The Wake

Photo by Ben Lansky

Art. Science.

These are two words that may seem to be hanging out on opposite sides of the room. Science is a tool for progress based on structure, rules and repeatable results. Art on the other hand takes structure and renders it unrecognizable; twisting rules and exploring the antipodes of expression and meaning. At times they almost seem like unrelated opposites. Many may ask what they have to do with each other. Lately the two have been necking in the corner and many people hope that they go farther. Because they have so much to offer each other. When art and science do hook up, it usually happens away from the crowds.

Society perceives scientists and artists as mutually exclusive, polar opposites. Artists are right brained, left leaning,free spirits while scientists are logical, analytical, left brainers.. Conventional wisdom says that scientists do not make art and artists do not do science. In However, one only has to look at Bohr’s model of the atom, inspired by Cubism, or the highly controversial Body Worlds exhibit to realize that art and science have more in common than meets the eye.

“There has been a trend recently of a lot of art which responds to current science,” says Chanai Matteson, the organizer of the Bell Museum’s Cafe Scientifique. The intersection of art and science will be the topic for an upcoming Café Scientifique discussion on March 11 at the Kitty Cat Klub, entitled “Is Art the Future of Science?”

“It’s …

Read more →

Photo By Michael O’Donnell

Using Harlin’s story as a frame, the film explores the relationship between the Swiss Alps and the people who live in their shadow. Harlin grew up in the village of Leysin, where his father founded the International School of Mountaineering. As a boy, Harlin III observed the relationship between the Alps and the residents of the region. The people had adapted to the environment, developing agricultural techniques according to the steep landscape. Climate expert Professor Bruno Messerli talks on film about the people of the Alps and how they coexist with the natural world without destroying it, an idea which is repeated elsewhere in the film.

Snow-covered peaks jut upwards into the startlingly blue sky. Ice and …

Read more →

Illustration by Sarah Morean

During the polar bear’s approximate 200 thousand years on Earth, they have been called many things — from vicious killer to fuzzy, adorable, Coke-guzzling marketing technique. The Inuit call polar bears Nanook, meaning master of all bears, and considered them wise, powerful, and close to human. Early Arctic explorers viewed polar bears as fearless marauders, killing as many as possible and eliminating them from several regions in the Arctic. As of the printing of this article, however, one thing they have not been called is endangered. In January, Congress was supposed to reach a decision on whether to protect Alaska’s polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. The decision was delayed, causing many to cry conspiracy. …

Read more →

Photo by Angie Myhre

Although it is still as cold as a witch’s teat in Minnesota every winter, the climate is changing (no joke). But when most people in the Upper Midwest hear discussion on climate change, they usually think of how it will effect the rest world, not how it will influence little ole Minnesota.

“Paradise Lost: Climate Change in the North Woods,” an exhibit at the Bell Museum of Natural History that runs through April 11, hopes to change that mindset. What makes this exhibit unique from others about climate change is how it brings together the two totally different worlds of art and science.

The project was created at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by Dolly Ledin at the Center …

Read more →

Illustration by Sarah Morean

Walking into the dental hygiene aisle at Target has become an overwhelming experience. In the U.S., the dental products market is a $7.5 billion a year business and row after row of toothbrushes, all claiming to remove more plaque than the rest, make this extremely clear. Toothbrushes have become so technologified that they not only vibrate and dispense toothpaste, but also play songs, and remind users to change the brush head. However, there is one toothbrush new to the market that does away with all these bells and whistles, including toothpaste.

It’s called the Soladey Ionic Toothbrush and instead of using toothpaste it contains a titanium dioxide core, which in the presence of light, creates an electrochemical …

Read more →

Illustration by Dustin Nelson

Each of us has incriminating photos from when we were toddlers. However, thanks to a psychological condition called “infantile amnesia,” we have the comfort of not remembering what embarrassing things we said or did. This condition, which isn’t true amnesia, is the explanation scientists give for not retaining childhood memories. It also explains why humans can’t retain memories from before they were born.

Infantile amnesia differs from regular amnesia, in which a person cannot remember anything that happened to them during a certain period of time. Rather, infantile amnesia is the term used for the lack of permanent childhood memories.

Although infantile amnesia hasn’t been explained by modern science, several psychological theories have emerged during the past 100 …

Read more →

Photo by Angie Myhre

When asked to comment on the possibility of the presence of clone derived products in packaged foods, the manager of Harvard Market, a Stadium Village area convenience store declined, explaining, “I just don’t see that happening within the next ten years.”

A casual skim through the contents of several biotechnology companies’ websites (Trans Ova Genetics, ViaGen and Cyagra, just to name a few) tells a different story. “Trans Ova Genetics has offered cloning technology for both pharmaceutical and agricultural purposes for the past seven years,” explains the Trans Ova website’s Q&A section, “Cloning has been a successful tool for those clients who have chosen to create genetic twins of their elite cattle.”

