Event 3 Griffith Observatory

The Griffith Observatory has always been one of my favorite place to go. I consider it as the best place to view the night scene of Los Angeles.  Although i have been there for a lot of times, I have never been to the inside of the museum. 

Because of the event requirement, i first steps in the inside of the Griffith Museum. The museum collects many scientific methods and other ways to use the tool to observe the universe. I never have any knowledge in this area or related areas so it really raise my interest of the astronomical science. 

I also gained many tips for observing the celestial body. For example, the best time to observe the sky is after 1:00 pm at night because most of the store has shut the lights and most workers have been home so the traffic lights largely reduced.

The Observatory features a solar telescope as well as a night-time observing telescope, more than 160 exhibits, a planetarium show. It is a must-see for anyone visiting the Los Angeles area, and has one of the most breathtaking views in the world. 

Event 2 What Comes To Mind: Memory Traces/Engrams by Joyce Cutler-Shaw

The Joyce Cutler-Shaw's show, which is held in CNSI building, is pretty awesome.  That show mainly composed of many artworks related with neuroscience and memory. It was held in a little dark room which does not really gives me a very good feeling. There are few art works in that room but that really impress me after i viewed it.

The theme of neuroscience has always be one of my most interesting area of science and art. As I learned in previous lecture, neuroscience is really an area that has unlimited power that need human beings to explore. But i have not really think about the them of our dream and memory. I know they are mostly related to each other. However, the show really shows me another aspect of them.

The most impressive series of artwork are several pictures of a woman brain. Those pictures are telling the story of that woman's dream and mind. Me and my friends all consider that woman as the author herself. That direct shows how people think and dream in normal lives. 

I fell that this show makes me think more of the relation between people's dream and mind.This could be a good experience for my further study of psychology minor.

Event 1 Typhoon Relief Benefit Show

On November 22nd, I went to the Typhoon Relief Benefit show which located in Covel Commons. It was held by the Pilipinao Community in UCLA to rase some donations for the philippines who suffers from the typhoon. This is not actually an art related event but this is truly the most impressive event i have attended in this quarter.

The Typhoon Haiyan, which is known as Typhoon Yolanda in the philippines, is a very strong cyclone devastated southeast asia in early November. My mother showed me how bad that is and that totally makes me think of the earthquake in Wenchuan, Si Chuan, China. That is the only time that i can literally feel the natural disaster by my own. The date is May 21st and i will never forget that at that time, the extremely huge shake of the building almost make me think that we are in the center of the earthquake. When I realize that we are not even very close to the center of the earthquake, I really start to worry about the people in Si Chuan.

Since i have volunteered in that area in China, I can totally imagine what philippine people are going under right now. The promo that they played during the event makes me feel more about it. I really want to go there and try my best to help them right now. I actually feel bad because donation is the only thing i could do for them.

Week 9 Space+Art

This week's topic is space and art which is also one of my most interesting topics in this class. If we say that human brain is the most unexploited area for micro level, then the universe must be the most unexploited part as for macro level. Every time we think of universe we will only have the idea that it is huge and that is it. Normal people almost know nothing about the space which makes it so mysterious that interested almost everyone.

When we talk about the topics of space and art, the first picture coming to my mind is the photo that astronaut take when they are in the space. It is so beautiful that makes me suddenly realize that our earth is actually different then i see everyday. It is also the first time i find out that earth is composed with 75 percent or more water which totally destroy my mind. 

As for the area of aviation,  there are actually huge differences between different countries. U.S's NASA is famous around the world because of all the achievements they have made. Neil Armstrong is the astronaut impress me the most. His world 'That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' makes me realize that is the first time human kind land the moon.

Space is not only a mysterious part for academic studies, but also play an important role in future resource part. There are several hypothesis that one day we will finally run out of resources on the earth and will need minerals from the space. As for my point of view, I totally consider that develop of space resources is one of the most effective way to help human beings in the future. But the most important thing is that we realize how serious we need to trait sustainable development as one of the basic rules for us to explore our earth. 

Citations:

Vesna, Victoria. "Space + Art pt. 1-6." University of California, Los Angeles. 30 May 2012. Lecture.

Nexus. N.d. Photograph. flashcooWeb. 1 Dec 2013. <http://www.flashcoo.com/cartoon/space_1600/wallpapers/1280x1024/wallcoo.com_Space_Art_w_2.html>.

These sapphires are among the gemstones on display in an exhibition in the Peabody Museum’s new Hall of Minerals, Earth and Space.. N.d. Photograph. Yale NewsWeb. 1 Dec 2013. <http://news.yale.edu/2008/11/14/new-hall-peabody-museum-sparkles-and-shines>.

Inside NASA's Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center. N.d. Photograph. NASAWeb. 1 Dec 2013. <http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/18/nasa-launch-control-center-tour-at-kennedy-space-center/>.

Houston, Tranquility Base Here, Neil Armstrong Stopped By On His Way To Heaven. N.d. Photograph. Political clown paradeWeb. 1 Dec 2013. <http://politicalclownparade.blogspot.com/2012/08/houston-tranquility-base-here-neil.html>.

Week 8 Nanotech+art

This week's topic is nano-tech and art which i am not very interested in at the very beginning because i do not know much about nano-tech. Coincidentally, my life science professor talks about nano-tech this week as well. It makes me know about nano-tech and i start to understand the relationship between nano-tech and art.Nano-tech is actually not something that is really complicated. People does not know much about it because it is about something that happens in micro level where people will not be able to tell the changes by their eyes.

