Event 5: What's wrong with fat?

Last Friday I attended the event “What’s Wrong With Fat” Seminar sponsored by the UCLA Department of Sociology. At this event, three speakers from different departments of UCLA critiqued the book “ What’s Wrong With Fat”.

Professor Abigail Saguy, the author of the book, argued that the obesity epidemic is largely due to how media, politics and medical science frames it. Nowadays the media have simply claimed that being skinny is much better than being fat without explaining what the real problem. As the result, more and more people from all ages are very concerned about their physical shapes and weight number. As we discussed during the week of medical and art, some people even tried liposuction to get lean. For example, BMI is considered as an important index for people’s health. However, BMI higher than 30 doesn’t mean that you’re unhealthy. BMI is simply calculated by dividing the weight in kg by square of people’s health. It tells you nothing about your body composition. The interesting fact is that many professional bodybuilding athletes and amateur bodybuilders have the BMI higher than 30. Obviously they have high BMI because of more lean muscle and actually BMI has been never an accurate measure of obesity.

Weight scale tells you nothing either. A more accurate index is the fat percentage. It tells more about your body composition and how much of your weight are due to fat. Because media constantly report that fatness is unhealthy, people care too much about the weight and continuously try to drop weight. Ironically, some of them are actually dropping their lean muscle rather than fat to get lower BMI and weight, causing their original healthy body into unhealthy.

It's really interesting to attend this event and hear different opinions from people in different departments.People have too much prejudice about the fatness and I believe Professor Saguy is in the good direction to discuss fat rightly.

Citations:

1.Wilson, Stephanie. "IS BMI AN ACCURATE MEASURE OF OBESITY." . N.p., E-mail. <IS BMI AN ACCURATE MEASURE OF OBESITY>.

2.Erin, . "Understanding Body Fat Percentage and BMI." . N.p., Online Posting to Live Life Active. E-mail. <http://www.livelifeactive.com/2012/02/22/understanding-body-fat-percentage-and-bmi/>.

3. Picture taken by myself

4.Detrick, Paul. "UCLA Professor Abigail Saguy on What's Wrong with Fat?"Reason.com. N.p., 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

5."What's Wrong with Fat?." UCLA Center for the Study of Women, n. d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <http://www.csw.ucla.edu/events/whats-wrong-with-fat-a-book-discussion-with-abigail-saguy>.

Event 4: The Getty Museum

I visited the Getty Museum in the last week of this quarter when the Abelardo Morell “The Universe Next Door” was taking place. The Getty Museum is one of my all-time favorite places in Los Angeles and I have been here many times already and each time I will explore some new things attractive to me.

You always start your trip at the Getty Museum with a tram ride, which is a unique experience that provides you with views of LA from the top. Every time I arrive the actual museum , I’m drawn to the museum’s architectures and its groomed grounds. Their building reminded me of our lesson on math and art. Most wall and floor elements are 30 inch squares, creating the simple geometric forms of the building.

Inside the museum, I visited the exhibition “The Universe Next Door”. Morell experimented with the use of camera obscura works. This technique is basically drilling a hole in the wall of a room and making the rest of room dark, creating an image inside a dark room and depicting what is happening outside and the scenery from outside will project upside down on the wall opposite to the hole. The radius of the hole plays a significant role. For example, if the size of the circle is too big the picture will be brighter but less focused. There is also a room that illustrates exactly how camera obscura works and see why the image is inverted. The camera Obscura work is a good example of combination of math, physic and art. With the use of an extremely small pinhold and a correct alignment of mirrors on the wall, a completely inverted world was established!

Since taking pictures is not allowed in the museum, I got some examples online. One of the famous examples is The View of Brooklyn Bridge in Bedroom. Some hotel rooms that faced the Brooklyn Bridge had a small pinhole in their walls. The image of the bridge should be upside down, but Morell used a hidden mirror that makes it turned and reverse a second time.

I would definitely recommend people to visit the Getty Museum and especially the exhibition “The Universe Next Door” to enrich your knowledge of art and science.

