.”

She gathered all of her medical records and tests and compiled them into booklet and dissected the medical records and translated that into a visual story.

You will have a chance to meet Hovey and hear the stories behind her pieces during an artist reception at the West Loop Campus Gallery from 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, September 8. The exhibit runs from now until September 10 and is free and open to the public, Monday-Saturday. For information on the Fine Arts programs offered at HCC, visit hccs.edu/programs.

Art and science are back on the same page, or at least in the same space in the exhibition ''Art and Light'', which opened last night at Otago Museum's H. D. Skinner Annex.

Through the medium of art, the science of pollinating herbs on the Auckland Islands, Dunedin's special place in the world of lightning and the light and dark of Parkinson's research are illuminated, among other things.

And in the process, the practice of art has discovered new focus
It is the third such exhibition, following last year's ''Art and Anatomy'' exhibition and 2013's ''Art in Neuroscience'', each the product of collaborations between artists associated with the Dunedin School of Art and scientists at the University of Otago.

And this time, the cross-pollination involved has been taken almost literally in at least one work.

The scientist involved, university botanist Dr Janice Lord, has been working on the ''luxurious herbs'' that grow in the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand, relates Dr Stupples, an art historian and theoretician at the art school.
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/352414/seeing-light

Art and science unite in unique study of neurofeedback
In 2013, art and science merged like never before at Toronto's Nuit Blanche art festival when guests were given the opportunity to participate in an scientific experiment investigating neurofeedback. Following the initial success of the "My Virtual Dream" project, plans are being made to scale-up the experiment as scientists take the project on a world tour. In 2015, the My Virtual Dream world tour will kick-off in Amsterdam and travel to San Fransisco.
On October 5, 2013, visitors entered a large scale art installation and participated in neurofeedback, a process where participants see their brain activity in real time, and based on the reading, modulate their behavior. This event not only introduced people to the power of EEG headsets, but also demonstrated that neurofeedback can have an impact on how people learn within one minute of initial interaction.
Over the course of 12 hours, electroencephalography (EEG) data, a measure of electrical activity from the brain, was recorded and analyzed from a total of 523 adults. Groups of people were brought into a 60-foot geodesic dome to participate in a two-part interactive experience. The dreaming portion of the evening involved projecting animated video clips with prerecorded music over the surface of the dome for the volunteers. There were four dream themes with different audio and video pairings, but the environment changed based on the EEG recordings from the participants. Only the gaming experience was reported in a 2015 PLOS ONE paper entitled "'My Virtual Dream': Collective Neurofeedback in an Immersive Art Environment".
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-08-art-science-unique-neurofeedb...

To bring art and science enthusiasts together, the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science submitted the concept of Science Art Cinema for the Knights Art Challenge and won!
https://www.facebook.com/knightfdn/posts/10153070545343806

How will life on mars effect your Body?
This is what an artist, Artist Sara Morawetz is challenging herself to find out.
Through August 22nd, Morawetz is living on Martian time as a performance art piece titled How the Stars Stand at Open Source Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Her stunt will last 37 days - long enough for her days to completely invert and then slowly return to normal, not unlike a full waxing and waning cycle of the moon.
http://www.howthestarsstand.com/

Science -art work of Regina Valluzzi

Spiral Arm Dance, 8x10 inches, ink on paper.  The drawing makes playful reference to structure of spiral galaxies, the clustering of matter and distribution of dust, and the "dance" of gravitational interactions.
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=5664efb91fd9d8a1dd080f48b&i...

Canadian scientist-cum-singer-songwriter Nigel Chapman tells how Nap Eyes' debut album Whine Of The Mystic was honed by self-limitation and inspired by an 11th-century wine-loving Persian astronomer
Great science intersects with great art. Science relies on innovation, spontaneity and creative thinking. It sees beauty in patterns and chaos, while promoting a universal desire to reach beyond known truths. Similarly, be it a painter's intense understanding of light and colour palettes or a sculptor's skilful mastery of their chosen stone or wood, all great art has an intuitive relationship with science.

