Biology

Stunning hyperrealistic glass flower models at Harvard

Stunning hyperrealistic glass flower models at Harvard

In the late 19th century, when biologists and botanists from Harvard were sailing all over the world taking specimens of every living creature they could find and sending them back home for study, a very serious problem arose in the accurate preservation of those specimens. There was no refrigeration and no practical color photography, and fresh plant and animal specimens rapidly decayed into colorless blobs of mush in jars full of alcohol or formalin. So then-director of the Harvard Botanical museum George L. Goodale commissioned German father-and-son glass artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka to create photorealistic replicas of fresh specimens in solid glass. The Blaschkas would go on to spend the next 50 years creating more than 3,000 such models, which are still on display at Harvard today. It’s a thing not to be missed in your time on this Earth.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
Russell the rave ‘raffe returns

Russell the rave ‘raffe returns

Ah, 2006…

Er, wait, I meant to say: Ugh! 2006! No doubt a hundred years from now future history will recall, as I do, that the only really good thing that happened in 2006 was the first appearance of Russell the Electric Giraffe at the San Mateo Maker Faire. The years have gotten steadily better since then, for me at least, and certainly for the Faire, and, it would appear, for Russell himself, who is now a five-year Maker Faire veteran. We heart you, oh gentle glowy grazing one. Long may your lava-lamps shine.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
Biomanufactured brick needs no firing, may be big deal

Biomanufactured brick needs no firing, may be big deal

Then again, if Calla lilies replaced each new brick on the planet, it would reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by at least 800 million tons a year. But we’d also be living in a world without useful new bricks to build stuff with. It is probably reasonable to expect that Dosier’s “Bacteria Bricks” will fare better as a construction material than Calla lilies, but whether they are truly comparable to conventional masonry in mechanical properties, durability, and weather resistance still remains to be proved. Also, her bricks take weeks to harden, compared to traditionally-fired bricks which can be manufactured in two days.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan30

Featured Maker: Michele Banks

Washington, DC artist Michele Banks, aka Artologica, is a painter who, in her own words, “uses an old and often-disrespected medium, watercolor, to create pieces that are anything but old-fashioned.” Her works in Makers Market focus on biological and medical themes, particularly the microscopy of living cells. Shown above is Cell Division Blue 1, a […]

Continue Reading Makemagazineuser
Featured Maker: Michele Banks

Featured Maker: Michele Banks

Washington, DC artist Michele Banks, aka Artologica, is a painter who, in her own words, “uses an old and often-disrespected medium, watercolor, to create pieces that are anything but old-fashioned.” Her works in Makers Market focus on biological and medical themes, particularly the microscopy of living cells. Shown above is Cell Division Blue 1, a 12 x 9″ canvas executing using a special “wet-on-wet” painting technique.

Continue Reading Makemagazineuser2