Medgadget » Art

Corning Shows Us a Future Made of Glass

Scott Jung — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:12:10 +0000

Corning lately may be best known for their ultra-durable Gorilla Glass found on Apple products as well as other smartphones and computers, but it also has a historic and revered research and development arm that was responsible for the glass found in innovations that include the original Edison lightbulb and the first liquid crystal displays. Corning is also dedicated to supporting the life sciences industry: PYREX, for example, is a common glass found in today’s laboratories.

The 104-year old R&D research arm recently released a video of its glass-filled vision for the next 104 years. Some of the concepts presented are already in development, but one intriguing section in the middle of the video visualizes the use of Corning glass in the medical lab. We’ll start you off at the 3:07 mark and you’ll see glass used in futuristic, transparent medical terminals and tablets. You’ll also see glass (which is antimicrobial) used in a holographic examination table integrated with a cool-looking MRI scanner.

Heart Stop Beating, a Film by Jeremiah Zagar

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:15:11 +0000

Drs. Billy Cohn and Bud Frazier at the Texas Heart Institute were faced with a patient last March who’s heart was about to succumb to the point that even a left ventricular assist device wouldn’t be sufficient to keep him alive. Described as a story of “two visionary doctors from the Texas Heart Institute who in March of 2011 successfully replaced a dying man’s heart with a ‘continuous flow’ rotor-driven device of their own design, proving that life was possible without a pulse or a heartbeat,” the film was directed by Jeremiah Zagar, whose feature-length documentary “In A Dream” was nominated for two Emmy’s in 2010.

TED Talks – Drew Berry Shows Off Beautiful Animations of What Goes On Inside of Us

Scott Jung — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:24:07 +0000

Throughout the history of biological sciences, researchers have attempted to visualize the micro-world of our human bodies through various forms of art. Art simply makes all the fancy technical jargon-filled talks more understandable and interesting (and helps a college student taking Molecular Biology pass the course).

Using the latest in 3D and 4D computer animation, biomedical animator Drew Berry shows off in this recently posted TED Talk some stunning animations of various processes that go on around the clock in our cells.

Flashing Bacteria Used As Alarm System for Arsenic

Jan Sinnige — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:03:38 +0000

Researchers at UC San Diego have built a bacterial light source of about 13,000 ‘biopixels’, as they call it. Their work on synchronized fluorescent protein expression was published in Nature last week. This is not only a new form of art but also a piece of high tech bioengineering. The light producing chips consist of more than 50 million bacteria that interact and synchronize with each other using a mechanism known as quorum sensing, a method in which bacteria communicate with their fellows and gives them group-like behavior. They can regulate gene expression according to the density of the population or to determine adaptation strategies to their local environment.

The researchers in San Diego coupled the expression of a fluorescent protein to a biological clock which is synchronized with other colonies using a quorum sensing mechanism. In this way the bacteria will periodically fluoresce in unison like blinking light bulbs.

A Glass Heart for Your Loved One

Gene Ostrovsky — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:51:42 +0000

The gift giving season is here, and if you’d like to give a little love to a doctor in your life (cardiologists are perking up), this hand blown vase will certainly do the trick. Justin Parker of Esque Studio in Portland, Oregon is the designer of this piece along with a few other anatomical glass works.

Link: Esque Studio

Researchers Use CT to Accurately Recreate a 1704 Stradivarius Violin

Wouter Stomp — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:06:31 +0000

A team of researchers have used CT imaging to extremely accurately reproduce a 1704 Stradivarius violin. The team, consisting of a radiologist and two professional violin makers, put the violin through a 64-detector CT acquiring more than 1,000 individual images, a 3D volume rendering of which is shown above. They then used Osirix to transform the DICOM image file into stereolithograph files of the scroll and front and back plates. These files were then fed into a CNC (computer numerically controlled) machine that carved nearly exact copies into maple back plates, spruce front plates and maple scrolls. The resulting parts were assembled, varnished by hand and shown at a press conference at the RSNA 2011.

Dr. Sirr, the team radiologist and an amateur violinist, first scanned a violin with CT out of curiosity over twenty years ago. Together with Waddle, one of the violin makers, over the years he has scanned more than 100 violins—including 29 valuable instruments pre-dating 1827—and other stringed instruments to better understand their composition. CT has been useful in measuring wood density, size and shapes, thickness graduation and volume measurements as well as providing detailed analysis of damage and repair.

X is for X-Ray Interactive iPad Book Shows the Internals of Everyday Objects

Wouter Stomp — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:55:47 +0000

Touch Press has released “X is for X-Ray“, an interactive iPad book that shows the X-rayed internals of 26 everyday objects. More a work of art than a useful tome for radiologists, it contains X-ray images of everything from teddy bears to a toaster to a motorbike. The teddy bear even got special treatment, getting dipped in contrast medium before being put on camera, causing its fur to turn bright on the resulting images.

Many of the objects can be rotated and be shown stereoscopically, while others can be zoomed in to reveal additional details. X is for X-Ray was created by Hugh Turvey, Artist in Residence at the British Institute of Radiology, with text by Paul Rosenthal and spoken rhymes by Dr Who actor Kerry Shale. It is available on iTunes for $7.99.

One Body by XVIVO

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:06:01 +0000

XVIVO, a leader in scientific animation with a focus on the life sciences, has unveiled a new video called One Body. Though produced for Turk Telekom, it’s an inspiring two minute flash look at the complexity and beauty of the architecture of the human body.

DNA 11 Labs Wants to Eternalize Your DNA in Rugs, Wallpaper, Glass and Waterwalls

Wouter Stomp — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:43:13 +0000

DNA 11, the company that previously brought us personalized DNA portraits on canvas, is looking into expanding its offerings and has set up a website called DNA 11 Labs, where it has put a few new exciting designs and people can vote which idea should go into production first. So far the listed ideas include a rug, wallpaper, glass portraits, a waterwall, and a fingerprint bowl. However, you can also submit your own ideas, or if you can’t wait, pre-order either the rug or the waterwall. All this beauty won’t come cheap, as pre-order prices for the rugs are listed as $999 to $4999 depending on size.

The old-fashioned DNA portraits are also still available for order at a more affordable 164 euros. The procedure for acquiring the art is simple: you receive a DNA collection kit, swab the inside of your cheek and send it back to the company, after which they extract the DNA and create a southern blot-like print of it. The pattern can be printed in one of 25 standard colors or custom color-matched to your interior. Here is a short video of a DNA waterwall installed on a NY city rooftop:

Send Your Secret Message Hidden in Bacteria

Jan Sinnige — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:38:08 +0000

Walt et al from Tufts University describe a method of sending timed and on-demand released messages using printed arrays of bacteria. Or as they call it: Steganography by Printed Arrays of Microbes (SPAM). The researchers published their results in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The system they describe uses genetically engineered strains of Escherichia coli with added fluorescent proteins. These living organisms can carry a message and release the information when conditions selected prior match the environment. They use 7 strains containing fluorescent proteins of different wavelengths. This provides a septenary numeral system that can be translated into text.

The sender encodes a message using a septenary code. Bacteria are printed on an agar plate and copied on a nitrocellulose membrane. The membrane is sealed and sent by post to the receiver. As long as the proteins are not expressed, the message will not be visible. The recipient stamps the membrane on agar which enables the bacteria to grow and form colonies again. When the appropriate inducer is added, the fluorescent proteins will be expressed and the colonies can be read by measuring the fluorescent reflection.