Materials Girl

Mmmmm, fresh street paint! This is often my exact example when...

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:52:20 -0400

I love fresh infrastructure!

Both layers of the high viability markings can be seen in this image, the thick polymer paint and the glass microshperes

Mmmmm, fresh street paint!

This is often my exact example when I explain retro-reflectives, street paint. Daytime shows a white line, but darkness and directional headlights reveal: Shine! This is accomplished through the use of retro-reflective micro-spheres, high strength glass spheres that have be half coated in aluminum. As light enters through the clear hemisphere it is reflected off the aluminum coating on the other side, bouncing back toward the light source at a slightly different angle.

The application technique is interesting as well, carefully optimized for maximum durability and reflection. First a hot fluid polymer is layered down in a given pattern or design by a spigot on the back of a truck, think tar. Next a worker with a bucket full of microspheres and a broom pours the spheres onto the design and brushes them over the surface of the setting paint. this maximizes surface coverage, and ensures that the spheres don’t get masked by the paint. Safety First!

First thought, Science! Second thought, Breaking Bad? Third...

Fri, 03 May 2013 12:19:57 -0400

First thought, Science!

Second thought, Breaking Bad?

Third thought, Caffeine.

If you’re in NYC take the opportunity to (over) caffeinate with Birch ‘Cold Brew’ Coffee this summer. Chemically designed to rock your work day!

Dyne With Me: Hydrophobins the Magic Inside Mushrooms

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:00:31 -0400

Dyne With Me: Hydrophobins the Magic Inside Mushrooms:

Hydrophobins, naturally produced by mushrooms, are a self assembling layer of proteins that create hydrophobic surfaces. (They can also create phillic surfaces! What!?) And are probably responsible for that “slimy cap” feeling they get when I wash them.

Learn more by clicking above!

brucesterling: *********************************************The...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:58:26 -0400

brucesterling:

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The Design-Fiction Slider-Bar of Disbelief
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10. Holy relics, attributes of sainthood and divinity; transubstantiated Hosts, Arks of Covenant, teeth of Buddha

9.5 Supernatural objects and services associated with elves, vampires, fairies; magical charms, garlic, silver bullets etc

9.4 New age crystals, lucky charms, protective pendants, mojo hands, voodoo dolls, magic wands

9.3 Quack devices, medical hoaxes

9.3 Fantasy “objects” in fantasy cinema and computer-games

9.2 Physically impossible sci-fi literary devices: time machines, humanoid robots

9.2 Perpetual motion machines; free-energy gizmos, other physically impossible engineering fantasies

9.0 State libels, black propaganda, military ruses; missile gaps, vengeance weapons, Star Wars SDI

8.9 “Realplay” services, “experiential futurism” encounters, military and emergency training drills, props and immersive set-design, scripted personas

8.8 Online roleplaying scenario games

8.7 Net.art interventions, diegetic performance art, provocative device-art scandals

8.6 Guerrilla street-theater; costumes, puppets, banners, songs, lynchings-in-effigy, mock trials, mass set-designed Nuremberg rallies, propaganda trains

8.5 Fake products, product forgeries, theft-of-services, con-schemes, 419 frauds

8.0. For-profit frauds and false commercial advertising

7.9 Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson devices, chindogu “unuseless objects”, parodies, whimsies and comical contraptions; Albert Robida satirical prognostications

7.0 Vaporware; “Fear Uncertainty and Doubt” campaigns

6.0 “Design Fiction” diegetic prototypes from sci-fi media, “concept cars,” “conversation pieces,” provocative laboratory curiosities

5.9 Blue-skying Internet-based “theory objects” and congealed techie pundit scuttlebutt; socially-generated rumor and tech speculation; crowdsourced speculative objects and services; Kickstarter projects

5.0 “Brand Management” by design

4.9 Design pitches to the board of directors; untested business-models

4.8 The plans and schematics for as-yet-unborn yet genuine objects and services

4.0 Real-life product descriptions and users instruction manuals

3.5 Product reviews and opinions; user feedback, public assessments

3.0 Design criticism; material-culture assessments; scholarly studies

2.0 Legal regulations and government protocols concerning objects and services

1.0 Engineering specifications, software code

0.5 Historical tech assessment of extinct technologies, the “judgement of history’

0.0 The ideal and unobtainable “objective truth” about objects and services

I love a Venn Diagram, the world needs more graphical explanation.

