Links and write-ups about beautiful things from around the web!
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A biological quarter-wave retarder with excellent achromaticity in the visible wavelength region
A paper in Nature Photonics describing the waveplate mechanism found in the eye of mantis shrimp (stomatopods). These amazing critters can see hyperspectral color ranging from the infrared to the ultraviolet, can perceive different planes of circular polarized light, and have eyes that operate and dart about (saccade) independently. This paper is basically demonstrating that man-made material science has a lot to learn if we want to catch up with nature’s technology.
Personal side question: what are these shrimp on the lookout for that’s led to such a sophisticated eye??
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Punball: Only One Earth (Modified Art Pinball)
Artist-modded classic pinball tables must be all the rage. Seen here: artist William T. Wiley’s Punball: Only One Earth, a modified version of Gottleib’s 1964 North Star table, currently on display at the Smithsonian.
(Via the Smithsonian’s Eye Level blog)
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Laika: Processing system for Realtime Font Deformation
Michael Flückiger and Nicolas Kunz’s Laika, a Processing system for realtime font deformation based on environmental inputs.
(Via Make)
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Pinwall: Interactive Pinball Façade
Pinwall, by Germany’s art/marketing group URBANSCREEN. Fabulous concept, but wow that’s garish! Would be fun to see some other urban architecture re-envisioned by actual pinball playfield designers. Tilt the Reichstag?
(Via Make)
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Comptine D’un Autre Été, L’après-Midi, for Six iPhones
Yann Tiersen’s Comptine D’un Autre Été, L’après-Midi played on six iPhones. While far from a perfect, beautiful performance, I have a soft spot for this piece and it’s fun to see someone trying to overcome the limitations of the tiny virtual keyboard.
(Via SwissMiss)
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AAAARG.ORG
A ‘conversational’ collection of academic theory and discourse on arts, aesthetics, architecture (along with other non-alliterative disicipines), a user-contributed journal. Who needs grad school?
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Dreaming the Industrial Body
Dreaming the Industrial Body. I’m not sure that I’m following the info that they’re trying to convey about the sun’s effects on our bodies, but it’s definitely an eye-catching image as far as medical literature goes. From Der mensch gesund und krank [The Healthy and Sick Human], menschenkunde 1940 … . Vol. 2, displayed as part of the National Library of Medicine’s Dream Anatomy exhibit. Speaking of which, check out their cool children’s art page!
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This Creative Destruction Began in the 60s As
This “creative destruction” began in the ’60s, as did many things that we now both love and regret, and it was initially a spinoff of a project funded by US military agencies. […] Mephistopheles came to Faust in the form of a poodle. After all…in some versions of the story, he cannot enter your house unbidden — you have to invite him in, like a vampire. From Internet Antichrist, a thoughtful piece by David Byrne on the the development of the ARPANET, psychoacoustics research at Bell Labs leading to vocoders and Kraftwerk, the rise of digital recording and transmission, and the possibility of the near-future demise of physical media and risks to personal privacy. The market forces of creative destruction.
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15 Pixel Video Game Minimalism
Clever 15-pixel video game minimalism, courtesy of the London-based design and animation concern Alaskan Military School.
(Via GameSetWatch)