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wildcat2030: Tiny “solar panels” implanted into the eye could one day restore vision to the blind without the need for any ugly wires. Around 15 million people worldwide have some form of blindness. In people with these conditions the retina’s photoreceptors, which transform light hitting the eye into electrical impulses, are often damaged, preventing visual information from being sent to the brain. Several companies, such as Second Sight in Sylmar, California, have developed prosthetic retinas, some of which are currently in clinical trials. Such technologies generally use a camera to detect visual information that is then relayed through a wire to an implant inside the eye. The implant effectively replaces the damaged photoreceptors. However, these prostheses tend to require numerous wires to connect the implant to an external power source and to transmit information from the camera to the implant, says James Loudin of Stanford University in California. (via ‘Solar panel’ eye implant promises sight without wires - tech - 13 May 2012 - New Scientist)

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fuckyeahbookarts: Art and Botany: A Xylotheque’s Cabinet of Curiosities “With its flourishing book industry and emphasis on natural history, the Age of Enlightenment introduced new ways of bringing science and culture to curious audiences. One of its most remarkable inventions was the xylotheque. From the Greek words xylos, ‘wood,’ and theque, ‘repository,’ a xylotheque is, literally a “library of wood”—however, something is lost in this translation. To its audiences, the xylotheque was an experiential botanic expedition, an exquisite art form, and an ingenious way to examine the beauty and value of its plant specimens.  An enhanced version of botanical books that merely illustrated the taxonomy of trees, these volumes were in fact fabricated from their subjects. They were bound in the bark of their respective tree, covered with moses and lichens, and filled with pages fabricated from the tree’s leaves. Hinged with bark, each “book” opened to reveal a cabinet of curiosity. The hollow interior was an exhibit of the tree’s anatomy: tucked neatly inside were dried leaves, seeds, flowers, and a piece of the root. A written description of the tree’s biology and economic use was nested within the spine. Fabulously literal and remarkably beautiful, the xylotheque was a library of art and science, in equal parts. “

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iamjapanese: Suzanne Northcott（American） Nest Graphite on paper

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the-rx: Margaret Barry, Aloe

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Katinka Matson Question 2010

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life: In Christopher Jonassen series Devour he photographed old frying pans made to look like planets.  (see more of the work here on Feature Shoot)

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magicclouds: Nabokov’s Drawings: “The drawings of butterflies done by Vladimir Nabokov were intended for “family use.” He made these on title pages of various editions of his works as a gift to his wife and son and sometimes to other relatives. In Brian Boyd’s words, “in these highly personal and affectionately playful drawings the scientific accuracy Nabokov needed in thousands of illustrations of the specimens he studied under the microscope was no longer relevant, and his imagination could take flight. In the butterflies Nabokov devised and labeled for Vera he mingles fact and fancy even more sportively than in his fiction.  None of these drawings portray real butterflies, both the images and the names he assigns to them are his invention. The names often have some connection to the book that the butterflies adorn and, in most cases,  play on words in English and Russian is used: “Paradisia radugaleta”, “Verinia verae”, to name just a few.”

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ymutate: Hein Koh: The Universe, acrylic, ink and string on canvas, 20” x 15”, 2011 source: Hein Koh

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Laura Splan, Negligee (Slipping Into the Skin of Another), 2007machine embroidery with thread on cosmetic facial peel, dress form64”H x 16”W x 16”D Negligee (Slipping Into the Skin of Another) uses a transparent plastic-like material that results from a facial peel-off mask. This bizarre beauty product picks up and retains the detailed impression of texture and hairs on one’s skin. I essentially cover my entire body with the product. Once dry, I peel it off in one large “hide” so that I have sheets of “fabric” to work with in constructing the sculptures for the series. via Laura Splan

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Laura Splan, HIV from her Doilies series, 2004freestanding computerized machine embroidered lace mounted on velvet16.75” x 16.75” each (framed dimensions) Doilies is a series of computerized machine embroidered doilies. The design of each doily is based on a different viral structure. […] Here domestic artifacts and heirlooms manifest the psychological heredity of our cultural anxieties. via Laura Splan