The Art of Sustainable Phosphorous

You may have missed it during the recent NASA bacteria arsenic furore, but Phosphorus was an important character. NASAs claim that it had grown an organism by feeding it deadly arsenic struck to the very core of the phosphorous dependant DNA of every living organism.

Looking back, one could be forgiven that NASAs attempt at science was more symbolic art, hinting at the pending peak phosphorous that threatens not our way of life, but life its self.

Taking this Phosphorous art a step further the Sustainable Phosphorus Summit, which as part of communicating the importance of sustainable phosphorous use has fostered a collaboration between artists and scientists coining the Phosphorus, food and our future Science Art exhibition.

Prominent Decomposers | Gouache and ink on Paper | Molly Danielsson and Mathew Lippincott

Distilled Expressions

Using a polarised light, an optical microscope and an attached camera, BevShots sheds light on your favourite brew like never before.

Cocktails, Beers and other concoctions come to life with a unique set of colours and patterns with the uniquely developed method of microscopy available only at BevShots.

To date, BevShots remains unique in both science and art.

Piña Colada Copyright Michael W. Davidson and Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc

Caleb Charland

A quick blog about something I found today.

What happens when you have someone who is curious about how things work and they also happen to be a kick arse photographer? You get these...

Caleb Charland | Light Sphere with My Right Arm and Cigarette Lighter

MRS "Science as Art" Competition(s)

After uncovering the following photos, I decided that my first two blogs could be considered a practice... because the ensuring pictures blow the others out of the water!

These first two pictures of science imitating art are my favourites from the series. We are able to see these pictures due to the magic of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The "Field of Sunflowers" were produced by S.K. Hark, Chinese University of Hong Kong and won 1st prise in the 2008 sprint meet. The Second image was produced by Wen Hsun Tu, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan and titled "Nano-Witch" was the 2nd Place Winner in the 2009 fall meeting.

Both images are composed of what is known as nanowires. Each nanowire is about 10 nm in diameter and tens of micrometers in length. They were grown from a silicon oxide (SiOx) compound for the sunflowers and a zink oxide (ZnO) for the nano-witch. Both use a process known as Vapour-Liquid-Solid (VLS) to grow the nanowires.

Art of Science Gallary 2010

On the second day of SaCrIt i blogged some neat photos...

The following photos are held a Princeton University webserver. They appear to have run some sort of competition for the best science related photos and have done so for 2010, 2009, 2006 & 2005. Don't ask me what happened to the other years.

Here are the three winners. Click on the images to read about how they were created. Much of the details bellow are in deed paraphrased as i understand very little of it.

This Xenon Plasma Accelerator uses electronic and magnetic fields to accelerate xenon propellant to produce thrust. Xenon is a colourless gas but we can see a blue haze here due to the result of the xenon being excited by electric discharge - like the blue zap of static electric shock we're all too familiar with, although this is a form of electrostatic discharge, but you get the idea. Plasma Accelerators are a leading technology for future space flight... and it looks darn pretty too.

Credits:Jerry Ross (fac) - PPPL