Nabokov's Notebook

A blog about the science in art and the art in science. "I discovered in nature the nonutilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a game of intricate enchantment and deception." -Vladimir Nabokov (Writer, Lepidopterist.)

[staceythinx]

MicroB Inc. by Mahendra Nazar 

[aycarambas]

Geological Cross Sections of the Earth, Rivers and Mountains Antique Print 1899 at CarambasVintage http://etsy.me/Xjs5ND

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Dean Potter crossing the highline at dusk at Cathedral Peak, Yosemite National Park. 

Video by Bryan Smith

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The world's tallest artificial tornado spins at 34 meters (111 feet) from floor to ceiling. It was originally constructed as a device to eliminate smoke in the event of a fire in the Mercedes-Benz Museum, but it has also drawn spectators in the time since its installation. 

[staceythinx]

Darkened Cities by Thierry Cohen imagines the starry skies we’d see in urban areas if we turned off all the lights.

About the project:

Before these pictures can exist, the sky from one place has to be superimposed upon cityscape from another. It is impossible to see this detail in the night sky above a city. Atmospheric and light pollution combine to make looking into the urban sky like looking past bright headlights while driving.

By travelling to places free from light pollution but situated on precisely the same latitude as his cities, Cohen obtains skies which, as the world rotates about its axis, are the very ones visible above the cities a few hours earlier or later. To find the right level of atmospheric clarity, Cohen has to go into the wild places of the earth, the Atacama, the Mojave, the western Sahara.

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Wrote a post about light pollution last year; it's always been one of my pet causes. 

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In case you haven't heard yet, they've finally caught the giant squid on video. AND IT HAS CRAZY EYES. 

You'll be able to see the full video on January 27, when the Discovery Channel runs its special, "Monster Squid: The Giant is Real." 

Already on my DVR...

[nabokovsnotebook-blog]

Claire Brewster takes maps and puts birds on them. 

[fablehill]

Hand-colored prints from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, 18th-20th century.

[nybg]

Do you love old botanical prints? The digital collections of NYBG’s Mertz Library has thousands that you can browse online. The grandaddy resource for prints of this sort is  the BHL or Biodiversity Heritage Library and their excellent Flickr sets. The BHL is an official digital partner of ours and you will find tons of images from our collections amongst theirs. These prints are perfect for the short days of winter when all you can do is daydream about next spring’s beautiful blooms. ~AR

[escapekit]

Nuvem (Cloud)

Take a walk through the clouds in this installation by multimedia artist Eduardo Coimbra. Based in Rio de Janeiro, Coimbra studied engineering and architecture, which are both reflected in the majority of his creative projects. Many of his site-specific pieces are large-scale works that explore the idea of landscapes as synthetic constructions that represent reality.

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A tribute to Nabokov today:

Eiji Watanabe cut butterflies from the pages of field guides and pinned them to the walls of a room for his piece A Butterfly's Eye View.

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James Nizam's images depict a single beam of light reflected around a room. 

[nouralogical]

Tatiana Plakhova: BIO Patterns

Complexity Graphics illustrations combine the trends of multiple areas of design, such as information, math design and infographics, and brings elements from science, energetics, space, various kinds of “nets”, cultural patterns and biology.

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Though the artist Gino De Dominicis passed away in 1998, his larger-than-life surrealist sculpture Calamita Cosmica still travels the world for display. The skeleton is anatomically correct, save for the change to the nose bone that you can see above.  

[itsokaytobesmart]

The Mississippi River delta, as imaged by Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite. As 17,000 cubic meters of water pump out every second, vegetation (here colored red) is fed by the rich sediment. The fractal nature of its branching is a natural property that emerges from finding the most efficient branch pattern to feed a large surface area.

Earth, you damn fine.

(via Unpopular Science)

[lookatthisstory]

[The] book, Why We Are Here, is a rich examination in text and photos of [evolutionary biologist E.O.] Wilson’s boyhood home of Mobile, Ala. The photos show a distinct people, nature and, most importantly, place — infused with Wilson’s unique scientific theories on human existence.

“I tried to photograph the people and places in a way that related to something bigger,” said [photographer Alex] Harris over the phone.

Harris, who also grew up in the South, made five trips to Mobile — the last with Wilson. He said stepping foot in Mobile felt like a homecoming of sorts. And once there, he set off to photograph a “cross-section of contemporary Mobilians, looking at their lives, families, institutions and natural environment.”

‘Why We Are Here’: Capturing The Spirit Of Mobile, Ala.

Photo Credit: Alex Harris

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Christopher Marley's Coleoptera mosaics (and also, sometimes, Lepidoptera), from his Pheromone series. 

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Elyse Graham creates these pseudo-geodes from materials like resin, plaster, and sand.