Citations:

1."Los Angeles, 3–7 October 2006." . N.p., E-mail. <http://yank.to/Photos/2006/20061003_Los_Angeles/index.html>.

2.Lienhard, John. "CAMERA OBSCURA." . N.p., Online Posting to Engines of our ingenuity. E-mail. <http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1772.htm>.

3.Picture taken by myself

4."Abelardo Morell print." . N.p., Online Posting to New Art Edition. E-mail. <http://www.newarteditions.com/abelardo-morell-print-view-of-brooklyn-bridge-in-bedroom-aperture/>.

5.Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door (Getty Center Exhibitions)."Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door (Getty Center Exhibitions). Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

Event 3: Griffith Observatory

For my second event, I attended the Griffith Observatory. I have been there several times before but I only enjoyed the beautiful view. This time I paid much more attention on the scientific part and I found Griffith Observatory is one of the perfect places where the connection between Art and Science are so Beautiful.

In 1912 Griffith J. Griffith donated money to the City of Los Angeles for an observatory to be built on the top of mountain in Hollywood in his name. Griffith wanted to inspire people through astronomy and I did benefit from it. Griffith Observatory has become the most visited public observatories in the world.

Inside the observatory, I saw the vivid illustrations of our solar system, the universe, the milky way, our earth and other planets. I was able to learn how our earth orbits around the sun and the other planets , why this causes the bright day and dark night and why there are four different seasons. I remembered I was struggling to make clear about these concepts in my geology class in high school. But now I can easily understand better through the vivid model in Griffith Observatory.

Another part that impressed me is the Gunther Depth of Space exhibit. It enabled visitors to explore four fundamental transformations of perspective made possible by our explorations with spacecraft and new telescopes that are used everyday. This exhibit helped me to understand how planets were transformed into landscapes, the relationship between stars

The Griffith Observatory is the perfect place to learn about the connection between art and science. It has many scientific exhibits and it also displays them with such artistic design. The view from the observatory allows us to see our beautiful Los Angeles from the top. I will definitely go there again later.

Citations:

1."Gunther Depths of Space." . N.p., Online Posting to Griffith Observatory. E-mail. <http://www.griffithobs.org/exhibits/bdepthsofspace.html>.

2. Picture taken by myself

3."Whut Glamour / Griffith Observatory." . N.p., Online Posting to Homemaker. E-mail. <http://hommemaker.com/2012/03/08/whut-glamour-griffith-observatory/>.

4. VILLANUEVA, John. "What Causes Day and Night?." . N.p., Online Posting to Universe today. E-mail. <http://www.universetoday.com/59707/what-causes-day-and-night/>.

5."What causes the seasons?." . N.p., Online Posting to How stuff works. E-mail. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question165.htm>.

Week 9: Space and Art

This week we end our class with the topic of space and art. In my opinion, space is one of the most fascinating areas of human explorations and our knowledge of space is still limited. The topic of space and art is very complicated, as Professor Vesna noted in lecture that it combines all of our previous topics into the perfect conclusion of the course.

We started to explore the universe thousands of years ago. One of the most famous scientists was Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus is a mathematician and also an astronaut. He was the first person who introduced that it is the sun, rather than earth, at the center of the solar system and used mathematical details to prove it.

People began their explorations of space thousands of years ago and got great breakthroughs in recent decades. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite Sputnik into space, beginning what is known as the “Space race”. In responding to the “race”, NASA invented the series of Apolo. However the Soviet Union still took the lead. After successfully launching a living dog and chimpanzees into space, the Soviet Union began to try to send humans into space and Yuri Gagarin became the first human to be launched into space. People’s interest in space also increased when the “Space race” started. More and more materials related to space were added into our classes.The “Space race” also accelerated the development of space technology and nowadays more and more countries are able to launch their own satellites and even send living humans to ramble in space. On December 3, 2013 China will launch “Chang’e 3” which has a robotic lander and a rover into space and it will land on Moon to begin its lunar exploration mission.

