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    July 28, 2003
musical suspenders   permalink
posted by bev


"STRETCHING L.A." is a performance piece created by Anne Niemetz involving an orchestra of suspenders. it will be exhibited this wednesday at the Studio CyberFashion show at Siggraph. another presenter at this fashion show is a duo under the name of Soundweaver who will present their pneumatic stilts. the show is from 6:45-8pm.





July 25, 2003
chameleon clothing   permalink
posted by bev


according to BusinessWeekOnline, DuPont is in R&D for ways to make a person seem invisible by manipulating light and EIC Laboratories is developing a chameleon fabric called "electrochromic camouflage" to blend in with the environment. these two projects are classified, perhaps it's all just hype? the chameleon idea reminds me of that invisible cloak project (pictured above) that uses a camera placed in back of a shirt to send the image behind the person to the front, via projection, so as to make the person seem invisible. however, these two new projects seem to be purely material, which is more impressive.
July 24, 2003
x-rays   permalink
posted by bev


mikey-the-devil runs a repository site of x-ray images. if you have one that it doesn't, contribute to it. this one is of the two-headed tortoise that was on the news recently. (via wiley wiggins)


July 22, 2003
infrared vision   permalink
posted by bev


rattlesnakes and other pit vipers use infrared vision at night to sense warm-blooded prey. James Webb Space Telescope is an orbiting infrared observatory capable of detecting the first light of the universe. it will replace the Hubble Space Telescope when it is ready for launch in 2011. scheduled to launch around mid-August this year is the Space Infrared Telescope Facility. the military is always the first to experiment with night vision gear. motion capture also utilizes infrared technology. infrared photography makes everything look surreal.
July 18, 2003
diy john galliano   permalink
posted by bev


on the SHOWstudio site, you can download the pattern for this jacket designed by John Galliano to make it yourself and reupload it to their gallery.
July 17, 2003
subspecies   permalink
posted by bev


"subspecies" is an art exhibition that opened last saturday at Recon Store in San Francisco. it features artists Nome Edonna, Jeff Soto, Brad Watkins, Chad Pfarr, Erick Dunn, and Mars who also curated the show.
July 16, 2003
male sexual organ   permalink
posted by bev


this is a photomicrograph of the male sexual organ (stamen) of a strawberry-tree flower. it was scanned from the beautiful book i just received in the mail today: "Hidden Beauty: Microworlds Revealed" by France Bourely.
July 14, 2003
e-fashion   permalink
posted by bev


IDEO Japan's e-fashion won Design Distinction in this year's Annual Design Review for ID Magazine. among the collection is jewelry that throbs to the wearer's rhythms, a shirt equipped with a camera in the front that sends the captured image to a circular display on the back, a shoe that records distanced walked, solar panel glasses that protects as well as store power (eliminates need for batteries to power another wearable fashion item, i suppose), pants with touchpad keyboards in the fabric on the two sides of the pant legs, and bags and make-up light up when opened. the lead designer for this line is Naoto Fukasawa.
July 11, 2003
electronic textiles   permalink
posted by bev
"Electric Plaid" by IFM

currently on view at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum is the National Design Triennial where International Fashion Machines is premiering their new "Electric Plaid" color-changing textile. Different from Electronic Ink, this is a soft woven textile. Other designers in the same category in this exhibition are: Benjamin Fry, fuseproject, Cynthia Breazeal, Stephen Wolfram, Abiomed, Tod Machover, and Smart Design.



July 10, 2003
walking ads   permalink
posted by bev


*literally* walking ads. a different take on the HMD (head mounted display) - heehee! - and a new way to advertise that will at least turn heads. picture taken on July 9, 2003 in Tokyo was found on Yahoo!
July 9, 2003
semi-living artist   permalink
posted by bev


what would a rat draw if it knew what drawing is? the "the semi-living artist" is a rat brain cell-driven robot that draws. this is the most complex "art machine" i've seen. some others by: Harold Cohen, Roxy Paine, Fernando Orellana, Sheldon Brown, Jochem Hendricks, and Joseph Nechvatal.




July 8, 2003
thermochromatic   permalink
posted by bev

mood rings aren't the only color-changing things around anymore. thanx to thermochromatic inks now, it's much easier to make heat-sensitive products like this chaise lounge that imprints traces from the heat of your body; a candleholder that changes color with the heat of the candle; a bathtub plug that changes color as your bath water warms or cools; the upcoming i-Zone Heat Sensitive Camera; mugs and straws that change color as hot or cold water fill it. July 3, 2003
happy 4th   permalink
posted by bev
July 2, 2003
longest sperm   permalink
posted by bev


the world's longest sperm belongs to the fruit fly Drosophila bifurca. it is 20 times longer than its own body and 10,000 times longer than a human sperm. why does a sperm need to be so long if quantity matters more than quality? according to Scott Pitnick, "giant sperm tails represent the cellular, postcopulatory equivalent of peacocks tails, having evolved through female sperm choice." more sex facts can be found in World Sexual Records.


July 1, 2003
micro crystals   permalink
posted by bev


this is a "darkfield optical micrograph" of crystals of cadmium selenide. it was scanned from the book On the Surface of Things, which is full of photomicrographs and photos of chemically and physically affected materials.
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