To my mind, all musicians are practising scientists. From a deep understanding of sound and tone, or the joyous mathematics pervading time signatures and looping rhythms, to the hardcore electronic engineering underpinning all manner of amps, pedals, instruments and recording kit, musicians are constantly surrounded by science.

Nigel Chapman, singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in Canada's Nap Eyes, understands the balance between art and science more than most. By day, Chapman works as a biochemist in a lab at the Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His research is focussed on the apelin receptor - a structure that sits on the surface of certain cell types and, when misbehaving, can trigger a variety of cardiovascular crises. His days are spent creating Western blots - a series of brown smudges that reveal the identity of mutated proteins.
More here: http://thequietus.com/articles/18568-nap-eyes-interview

New Snapshot Forensic Art Service at the International Homicide Investigators Association Meeting
Parabon NanoLabs (Parabon) announced today at the International Homicide Investigators Association annual meeting in Washington, DC, a new suite of forensic art capabilities to complement the company's Snapshot™ DNA Phenotyping Service, a first-of-its-kind forensics offering that can interrogate an evidentiary DNA sample and produce an accurate composite image of the source.

The talent behind Parabon's new offering is Thomas "Thom" Shaw, a veteran forensic artist, certified by the International Association for Identification (IAI), with special training in age progression and facial reconstruction from skulls.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parabon-announces-new-snaps...

Sci-art: Stunning images from the world of science
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/29826610/stunning-images-from-th...

Science and art merge in the first Science Art Cinema event at Miami’s Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science. Set for 7 p.m. Aug. 29, the evening will explore lasers via films, performances, multimedia presentations and an immersive laser installation by artist Matthew Schreiber. Supported by a Knight Arts Challenge grant, the series kickoff is the first of four events. It’s also among the last to be held inside the nearly 50-year-old Planetarium before it shuts down; next summer, the museum moves into a $300 million home at Museum Park on Biscayne Boulevard.

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies-news-reviews/articl...

Art teacher and space flight... Worcester teacher Stacy Lord is taking art to stratospheric new heights.

Lord, who teaches visual arts at Worcester East Middle School, is one of 28 educators from across the United States selected to participate in NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy program, known as SOFIA. She leaves Monday for a week-long stint that includes two 10-hour flights in a specially modified Boeing 747 equipped with a 100-inch infrared telescope.

The flying observatory, a joint German-US space science project, performs astronomical observations high above the Earth's atmosphere, where celestial objects can be more clearly seen. SOFIA scientists are seeking to understand the development of galaxies and how stars and planetary systems are formed out of interstellar clouds of gas and dust.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20150821/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/150829890

Making art with super-intelligent slime mould
One of Barnett's projects saw slime mould able to find the most efficient way to navigate a maze, when presented with four different options. In a key study, it was found to be able to successfully replicate the network of the Tokyo transport system.
What us over 100 years to develop took the slime mould 26 hours," says Barnett. "Since this experiment the slime mould has mapped the world." Currently slime mould is being used to help with the design of a regeneration project in London.
Barnett is drawn to working with slime mould for the same reason as biologists, though she is far from being the first or only artist to use science to inform her work.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-08/21/slime-mould-art

Your Brain on Dance: Professors make art from science
Research isn’t always just facts, numbers, data charts and pie graphs. Research can also be art.

Electrical and computer engineering professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal recognizes the diversity of research. With the help of associate professor of theater and dance Becky Valls, he is mapping brain activity while engaging in creative tasks.

“The process (of) creating art, whether (it’s) a performance, a painting or music, leads to innovation,” Contreras-Vidal said.
The project, Your Brain on Dance, has led to new findings on how the arts can induce learning potential for those with diseases such as Parkinson’s.
http://thedailycougar.com/2015/08/20/your-brain-on-dance-professors...

