Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 9: Space + Art

Space elevator diagram

Humans have always had the innate urges to attain new knowledge and explore new worlds. Due to this, human interest in unveiling the mysteries of space has been prevalent and everlasting. From telescopes to space shuttles, we have continued to challenge our scientific limits, thriving to discover more about the world we live in today. As a civil engineer, I found the concept of space infrastructures, such as a space elevator, to be extremely interesting. Like the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk, the space elevator is a static structure that is literally out of this world, reaching a geostationary orbit at a height of thirty-six thousand kilometers. There are countless design considerations that go into this structure. The lower end of the elevator would be subjected to stronger gravitational force, counterbalanced by the centrifugal force at the upper end. As a result, the elevator would be put under massive tensile force, so the material would have to be much stronger, while being lighter, than any known material.

Death Star from Star Wars

The topic of space infrastructures reminded me of the movie, Star Wars. There are numerous spacecraft in the movie, but the Death Star was the first thing that came to my mind. It is a spherical space station, spanning over 160 kilometers in diameter. The Death Star was so large that it was comparable to the size of the moon. As Vesna stated, concepts like the space elevator could “turn science fiction into reality.” The significance of space is that it is the point in which mathematics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, and art converge. With this combined knowledge, humans could be living on other planets such as Mars.

NASA's illustration of its future mission to Mars

References:

Donahue, Michelle Z. "People Are Still Trying to Build a Space Elevator." Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution, 21 Jan. 2016. Web. 02 June 2017.

"Death Star." Wookieepedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2017.

Graham Templeton on March 6, 2014 at 12:15 Pm Comment. "60,000 Miles Up: Space Elevator Could Be Built by 2035, Says New Study." ExtremeTech. N.p., 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 02 June 2017.

Perry, Philip. "NASA Unveils How We'll Get to Mars and Explore Deep Space." Big Think. N.p., 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Vesna, Victoria. "Space Exploration + Art Part 1." Lecture.

Comments

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 7: Neuroscience + Art

When I was watching the lecture videos, especially the part about cocaine and LSD, I was intrigued by Dr. Hoffman and his many experiments with LSD. In the video, Vesna describes his “trip” as seeing “unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind [his] closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged on [him] alternating, opening, and closing themselves in circles.” Although the images shown in the lecture videos were colorful and very artsy, I did not see how the use of these drugs contributes to art. Further researching this topic on my own, I was surprised to find countless artists have experimented with the effect of LSD on their work. For example, an artist drew self-portraits over the course of 9 hours while on 200 micrograms of LSD, which is 8 times the dose that Vesna considered “enough”. The picture on the left is her drawing after 15 minutes, and the one on the right is after 6 hours and 45 minutes. LSD changed this person’s perspectives by allowi

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 6: Biotechnology and Art

Being raised by religious parents, I was somewhat familiar with the ongoing controversy in the field of biotechnology and nanotechnology. One of the reasons for this controversy, as Vesna states, is because “artists are actually meddling with the genetic structures of natural systems.” Up until this week’s lecture, I was indifferent about the ethical dilemma involved in this topic. In my opinion, there is a major different between artists and scientists experimenting with the general structures of living organisms. Scientists in this field have experimented with things such as transgenic rats using glowing jellyfish genes. Osamu Shimomura was the first person to inject these genes into mice for research purposes. These mice served as animal models “for studying biological processes and diseases that luminescent jellyfish genes can be used to tag certain genes or proteins.” According to High, genetically manipulated animals are promising tools. This type of genetic modification

Scott Huh DESMA 9 Week 8: Nanotechnology + Art

Nano-particles in textile, making clothes waterproof This week, a UCLA professor from the CNSI department, Dr. Gimzewski, gave insightful lectures about nanotechnology. Prior to this week, I did not have a very good understanding of what nanotechnology is. In fact, I thought it was merely a form of technology that focused on small products, such as circuits and microchips. Therefore, I was shocked to find that nanotechnology actually deals with systems that are as small as 100 nanometers. I was even more surprised to discover that nanotechnology products, such as nano-particles in sportswear, food, and waterproof glass, are present in our daily lives. Food being injected with nano-particles to provide essential nutrients for humans One nanotechnology product that I found most interesting was interactive personalized food. Companies have found ways to nano-encapsulate vitamins into food, which provide essential nutrients for humans. Using this exact concept, nanotechnolo

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