Echolocation

This is my ultrasonic sensor, during the first days of the radar residency i have been doing some experiments with this to find out how it works – essentially i am hoping to use it as a way of creating a human echo-locating device. essentially it seems that this measures the distance between an ultra-sound pulse and its echo. we connected this up to a oscilloscope to see how obstacles looked in terms of the sound reflection…

Apparently, Shrews are the only terrestrial mammals known to echo-locate [and the Tenrecs of Madagascar]. The shrews emit series of ultrasonic squeaks.

“Human echolocation is the ability of humans to sense objects in their environment by hearing echoes from those objects. This ability is used by some blind people to navigate within their environment. They actively create sounds, such as by tapping their canes or by making clicking noises with their mouths. Human echolocation is similar in principle to active sonar and to the animal echolocation employed by some animals, including bats and dolphins….Some blind people have described the phenomenon not as a learned method of navigation, but as an inherent and intuitive extra sense. For example, a blind person could walk past a line of trees and feel a “pressure” at their side as they passed each tree. The cause of this would be the echo of the sound of their footsteps; however, they may not consciously be aware of this mechanism, only that the phenomenon exists and can often be relied upon to detect obstacles.”

Pauls experiment investigates how dolphins detect sound using the jaw bone – this box has metal rods inside in a line [aproximatly representing the allignment of teeth in a jawbone] – so as the sound wave travels through the channel, the rods act as a filtering device – or at least that is the hypothesis [very briefly]. Apparently dolphins use their jawbone as a way of honing in on the direction of certain sounds.

Experiment with electric fish

Here are some of the latest images from the Enki project…

The main view of the experiment chamber. The Enki installation at Cornerhouse is now up and running. There are experiments by appointment every 15mins, and all the data is being collected.

It has taken me ages to make these comms units, they contain16 interconnecting cables within a noise reducing or shielded structure.

The Table has two monitors one from the fish room and one from the human room. You can speak to the person in the experiment via a mic.

Inside the sound proofed room for the human there is a chair and the sensor interface.

There is a window into the fish room on the side of the chamber

The room containing the fish is electrically shielded.

spectropica “Dreamachine” /2008/

spectropia, originally uploaded by Antony Hall.

Greg enjoys the brain machines at Spectrpia conference in Latvia 2008 presentation from 10111.ORG (Gianluca Ruggeri and Filippo Filliger) “Dreamachine” /2008/. The artists recreated some of the original devices and gave a presentation of the history of the dream machine. They also made screen printed templates for creating your own.

http://www.rixc.lv/08/en/exhibition/artists.html

auditory and optical illusions

This page from Diana Deutsch has some excellent examples of auditory illusions – This speech to song example is really suprising – you should take the time to listen to the mp3s provided…
http://www.acoustics.org/press/156th/deutsch.html

This page has some great interactive examples of optical and sonic illusions
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/imager/contributions/flinn/Illusions/Illusions.html

and finally this one, its a bit silly but works really well,the ‘virtual Barbour’ shop or ‘hair cut’ you need to use headphones to listen to this one…
http://fn4.putfile.com/getfile/1202092920video1234sslash2523182989.mp3

Lionel-Porter Chemcraft Chemistry Lab, 1958

Lionel-Porter Chemcraft Chemistry Lab, 1958, originally uploaded by Chemical Heritage Foundation.

Last year I made some science kits for teachers, these were activity packs with instructional materials. This year I am looking at making art works based on kits for home tabletop experimentation. This site has some lush images of chemistry sets, in particular –I like this one…

iLog developments

check out the latest prototype iLog!!! Over the past few weeks the owl project have been developing some new iLogs – This is a test run before it is finally sealed up and polished…Tilt sensors help give a more physical interaction – you have to swing it about a bit to do any thing…The other Owls – Simon and steve currently working on ilogs with accelerometers…

Fully programmable USB connective.
3 controllers (One switchable to Light sensor)
4 directional tilt switching.
4 push buttons
2 Toggle switches
http://www.owlproject.com/

Forgotten nematode experiment

Rummaging through boxes in my studio i found a lunch box containing the nematode culture my sister gave me for Christmas. It was an unusual present – a tub of yellowish slime smelling of vinegar. These nematodes feed on yeast. The growth medium is porridge oats and a bit of yeast to get it going.

The microscopic worms form tree like patterns as they creep up the sides of the container; writhing masses of worms form super highways; (branches) either to escape the saturated lower regions of the culture or in seeking of new food – i dont know yet. these branchlets seem to persist for quite a while.

I mixed up 3 cultures to with varying amounts of oats and yeast and water unfortunately i lost my notes and forgot about this since Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were still fermenting & wriggling away in this tub with excellent results…

The original Tub showed stubby branches which did not go very high in the container. (originally these branches spread all over the inner surfaces) worms were still invisible.

