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My dad and I went to the art exhibit in the Art Center at UCLA. I heard of this event from my TA and figured I’d go check out some of the art created by UCLA graduate students. I was pleasantly surprised by how closely related the art in the gallery was to the information we are learning in class. Some pieces of art used actual materials from machines or other technology, such as a military jacket, and others used different technological mediums to depict their art such as animation, video projection, virtual reality, and x-ray photographs. Another connection between art and technology this exhibit was that it seemed the some pieces of art were actually a social commentary of the effects of technology and social media on society. Military Jacket using wires and other  machine parts One piece that was interesting was a cloud balloon that had an animated video of two giant people, only from the ribs up, who were sitting in what appeared to be a city mad...

My dad and I got tickets to attend the King Tut exhibit at the California Science Center. This exhibit was amazing because it displayed many artifacts from King Tut’s tomb, the only tomb that was untouched by robbers until Howard Carter discovered the location. What was really interesting was that the pharaohs that came into power after King Tut wanted to erase his name from history because the Egyptians believe people die twice, once when their heart stops and once when the last person who speaks their name dies. This is ironic because despite their attempt to stop his i mmortality, King Tut is now the most famous pharaoh in history (California Science Center). While the stories behind his death and the religious meaning behind each artifact was very interesting, the most interesting part to me was the use of amazingly advanced technology in the construction of these pieces and the pyramids or art and the use of CAT scans when “unwrapping” the mummy and his treasures. s...

Carbon Structures In week eight, we discussed how nanotechnology and art. The study of nano-molecules has changed the world of science in all pretty much all areas including biology, chemistry, and physics. I think what was most interesting to me was the discovery of different structures atoms take and how much of a different it can make to the characteristics and physical properties of the elements. For example , the laws of physics actually change when in nano-scale, like in surface tension of water (Feynman). Thermal jittering actually dominates over gravity. Because of this, Feynman was able to go on to discover that the behavior of nanoscale objects can be used to create different effects. Feynman diagrams of nanoscale structures This is cool because the art and assembly of nanoscale structures of atoms is really important to areas of science like medicine. Dr. Gimzewsk discussed chemotherapy and the study of nanoscale structures allowed certain medications tha...

This week’s topic was by far the most interesting topic so far because the brain is a field of science that is very unexplored even though our brains and our consciousness makes up who we are. One idea I thought was interesting was the art project FMRI by Suzanne Anker and Giovanni. They superimposed butterfly wings onto 15 different MRI brain scans, and even though the butterfly wings were identical on all scans, the differences in the brain images made each picture look different. I thought this was interesting because just like how no two people are alike, every brain is completely different too even when the same thing is done to each one of them. Another thing I found to be interesting was the discussion between Freud and Young about dreams and discussion of how the conscious and unconscious function. Although Freud argues that the unconscious is simply “a reservoir of repressed thoughts and motivations,” I agree with Young’s idea that the unconscious is actually...

Last night I went to an event put on by the Institute of Environmental Systems & Sustainability called “Conversations with Andrew Stanton”. Andrew is the VP of Pixar and has helped to write, direct, create, and even voice movies such as Wall-E, Finding Nemo, and Finding Dory. These three movies have a common trend: subtle environmental conservation stories, but told in different forms. When Andrew Stanton was asked how does he use this medium of animation to tell the story of the environment. Andrew Stanton I thought he was going to go into how sustainability and issues like trash and pollution seen in these movies was always a part of the creation of the movie but he didn’t. He said he never focused on the message of take down consumerism or clean up our oceans, he said he always just tried to find the story, and it just so happened that the story he wanted to tell about love needed certain environmental factors in order to be told. He needed Wall-E to be the las...