‘Off the Charts’ maps the process artists use to document
“Off the Charts” at Albuquerque’s 516 ARTS, opening Saturday, Aug. 29.
Several of the artists base their practice in scientific data and field recordings, placing their work on a nebulous borderline between science and art.
Project “Habitat: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts.”
http://www.abqjournal.com/632678/entertainment/on-the-border-of-sci...

Belmont University’s Leu Art Gallery brings back alumnus Andy Harding for an explosive solo exhibit of sculpture and installation titled "Ghost Structures." Featuring seven abstract wooden forms, the show explores themes of materiality, history, molecular structure and universal cycles. On Thursday night, the gallery will hold opening reception for the exhibit from 5 to 7 p.m., and Harding will do an artist talk at 5:30 p.m.
The sculptures reach all the way to the beginning stages of man and matter. Harding draws inspiration from developments in science, quantum physics and the merging of philosophy and science — two disciplines that, according to Harding, seem to be overlapping the more we find out about subatomic particles.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/life/arts/2015/08/19/leu-art-galler...

How to calm an agitated person with music:

When using music therapy for an agitated Patient, you shouldn't just click on some soothing classical strings stuff and think that'll calm someone down.  Instead, start with loud, jangling, martial-type music, and gradually change it to more calming music, while calling attention to the music in subtle ways such as tapping your fingers or toes, marching in place, even dancing a bit.  As the Patient pays even a little bit of attention, s/he will be responding to the music, so you slow it down some, and then more and more.  That's the way to calm someone with music.

Simplifying data science is a dangerous game
There's a place for science to go with adland's art. It's just that no one has worked out how to combine the two effectively, even though media agencies seem optimistic they know how.
http://mediatel.co.uk/newsline/2015/08/24/simplifying-data-science-...

Science Inspires Art To Explore Alzheimer's
Art and medicine have long been intertwined - from the earliest depictions of human anatomy to modern art therapy. A new art exhibit (“Interstice: Memory, Mind, and Alzheimer's Disease," open through September 9 in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at Brown University) takes that relationship in a new direction. A neuroscientist and artist teamed up with fellow artists to explore what it’s like to have Alzheimer’s Disease.
http://ripr.org/post/artscape-science-inspires-art-explore-alzheimers

Tom Davis, a nano scientist at Monash University who ­realised scientists needed artistic expertise and artistry to make their discoveries more accessible, is specialising in 3D visualisation. He is starting a new project as part of a trend for scientists to reach out to artists to help them visualise and explain huge amounts of data produced by scanners and computer processing.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/nano-cell-proje...

First picture drawn in space to appear in cosmonauts show in London

Sunrise sketch by Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space, is part of ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Science Museum exhibition on Russian space programme.
The first artwork created in space, a small yet remarkable view of a sunrise drawn as Alexei Leonov was hurtled around Earth on board a tiny Voskhod 2 spacecraft, is to leave Russia for the first time.

Leonov’s coloured pencil drawing will be among 150 artefacts going on display at the Science Museum in London when it opens a major exhibition on cosmonauts later this month.

Leonov was awarded a Hero of the Soviet Union distinction after becoming the first person to walk in space in 1965. On the same mission, Leonov, an enthusiastic and talented artist, drew the view of the sunrise. Given his circumstances, it was astonishing.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/31/first-picture-space-...

Symmetry and Asymmetry in Science and Art" - this topic is the focus of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina´s Annual Assembly to which more than 400 participants from all over the world are expected on Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th of September 2015 in Halle (Saale). Symmetries and asymmetries are encountered by scientists from every discipline; hence does the spectrum of the 14 specialized lectures range from the investigation of symmetries in morality to the symmetries of the cosmos through to the emergence of cancer because of disturbances in the physiological equilibrium during the wound healing process. At the start of the assembly on Friday, awards and medals from the Leopoldina will be conferred. Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel and Sachsen-Anhalt Minister President Dr Reiner Haseloff are expected to attend the opening ceremonies on Friday.