Biomimicry in Action!

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:00:28 -0400

Biomimicry in Action!:

10 stories of new and innovative materials which are inspired by and emulate natural systems.

freshphotons: Surface Tension. One of my top five phrases.

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:00:13 -0400

freshphotons:

Surface Tension.

One of my top five phrases.

I’m always amazed at the scientific precision and beauty...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:00:29 -0500

I’m always amazed at the scientific precision and beauty of the 1800’s. Perhaps it’s nostalgia for a time when a scientific demonstration and lecture was the society event of the month.

microscopicexpressionism:

Victorian Microscope Slides.

Various Crystallized Chemical Compounds in polarized light with filters; crystals of Sulphate of Strontium, and 3 variations of Salicine crystal mounts by J.T. Norman.

Fund your local scientist! freshphotons: Saturday Morning...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:00:38 -0500

Fund your local scientist!

freshphotons:

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

Overwhelmed? Stressed? Difficulty sticking to New Year’s...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:00:19 -0500

Overwhelmed? Stressed? Difficulty sticking to New Year’s Resolutions? Nothing can get you down with your own personal crab cheerleader. Not only does the boxer crab have charming dance moves, they also share the lesson of interdependence and mutual-benefit. Thanks for keeping our sprits high little buddy!

astronomy-to-zoology:

Genus Lybia

(Boxer Crabs)

also known as pom-pom crabs, Boxer Crabs are a genus of small crabs in the family Xanthidae (mud crabs). the name pom-pom/or boxer comes from the mutualism that they hold with sea anemones, in which they hold the cnidarian in their claws and use them for defense, and in turn the sea anemone gets more food by moving around.

Phylogeny

Animalia-Arhtropoda-Crustacea-Malacostraca-Decapoda-Branchyura-Xanthidae-Lybia

Source,Source

Yesss! Structural color you rock me! Learn more about...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:00:11 -0500

Yesss! Structural color you rock me!

Learn more about structural color, another crazy berry, and other amazing nanophotonic university creation Polymer Opals from Cambridge.

harvardseas:

A team of materials scientists at Harvard University and the University of Exeter (UK) have invented a new fiber that changes color when stretched. The fibers replicate the unique structural elements that create the bright blue color of the “bastard hogberry,” a tropical fruit. Read more about color-tunable photonic fibers!

Images courtesy of Mathias Kolle and Peter Vukusic.

This amazing painting/sculpture, by Chen Jun, is created from...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:54:12 -0500

This amazing painting/sculpture, by Chen Jun, is created from over 800 pieces of paper thin Eggshell Porcelain.

Eggshell Porcelain is a unique composition and construction of ceramic created in China and Japan. (In this art piece I’m assuming it’s japanese, since I’m in Japan!) Just for some technical know how, to be defined as eggshell porcelain the ceramic must be fabricated to the thinnest possible dimensions that retain workability, and also be comprised of at least 50% Kaolin in the body of the clay. Ceramics are really fascinating me right now, more to come.

Apparently everything in Japan glows in the dark. These...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:00:38 -0500

Apparently everything in Japan glows in the dark. These Crustaceans, Firefly squid.

sciencesoup:

Nature’s Night Light

Sometimes known as the sea-firefly, Vargula hilgendorfii is a species of ostracod crustacean that only inhabits coastal waters off Japan. It is a nocturnal creature that rarely grows longer than 3 millimetres, with a beautiful transparent shell—but it’s best known for its bioluminescence. When disturbed, it secretes a luminous blue substance through a process similar to many other bioluminescent creatures: a chemical reaction of the substrate luciferin and the enzyme luciferase. The maximum wavelength of its light depends on the pH and the salinity of the water, and varies between 448 and 463 nanometres—meaning that the light is coloured various shades of blue. In World War II, the Japanese collected these creatures and crushed them in sand and water to produce their blue luminescence, which ingeniously served as light for soldiers to read maps and messages at night.

