GingerTreeShark

theartofanimation: Yutaan

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:06:09 -0400

theartofanimation:

Yutaan

Photo

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:00:15 -0400

Photo

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:16:29 -0400

Children’s Illustrators: Kay Nielsen Born in Denmark in 1886,...

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:09:39 -0400

Children’s Illustrators: Kay Nielsen

Born in Denmark in 1886, Nielsen was inspired by Art Nouveau and Eastern influences in his illustrations, and adopted many practices of Japanese woodcuts, such as asymmetrical composition, large vacant areas, sinuous linework, and flattened perspective.

thighhighs: On Sansa Stark (Note: This is from the...

Thu, 09 May 2013 19:14:48 -0400

thighhighs:

On Sansa Stark

(Note: This is from the perspective of someone who has watched the Game of Thrones TV show but is only 120 pages into the first book.)

I’ve spent a serious chunk of my first week in the Game of Thrones fandom catching up on the debate over Sansa Stark. I can’t say I’m really surprised by those who brush her off as a brainless, superficial twit—I’ve been in way too many hostile fandoms to be shocked by the rage they tend to froth with. And Sansa is so ripe for it. She’s the ditzy cheerleader, the boy-crazy airhead, the Aberzombie bitch who giggled about, like, Gossip Girl or whatever while you, The Fan, barricaded your misunderstood self in the library’s SF/Fantasy section. No, I certainly can’t say I’m surprised by how vicious the viewers can be towards Sansa. She was doomed from the moment Septa Mordane complimented her needlework.

And I can’t say I’m surprised by the reaction of the more activist-minded sphere of fandom either, though I’m more sympathetic to it. They defend Sansa wholeheartedly against her detractors, arguing—rightly—that she has been forced into an inhuman situation. That she has had moments of tremendous grace and bravery. That the cries of “Ugh, Sansa is so dumb why did she do that! If I were her I would have blah blah blah” are ridiculous because who could be expected to behave with perfect rationality and foresight in such a situation? Moreover, they argue that Sansa is a victim of that which befell Ginny Weasley and so many others before her—fandom’s disdain of female characters, particularly the overtly feminine ones. I don’t disagree with this.

My perspective on Sansa Stark lies somewhere between these two poles of argument, however. I find the hatred her character seems to engender ridiculous—she’s a child. But I do, honestly, think there’s brattiness in her. That scene in King’s Landing where she rolls her eyes and tells Septa Mordane that, “Oh that’s right—I don’t care”? That shit makes my blood boil. She’s the highborn, privileged daughter of a lord who has never wanted for anything and it shows. I don’t want to wipe that away, even in the service of validating her character arc. Because that’s part of her arc.

I honestly commend the show (and Martin, of course) for portraying Sansa as an honest-to-god teenager because it’s way more daring than, what, making her perfect? Making her Arya? I really don’t know what exactly her detractors would prefer, but it would have been less impressive. Sansa is a person, and people tend to be unpleasant some of the time. This doesn’t mean they’re altogether horrible people who should be dismissed—they can be capable of courage and fortitude and compassion, as Sansa is. This is Writing 101 stuff, of course: flawed characters are better than perfect ones. But in Sansa, Game of Thrones humanizes an archetype even daring creators are reluctant to touch. Sure, you can have characters who are too ambitious, too harsh, too sarcastic, even cruel. But those are easier flaws, and ones that can be softened by an appropriately tragic backstory. A snobby teenage girl who’s lived a life of lemon cakes and embroidery, however? That’s brave. No one likes her on sight.

But it is these attributes that make Sansa’s moments of strength so affecting. When she pleads for her father’s life, one remembers that a scant few episodes prior she was mocking her sister and projecting her fairy tale fantasies onto the prince she now begs mercy from. She had bothered us precisely because she either reminded us of people we know or because we once were like her. Sansa grounds the narrative in a necessary way—in the midst of royals and commanders dealing in kingdom-spanning intrigue, she’s a young girl desperate to go home, utterly blindsided by the viciousness of court. She can play the game to a certain degree—her facade of obedience reveals a surprising canniness—but she never wanted to. She only ever wanted pretty gowns and a charming prince. Sansa’s presence reminds the viewer that characters like Cersei and Littlefinger don’t operate in a vacuum, that their machinations take a very real toll on innocent people—who, yes, might have been self-centered but were never truly cruel. And yet Sansa (as an emissary from a guileless world) also tends to reveal the hidden softness in them—Littlefinger’s (truly unhealthy) infatuation with Catelyn, for example, channeled through her daughter and Cersei’s cynicism about the constraints placed upon her by gender. Without Sansa, the story would lose a fairly significant amount of depth.

