Blinded by Science

“IMPEACH!”

Activism, Blinded by Science, creative direct action, Oh Those Crazy Cloggies
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Imagine the fun a geek with something to say could have with one of these from your friendly neighborhood artactivist collective Graffiti Research Labs, seen here recently lighting up Art Rotterdam:

Lasertagged Rotterdam

Graffiti Research Labs Mark Up Buildings With L.A.S.E.R.TAG

The tech-savvy artists over at Graffiti Research Lab hacked together a large-scale tagging projector using a standard notebook computer, 5000 ANSI DLP projector, a 60mw green laser (apparently super illegal in a lot of places and very dangerous), an astronomer’s camera, and some other random crap.

The L.A.S.E.R.TAG tracks the motion of the green laser through the camera and then projects the ‘ink’ onto any large flat surface—like in this case, the side of a large building.

The lab has instructions on how to get started with creating your own tagging projector, and they’ve thankfully released the source code to help you on your way. But remember, even if you get one successfully built, you still need some art skills to properly do graffiti. – Alexander Yoon

Via Gizmodo Project details, pictures, video and source code here.

FridayTuesday catoctopus blogging

Blinded by Science, Natural World
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How smart are octopussies? Smart enough to learn how to unscrew the cap from a glass jar to get at the crab placed inside in an hour:

How smart are octopi? We taught her this trick in about an hour. First you place an empty glass jar in her tank. Because they are so curious she will investigate it and realize it’s not a threat. Next, you place a crab inside the jar, but without a cover on it. She of course will see the crab and simply reach in and grab the food. Then you place the cover on the jar and barely turn to secure it. She’ll figure out that by twisting the cap a bit it will come off and she gets the food. Finally, you screw the cap on and let her go at it.

Be sure to watch the video at the link above. (Found via Avedon.)

Prehistoric Shark Caught on Camera

Blinded by Science, Natural World, Video
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Frill shark

Click Picture for BBC Realplayer video
Still gallery of the frilled shark here.

The frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is a primitive shark species of the family Chlamydoselachidae in the order Hexanchiformes. The Southern African frilled shark is a proposed new species from the Southern African range.

These two species are very different from the other hexanchiform sharks, and it has been recently proposed that the two frilled sharks should be given their own order: Chlamydoselachiformes. Additional extinct types are known from fossil teeth; thought to be extinct itself, it was only discovered in Japanese waters in the 19th century.

This one was also found in Japanese waters by fishermen who alerted the staff at a marine park near Tokyo to the strange fish they’d found. The 1.6 metre long (the length of a 2-seater sofa) animal was transferred to the park but only lived for a short while in a tank. The park’s scientists speculate that it was unhealthy and disorientated to begin with.

There’s been a lot of geological actvity in this area very recently – there was an earthquake in the small islands south of Tokyo in mid-January – so could normally deep-water-dwelling sharks have been stunned by seismic waves moving through water? Could any reader with actual biological and/or geological expertise say if that’s a potential explanation?