competition

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The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
The Microscopic Beauty of Photography's Smallest Subjects
Pink Planets and Killer Pumpkins Dominate DC's Online Comics Competition
20 Visions of the Future of Suburbia
Inside the Heart of Gold That You Never Saw

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Bootknife-Jackson
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
at first i was thinking, 'that cool blazey sun thing would look ultra hip as say, a 4x5 foot printed canvas on the wall...' than i read what it was... and than i knew that if i did it, people would ask what it was...than i would tell them... than she would ask if i was a scientist, i would say no, and she would look at me like a creepy date rapest, and leave....

...i'm doing it anyway.... #scienceart
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Makidian
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
Everything starts in a glorious blaze, from the universe to life. It is just incredible. #scienceart
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Tomb: R.O.A.C.H.
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
Just imagen if those things had eyes to pop. #scienceart
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
#2 is freakin awesome. It's like... mini-egg boilers. #scienceart
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pockifish
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
if you like this kind of stuff (esp the journey from the making of a sperm or egg to a baby) you need to check out Lennart Nilsson's work. Not news, but certainly worth mentioning. A Swedish photographer who has produced so many gorgeous pictures, with microscopy as well as regular cameras. The anatomy ones are just stunning.

[www.lennartnilsson.com]
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crashedpc - unrein promoted this comment Edited by pockifish at 10/16/09 8:27 AM pockifish was starred pockifish was unstarred

RenRen
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
Careful, Charlie Jane Anders, you don't want some folks to start a 1000-post discussion on whether or not life begins at the moment the sperm enters the egg. Some of them would rather wait for "life" to begin a good trimester or so after that, others only after birth. (I personally think the egg and sperm themselves are a form of human life, but that's just me.) #scienceart
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/16/09

@RenRen: I don't think there's anything in the text that would imply an opinion either way. Hopefully that's enough to stave off the wolves. Bark #scienceart
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tetracycloide
10/16/09

@RenRen: you seem to have discounted the possiblity that someone both feels life begins at conception AND is perfectly ok with a first, second, or even a third trimester abortion. #scienceart
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RenRen
10/16/09

@tetracycloide: Uh-oh... You said the A word.
@crashedpc - unrein: No, it was the title. #scienceart
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/16/09

@RenRen: Yerp. You're right. *backs away from this whole mess* #scienceart
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tetracycloide
10/16/09

@RenRen: "And" is all right ... You wouldn't get far not saying "and"! #scienceart
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Erda
10/16/09

@RenRen: I think the whole question of whether "life" begins is rather irrelevant, just because, as you point out, sperm and egg cells are their own form of life, just like every cell in the human body is - but not necessarily "alive" in the way a baby is. "Life" is one of those things for which if you ask 10 people, you'll get 10 different answers, and thus it's misleading and disingenuous to draw a specific line (no matter where you draw it) between what constitutes "living" and "nonliving." People only try to do so because it's politically expedient for them; I don't bother because I think that's not really what these issues (abortion, birth control etc.) are about, anyway. #scienceart
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RenRen
10/16/09

@tetracycloide: A... A... An... And? #scienceart
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Vulcan Has No Moon
10/16/09

@RenRen: Well, I know that spermatazoa and eggs are living cells before they combine into zygotes and I'm perfectly okay with abortion in the first, second, and third trimester....mostly because I know that only 1/4 of the eggs that are fertilized will implant in the uterus and become a pregnancy and of those that do implant in a woman's uterus 50% will wind up being miscarried in the first 6 weeks of the first trimester. Not all embryos were meant to be fetuses, not all fetuses were meant to become babies, and sadly not all babies grow up to be adults. Whether the termination of a pregnancy was the choice of an omnipotent super-being or the the choice of the woman, sometimes it's just not meant to be. I am a Jezebel and therefore have discussed conception, pregnancy, birth, and abortion whilst being civilized and rational many, many times. I'm sure the folks on I09 can do the same. #scienceart
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cadrina
10/16/09

In reply to The Eye-Popping Moment When Human Life Begins
Is there any medical condition caused by two sperms entering the egg? what stops oters from entering after the first? #scienceart
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ParryLost
10/16/09

@cadrina: I'm no biologistician, but in my understanding once the egg accepts one of the sperm, it changes the make-up of its membrane to make it impermeable to other sperm cells through some sort of enzyme reaction. #scienceart
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
10/16/09

@cadrina: Let's see what I can remember from developmental biology: I believe it's the cortical reaction that prevents polyspermy. It occurs when the sperm comes in contact with the egg's plasma membrane. The result of the reaction is that an extracellular layer of the egg is into modified into a fertilization membrane which lifts away any other sperm trying to enter the egg and prevents all other from entering. That's the slow block to polyspermy (there's a lot more details to it then that, but that's a basic outline). If polyspermy ever does occur it's instant death for the egg. #scienceart
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Ruthless, If you let me
10/16/09

@ParryLost: I think that's right. At least from what I recall from my rapidly diminishing high school education memories. #scienceart
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reekon
10/16/09

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: Wait, I thought that's how fraternal twins happen... when two sperms somehow were able to enter at the same time and are both accepted by the egg.
Hmm...this must be the reason I'm an IT engineer and not a doctor. :-P #scienceart
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DireWombat
10/16/09

@reekon: Fraternal twins result from two sperm fertilizing two different eggs. #scienceart
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CSX321
10/16/09

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: In college I spent a semester working in a biochem research lab investigating the role of calcium in all that. I can't tell you much about it, though, because I was basically just a glorified dish washer. Although I did have to make some trips to a slaughterhouse to pick up "research materials." Fertility research? I'll leave it to your imagination what the materials were. #scienceart
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
10/16/09

@reekon: Fraternal twins happen when two separate eggs are released during ovulation. Identical twins are when one fertilized egg (fertilized by one sperm) splits into two. #scienceart
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
10/16/09

@DireWombat: Opps, replied before seeing your response - sorry about that. #scienceart
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
10/16/09

@CSX321: I have an idea of what you went through - I spent a summer working at a salmon research station which dealt with reproduction. Although I dealt mostly with building an enclosure to video tape the salmon reproductive process (yes, it was fish porn). #scienceart
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/06/09

In reply to The Microscopic Beauty of Photography's Smallest Subjects
Mmm... #4 looks like a snack I can get at Ranch99.
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burlybax
10/06/09

@crashedpc - unrein: doesn't look like a snack you'd want to eat though
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crashedpc - Haifisch
10/06/09

@burlybax: "LOBSTER MUNCH"
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
10/06/09

@crashedpc - unrein: Dude, they ALL look like a snack you can get at Ranch99.
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Hamslicer
10/06/09

In reply to The Microscopic Beauty of Photography's Smallest Subjects
Wonderful images, we need more!
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BlueBeard
09/10/09

In reply to Pink Planets and Killer Pumpkins Dominate DC's Online Comics Competition
Revenge of the Homicidal Pumpkins? Tromaville may want to take a gander over that way.
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Log1c
09/09/09

In reply to Pink Planets and Killer Pumpkins Dominate DC's Online Comics Competition
Tessyleia 2.0 was kind of interesting as well. Reminds be a bit of Ghost in the Shell. I wouldn't mind seeing Goldilock and Tessyleia as complete comics.
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gods-n-clods
09/09/09

In reply to Pink Planets and Killer Pumpkins Dominate DC's Online Comics Competition
I scoured Zuda fairly well, and damn near gave up. Then I came across Bayou, and was impressed by great story and art. ([zudacomics.com])
I don't think the Zuda model of marketing webcomics is very good yet, and the "prize incentive" isn't very good incentivisizing... how about a -paper- comic publishing contract instead like Platinum Studio's ComicBook Challenge? I know webcomics isn't dead per se, but even with rock-solid talent, it's not worth much other than name-dropping and page hits. Much like the post-Napster progressives who thought the music industry will be taken back by the people via the internet, webcomics are a ridiculously inefficient medium (output energy from creators =/= net gains).
You don't need to show me the money, just show me the value, credit, or networking that justifies making these funny-pages. [/whaaambulance?]
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Klebert L. Hall
08/14/09

In reply to 20 Visions of the Future of Suburbia
Unfortunately, most of these ideas are completely unworkable, and/or based upon invalid assumptions. There's little here but infantile iconoclasm. It could have been an interesting subject if the quality of the submissions was higher.
-Kle.
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Edited by Klebert L. Hall at 08/14/09 6:04 AM Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred

Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
08/13/09

In reply to 20 Visions of the Future of Suburbia
If people wanted to live in an urban area, they would. Turning the suburbs into denser city-like environments is stupid. People would say, "Eww, they've turned into everything we tried to get away from" and just move farther out into exurbs.

Didn't the little fact of "90% of the growth has been in suburbs" cause any of these designers to think that maybe it was b/c people WANTED it? No, no, the citizens must have been forced by "Them" to leave the blessed cities, so we must bring the cities out there to save the poor benighted souls.
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Anekanta - killed by a cacodemon
08/13/09

In reply to 20 Visions of the Future of Suburbia
Most of these seem impractical, but a few of them are brilliant. I especially like the idea of suspending hydroponic farms above parking lots. Keeps the parking cool, and produces food. Just not sure about all the exhaust fumes going into edible plants, though.
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TheLostVikings R.O.A.C.H.
08/14/09

@Anekanta: A large part of of those exhaust fumes IS CO2, which the plants "eat", so an CO2 rich environment would probably be good for them actually.

And at night when the plants starts breathing oxygen, the parking lot will be nearly empty and free of CO2 fumes, which works out rather well I'd recon.
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