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Event 3: Just Genomes? For this event, I was able to attend a presentation by guest speaker Jenny Reardon from the University of Santa Cruz.  Reardon had spent time researching the Human Genome and presented herself with many questions that she wanted to answer.  One of her biggest questions being how genetics has changed the entire idea of race.  Today, she continues to try and find answers to her questions despite the lack of funding received for the genome project and beliefs that things should just be left as they are now. Information about guest speaker, Jenny Reardon Throughout most of Reardon's speech, she discussed that there was a major conflict with most of the scientists she spent time with while working within the project.  She talked about how many people wanted to completely solve the genome and its code while other wanted to comprehend why the genome functioned certain ways rather than understand the coding behind its movements.  Thi...
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Week 9: Space + Art The topic this week really brought all the other concepts that we have studied over the course of this term together.  Everything that we have studied so far has lead to the explorations of space and the art the helped cause it and that eventually was caused by this.  It really surprised me just how connected the arms race was to the space race; however, ultimately, the most surprising part was just how great of an effect the space race had on the art world such as the film/tv world as well as technological advancements. Scientists are still unsure just how large the universe really is In the greater perspective of things, our planet Earth is just a small "pale blue dot", as Carl Sagan described it, and is part of a much larger universe.  One that is almost impossible to represent by numbers.  Within the short video "The Power of Ten (1977)", we get a glimpse of just how massive, and small, the universe really is.  As we look further ...
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Week 8: NanoTech + Art From this week's lectures, we were able to see the significant impact that nanotechnology can have on humanity for both the better or worse.  This new form of technology will cause a massive change in the entire way in which people perceive the world in the most literal sense.  Specifically because this technology can't be seen with the naked eye.  Nanotech will change the entire world of science, medicine, and technology. With the already ever advancing medical technology field, this new type of tech only helps to further increase advancements in medicines.  Some researchers at Georgia State University have begun using nanoparticles in a vaccine for Influenza.  Once the vaccine is injected into a host, the nanoparticles are designed to attack a portion of the virus that is present in all cases of Influenza.  The overarching goal of the program is to test the new technology to see if it can work on a broad spectrum of diseases (Na...
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Week 7: Neuroscience + Art Medical Technology has become far more advanced over the past decade.  People from past generations could only imagine images of what the human body let alone the brain looks like.  Thanks to innovations in science, we now have a far greater understanding of the human mind and all its factors like the conscious and subconscious.  Not only do we understand how the brain works, but we have begun to understand what really makes the human brain "tick" as I say.  Artwork and Neuroscience have a very strange relationship. Advertisers play tricks on the human brain constantly through the use of visually pleasing and aesthetic artwork.  One really unexpected way "Heineken" has been tricking, rather persuading people is in their logo.  According to Marc Andrews, a creative artist and Scientist in Amsterdam, each of the three "e's" in Heineken are slightly slanted backwards giving the concept of three toothless smiles. This may not...
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Event 2: Maru Garcia "Vivarium" Maru Garcia's gallery was a strange one to say the least.  Initially, as I walked in the room, I was extremely confused with what I was seeing.  There were two small domes with artificial ecosystems.  One was empty and consisted of moss, grass, mushrooms, and other shrubbery while the other had similar plants but also had a person interacting with the nature.  After walking around for several minutes, I soon began to understand what I was seeing.  The purpose of the gallery was to demonstrate the interconnectedness of humans and nature.  The point Garcia wanted to get across was that rather than working against nature, which should work with and for the betterment of nature as it is where humans originally came from and we can easily live together with it rather than causing environmental problems. In the image above, we see a person inside the small dome with plant life inside.  The actor was eating seeds and inte...
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Week 6: Biotech and Art As you know, humans continue to evolve and become more advanced everyday.  With new technology of the 21st century, we have really been able to interpret gene sequences and genomes, as well as the coding of DNA/RNA.  Both artists and scientists have imagined endless possibilities in ways that humanity can use these new discoveries.  While their are many positives to the way in which we can use and possibly transfer genome coding, calling it "art" doesn't take away from the somewhat horrifying truth about modifying a species DNA. For example, as Professor Vesna explained in our lecture video, Eduardo Kac created a fluorescent rabbit through inserting a jellyfish gene.  What initially began as only a art project turned into something horrifying to me.  The rabbit, when exposed to blue light, would turn green like a glow in the dark toy.  Some people may see this as a huge step in scientific advancement; however, I felt that it wa...
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Week 4: MedTech + Art Medical Sciences and Art never appeared to me to be intertwined; however, after this week's lecture I have experienced a drastic change in my perspective.  It's not as if the two fields work together, but rather they affect each other in many different ways. The most impactful form of this being, in my opinion, arts affect on plastic surgery.  Plastic surgery can be very useful sometimes, especially for victims of injuries or disease.  I don't always look down upon it especially for cases like the ones previously listed; however, this medicinal form has changed drastically over the past thousands of years since it was created in b.c India and is being taken advantage of.  Plastic surgery is being used by many people who solely seek to make themselves appear more beautiful.  While medicinal practices have had a relatively positive impact on art, I believe that it has had a negative impact on this specific form of medicine.  In artwo...
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