Sansa is more than a symbol and narrative device, however. In her own, quiet way, she’s a fighter. Not a rampaging queen like Daenerys, nor a sword-wielding Brienne, but a fighter nonetheless. She has borne all that King’s Landing could throw upon her while maintaining a mask of perfect subservience. She has protected her hope and a willingness to love through a maelstrom of indignity—no, a marriage to Loras could never have succeeded, but she truly believed it could have. She is cheered by the prospect of a friendship with Margaery. Even when the mask cracks, as when she divulges that Joffrey is a “monster” to the Tyrells, it’s affecting—you can feel her desperation for honesty, for genuine human connection. These people have been kind to her in a way no one else is and she reaches towards it hungrily, exposing the girl within her that still believes in goodness and the promise of the future. Even the worst of King’s Landing cannot corrupt her.

Sansa is not, actually, one of my favorite characters. But I like her, and it pains me to see people acting as though the show would be better off without her. No, she’s not Arya, and honestly, I’m so tired of that false dichotomy we draw between The Cool Tomboy Rebel and The Dumb Girly-Girl. No, she’s not Daenerys. No, she’s not Cersei. She’s Sansa, and that’s okay. You don’t have to love her. You don’t even really have to like her. But she’s an important part of the story and acting like she’s some horrible stain on the character roster is blind. Sansa is more like the audience than perhaps many would like to note—she’s a normal person in an abnormal situation. Facing similar foes, I doubt many of us would be able to act with the quiet stoicism she maintains.

inothernews: blossom-bamford: stfuconservatives: smdxn: Eliz....

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:52:20 -0400

inothernews:

blossom-bamford:

stfuconservatives:

smdxn:

Eliz. Warren wants to cut student interest rates to near zero

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has introduced her first piece of legislation. It’s called the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act, and would reduce the rate students pay on federally-subsidized student loans for one year, from 3.4% to 0.75%.

Without congressional action, on July 1 the rate is set to double from 3.4% to 6.8%.

Warren brings up an interesting point – her bill simply asks students to pay the same rates that big banks pay for borrowing.

She’s literally just asking if college grads can get the same deal as bank CEOs. The exact same interest rate. Not even a bailout or anything fancy (pipe dreams!) - just the same interest rate.

BLESS YOU ELIZABETH WARREN.

YOU GOTTA FIGHT! FOR OUR RIGHT! To pay no interest on our bullshit college loans.

I wish politicians gave as much of a shit about us as Elizabeth Warren does.

lostsplendor: Long story short, I have some pretty talented...

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:20:04 -0400

lostsplendor:

Long story short, I have some pretty talented friends. For instance, a friend of mine who over the past four years has honed his skills toward becoming a gifted blacksmith.

Over the course of two months, this longsword made of one hundred layers of steel was the final product. Browsing through this selection will give you an idea of the progression of the longsword and the finished piece.

jtotheizzoe: Imagine Reading by the Light of a Plant … That’s...

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:55:29 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

Imagine Reading by the Light of a Plant …

That’s just what Antony Evans and the team behind the Glowing Plant Kickstarter have in mind. And you can help them get there (and get your own glowing plant in return!)

Molecular biologists have used bioluminescence as a laboratory technique for decades. This light-producing reaction (different from the fluorescence given off by jellyfish and other “glowing” organisms like the GFP-labeled tobacco plant above) is stunningly simple, using proteins isolated from fireflies and glow-worms to create light using only oxygen and a molecule called luciferin. I’ve done it myself dozens of times, it’s pretty cool.

