Science Cheerleader

The other night, I was watching one of my favorite local bands, Deville, perform at a cozy DC music venue when I noticed something familiar about guitarist, Ian Graham. That’s right — the famed Science Cheerleader t-shirt!  Those things are like gold around here.

Well, I “just so happened to have my HD video camera”, so expect to get the full story on how this up-and-coming band is embracing the spirit of citizen science.

John-the-Tourist writes:

In my attempt to keep up with high-energy physics news, I read the online publication, “Symmetry Breaking“.  “Symmetry Breaking” had an article with an fascinating set of photos of a sculpture (Quantum Man II, below). Based on your viewing angle, the sculpture would either appear solid or would melt away into an almost ethereal nothingness.  “Quantum Man II”  is a representation of the wave-particle duality of nature and is the work of artist and scientist Julian Voss-Andreae, of Portland, Oregon.

Julian has an interesting history:  During the 1990s he was a physicist and he participated in an experiment that showed the wave-particle duality of the largest object to date, the C₆₀ “buckyball”.  In the 2000s, Julian changed careers and is now crafting sculptures, many of which are based on scientific topics.   Several of Julian’s pieces are part of the “Worlds Within Worlds” exhibit, showing through April 16, 2010 at the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland (approximately 10 miles northeast of Washington D.C.).

I asked Julian for an interview, and he graciously accepted and answered my questions.  Note – In the following interview, [SC] = “Science Cheerleader” and [JVA] = “Julian Voss-Andreae.” (more…)

From John-the-Tourist:

Looking for that perfect holiday gift for the science cheerleader in your life?  Having a hard time finding it? I had that problem a couple of years ago, then I saw a blurb in the print version of Discover magazine titled “Micrograph Chic” which showed a pair of absolutely stunning earrings – the colors were vibrant and the pattern was beautifully abstract. The reason for the cool colors and impressive pattern was that the earrings were a photomicrograph of crystallized brain chemicals (dopamine, serotonin, etc), which was photographed through polarized light and then magnified about 600 times. Unfortunately, the Discover article didn’t include a URL, and my Google Search at the time didn’t come up with anything.  Sadly, I had to buy my wife some lame present like a frying pan.

Since I’m a cool science guy (and don’t want to get smacked on the head with another frying pan), I tried another Google search this year and I hit the jackpot!  (more…)