photo credit: Sabin+Jones LabStudio

I was recently at the annual AAAS meeting in San Diego, the largest scientific conference in the world. After days and day of symposiums and discussions (some of which make you want to gnaw off your own ear), I walked into the exhibit halls hoping for a respite. In a corner of the enormous room, I found the winners of the International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. I was simply blown away. Self assembling polymers arranged around a green sphere showing the need for all of us to work together to save the planet. 75,000 cable zip ties illustrating lung endothelial cells pushing against and pulling on the protein matrix that surrounds them. The works were absolutely astounding and illustrated the benefit of artists adding their perspective to often difficult-to-understand scientific concepts.

The growing blend of art and science is not lost in our local community. Next week, two events in particular illustrate the trend. On Wednesday April 7th, Swissnex San Francisco hosts a discussion on Visualizing Science focusing on how artists can enrich scientific concepts and results. The panel discussion features a scientific illustrator, marine biologist, and exhibit developer from the Exploratorium. The scientific illustrator, Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, spent years drawing mutated insects near fallout areas of nuclear power plants, including Chernobyl. Even if I tried, I couldn't have made up a stranger idea for an art project. The results are stunning and will appear in WIRED’s May issue. For those unfamiliar with Swissnex, it is a venue for the discussion of science, education, art, and innovation – highlighting the ingenuity of Switzerland and the Bay Area.

On Sautrday April 10th, see art and science merge in celebration of Yuri Gagarin's first orbit around the Earth. The annual Yuri's Night Bay Area is a blend of space science, interactive art, and popular music all in the cavernous Moffett Field Hangar. This year's art installations include the Raygun Rocketship, a retro 100' tall rocketship which debuted at Burning Man and the Serpent Mother, a 180' animatronic fire breating snake. Worry not science fans, as there will be over 100 exhibits featuring an outdoor planetarium and even Steve Wozniak speaking on the early days of Apple. Music acts include Common and Les Claypool along with dozens of other performers.

Visualizing Science
When: Wednesday, April 7th, 630-930 PM
Where: Swissnex San Francisco
Cost: Free, RSVP Required

Yuri's Night Bay Area
When: Friday April 9th and Saturday April 10th
Where: Moffett Field, NASA Ames Hangar
Cost: Friday is free for students and educators. Saturday is $55.

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Yuri Alexyevich Gagarin, "Columbus of the Cosmos"

Yuri Alexyevich Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut.  He was the first human in space and is often referred to as "the Columbus of the Cosmos".   His spacecraft Vostok-1 orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961 for the duration of 108 minutes.   Yuri's Night, usually celebrated on April 12^th celebrates this historic first flight.

Yuri's Night also celebrates another April 12^th anniversary notable in the annals of space travel.  Twenty years after Yuri Gagarin's historic flight, the first NASA space shuttle flight, STS-1 was launched into space.  STS is short for Space Transportation System.  NASA names each flight STS with the chronological number after it.  STS-1 was launched on April 12, 1981; the shuttle orbited the earth 37 times during a 54.5 hour mission.

Since 1961, our interest in space and the exploration of its depths has magnified.  Recently NASA launched the Kepler mission.  On March 7^th, 2009, the Kepler Mission successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Kepler, which is a specialized telescope, was designed to find the first Earth-size planets orbiting stars within a "habitable zone". A habitable zone is an orbit around a star that would enable a planet to formulate and upkeep an atmosphere and the ability for water to form in pools on the planet's surface.  Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life.  Thus from the nascent flight of orbiting our own Earth, space travels has evolved to look amongst other start.  This progress is certainly something worthy of celebration!

An exhibit on the Kepler Mission along with other NASA initiatives like SOFIA, LCROSS and NLSI fascinated guests last Thursday night.  For one guest, meeting Buzz Aldrin in person was the highlight of his night.   My favorite aspect of the evening was a 3-D rendered tour of the moon and neighboring space.  I am anxious to see what will be the new annal of space exploration when April 12^th and Yuri's Night comes around again in 2010.

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