Event 1: UCLA Meteorite Gallery

For my first event I attended the meteorite gallery on the UCLA campus located in the geology building. I had heard about this previously from my oceanography teacher so when I saw it in this class I knew it must be worth a visit. Although it isn't a very big space, they fit a lot of information into one space. In this small area I was truly able to see the two cultures of science and art collide. We had learned about this separation in the first week but quickly realized there was nothing separate about the two. With art comes science and with science comes art.

One of the pieces that stood out the most to me was the "old woman iron meteorite". It is the second largest meteorite from the USA with a mass of 2753 kg. The mass of the slab shown was only 80.5 mg. With this piece of art being on long-term loan from the Smithsonian it is something special. To think that the slab being shown is only a small part of what was found is incredible. Know it is on display for students to observe and learn from. Nature and science can be turned into art just by the display and perspective. The unusual structure occurs from the slow cooling of metal with 5.5% Ni followed by shock alteration and recrystallization.

I would recommend this gallery to any UCLA student. This combination of the two cultures of art and science is right under our noses. It doesn't take long to even poke your head in and see what beauty these meteorites have to offer. Next time you are near the geology building, take the extra time to go. I promise it is worth your time.

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Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

In this weeks lecture videos professor Vesna describes the fairly new fascination of artists with the brain. She explores the idea of the conscious and unconscious and how our brains behave differently in each of these states. Scientists have been intrigued by the thought of consciousness and how long we as humans have been living a conscious life. Ramon Y. Cajal and Franz Joseph Gall were critical in showing us how the brain looked. Gall created the idea of phrenology and that the shape of someone skull indicated which part of your brain was working the hardest. The idea was later disproven but did provide a basis for future studies. Joseph Gall was credited with understanding the microscopic nature of investigation of the transmission of neural signals and of neuronal degeneration and regeneration. The tree like connection patterns he found are not only beautiful but are also extremely important. 95% of what we dream is forgotten, you dream every single night yet only some nig...

week 9: Space + Art

This week we learned about a subject that humans have always been fascinated by: space. Ancient astronomers trying to make sense of everything a named every planet, each planet also had its own meaning. Carl Sagan in his video "The Pale Blue Dot" was instrumental in bringing information of the cosmos to the public eye. In the 17th century astronomers finally created a telescope which began a whole new era for studies. Now when we talk about astronomy it is both on the macro and micro scale, from here we see nanotechnology playing a role in space exploration. In the lecture Professor Vesna discusses the importance of animals in cosmic science. After all they were the first ones to go to space. Russia sent a stray 13 pound mutt up into space and from that they monitored her to see how the body may react differently in space. Although the dog only survived for 6 days and ended up dying after a system failure. It is interesting to me how willing they were to send an animal ...

Week 4: Medtech + Art

The traveling exhibit of body world brings attention to all the natural beauty present in our human bodies. It uses preserved human bodies and a technique called plastination to show what is present underneath our skin. This show is extremely popular and is able to educate on the anatomy of the body while serving as a work of art. It allows people to see what their bodies are truly doing during movement. This reminded me of when I was in 6th grade and I had to get an MRI on my knee. I remember being scared and having to lay in the big loud tube. A few weeks later I was presented with the picture of my knee that was able to reveal all my muscles and joints and what was going on beneath what my eye could see. Just how the exhibit of body world was able to expose the human anatomy my MRI did the same thing. Another interesting form of art resulting from the human body was the visible human project. They uses male and female cadavers where they used sections of the body and then ...

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