Since a common way of bashing certain forms of art is to point out that they emphasize style over content, it’s no big surprise that scientists now think people prioritize content over style when seeing art for the first time. It may also help explain why people have a hard time enjoying the style […]
The New York Times reports on Paul St. George’s faux Victorian invention, a “tunnel” that connects New York to London so that citizens of these two great cities can communicate with each other. There’s no sound, however, so waves, signing, and written messages will have to do. The five year-old in me is […]
This article from the London Times spotlights Dr. Beau Lotto, a scientist/artist whose work examines the fallibility of human visual perception. Lotto argues that optical illusions, far from being hardwired into the brain, are frequently the result of prior experience. While the illusions are fun, I’m not sure the article (or maybe even […]
Hey Neeta Madahar: the birds know what you’re up to, and they aren’t happy about it.
Who knew the gaze could be liberating? The disabled may soon be able to manipulate avatars and video games with their eyes alone.
Image © Neeta Madahar.
The answer is, of course, “nothing”–it’s all digital now. The Times business section has a nice piece on recent transformations at Kodak in the wake of its improved earnings report on Thursday. The article gives you a good feel for how the digital evolution has played out from the perspective of the big […]
Since the confusing boundaries between science, technology, and art are a favorite topic here at 291–and yesterday’s post was such a grisly example–it’s only appropriate to make note of the Times‘ morbid little article about the 1962 Stereoscopic Atlas of the Human Body. Apparently Stanford University plans to put the 25-volume masterpiece online to […]
Researchers at Tel Aviv University say they have successfully programmed a computer to recognize beauty in women. Rather than dreaming up abstract ideas of beauty, then trying to explain them to a computer, scientists had men and women evaluate faces for beauty without explaining their judgments. Reseachers then made geometric maps of each […]
First, T-rays were tools to look underneath art; now, they’re tools to look underneath your clothing. British company ThruVision has invented a camera, the T5000, that uses T-rays to detect hidden objects under clothing. Don’t worry, though–officials promise the T5000, which is sensitive enough to tell the difference between a bag of flour […]
Scientists at the University of California-Berkeley have figured out a way to train a machine to “read” brain waves from an individual’s visual cortex. Researchers showed subjects thousands of photographs, then monitored brain activity. By combining the results from numerous individuals, they were able to decode the signals in the visual cortex. […]
Engineers at the University of Michigan may have figured out a new way of examining covered artworks: T-rays. T-rays, or terahertz radiation, are capable of imaging art much in the way that X-rays can image bone, but without any damage to layers of paint or plaster that might cover up older works. They’re […]