Tub A and C pictured below..
Nematodes form into evenly spaces spots, clusters of tiny worms, around the inner surface. The worms are less than 1mm long but fairly active – in tub C the worms are inactive and form faint irregular branchings

Tub B
Had very active complex branchings, and the worms had grown to about 2mm!
There is an interesting dynamic with the movement.

In the film (which was made in a bit of a rush) you will notice that when the worm moves across free space & meets another worm they move against each other the seem temporarily magnetize to each other & sometimes to deflect trajectories. This has to be partly to do with capillary build up of liquids around the worms bodies. Perhaps it is easier to collectively amass to hold fluid together, perhaps making it easier to move and feed. I plan to do some time lapse of this…

Slime mold escapes

Simon Parks a microbiologist at University of Surrey, & represents & a “collective” of artists working with slime molds called the Physarum Dynamic. see http://www.unnecessaryresearch.org/

He sent me these amazing images of slime molds creeping over a book. apparently a laboratory accident of some kind – these molds try to escape the confines of the petri dishes given the chance. I would not like to fall asleep near one.

He as well as other members of the institute of unnecessary research have been keeping these as pets.
Simon also works with these ‘bio-fluids’ bacterium which appear to behave like fluids, rather than typical bacterial cultures which tend to propagate in circular growths. I am still not clear on the mechanism of this phenomena, But here is Simon’s take on it;

“This type of bacterium grows as a long chain of many thousands of individual rod-like cells. The chain is extended by the growth of individual bacteria within the chain and these generate a pushing motion. Single chains of bacteria, join together to form threads and the pulsing power is amplified. I think this is how the waves are generated with whole masses of bacterial threads uniting to become a wave that flows around objects and becomes turbulent”

In this image the growth filaments or strands seem to be encircling this opening in the medium; the circular hole that was cut in the agar gel – this looks as if it were liquid pouring through a hole. It would appear that the bacterium obeys the laws of fluid mechanics.

Tardigrades In Space (TARDIS)

A few years back I was trying to extract Tardigrades (Moss bear or Water piglet!)from old moss specimens at Manchester Museum – as it is reported that these animals can survive in a dehydrated state for over a hundred years. These are microscopic extremophiles that live in moss. I had no luck – but did find a multitude of other interesting microscopic artifacts. last night I found out that a satalite has been launched carrying a team of elite tardinauts into space to see if they are able to survive the solar radiation. “They also are resistant to levels of X-ray radiation that are hundreds of times more lethal to humans and other organisms. This resilience stems from the tardigrade’s ability to survive without water. ” If anything can survive the extreme conditions of open space – it will be Tardigrades- follow the link to this site to find out more…

Tardigrades In Space (TARDIS)

Tardigrades In Space or “TARDIS” is the first research project to evaluate the ability of tardigrades to survive under open space conditions. TARDIS is one of the projects within the Biopan-6 research platform provided by European Space Agency (ESA), and will be sent into space with the russian FOTON-M3 mission.

Water shoes – walk on water!

I am proud to present a scanned in plans for the construction of water shoes. The “Hobbies New Annual” presents many projects such as building flying planes, radios and model dioramas etc – however this project stands out. I borrowed this book from my wifes father ages ago – he now accuses me of stealing it! As a child Harriet had always asked if he could make these – for obvious reasons he thought better of it. The book states…

“When complete – these will be suitable for day tripping on local water ways or for longer jaunts around the coast” Excellent – If any one is up for making a pair – perhaps you can join me next year for a water walk?

As you can see from these plans the design is constructed from an old waterproof coat, and other simple materials – surely with a little modification – a safe and working version of this can be made. The obvious concern in what happens when you fall over? I think these should be tried in shallow water first.

Chemical waves – bz reaction

Finally got around to experimenting with the reaction – trying to work out the best way to get a dramatic visual result – sandwiching the mix between glass and the base of a petri dish worked well – but the waste gas product creates bubbles which eventually obscure the reaction – so we tried to get an even covering over the glass by getting it perfectly flat.

Nicks brother had an idea to try the reaction vertically – which worked amazingly well.

The Carnivorous Syndrome in 3D

I was reading about this project in Make magazine – he grows different carnivorous plants from seed, and has filmed the growth process over a year in 3D time-lapse using a LEGO robot to make stereo-graphs using a standard digital camera.

You can buy the DVD from the site (you will need 3D glasses to see the 3D effect).http://www.3dsyndrome.com

Pond life

Here is the original drawing from a project to create a sustainable ecosystem inside a globule of water (1999-2004) – I am just modifying this to include the addition of a laser to detect micro acoustic sounds and sub-sonic architectural noise. the droplet of liquid acts as a natural sensitive body – that can modulate the laser, acting like a lens.