Space has also inspired the world of entertainment and science fiction plays a huge role in the intersection of art and space. The movie ET was one of the first films to address the idea of alien lives and audiences showed great responses to the science fiction movies related to space. Now we have more and more space movies like Star Trek and Gravity and they still intrigue people of all ages.

With the development of space technology, more and more interesting new stuff in space will be discovered and maybe one day we will find that things that happened in Star Trek and ET really exist!

Citations:

1.Austin, Alex. "Happy Birthday Copernicus!." . N.p., E-mail. <http://alexautindotcom.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/happy-birthday-copernicus/>.

2."Sputnik 1." . N.p., Online Posting to Image of the Day Gallery. E-mail. <http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/201353main_rs_image_feature_924_946x710.jpg>.

3."Yuri Gagarin." . N.p., Online Posting to Inyourposcker. E-mail. <http://www.inyourpocket.com/russia/Moscow/Yuri-Gagarin_72055f>.

4.Winner, Derek. "E.T." . N.p., E-mail. <http://derekwinnert.com/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial-classic-film-review-303/>.

5."The space race." . N.p., Online Posting to History. E-mail. <http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>.

5.

Week 8: Nanotechnology and Art

Nanotechnology is a term I often heard but didn't realized what exactly it is. Through this week’s lecture Dr. Gimzewski gave us a deep explanation of nanotechnology from its history and applications. Nanotechnology has been revolutionizing the world of  art and technology for many years and it’s much more present in our lives than we are aware of it. Many of our clothes , electronic products and even food contain some elements of nanotechnology.

The silver nanoparticles can destroy the bacteria effectively so it has a variety of applications. For example, many sportwears like socks and underpants contain silver nanoparticles that have an antimicrobial effect so you can wear them for a long time without smelling bad. It can also be used in food packaging bag and other antibacterial products.

silver nanoparticles

One famous example of applications of nanotechnology in our lives is Donna Srgo. Donna surge is an Australian designer who created dresses with Morphotex fabric, an Nanotech-engineered material. This material is structured to mimic the properties of Blue morpho butterfly wings. Instead of getting its color by the pigment, this material gets its color through its internal structure alone, resulting in pure color which will never fade. It replaces the use of toxic dyes and will be better for our environment and the human health.

We have found many applications of nanotechnology in the modern society, but actually nanotechnology is not an entirely new technology emerging in recent several decades. We can also find nanoparticles in some ancient artistic works. The Lycurgus Cup from the Roman era of 400 AD appears jade green when you look at the cup in daylight and appears red if you illuminate it from inside. This mystery puzzled scientists for decades and wasn't solved until 1990. When scientists scrutinized broken fragments under a microscope and discovered that the Roman artisans used particles of silver and gold and grounded down them until they were as small as 50 nanometers in diameter. When metal such as gold and silver are broken down into nanoparticles, their optical properties change because the way in which the particle absorbs light wavelengths changes. Roman artisans are actually the nanotechnology pioneers. The mysterious beauty of The Lycurgus Cup is a perfect example of combining art and nanotechnology.

I am very surprised that we are currently exposed to a lot of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has so many great features that fascinated me and I believe it will surely bring a lot of more benefits to humans.

Citations:

1. "Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles." . N.p., Online Posting toFuture Chemistry. E-mail. <http://www.futurechemistry.com/standaard.php?id=2351>.

2. Merali, Zeeya. "This 1,600-Year-Old Goblet Shows that the Romans Were Nanotechnology Pioneers." Sep 2013. N.p., E-mail. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/This-1600-Year-Old-Goblet-Shows-that-the-Romans-Were-Nanotechnology-Pioneers-220563661.html>.

3. "Cambridge University wants to take its flexible opals to market." . N.p., Online Posting to Frogheart. E-mail. <http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=10235http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=10235>.

4. Malik Chua, Jasmin. "“Morphotex” Dress Mimics Butterfly Wing Shimmer—Without Any Dyes." . N.p., E-mail. <http://www.ecouterre.com/morphotex-dress-mimics-butterfly-wing-shimmer-without-any-dyes/>.

5. Soutter, Will. "Nanotechnology in Clothing." . N.p., E-mail. <http://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3129>.