LED Dandelion

Gordijn, Lonneke and Ralph Nauta. Dandelight. n.d. studiodrift.com. Web. 27 June 2014. http://www.studiodrift.com/work/dandelight-1 Artists Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta have created a lamp made of an LED dandelion connected to a battery. A copper “stem” connects the LED dandelion to a battery at the base of the dandelion. Gordijn and Nauta hand make each lamp and sell them as individual art […]

Server Farms

Lee, Justin. “Energy Usage of Server Farms.” large.stanford.edu. Standford University, 6 Dec. 2012. Web. 27 June 2014.  http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph240/lee1/ This source claims that one 50,000 square feet server farm uses about 5 megawatts continuously; that amount of energy would satisfy the needs of 5000 homes. The research also states that a lot of the energy produced comes from […]

Robotic Drumming Prosthesis

“Robotic Prosthesis Turns Drummer into a Three-Armed Cyborg.” www.news.gatech.edu. Georgia Institute of Technology, 6 Mar 2014. Web. 24 June 2014. http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/03/05/robotic-prosthesis-turns-drummer-three-armed-cyborg Professor Gil Weinberg of Georgia Tech developed a prosthetic arm equipped with two drum sticks attached to one arm. Drummer Jason Barnes is able to control one drumstick with his bicep muscles while the second stick is controlled […]

Emotions Translated as Digital Art Installation

Sokol, Zach. “‘SKIN’ Transforms Your Emotions Into Sound And Color Through Sweat Data.” thecreatorsproject.vice.com. Vice Media Inc., 5 June 2014. Web. 16 June 2014. http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/skin-transforms-your-emotions-into-sound-a-color-through-sweat-data Audiovisual artist Claudia Robles designed an interactive art piece that responds and reflects a person’s emotional state through reading the participants skin moisture. The data is collected using a Galvanic Skin Response […]

Digital Tides

Holmes, Kevin. “Installation Uses Sand and Generative Visuals To Create A Digital Ocean.” thecreatorsproject.vice.com. Vice Media Inc., 9 June 2014. Web. 16 June 2014. http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/installation-uses-sand-and-generative-visuals-to-create-a-digital-ocean Michelle Higa Fox’s Strandlines is an art installation that replicates Rhode Island’s tide patterns. The installation uses light projections that mimic the ebb and flow of local tides in Rhode Island. No two […]

Plastic Bottles as Art

Clarke, Matthew James. “6,000 Plastic Bottles and LEDs Used To Make Glowing Labyrinth in Poland.” thecreatorsproject.vice.com. Vice Media Inc., 12 June 2014. Web. 16 June 2014. http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/an-illuminated-plastic-labyrinth-installed-in-poland Luzinterruptus, an anonymous Spanish art group, built an 11-foot-tall labyrinth made from plastic bottles in order to promote environmental awareness in Poland. The plastic labyrinth was built in Poland […]

Representations of Nature in Spike Jonze’s movie Her

Her. Dir. Spike Jonze. Perf. Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, and Amy Adams. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013. DVD. I’ve recently watched Spike Jonze’s movie Her , trying to approach it from an environmentally focused perspective. At first I thought it was a visually stunning film with pseudo sci-fi undertones, but after watching it with the environment in […]

France pays workers to cycle

De Clercq, Geert. “France experiments with paying people to cycle to work.” planetark.org. Planet Ark, 3 June 2014. Web. 9 June 2014. http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/71641 France has started a six month trial period of paying select employees (roughly 10,000 people) to bike to work. The employees are paid 25 euro cents (34 US cents) per kilometer biked to work. […]

Soluble Circuits to Reduce E-Waste

Hsu, Jeremy. “Building Soluble Circuits To Help End E-Waste.” popsci.com. Popular Science, 9 May 2014. Web. 9 June 2014.  http://www.popsci.com/article/science/building-soluble-circuits-help-end-e-waste?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=5&con=building-soluble-circuits-to-help-end-ewaste John Rogers, a scientist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has invented a type of silicon ribbon thin enough to dissolve in water in roughly ten days. Rogers’ creation is a response to the amount […]

Lionfish App

Iacurci, Jenna. “FWC Unveils Tracking App for Invasive Florida Lionfish.” natureworldnews.com. Nature World News, 29 May 2014. Web. 8 June 2014. http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/7297/20140529/fwc-unveils-tracking-app-for-invasive-florida-lionfish.htm The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) developed a lionfish tracking app for smartphones in order to collect data about lionfish population size and whereabouts. The Florida lionfish is an invasive species that has no […]