There are actually many applications of nano-tech in animals. Take peacock, who is considered as one of the most beautiful animals, as an example. As we all know, male peacock will try his best to show his good-looking plumage to females to attracting mates. This is all about the genetic nano particle on the peacocks' tail. They change colors by their wish just like magic shows. Scientists start to learn the method of that function and probably in the future we will have some product that could do the same thing.

Nano-tech are also wide applied in many other aspects. If we travel by planes very often, we will find out that different airlines' plane have different painting on the outside. That is not only to distinguish each other from other airlines, but also the nano-tech they have to protect the plane. There are actually many differences between every kind of paints, some of them are super light while others are super good at protection of the plane from high air pressure.

As I learn more informations about nano-tech, i realize that there is also great potential in this area. Things happens in micro level is actually the basic of things change in macro level. There are also millions of combinations of particles in this level which will give us unlimited opportunities to make our creative ideas come true.

Citations:

Peacock Media Group. N.d. Photograph. PMGWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.peacockmediagroup.co.uk/>.

The Amazing Potential of Nanotechnology. N.d. Photograph. 33rdsquareWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.33rdsquare.com/2013/04/the-amazing-potential-of-nanotechnology.html>.

How safe is nano-tech. N.d. Photograph. The PCIJ blogWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://pcij.org/blog/2008/10/16/how-safe-is-nanotechnology>.

Bustamante, Jose. "New biotechnological applications of coconuts." Electronic Journal of Biotechnology (2004) 

Lawrence, D H. "Wintry peacock." New decameron. (1922) 

week 7 Neurosci+Art

This week's lecture topic is Neuroscience and art which really catch my attentions. People are always attracted by unknown stuffs. Human brain is really something that our technology has not completely discovered. The brain is why human is the species that dominate the whole world for a long time. In my personal opinion, i really consider neuroscience as the most important area that we do need to exploit.

There are actually many examples of neuroscience that we use recently. For example we are making robots that could do complicated tasks that we never thought in five years ago. They not only can communicate with us, but also save lives. They are working at all kinds of areas that makes our life better. This is really a huge progress of neuroscience.

The dolphins are always considered as a smart animal. The use of neuroscience makes them even smarter. People now train them to study things just as human beings. We teach them how to do math problems and how to find specific stuff. Their intelligence is being explored by scientist and they are able to help us finish all kinds of tasks.   

Those are all kinds of examples that neuroscience is helping improve our life qualities and I do think that there are still unlimited possibilities of human brain.

Citations:

Information and Facts about Dolphins. N.d. Photograph. dolphin worldWeb. 18 Nov 2013. <http://www.dolphins-world.com/>.

About Neuroscience. N.d. Photograph. Neuroscience Department Web. 18 Nov 2013. <http://www.neurosci.ucla.edu/Undergraduate study.asp>.

Aptima develops neuroscience-inspired sense-making system for military robots. N.d. Photograph. army-technologyWeb. 18 Nov 2013. <http://www.army-technology.com/news/newsaptima-develops-neuroscience-inspired-sense-making-system-military-robots>.

Robots and neuroscience. N.d. Photograph. welcome trustWeb. 18 Nov 2013. <http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2010/08/25/robots-and-neuroscience/>.

Bear, Mark F, Barry W. Connors, and Michael A. Paradiso. Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007. Print.

Week 6 Biotech+Art

This week's topic is biotech and art. I do think that people have a variety of different opinions toward the definition of biotech. Most of the people do think that biotech is something very complicated in microbiological level, and others think biotech is the modification that scientist trying to do in the lab. In my personal point of view,  I consider both as biotech art.

In the micro evolution level. All species evolved through millions of years to finally become the species we see today. They going under nature selections, genetic draft and mutations which makes them totally different from their ancestors. If we have a close look at one specie, for example horses, we would find out how amazing the process is and how artistic the nature is. They were short leg animal who could not run very fast but could turn sharply. As the environment evolved, coevolution makes them grow longer and stronger legs so that they get food at higher places and run faster.

Beside what the nature did to all the living life on earth, people nowadays start to modify animals' genes to make them serve as special functions. As my opinion, i do think this is a faster way to achieve what they want but it somehow does destroy the balance of the nature.

Clone is one of the most popular biotech topics people like to talk about. It is truly amazing when you can 'copy and paste' animals. As people being happily surprised by this technic, they also fear what this technic will bring to the human world. The movie 'Star War' makes people even horrified. Therefore, biotech technic is really a double blade sword.

Citations:

1. Horse evolution. 2011. Photograph. edublogWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://horsejumper.edublogs.org/2011/03/13/horse-evolution-and-brief-history/>.

2. Zhang, Michael. star war. 2011. Photograph. petapixelWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://petapixel.com/2011/04/14/famous-photos-recreated-with-star-wars-clone-troopers/>.

3. Cloning a failing Mac RAID. N.d. Photograph. The data rescue centerWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://thedatarescuecenter.com/blog/tag/cloning/>.

4. Biology modification. N.d. Photograph. Biochemistry and genetic Web. 10 Nov 2013. <http://the-biochemistry.blogfa.com/post-2.asp&xgt;.

5. "Optimal process mode selection for clone screening." Acta chimica slovenica (2011)