Non-living Dissipative Systems

Its too late at night to be writing anything meaningful about slime molds, I have read that its is quite common to find it in the woods Looking at this site I think I may have actually seen some. This bears some relevance the the BZ reaction we have been working on…

“The investigation of such self-organizing chemical systems is still going on. All these chemical systems, mainly variants of the BZ-reaction, strongly point in the direction of corresponding biochemical processes in Organisms, for example the aggregation patterns of the Slime Mold. This mold consists of amoebae (unicellular animals) living on the forest floor. When starved (i.e. finding themselves in unfavorable conditions) they aggregate into a multicellular body which can then move in search of a more favorable habitat. The aggregation is triggered by the release of the compound cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) from some of the amoebae”

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm /a>

Spiral waves in colonies of the mold Dictyostelium discoideum. These patterns are created when the mold forms aggregates in response to some external ‘ stress’, such as a lack of moisture or nutrients.

Robo-fin

These projects investigate numerous applications of Neurophysiology, Sensor based motion guidance, experimental methods include measurement of the propulsion capabilities of robotic models of electric fish “We’ve developed a hypothesis regarding why active sensing animals such as electric fish, bats, and rats tend to have highly accurate spatial maps of their surround. We are testing this hypothesis using fish mazes.”

the robo-fin is a robot based on the sinusoidal fin movements of the knife fish.

“Our research group pursues both empirical and modeling efforts in mechanics and neurobiology, integrating the two together within simulation environments.”

http://www.neuromech.northwestern.edu/uropatagium/

neurostimulation and fish

The earliest recorded human effort at neuro-stimulation appears to have been that of the Mesopotamian healer Scribonius Largus 47AD (?) who used electrical currents to produce transient pain relief.

By either the direct application of electrical torpedo fish (eels, of the type shown below) to the human body or by placing painful extremities into a pool of water containing torpedo fish the resulting electrical shocks stunned the nervous system allowing an immediate and residual numbness in the extremity.

In this application electrical torpedo fish were the very first means of achieving transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for therapeutic purposes. This form of treatment was particularly popular for the treatment of gouty arthritis.

Pliny (AD 61-113) commented on the fact that while the torpedo fish was not itself sluggish, it could induce sluggishness in other fish. He also detailed how to extract the medicinal magic of the torpedo fish into oils and ointments used for various ailments, or more popularly either to cool lust or to induce love.

In Plato’s (428-348 BC) dialoge Meno Socrates is told “you seem both in appearance and in your power over others to be like a torpedo fish, who torpifies those who come near him, as you have now torpified me, I think. For my soul and my tongue are really torpid and I do not know how to answer you.”

The affects of a shock from the electric Torpedo Fish, which lived in the Mediterranean, were well known. What caused of the affects was not. Aristotle (384-322 BC) said that the torpedo fish “narcotize” its prey.

BZ reaction

Last year my self and Nick Senior (Chemist and materials scientist) got together to recreate the BZ reaction – “The Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction is a spatio-temporal chemical oscillator.” which sounds excellent in its self – but to see this reaction for real is quite un-nerving in a strange way. I have made a page about it which has all the information on this (see pages) This year we are going to try and interface it with sensors to see if we can use the rhythmical pulses to control musical chords. hopefully this will be on show in Prague later in the year…

In this photo from our experiment last year – two spiral formations have developed, they rotate in synchronization and in opposite directions! the image covers about 5cm section of liquid squashed between glass.

BZ reaction page

Shielded Tents

Shielded Tents are based on the Faraday cage principle and are used to cut out electromagnetic interference – (wif, phone signals etc)

I have been considering using one of these to put people in while they interface with the fish. People have been making foil lined clothes to block out RFID scanners – so I am thinking I will need to make my own cage using a foil lining. as these cages are well expensive.
http://www.hollandshielding.com/faraday/shieldedtents.php

electrical tracking systems

I found this article on http://www.jyi.org/news/nb.php?id=905 JYI, Inc. is a exciting, student-led initiative to broaden the scope of the undergraduate scientific experience. The experiment sounds quite interesting. The evolution of the mono-fin is apparently to minimize distortion if the fishes body while swimming (tis is one theory anyway) – and this suggests that it can also compensate for the swaying movements of plants purely through sensory response?

“Electric” Fish Illuminate How Brain Directs Movement
“Two properties of the fish, called glass knifefish, made them ideal for motion studies. First, the nocturnal fish “see” in the dark by emitting weak electric signals and gathering feedback through special electroreceptors in their brain cells. Second, the fish are capable of moving back and forth in a small tube, a behavior crucial to the study design.

