emergent collective action patterns
Posted on October 14th, 2007 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, images, robot, nano, web, science.
Today’s episode of Schlock Mercenary, by Howard Tayler is particularly awesome.
Tagon’s Toughs have been on my screen for several years now (with nary a day missed) but this is the first definite synchromystic occurrence between me and the strip.
It would be rude to give away the punchline - but check it out.
live performance recording
Posted on October 11th, 2007 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, video, images, words, output, science.
I’ve made recordings of the A440hz show at Open Studios available online.
A remixable audio file is up for grabs at CCmixter and a video record of the performance can be viewed below.
The oratory was extemporaneous (with notes) based on the guiding principles of the A440hz electromagnetic explorations project.
The video background was responsive to the environmental audio and is built of photographs (taken by me) of the [human hearing] portion of the A440hz installation.
Impedance
Posted on June 22nd, 2007 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, CreativeCommons, words, output, science.
How much is that Each?
Posted on December 5th, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, biology, socio, science.
Futurepundit offers a comprehensive rundown of the jet setting gamete market.
The global market for sperm exports has been estimated at between £25 million and £50 million a year. The US market is worth £5 million and £10 million and the European market is of similar size.
Futurepundit offers a comprehensive rundown of the jet setting gamete market.
Upscale ladies, unwilling or unable to spawn through more traditional methods are shelling out large for people seed.
Meanwhile, women willing to produce ova in multiples are gadding about laying eggs for profit in foreign climes.
All this is interesting, but perhaps not as interesting as learning that
Denmark boasts an ever-growing sperm lake.
And even that is not as interesting as finding out about Hamster-Human Hybrids.
by JOVE
Posted on November 19th, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, video, biology, web, science.
JOVE - the Journal of Visualized Experiments - has a small but growing collection of scientific experiments, the process of which has been captured on video for instructional purposes.
There’s some interesting stuff, including this video of the dissectionof a larval Central Nervous System.
Binocular neurons, optical flow fields
Posted on November 14th, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, biology, science.
Via the excellent Biosingularity I found this great article about the visual process of the blowfly.The article describes a relationship that exists between distinct nerve cells in the signal processing path in the fly’s brain. Two cells, one in each eye, have a direct relationship which helps the organism merge and respond to visual information.
That’s pretty excellent. To figure it out, they had to individually dye fly neurons and then bake them with lasers. Which sounds difficult and tedious. Hurray for Science!
The language is even better than the science
It is important for the analysis of flow fields that the movement information from both eyes is merged so that the whole flow field can be assessed.
I think that’s my new motto.
Parts of people reproduced in plastic fashion
Posted on November 2nd, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, images, borg, science.
Truly, the world of medical trainng aids is strange and wonderful. The rectal examination trainer above comes with five interchangable prostates.
Dare to compare with the uterine pathology variety pack.
Automatous Monk
Posted on October 9th, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, music, CreativeCommons, science.
Looking around for suitable music to use as the foundation for video demos I came across the work of the Automatous Monk.
The esteemed brother derives lovely music from cellular automata which is very nice.
It’s interesting to compare the catchy Prelude and Fugue in D minor with this piece of synth pop [generated by 4 hamsters].
killing anything they can get their jaws on
Posted on September 13th, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, images, nano, biology, science.
This article on the use of swarm-based computational models to solve intractable optimization problems made the ants seem pretty beneign.
Tiny, mannered coprocessors sniffing out trails of synthetic pheromones with precision engineered carbon nanotubes. It’s really very civilized.
Real ant behaviour is generally brutal and efficient. In comparison with their algorythmic progeny, incarnate wetware components of swarm based computational systems have strict caloric parameters.
These are the simple necessities of daily life. Particularly if you are a tropical type ant subject to indignities.
The tiny parasitic fly visible above the leaf is attempting to dart down and lay an egg in the ant’s body. If the fly is successful, the egg hatches into a larva that will consume the ant’s internal organs.
Feynman - physics and the remix
Posted on September 10th, 2006 by eightprime.
Categories: blog, video, music, images, web, science.
I don’t know anything about the province of this video other than what it says on the screen but hot damn is it ever the goods.