Hilarious Carbon Molecule

I am currently studying for my Organic chemistry exam and today I came across a really funny picture in my textbook - PY Bruice's Organic Chemistry (3rd Ed).

A quick background: What I'm studying is the different shapes a 6 carbon ring can take. This particular one is called a chair conformer (first picture). A chair conformer can flip over and become a chair facing the other way. In the process of doing that, it becomes a 'half-way' shape called a 'boat' conformer (second picture).

When I saw the third picture, I burst out laughing in the library.

Picture 1 The chair conformer

Picture 2

Picture 3 (LOL)

For more details about about chair conformers see (here)

The 21 Steps

'The 21 steps' by Charles Cummings is part of a project called 'Physical things Don't Matter' published by Penguin Books. The basic idea is to create short stories that are unique to the internet. So we have 21 steps which is a short story created through Google Maps. See (here)

Another cool example is a short story written and shown in real time in 5 one hour intervals. More info (here).

Wearable Technology

The Whisper[s] Research Group at Simon Fraser University

whisper[s] is a collaborative project involving artists (dance, sculpture, music), designers (of visuals, objects & textiles), computer scientists and hardware/ software engineers.

More Awesome Artchitecture & Biology

Mitosis

Here some interesting examples of work being done in Prof. Gerhard Diel's Architecture Dept at UdK, Berlin.

Architecture and Biology

Currently at UDK in Berlin there is a program, called PNEUMOCELL, which is trying to deisgn structures that are similar to the biological structure of a cell. These buildings look like surreal, transparent tissues growing on the surface of its landscape. (HERE)

The Pari Nadimi Gallery

Some awesome work at the Pari Nadimi Gallery in Niagara Falls, Ontario. TEXT&ART

Ravel's Mind

Ann Adams, Unraveling Bolero (bar by bar analysis of Ravel's Bolero)

On April 8, 2008, the New York Times described a case of a scientist named Dr Ann Adams, who began to loose her ability to speak and process language. As the disease progressed, Dr Adam's suddenly developed a strong desire to create artwork and her ability to visualize concepts became extremely strong. According to the article and a related paper (here), her artistic capacity became more developed as her ability to speak or process language became less developed.

Her story kind of reminds me of the great mathematician Ramanujan - who was unable to talk when he was child but spent a lot of time drawing strange symbols in his notebook instead. He later claimed that he would visualize his theorems at night while he was dreaming.

It is somewhat unique and interesting that, according to the NYTimes article, Dr Adam's mathematical ability deteriorated as the aphasia got worse.

Examples of Ann Adam's beautiful artwork is here