zn+1=zn² + c

beauseful:

artandsciencejournal:

Mitch Payne’s Renewable Energy

In this collaborative photo series, photographer Mitch Payne worked with designer Kyle Bean to develop images of the micro systems of renewable energy. The goal of the series was to strip the systems to their simplest possible signifiers. As Payne describes this motive,

“It’s important not to over-complicate the subject, I think science can be as much a visual thing as a complicated spiral of information. When things are visually as simple as this, it can be easier to engage with a subject. For this particular series, each image depicts a glass tank housing various setups acting as ‘energy sources’ that power a light bulb.”

In the same vein as his series on the periodic table, Payne’s work focuses on how to represent movement and energy on an abstract level. The artist bounced around ideas with Bean and art director Gemma Fletcher on how best to interpret the systems in a simple and self-explanatory manner. The results —  keeping the systems inside of the tank concentrated the message and focused on the materials that create energy. As with many of Payne’s works, this series aims to educate and enhance the viewers perception of current events within the scientific umbrella.

The artist also wants readers to know that he is looking to collaborate with scientific writers on various subjects. If you have an interesting column or subject and would be interested in creating a “Photographic Essay,” get in touch here.

- Lee Jones 

Brainiacs

clemington:

DSDN252 Project 1. Bio-mechanics of the finger.

8bitfuture:

First set of brain mapping data released by the HCP.

The Human Connectome Project (HCP) is a five year project launched in 2009 to build a “network map” of the human brain. Data from 1,200 healthy adults is being gathered using two different methods, using two different MRI approaches.

This week the first set of data has been released to the scientific community, with a whopping 2 terabytes in the initial release. Regular updates will be available every three months.

By providing what is hopes is an “unparalleled compilation of neural data, with an interface to graphically navigate this data”, the HCP hopes to achieve never before realized conclusions about the brain, in a similar way to the human genome project.

Check out the data here.

mysticmementos:

prometheanreach: Cameron Gray

sciencesoup:

Northern Lights over an Erupting Volcano

In April 2010, the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull spewed great ash clouds into the sky and caused enormous disruptions to air travel in Europe. The eruptions are best remembered for this inconvenience, but photographer James Appleton managed to capture the event in a different way. In the weeks before the disturbances, a vulcanologist friend of his alerted him to the unfolding volcanic drama, and Appleton travelled straight to the Icelandic mountain before it was closed off. Risking his life to battle extreme cold, high winds, and seismic activity, Appleton captured a rare but gorgeous scene: the glowing lava from an Eyjafjallajökull fissure with the Northern Lights—Aurora Borealis—overhead. These are two very different light sources, so “the photograph needed parts of the scene selectively blocked for sections of the exposure to balance the contrast,” Appleton recalls. “A Mars bar wrapper came in handy for this!”