The topic "Symmetry and Asymmetry in Science and Art" has a wide range of application and great significance beyond the boundaries of the scientific disciplines. Symmetries, which affect wide areas of human culture, play an equally significant role in the natural sciences, in mathematics, in art, music, technology, architecture, and in intellectual and cultural history. In his keynote lecture on Friday, the philosopher Prof. Dieter Birnbacher (Universität Düsseldorf) will examine „Breaches of symmetry in morality". He will thereby describe the symmetrical relationships in daily morality between the morally obligated and those that benefit from those obligations and show why the minimalist ethic which is founded on this symmetry does not cover essential moral obligations of our actions.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/l-tla090115.php

How to Create 'NanoArt' Masterpieces By Manipulating Molecules
Equally in love with art and science? Can't choose between becoming a molecular biologist or a landscape painter? You may not have to. You could become a nanoartist.

NanoArt is artwork done on an atomic and molecular scale. With the aid of an electron microscope, nanoartists examine the textures of atoms and molecules, take microscopic images of them, and alter the resulting images to create surreal, alien works of art.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-create-nanoart-masterpi...

Steve Bay, of San Pedro, Calif., is an environmental toxicologist by day and a glass artist by night. From about 9 p.m. to midnight, Bay works in his garage, creating hummingbird feeders and dragonfly plant stakes from molten glass.
“Toxicology is about chemistry affecting biology, and glasswork is chemistry affecting the colors and the appearance,” Bay said.
Annual Eugene fair is melting pot for glassblowing artists
http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/33467877-75/annual-eugene-fa...

Magnifying Biology Through Art will demonstrate how creativity interplays with scientific discovery.

LENS: Magnifying Biology Through Art opening reception

5-7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015

Humanities Building Atrium, Virginia Western Community College (map and parking)

Virginia Western and Botetourt County Schools biology and art students have conceptualized an organism's role and its impact in a larger environment through visual art. The ongoing exhibit will be open and free to the public in the Humanities Building Art Gallery (H212) from Sept. 7 – Oct. 3.

To learn more, visit www.virginiawestern.edu.

Associate Professor of Math and Computer Science Tim Chartier, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post science blog, offers lessons in math-based art to readers who have no affinity for either discipline. Author of two books about "cool bits in computing," Chartier provides some brief lessons in linear algebra in this essay, and concludes with simple directions on a plug-in-the-numbers method for anyone to turn a regular digital image into pop art.
"painting by numbers" can be found online.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-chartier/paint-by-number-and-equa...
http://www.davidson.edu/news/news-stories/150804-davidson-professor...

Japanese paper art inspires new 3-D fabrication method
The Kirigami method builds on the team's "pop-up" fabrication technique -- going from a 2-D material to 3-D in an instant, like a pop-up children's book -- reported earlier this year in the journal Science. While an innovative first step, those earlier ribbon-like structures yielded open networks, with limited ability to achieve closed-form shapes or to support spatially extended devices.

In their new work, the research team solved this problem by borrowing ideas from Kirigami, the ancient Japanese technique for forming paper structures by folding and cutting. The Kirigami study was published today (Sept. 8) by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/nu-jpa090815.php

Walking fine line between art and science in dinosaur paintings:
Csotonyi's work appears regularly in top scientific journals. The Vancouver-based illustrator has brought life to everything from a bus-sized shark to a primitive snake with legs.

He's worked with Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Royal Canadian Mint and the National Geographic Society.

He has won paleontology's top illustration award three times.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/canadian-artist-walks-fine-line-betw...

Origami-Engineered Structures Researchers have designed origami-inspired structures that are flexible and yet strong and sturdy.
Researchers from the University of Tokyo, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new ‘zippered tube’ configuration that makes paper structures that are stiff enough to hold weight yet can fold flat for easy shipping and storage. Their method, described in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could be applied to other thin materials, such as plastic or metal, to transform structures from furniture to buildings to microscopic robots. Origami structures would be useful in many engineering and everyday applications, such as a robotic arm that could reach out and scrunch up, a construction crane that could fold to pick up or deliver a load, or pop-up furniture. In particular, they have the potential for quick-assembling emergency shelters, bridges and other infrastructure in the wake of a natural disaster.
http://www.asianscientist.com/2015/09/in-the-lab/tokyo-origami-engi...

Connection Between Art and Science
As part of a growing scientific emphasis on understanding the brain, a University of Houston researcher is studying what happens as people create and contemplate art and beauty.

Engineering professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to track neural activity as people both make and view art.
http://www.labmanager.com/news/2015/09/researcher-seeks-connection-...

Inspired by art, lightweight solar cells track the sun
Solar cells capture up to 40 percent more energy when they can track the sun across the sky, but conventional, motorized trackers are too heavy and bulky for pitched rooftops and vehicle surfaces.

Now, by borrowing from kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of paper cutting, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed solar cells that can have it both ways.

http://ns.umich.edu/new/multimedia/videos/23109-inspired-by-art-lig...

Audible art exhibit at Virginia Tech exposes people to new sounds

A partnership between art and science at Virginia Tech is exposing people to sounds they've never heard before. The art exhibit is called a scuttering across the leaves and it's only here for a short time.

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/audible-art-exhibit-at-virginia-tec...

A fusion of science and art

artist Elizabeth Harris is unveiling her latest collection of encaustic and mixed-media works in an exhibit this month at the Clark Gallery in Lincoln.

The exhibit, titled "Entangled States," references concepts in quantum physics wherein a pair of particles that appear to be separate exist in states that are linked together. The pieces, Harris says, are rich with associations to language, spirituality and science.

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/lifestyles/a-fusion-of-science-and...

http://www.clarkgallery.com/

http://www.andovertownsman.com/news/lifestyles/a-fusion-of-science-...

Scientific research into nuclear fuel becomes art in a new exhibit launching later this month at the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho.

The exhibit by local artist Joe Pehrson aims to make the some of the science done at the Idaho National Laboratory more accessible to the public, the Post Register (http://bit.ly/1NfT5vz ) reports. Pehrson worked with INL spokeswoman Nicole Stricker, collecting close-up research photos and images of battery materials, algae, corn and other subjects. Pehrson then added digital colors to make them pop.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/13/in-new-project-inl-...

Art & Science Festival CURIOSITas

They organize an Art & Science Festival from thé 24th to the 29th of September in Gif sur Yvette (40mn from the center of Paris). They will show more than 30 projects, created by collaboration between University Paris-Saclay scientists and artists.
All details (in French) : www.curiositas.fr

http://www.ladiagonale-paris-saclay.fr/curiositas/

PRAGUE DANCE HACKATHON 20.-21.11.2015

On the 20th of November, 2015 dancers, hackers, software developers, scientists and inter-media artists will gather together in Prague for a two day long hackathon (e.g. hacking marathon). You are cordially invited to join them!
The Prague Dance Hackathon focuses on the re-use of cultural heritage materials in live performance, cross-media storytelling, motion tracking and transformation of data, brain/computer interfaces in performance. The organisers encourage participants to combine different aspects of these elements to create something truly new and unique that will shake up the market! They are seeking creative and driven participants with a passion for dance, technology and digital cultural heritage that want to take their creative ideas and prototypes to the commercial sector and raise the possibilities for creative re-use of cultural heritage material and dance technology. Already have a team? Come join! Are you a talented individual with a creative mind and with a background in marketing, programming, graphic design or user experience? Come join as well! Your expertise will be needed! Anyone with drive, passion and creativity is welcome at “Hacking the [Dancing] Body”. Prize An international jury will reward the three best teams with a trip to London for an intensive a Business Model Workshop where they’ll have their ideas and business models strengthened by the expert team at REMIX, one of Europe’s leading cultural and creative entrepreneur agency and the organizers of the REMIX Summits. (Travel, accommodation and attendance fee is covered.) The team with the strongest concept and business model after the Workshop will win a 3-month intensive incubation package from REMIX and the Europeana Space Network. For details click here:
http://www.ciant.cz/index.php/cz/archiv-novinek/93-prague-dance-hac...

In New Project, INL Mixes Art and Science
Scientific research into nuclear fuel becomes art in a new exhibit launching later this month at the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho.

The exhibit by local artist Joe Pehrson aims to make the some of the science done at the Idaho National Laboratory more accessible to the public, the Post Register reports. Pehrson worked with INL spokeswoman Nicole Stricker, collecting close-up research photos and images of battery materials, algae, corn and other subjects. Pehrson then added digital colors to make them pop.
http://magicvalley.com/ap/state/in-new-project-inl-mixes-art-and-sc...

Juniata Museum of Art Exhibits Art and Science of Portrait Miniatures
Visitors to the Juniata College Museum of Art exhibit, "The Art and Science of Portrait Miniatures," will not only get to examine the fine brushstrokes used to create these works of art, but they also can "look" beneath the surface of these rare artworks to "see" what they are truly made of.

The exhibit, which opens Thursday, Sept. 24, and runs through Oct. 31 at the museum, reveals the science behind a two-year project to determine, through scientific imaging and analysis, how 17th- and 18th-century artists used materials and techniques to create these small portraits. The exhibition is a collaborative effort between two Juniata faculty, Jennifer Streb, associate professor of art history and curator of the museum, and Richard Hark, professor of chemistry.

There will be an opening reception for the exhibition at 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 24.
http://services.juniata.edu/news/?action=SHOWARTICLE&id=6221

Professor fuses physics and art to create holographic designs
Holographic art will jump out at a person, literally. Professor Harris Kagan has been educating students about the 3-D images that marry science and art for 30 years, attracting students from all fields of study with his spontaneous teaching style and state-of-the-art lasers.
Kagan’s holography classes are offered as both art and physics courses, so they are filled with students from both areas of study.
http://thelantern.com/2015/09/ohio-state-professor-fuses-physics-an...

Image Processing Algorithms Help Art Conservators Clear Cradling Patterns from X-rays
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) has collaborated with Duke University and the Free University of Brussels’ Department of Electronics and Informatics to develop an innovative art conservation tool. The software program, called Platypus, is a Photoshop plug-in tool that uses mathematical algorithms to allow art conservators to better analyze paintings using X-ray images.
http://www.scientificcomputing.com/news/2015/09/image-processing-al...

A new exhibit, “Into the Canyons: Where Art Meets Geology, The Art and Science of Matt Bokay and Steven Booty,” is currently at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences and a meet the artists reception is planned for Sunday, Sept. 20, from 4 to 6 p.m.

LBIF is offering ceramics hand-building and wheel throwing classes held Wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. through Oct. 7 and/or Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., through Oct. 8. Fee is $35 plus materials fee.

The entire schedule of workshops, classes and events is in the catalog, available online and at the Foundation.

The LBIF is located at 120 Long Beach Blvd. in Loveladies. Call 609-494-1241 for more information or go to longbeachislandfoundation.org.
http://thesandpaper.villagesoup.com/p/art-notes-sept-16/1410902?cid...

Interdisciplinarity: Inside Manchester's 'arts lab'
Nature
525,
318–319
(17 September 2015)
doi:10.1038/525318a

Published online
16 September 2015
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v525/n7569/full/525318a.html

Science and art combine to tell a tale of fire

Art, like a raging wildfire, pushes boundaries. A new exhibit in Flagstaff combines science and art to showcase the ever-present threat of wildfires in the region and their impact on the landscape.

