Driving 101

Now and then I still do little film experiments. I was going for something a little intense and dreamlike. Was fooling around with Sony Vegas and some footage from a recent trip along Highway 101. This segment was inspired by a sequence in "The Triplets of Belleville" - the imagery the cyclists watch as they peddle on their (usually) stationary bikes. I thought this one turned out semi-interesting. It's only 45 seconds long.

Metallic spider silk!

Here's a fine example of the intersection of multiple forms of badass science. It might seem odd on the surface but is driven by an enormous number of potential applications: spider silk that has been augmented with metals to make it even stronger.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090423/sc_nm/us_spider_silk_1

Scientists have long desired to find a way to master the art of synthesizing artificial spider silk. However, it's surprisingly complex stuff that is spun from an extremely small and sophisticated organ. Additionally, there's little chance of spiders being organized into the ol' "industrial farming" model, because as the article points out, they tend to eat each other.

Why do we care about spider silk? Because it has an incredibly high strength-to-weight ratio that makes steel cable look flimsy and brittle by comparison. This silk could be woven into super-textiles or braided into super-cables. And- it literally comes out of the backside of a little animal, rather than having to be mined and refined. Plus not even PETA would step up to argue for spiders' rights.

So, before we even get the kickass spider silk materials... wacky scientists decide to up the ante and create metal-ized spider silk. An alloy of sorts. What's now at stake? Imagine bullet-resistant (and sexy) t-shirts. Or perhaps finally, a cable strong enough to make the fabled "space elevator" a possibility.

And at the very least, a new character for Marvel - something along the lines of Venom + the T-1000? :)

Welcome to filmscience

This is the first post in my new blog, filmscience. In keeping with the title, this blog will attempt to constrain itself to the very broad topics of all things film*, all things science, and sometimes the intersection of the two.

This blog is a reflection of my suspicion that science geeks and film geeks have a very high overlap- which may include (among others) all scientists that like watching (or making) films, all film professionals that are highly technical, and all fans of science fiction or science-oriented documentaries. I suspect the interwebs are crawling with folks like this... like me.

I have been involved in film production now and again, but mostly I'm a fan.

In terms of science, it's all fair game. That said, my interests tend to focus on psychology, energy harvesting/scavenging, all things space exploration, data analysis/visualization, nanotechnology, advanced material science, sensor networks, entomology, AI, electronics, the "maker" and "hacker" movement, adruino, energy accounting systems, medicine, and robots.

My background is mostly in biology and social sciences, but I'm interested in all of it.

I hope to use this as a forum to collect news and other information on these topics, have some discussion, and occasionally write down some thoughts. It's largely for my benefit and reference - but if others enjoy it, all the better.

Kyle


* While I am definitely film-oriented (as "filmscience" may imply), there's no point in trying to meticulously avoid or shun television here. Why would I want to disrespect the medium that brought us Mythbusters, Battlestar Gallactica, and TNG? So, while I won't focus on TV, it's not taboo...