Philadelphia Experiment conspiracy nerds take note – you can now create your own cloaking device on a home use 3D printer! That’s right, scientists have printed a plastic disk that can render objects invisible to microwave radiation…kinda crazy, right? Here are the sketches:
Last summer at Maker Fair I loved watching the 3D printers creating the objects, layer by layer. I wanted to use that layering as part of the invisible man image, but in the end, the magician was won out. Here is the final:
The column was about boneworms (also called zombie worms) – gutless and mouthless worms that feed on whale bones. Since they don’t have mouths to chew holes they secrete a bone-dissolving acid to access the nutrients contained within. Here are the sketches:
I felt pretty good about all of these but the worm creating a spouting blowhole with the acid had all the elements of the story neatly in place. Here is the final:
It’s been a particularly busy few weeks so here is the first post of me playing catch-up with Science Times…
This story came in so late that I did something I never do – I sent just one sketch (thankfully they liked it). The column was about how an ant’s job within the colony changes as they age. Not sure if everyone got the “over the anthill” joke, but let’s hope…
After a two-week hiatus the column is back, happily! The story this week was about the biology behind the calming effect that a parents’ embrace has on an infant. My sketches for this were pretty meh, but too be fair, I only got a one-liner to work from. Here is what I sent:
They picked the meditating baby, which I actually ended up liking a lot after it was finished. I am hoping the mother’s arms look like they double as the baby’s crossed legs, that was the whole idea. Here is the final spot art, thanks for reading!
The column this week was about how three-color vision evolved in certain primates. Basically, it was believed that this type of vision was coincident with a shift to daytime living. However, this new study revealed three-color vision also existed in a nocturnal ancestor. The study focuses on tarsiers and if you aren’t familiar with them, here is one in all its cartoon-like glory:
And here are the sketches:
I started out with the sketch of blinking from night to day vision but then the bottom one felt like a cleaner, more distilled path to the same point. I also love that thing in cartoons where there are white eyes looking around in the dark so I tried that, with a tarsier stepping out of the black. I actually thought that would be the one, but here is the final, which I also liked (at the last minute I added the nose because with so few elements it felt like it needed something for context):
I started this project in January of 2012 so technically 2011 qualifies as archive. The column was about a new type of metallic glass that is stronger than steel. Who would possibly be interested extra-strong building materials?
This week two of my favorite things – Science and coffee – merged into one super favorite. The column was about antioxidants found in boiled Greek coffee being linked to extreme longevity. Here are the sketches:
My first two ideas were the steam making the long beard, and I pretty much new that would be the one, not to sound jerky but you know when you get “the one”. I also tried a coffee-stained beard, and since I LOVE those Greek-themed paper coffee cups from diners, I threw one of those in, too. No surprise, here is the final:
