Category Archives: science!

"Sound weird? It's magnificent."

“NASA’s ‘Extreme Planet Makeover’; Crochet Coral Reef at the Smithsonian”

By Rachel Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 7, 2011; 2:44 PM
Art and science

And the rest of us just knit scarves . . . Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, National Museum of Natural History

An impressive exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History ties together art and science with yards and yards of sparkly yarn. The “Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef” is, amazingly, just what it sounds like: an enormous crocheted coral reef created by hundreds of local crafters, a spinoff from the worldwide Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project. (“Hyperbolic” refers to a kind of geometry that appears in some natural forms, including corals and sponges.) Sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim launched the project in 2005 in their Los Angeles living room to promote ecological awareness and highlight the need for conservation. There are miniature beaded-crochet sea anemones, woolen jellyfish and a plastic portion of the reef, created to bring attention to ocean pollution. Sound weird? It’s magnificent. The exhibit runs through April 24.

(You can go visit the page to read about NASA – I quoted the whole section about the coral because it was a difficult article to find online in the first place).

I’m a docent at the reef and I’m usually there on Tuesdays but I won’t be there today, unfortunately.

Studio 360: Godfather of Bacteria

I like Studio 360. (My favorite episode of all-time is still an episode from 2008, “Nikola Tesla: Strange Genius.” It wasn’t the point of this post, but I’m going to embed it, just because I can).

The astounding mad scientist life of Nikola Tesla. Just who was this pioneer of radio, radar, and wireless communication? We discover his legacy in the work of today’s scientists and artists. Samantha Hunt’s new novel The Invention of Everything Else is a fictional portrait of Tesla. Monologist Mike Daisey tells us how Tesla X-rayed Mark Twain’s head. And across the country, garage inventors toil in obscurity at the next breakthrough that will change the world.

A more recent episode made me think of Michele Banks, so I thought I’d post about it so I’d remember to make sure she heard it.

In 1928 the Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovered the fungus from which penicillin is derived. Fleming made the discovery while trying an unusual experiment: painting with strains of bacteria. Lindsay Patterson talked with a team that’s taking bacterial painting to a new level.

Michele has a new show, “Love and Death”, at the National Institutes of Health through March. I need to go check it out so I can post about it.

Flying snakes, redux

An article in the New York Times, “It’s a Bird. It’s a Plane. No, It’s a Flying Snake,” apparently led to lots of people googling “flying snakes,” which brought me an influx of traffic to an 8 year old post, flying snakes, math in the movies. I felt better after I figured that out. I’ve also decided I kind of want a job throwing snakes off towers, because that sounds cool.

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef opens tomorrow at the Smithsonian

Starting tomorrow, Saturday, October 16, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History there will be a temporary exhibit depicting a coral reef and related eco-system. The reef is constructed of crocheted coral made of yarn, found objects, and recycled materials. The reef is installed in the Sant Ocean Hall, on the first floor of the museum.

The [Hyperbolic] Crochet Coral Reef resides at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft and community art practice, and also responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalating problem of oceanic plastic trash.”

The Smithsonian community reef is a satellite project that’s part of a larger project created by the Institute for Advanced Figuring, “an organization dedicated to the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science, mathematics and the technical arts.”

Here’s IFF Co-Founder Margaret Wertheim’s TED Talk, “Margaret Wertheim on the beautiful math of coral.”

Other satellite reefs have been constructed in other places and there are more on the horizon, the Institute’s website has more information on that schedule.

I was pleased to be able to to contribute a number of pieces of coral that I made, which are now part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.

I was able to some devote some time to the assemblage and curation process and I can tell you – with no bias at all – that the reef looks amazing!*

More information about the exhibit can be found here and there will be lots of family-oriented activities in the exhibit area tomorrow, starting at 11. The reef will be on display until April 24, 2011.

*Maybe a little bias, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true!

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project

The hyperbolic crochet coral reef project is extremely cool.

The Smithsonian will be participating by installing a reef in October 2010 and you can participate. There’s a workshop and lecture this Sunday at the Natural History Museum from noon – 4. (rsvp: sicommunityreef@yahoo.com)

You can still participate even if you can’t attend that workshop.

You can contact the local organizers at sicommunityreef@yahoo.com to arrange a local community workshop or you can attend one at Fibre Space on June 24th, from 5-9 pm:

Join our Thursday night “Stitch in Space” every week, starting June 24th to make your own piece to the crochet coral reef. Jennifer Lindsay from the Smithsonian Community Reef will join us on the 24th to help everyone get started. Or you can find your own inspiration at the Institute For Figuring’s Gallery of Crocheted Models. Our reef will be on display in our front window before heading off to the Smithsonian in August to become part of the larger reef project.

Here’s video of a recent TED talk by Margaret Wertheim, co-founder of the The Institute For Figuring, in case you want to learn more (or you just can’t figure out what the hell I’m talking about and why it’s cool).