Modern synthetic biology techniques give us the power to insert this gene into the genome of almost any organism whose genes we can manipulate. Arabidopsis thaliana, the so-called plant “model organism” is one of those. Using special plant-specific bacteria, we can insert genes into the tiny weed at will. Since every living thing expresses RNA and protein using the same genetic code, all Evans and his team need to do is tweak the precise DNA sequence, letter by letter, to make it work as efficiently in plants as it does in other organisms. It’s harder than it sounds, of course, but well within the realm of the possible.

Their fundraising campaign has already been so successful that they have expanded their goal to making a glowing rose! I’d buy that for a dollar. Visit their Kickstarter to learn more and to get your name on the list for a glowing plant. The Glowing Plant project is also on Tumblr, so go give them some love and follow for more news.

These green-thumbed bio-hackers are imagining a world without streetlights, where we read without a light on our nightstand but instead a glowing plant in our room. I’d like to see that happen.

txchnologist: by Txchnologist Staff Like a thief in the night,...

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:40:08 -0400

Cancer: Metaphase epithelial cell in metaphase stained for microtubules (red), kinetochores (green) and DNA (blue). This image, taken by Indiana University’s Jane Stout.

Cancer: Mitotic spindle in a PTK1 cell stained for tubulin (green) and Ncd80 (red). Credit: Keith DeLuca

Immunology and infection: CACO-2 intestinal epithelial cells stained to label the apical actin cytoskeleton. Credit: Matthew Tyska

txchnologist:

by Txchnologist Staff

Like a thief in the night, the malaria parasite did its quick work and vanished inside a blood cell. But someone else was watching.

Read More

medicalschool: Stem cells grow to become human neurons“In...

Sun, 05 May 2013 14:17:47 -0400

medicalschool:

Stem cells grow to become human neurons

“In neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, selective loss of some 500,000 cells in critical brain regions can lead to devastating symptoms,” writes Dr. Ole Isacson, Director of the Neuroregeneration Laboratory at McLean Hospital.

Our understanding of regeneration and plasticity in the mammalian nervous system has developed greatly through basic research following implantation of fetal stem or genetically engineered cells into the adult brain. While the adult brain previously was thought of as a non-regenerative system for pathway formation, recent studies show how dissociated primordial neurons and stem cells implanted into the adult central nervous system can grow to reconnect neuronal pathways and integrate in a molecular and physiological fashion.

Neurodegenerative diseases have very few effective treatments, which is why the laboratory’s research team is working towards a new understanding of these diseases by studying the regenerative properties of stem cells.

molecularlifesciences: 5 Reasons Why CLARITY Will Change the...

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:24:17 -0400

molecularlifesciences:

5 Reasons Why CLARITY Will Change the Life Sciences

We’ve all seen the gorgeous 3D constructions of the brain created by Karl Deisseroth’s group using a technique called CLARITY. This technique is more than just the eye candy we love so much on Tumblr. I recently attended a lecture by Deisseroth, and his work is nothing short of Nobel prize worthy.

Here are 5 reasons why CLARITY will change the molecular life sciences.

CLARITY clears fatty molecules. Fats and other hydrophilic molecules absorb and diffract light, and by washing away the molecular structures that screen light, micrographs can be clear and crisp. These images show a visible difference.

CLARITY links proteins in a mesh-like gel. Most of us know about formaldehyde and its ability to preserve biological matter. Using a similar chemical reaction, proteins are kept in tact in their relative position by being linked to each other. This means that even with the fatty parts washed away, the proteins will maintain their spatial organization.

CLARITY holds on to proteins. As a consequence of the chemical linking, the proteins of interest stay in place even when the sample is washed. The amount lost is incredibly low compared to other methods of clearing, which means that the researcher will have a more realistic amount of protein in the sample. More proteins means more gorgeous micrographs.

CLARITY means no more sectioning. One of the greatest challenges for neuroscientists has been capturing whole neurons in vivo. A single neuron can run the length of your leg. CLARITY creates “never-sectioned” samples, removing the guess work of reconstructing slices. Personally, sectioning is my least favorite activity.