“Fires of Change” was introduced this year at the Coconino Center for the Arts as part of the annual Festival of Science. The joint fire-science program and art exhibition, funded by the National Education Foundation, explores, through the eyes of the artists, the increase in severity, size, and number of Southwest wildfires and their effects.
http://news.nau.edu/science-and-art-combine-to-tell-a-tale-of-fire/...

Scientists and street artists have combined their talents in Canberra in an effort to bring local scientific research and discoveries to the fore.

Five local street artists on Saturday paired up with five PhD Science students from the Australian National University (ANU) to take inspiration from their research, discoveries and concepts integral to their field.

From this collaboration street artists came up with the concept for pieces of work which took shape over the course of the day at the Westside pop-up village on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.
Canberra street artist Brad East aka Beast
Photo: Canberra street artist Brad East aka Beast worked on a piece that depicted moving space junk with lasers. (ABC News: Siobhan Heanue)

Canberra street artist Houl said collaborating with an early-career scientist as part of the Co-Lab event had been a great experience.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-19/canberra-street-artists-paint...

Local doctor’s idea blooms into trailblazing brain images of cellist’s performance
One local doctor, a self-described dreamer, decided that science could become part of the artistic experience with no ulterior motive, no purpose other than an aesthetic one.

His idea was triggered by a cello recital and a spark of curiosity. He wanted to know: What in the world was going on in the performer’s brain?

Jacobo Mintzer, executive director of the Clinical Biotechnology Research Institute at Roper St. Francis and an Alzheimer’s Disease expert, had attended a spring solo recital by Norbert Lewandowski, principal cellist in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

The recital included contemporary works that relied on sampling and digitally rendered audio. Lewandowski had recorded himself playing various parts, as required by the musical score, then performed live in conjunction with the recorded lines.
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150919/PC1201/150919321/100...

Literary Conference explores confluences
Paleo-artist Russell Hawley studied the prehistoric creatures surrounding him at his desk last week. He pondered which of the drawings to include in his upcoming presentation on “the intersection between art and science,” he said. He’ll talk about how he works with paleontologists to accurately depict what long-extinct animals looked like and to express other scientific concepts.
The artist and Tate Geologic Museum education specialist is one of the presenters for the 29th annual Casper College and ARTCORE Literary Conference Sept. 24-26 at Casper College.

“Confluences” is the theme of this year’s conference.

http://casperjournal.com/arts/article_8919b733-722e-5631-b4b0-3e4d4...

Dana Tai Soon Burgess dancers cosmically intertwine art and science
The premiere of “We choose to go to the moon.”
This is a poetic view of President John F. Kennedy’s launch of the Apollo program, entwined with scientists’ words about how mind-blowing space is. Space is where time races and stops, where death is so big you can see it across the universe but where life is also renewable. A star’s demise a billion years ago lives on as a phenomenon we can witness tonight. And from that explosion, which a physicist patiently describes as a “catastrophe” in a voice-over, new stars — new life — are born.
- Washington Post

'The Hidden Code': An Embrace Of Art And Science
On 24th Sept. 2015, the Boston Museum of Science will premiere The Hidden Code at the Charles Hayden Planetarium, a multimedia piece by Paul Miller (aka D J Spooky). The piece combines music, stunning visual effects and live readings to bring science to the general public in ways that only a few years ago would be unthinkable.

A video preview can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FFVTdtIGQI , while the full audio content can be retrieved for free from this link : http://thehiddencode.dartmouth.edu/ . The text is from my book A Tear at the Edge of Creation. (Full disclosure: I narrate part of the project, reading from my book.)

The piece was commissioned by the William H. Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth College, as part of a broader initiative to inspire more cross-disciplinary reaching between the sciences and the arts.

Scientists, artists, museum curators and digital technology experts are inventing a new language for science popularization that should be part of every school curriculum, public and private. It's the dawn of the "science as awe" era, where it's not just about telling people what atoms, black holes or genes are, but about integrating the scientific narrative into a broader context — where science becomes part of a grander theme, our search for meaning in a mysterious universe that never ceases to amaze and surprise us.