Harvard Market’s manager is …

Read more →

The people of this petroleum-addicted world-gone-to-hell are soon to be faced with an unprecedented number of environmental problems due to rapid resource consumption, pollution, and climate change. The planet’s ecosystems are crumbling before the eyes of the human race and the biggest tragedy about it is that few seem to be aware of just how bad these problems really are, and are not attempting to remedy the situation. Luckily, there is a bright and shining ray of hope beaming down through the carbon dioxide-saturated atmosphere. A group of progressive faculty members, administrators and students at the University of Minnesota have taken it upon themselves to form a vanguard of environmentally-friendly innovation in technology, called the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, which will work towards solutions to environmental problems, aided by …

Read more →

It’s easy to write off massive multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft as someone else’s nerdy pursuit. But more and more, news about Second Life, a virtual online universe roughly modeled after our own, is making it into mainstream headlines and popular culture. Whether it’s Dennis Kucinich extending his presidential campaign into the online world or the discovery of a virtual pedophile playground, Second Life spawns a unique stream of news that often brings up larger issues of the future of the Internet and society.Second Life is a virtual world in which people create a digital alter ego (called an avatar) and interact with others from around the globe. It occupies a unique niche somewhere between “game,” “online forum” and “virtual reality.” Second Life is not about completing quests or scoring points—it’s just a …

Read more →

Do we have to do another “video games are not reality” disclaimer? There’s a very common reaction that non-Guitar Hero players tend to have when they see a seasoned GH pro in action: “Wow, if he spent that energy on playing a real instrument, he’d be great!” Just because the controller is shaped like a guitar doesn’t mean that it plays like one. If you hit all the notes, it’s a perfect performance; there are no considerations of style and technique. In other words you can’t hit all the chords right and still sound like shit. Guitar Hero is not a pathetic digital façade of guitar playing, it’s a Fun Game. Are we clear?Guitar Hero was the breakout game from Harmonix, the studio that produced cult classics like Frequency and Amplitude. The first two Guitar …

Read more →

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Too many syllables? Just call it MRSA. Discovered in 1880 by a Scottish surgeon, Staph infections are common in hospitals. With the increase in the use of antibiotics, a resistant strain of Staph (MRSA) emerged in the 1960s. In recent years, medical officials have been faced with a troubling increase in the occurrence of Staph in healthy individuals who have not been recently hospitalized. Although community-associated strains of MRSA are treatable, they are more virulent than health care-associated ones. The recent death of two students on the East coast from CA-MRSA, as well as the release of a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association that deaths from drug-resistant staph have surpassed AIDS deaths in the US, have raised public awareness of staph. The increase in public awareness of staph …

Read more →

I vividly remember my sixth-grade gym class—changing in front of none-too-friendly classmates, showering awkwardly with more-developed strangers, getting yelled at for reading in a corner instead of doing laps (I was a bookish type). One day, before class, one of my classmates discovered a used condom on the locker room floor. “What’s that?” she asked curiously, and the other girls dissolved into giggles, ridiculing her for not knowing what a condom was. I whispered to my befuddled friend that I was equally in the dark. At eleven, I knew how babies were made, but the thought of actually having sex was foreign to me.Like me, many adults remember being eleven as part of childhood, when it was their imaginations, not their sex lives, that were active. However, this doesn’t change the fact that many preteens …

Read more →

Environmentalism is trendy. In an era of global warming, we Americans have managed to do what we do best: trivialize our problems. What could be more fitting than to exploit our current environmental crises for monetary gain? Corporate department stores and overpriced teen boutiques stock stylish t-shirts and bags with cutesy environmental adages, and major food companies offer “organic” and “natural” products on the supermarket shelves, all in the name of capitalism. Consumers mindlessly lap it all up without considering the true ramifications of what it means to be eco-friendly. Truly being “green” isn’t participating in an ephemeral fad or scene; it’s making a lifestyle choice that requires discipline and resourcefulness. Ryan and Tina North, the owners of the Twin Cities Green store, know this, and they are committed to advancing green living long after …

Read more →

At the dawn of 2004, just as Britney Spears was marrying and annulling Jason Allen Alexander in Las Vegas, and nine US soldiers were killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Falluja, President George W. Bush, hot on the re-election trail, stepped up to a blue-gray podium at NASA headquarters in Washington DC.With childlike wonder he outlined a series of ambitious space exploration projects. He compared our current thirst for discovery to that of the Lewis and Clark Expedition two centuries ago, nearly implying a modern Manifest Destiny for the United States and our eventual conquering of our Solar System.“Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond,” Bush said.His speech climaxed with a bold statement greeted with roaring applause:“With the experience and knowledge gained …

Read more →