CLARITY allows for multiple labels. Drumroll please. Finally, Deisseroth’s group has shown that samples can be labeled multiple times with high reliability. The meshwork is tight enough that immuno-staining (i.e. labeling with antibodies) can be done multiple times with washing. Most techniques are limited to 2-3 molecular probes at a time. This provides an opportunity to visualize many protein targets. By stacking 3D images of each protein marker, the researchers create the colorful visuals seen above.

As you can guess, CLARITY resolves many of the largest challenges of molecular biology and related sciences, but there is one more bit of great news. The Stanford-based group released their protocol for everyone to use!

Viva la scientific revolution!

Read the original paper here, watch the video here, or view the Nature News article here.

More like this at molecularlifesciences.tumblr.com

References:
Chung, K., Wallace, J., Kim, S. Y., Kalyanasundaram, S., Andalman, A. S., Davidson, T. J., … & Deisseroth, K. (2013). Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems. Nature 496.151

Note:
CLARITY is the method used to prepare samples, it makes tissue see-through. It is the confocal microscopy that focuses a laser on the sample an excites the fluorescent tags added by the researcher.

amaninyc: Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. feat. Erykah Badu...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:16:49 -0400

amaninyc:

Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. feat. Erykah Badu [Official Video] (by janellemonae)

Life’s over. Everyone can go home now.

prostheticknowledge: Prototype Real / Digital Info Interface...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:03:09 -0400

prostheticknowledge:

Prototype Real / Digital Info Interface System

Using projection and gestures to create interactive relationship with information - video embedded below:

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a next generation user interface which can accurately detect the users finger and what it is touching, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system, using objects in the real word.

“We think paper and many other objects could be manipulated by touching them, as with a touchscreen. This system doesn’t use any special hardware; it consists of just a device like an ordinary webcam, plus a commercial projector. Its capabilities are achieved by image processing technology.”

Using this technology, information can be imported from a document as data, by selecting the necessary parts with your finger.

More at DigInfo here

RELATED: This is very similar to a concept developed in 1991 called ‘The Digital Desk’ [link]

jtotheizzoe: staceythinx: Artist Nike Savvas transforms...

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:22:23 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

staceythinx:

Artist Nike Savvas transforms mathematic formulas into beautiful sculptures.

The extra-special key ingredient to make this tasty brain dish work is “perspective”.

Also, I’m gonna go ahead and throw out the word “Spirograph”

invaderxan: Mantis shrimp are beautiful creatures. They also...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:36:19 -0400

invaderxan:

Mantis shrimp are beautiful creatures. They also have perhaps the most incredible eyes in the entire animal kingdom.

Human beings have binocular vision, because we have two eyes which work together. Mantis shrimp eyes are compound, composed of up to 10,000 individual lenses. They’re also segmented into three parts, so each individual mantis shrimp eye has trinocular vision, meaning that just one eye has better depth perception than both of ours do together.

Mantis shrimp also have hyperspectral vision. Where the photoreceptors (cones) in human retinas come in three types, corresponding to red, green, and blue light, mantis shrimp have 12 different types of photoreceptor (some species have 16). This means that mantis shrimp can see a much more colourful world than we do, as well as being able to see both ultraviolet and infrared light, invisible to us.

Mantis shrimp eyes can also see polarised light with a better response across the whole wavelength than man-made optics like those used in blu-ray discs.

These creatures see the world in ways which we humans can never fully comprehend.

adventuresinchemistry: This is adorable! Bohr atoms are...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:23:46 -0400

adventuresinchemistry:

This is adorable! Bohr atoms are definitely the cutest atoms!

coelasquid: makanidotdot: spark notes for j/e because idk I...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:21:20 -0400

coelasquid:

makanidotdot:

spark notes for j/e because idk

I can’t help but imagine Makani’s Edi as Emily Deschanel

gabzilla-z: goddessofcheese: crackerhell: Concept art for...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:49:30 -0400

gabzilla-z:

goddessofcheese:

crackerhell:

Concept art for Janelle Monáe’s The ArchAndroid by Chad Weatherford

um

YES????

I NEED THAT LAST ONE AS A POSTER

PRONTO

I need this as a movie

Photo

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:59:50 -0400

ass-effect: twerkin

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:58:15 -0400

ass-effect:

twerkin