The Evolution of Color Vision from Scientific American
March 24, 2009
Scientific American has an outstanding, in-depth article about the evolution of color vision from the dichromatic (two color) vision of other mammals (dogs, for example) and the trichromatic vision that gives us the ability to see the full color spectrum. I think it makes for fascinating and rewarding reading.
To our eyes, the world is arrayed in a seemingly infinite splendor of hues, from the sunny orange of a marigold flower to the gunmetal gray of an automobile chassis, from the buoyant blue of a midwinter sky to the sparkling green of an emerald. It is remarkable, then, that for most human beings any color can be reproduced by mixing together just three fixed wavelengths of light at certain intensities. This property of human vision, called trichromacy, arises because the retina the layer of nerve cells in the eye that captures light and transmits visual information to the brain uses only three types of light-absorbing pigments for color vision. One consequence of trichromacy is that computer and television displays can mix red, green and blue pixels to generate what we perceive as a full spectrum of color.
Wall-Painted Graffiti Animation “Muto” by Blu
March 18, 2009
An artist who goes by the single name Blu has created an astounding wall-painted graffiti stop-motion animation tiled Muto. It was created in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Baden, Switzerland with music by Andrea Martignoni and produced by Mercurio Film.
A series of transformations that travel across walls, sidewalks and building interiors involving human figures, alien-like blobs, insects, skeletons and frankly unclassifiable creatures, it is well worth checking out.
I’ve never seen anything like it done this particular way. An immense amount of labor obviously went into this unique project. Screen captures below.
Jack Kirby Museum Online has Rare 3D Comic Book Treat
March 2, 2009
The Jack Kirby Museum on line has some fascinating material for even the casual fan. It also holds a rare 3D treat: separate scans of the breakdowns on acetate for a page in Captain 3D from 1953. Scroll down to see this page in red-cyan anaglyph.
< Here’s the complete page with all elements together for 3D. Click on it for a larger image. To see all the images full size, go to the Kirby Museum site. These breakdowns were scanned by Rand Hoppe from the collection of Tom Morehouse as part of the Original Art Digital Archive project.
First printing: “The Man from the World of D” Captain 3-D, New York, NY, USA: Harvey Comics, Inc., December 1953 (11), p 10.
Story by Joe SIMON and Jack KIRBY
Pencil art by Jack KIRBY
Ink art by Mort MESKIN
Click on pages below for larger images.
Incredible Photos of the Sun
March 2, 2009
Boston.com has a gallery of 21 amazing, astounding, incredible images of your favorite star and mine, the ever-lovin’ Sun.
Click on the samples on the left for lrager images, then go to their site for more!
Their Image #17 showing a coronal mass ejection of a billion tons of matter at millions of kilometers an hour is incredible when you consider the amount of power on display. It reminds me a Jack Kirby drawing — bursting with the power cosmic. . .!
The Teenager Audio Test: Drive the Under 25 Insane with this Sound!
March 1, 2009
The Teenager Audio Test was something I just thought Snopes.com hadn’t gotten to yet. It’s been in the news over the past year—localities debating the ethics and the efficiency of this new sonic tool to prevent young punks from congregating in mall parking lots and such. But now I have testimony from a high school teacher and mother of three that she has tried this on youth and it WORKS, BY GOD! IT WORKS! Her dramatic account follows below:
“It’s true; that high-pitched tone. . .dare I tell you I can sort of hear it. . .really truly works. I had kids tell me it made the hair on the backs of their necks stand up, made them feel as though ‘their brains were being scooped out with a spoon’ (I am not making this up), made their teeth itch; it made them drop their heads on the desks in abject surrender. So, an all-around success, I’d say.”
“. . .it is dangerous to let one’s mind wait upon one’s stomach for moral guidance.”
February 13, 2009
“. . .it is dangerous to let one’s mind wait upon one’s stomach for moral guidance.”
—Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man by Garry Wills
Doctor Faked Data Linking Vaccines to Autism
February 12, 2009
It just goes to show: you shouldn’t get your medical information from a woman who ate her own snot on MTV, even if she is blonde and beautiful with large, artificial breasts (Jenny McCarthy, we hardly knew ye).
The Sunday Times of London has the story of Dr. Andrew Wakefield who started the panic over the non-existent link between the childhood MMR (for measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism.
Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.
Here in the states a special U.S. court ruled against three families today (2/12/09) who claimed vaccines caused their children’s autism. From Reuters:
“Considering all of the evidence, I found that the petitioners have failed to demonstrate that thimerosal-containing vaccines can contribute to causing immune dysfunction, or that the MMR vaccine can contribute to causing either autism or gastrointestinal dysfunction,” the ruling from Hastings said.
“I further conclude that while Michelle Cedillo has tragically suffered from autism and other severe conditions, the petitioners have also failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems.”
Hastings also rejected an argument that some children may be genetically “hypersusceptible” to mercury.
Of course, it’s too much to expect that McCarthy and the people she has duped (Oprah, I’m looking at you) will accept the findings of the courts and science. By scaring people away from routine childhood vaccinations McCarthy has done incredible damage to the health and well being of children in America.
Phil Plait, a wonderful writer (Death from the Skies), astronomer and author of the Bad Astronomy blog had a great piece on McCarthy last October here.
Conclusion: Jenny McCarthy is lovely to look at, but get your medical advice from a real doctor.
“Inglourious Basterds” teaser trailer – “And I want my scalps!”
February 12, 2009
Having read what was reputed to be a final draft of Quentin Tarantino’s screenplay online, I thought this could be a return to Pulp Fiction form (and possibly popularity) for the director.
The teaser trailer makes it appear he can deliver on this promise. It will certainly give you an accurate feel for this material; if you respond negatively to the trailer then you’re not the audience for this film.
[Personally, I avoid movies that are promoted with the idea that seeing the film will make you a better person (Schindler’s List I’m looking at you). Film is, by its very nature, an anti-intellectual experience. OK, all you film school grads working at Blockbuster are invited to debate the point in the comments.]
Single Brain Cell Can Hold a Memory
January 26, 2009
I’ve been reading about brain function for 30 years and the past ten have been the most exciting, in terms of new discoveries. Read about this fascinating new study here from the good folks at LiveScience.com.
A neuron receives and processes information through a network of branches called dendrites. Once it processes the signal, the brain cell relays it along an axon to a terminal linking to another cell’s dendrites. When millions of brain cells communicate with each other at once, cognition occurs. Credit: L. Kibiuk for Society for Neuroscience.
How Stupid Are You? A Quick Test. . .
January 26, 2009
Can you explain how a 20th Century Astronaut came to be carved by a 12th Century stonemason on a cathedral in Salamanca, Spain?
Pretty incredible mystery, huh? Proof of Chariots of the Gods?-style ancient alien visitations, isn’t it? So, can you explain it any other way, huh? Can ya, punk?
Give up? You can’t, because the premise is false.
The carving pictured was done not in 1102 but rather commissioned in 1992 by Jeronimo Garcia, chief of the restoration of the Cathedral of Salamanca, who specifically chose an astronaut as a symbol of the 20th Century.
For the complete story, go to Snopes.com here. And don’t believe every ‘mystery’ that circulates on the World Wide InterWebs. . .