The researchers used robotics to move a small plastic tube back and forth with increasing frequency. The fish, which used the tube as a hiding place, performed an electrical tracking technique to stay hidden in the tube as it moved. But the fish could only process the speed of the moving tube below a frequency of one motion per second (1Hz), a quality scientists describe as “low-pass” since receptors in brain cells only detect frequencies lower than a certain limit.

Electro-location in fish

Nelson Lab is one of the best recourses for information on the electric fish – it has also the most advanced computer visualizations of EOD discharge during prey capture…

“Computer reconstruction of electrosensory images
By combining the physical principles of electrosensory image formation and our knowledge of the response properties of electrosensory afferent nerve fibers, we can use computer models to reconstruct electrosensory images observed by the fish during electrolocation. The figure below shows a computer reconstructed image sequence from our prey capture studies. “

Fish Perform Spatial Pattern Recognition and Abstraction

I have been fascinated by this project – Part 2 of the ENKI project will be based around this particular experiment…

Christian Graff, Gwenaël Kaminski, Michael Gresty, and Théophile Ohlmann

“We presented the fishes with different spatial structures, each consisting of a similar tube of insulating material, with eight electrodes set into the inside surface of the tube and wired to a switchboard outside the tank. Depending on the way electrodes were externally interconnected, these assemblies created different “shapes” in space. The shapes were 3D patterns of distortion in the electrical flux issuing from the fish’s electric organ. They formed virtual objects or places that could not be distinguished by visual, mechanical, or chemical means but only existed through electricity, similar to the way in which virtual objects or places on a TV screen only exist through light. In order to perform our tasks, the fish had to actively explore the maze by “scanning” with its electrical field and sensing distortion patterns caused by sinks and sources of flux.”

http://www.sciencedirect.com Current Biology
Volume 14, Issue 9, 4 May 2004, Pages 818-823

God helmet – Michael Persinger

neurologist Michael Persinger created a helmet modified with electrical coils that can create electromagnetic fields in the wearer’s temporal lobes that induces “religious” experiences in the people who put it on. I think the low-fi experimental devises he has made are excellent – I have seen several different types and it seems that some people are making these to order – although they seem relatively easy to recreate.
http://www.geocities.com/satanicus_2/GodHelmet.html

“This is a device to investigate whether religious, spiritual, and mystical experiences had a natural rather than a supernatural source. He speculates that we are somehow programmed so that they can generate religious experiences via our brain’s internal processes. He had noted that there were many points of similarity between seizures experienced by some individuals who suffered from epilepsy, and the types of mental and spiritual experiences that St. Paul, Moses, and many religious mystics had reported. 3 Persinger wondered if visions, a sense of the immediate presence of God, and other mystical experiences could be artificially created in the laboratory by magnetically inducing changes in the temporal lobes of a person’s brain.”

electrical life – andrew crosse

This is one of my favorite tales of strange science – I have tried to recreate this experiment after finding these same ‘acari’ spontaneously generating from cups of moldy coffee I was observing for several months as part of an exhibition…

Crosse was from somerset and had a laboratory with a large copper antenna, apparently for attracting lightning.

(This following text and images taken from this excellent site http://www.rexresearch.com/1index.htm )

Andrew CROSSE: Abiogenesis of Acari

In 1837, Andrew Crosse reported to the London electrical Society concerning the accidental spontaneous generation of life in the form of Acurus genus insects while he was conducting experiments on the formation of artificial crystals by means of prolonged exposure to weak electric current. Throughout numerous strict experiments under a wide variety of conditions utterly inimical to life as we know it, the insects continued to manifest. The great Michael Faraday also reported to the Royal Institute that he had replicated the experiment. Soon afterwards, all notice of this phenomenon ceased to be reported, and the matter has not been resolved since then.

(and this text from http://bizarrelabs.com/acarix.htm )

This is Acarus electricus, a mite first noticed by Andrew Crosse in 1837. Crosse was an amateur scientist, and was conducting experiments on the growth of crystals by subjecting certain minerals to long term, low level electric currents. The mineral sample, an iron oxide, was imbibed with a toxic mixture of hydrochloric acid and a silicate of potash solution, and continuously electrified by means of a battery. Several weeks into the experiment, filaments began to appear on the stone, which apparently resembled insects. Eventually, Crosse noticed movement, and detected a great number of living mites on the sample. He repeated the experiment under closely monitored conditions using sterilized and sealed equipment. Again, the mites appeared. Word soon got out, and popular opinion was that living creatures had been synthesized from inorganic matter. Crosse was called everything from a blasphemer to a Frankenstein, despite the fact that he never made any claims that he had created life, or even discovered a new species. In fact, he never attempted to explain the phenomenon, other than hazarding a guess that they may have hatched from airborne eggs deposited before the device was sealed.