(Image Credit: 1, 2)

Strolling through Brooklyn and what do I spy? A giant...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:00:12 -0500

Strolling through Brooklyn and what do I spy? A giant crystalline structure!

After some prompt and excited jay walking, I found myself at Parker’s Box, currently featuring an exhibition entitled Brooklyn/Montreal, which displays multiple artists’ works and spans sixteen galleries within the two cities.

The installation that caught my eye, by Patrick Martinez, is an exploration on the themes of “matter and anti-matter” and “containing or harnessing emptiness” which connotes the high percentage of emptiness that comprises a given molecule or molecular structure. The piece is comprised of drinking straws and plastic connectors; Martinez’s recently commercialized construction system LINX.

The exhibition is open through February 17th, Thursday thru Sunday, 1-7pm.

expose-the-light: Swirling Liquids by Janet Waters

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:00:29 -0500

expose-the-light:

Swirling Liquids by Janet Waters

Look at Kevin here, so proud of his transparent panel. Why so...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 10:00:17 -0500

Look at Kevin here, so proud of his transparent panel. Why so much excitement? That is no ordinary glass.

Aerogel is a silica-based material created through a sol-gel process. Often referred to as “solid smoke”, this material is comprised of 96% air, and until recently was he lightest solid on earth. Due to the foam like structure of Aerogel it is usually a milky translucent, to Kevin’s credit this is certainly the highest transparency I’ve ever seen.

I’ve only recently begun watching Dr. Who and was thrilled...

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:00:25 -0500

I’ve only recently begun watching Dr. Who and was thrilled to discover the inter-galactic villain of the episode was destroyed by … Anti-Plastic! (geek out with trivia here and here)

As absurd as it sounds, it’s quality faux-science based on depolymerization. The opposite of polymerization, depolymerization occurs by breaking bonds between monomers that form the long chains of polymers. Chemical depolymerization is utilized in feedstock recycling, currently to recycle PET and shows promise for use with Polystyrene.

Hooray for recycling, and hooray for a test tube of blue goo that could totally be a thing!

staceythinx: Microbes: They’re invisible. They’re everywhere....

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:59:36 -0500

staceythinx:

Microbes: They’re invisible. They’re everywhere. And they rule.

Colorful Microscopy, sigh, what could be better than that?

Vacation NEWS! mystery material

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:00:00 -0500

While enjoying the January 13 No. 329 issue of ELLE my lovely mother turned to me and said, “Ok, what is Perspex?” “Pebax?” I replied, “Can I have it in a sentence?”. Quoting from the Modern English article “… mini-totes in Perspex (The material also appears in the collections of jeweler Sarah Angold, upstart accessories label House of Flora, and Charlotte Olympia.)” “Hmm, I have no idea, perhaps it’s a brand name for a generic material.”

Well, after sorting through the notes and attributions and finding images of the products, Perspex appears to be a translucent colored polymer, some versions having edge-glow additives. A quick Google revealed the truth, Perspex is a cast PMMA offered by Perspex Distribution Ltd. out of the UK. It’s the original offering from Lucite!

Mystery Solved. Next Mystery: why wouldn’t ELLE take the time to explain or give context to the new wunderkind of the runway? Happy Holidays!

The coolest thing that ever happened to Math! Recently opened...

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 04:44:19 -0500

The coolest thing that ever happened to Math! Recently opened off Madison Square Park, the Museum of Math shares the joys of math with all generations through beautiful physically interactive installations.

Foam never before been closer to my heart

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:35:30 -0500

Foam never before been closer to my heart:

This new medical procedure uses foam to protect organs and mitigate internal bleeding with foam.