Talk - Creating meat with stem cell technology - Kings College London - 13th March

When news came out last year that a real burger had been made in a lab using stem cell technology I was immensely excited. As I've mentioned before, I care deeply about both animal farming practices and the environment, which could both be affected for the better by this research. 

It is extremely unlikely that people will just stop eating meat (it is DELICIOUS - I may be heading towards vegetarianism but I'm not ready yet - it's a struggle to even only eat free range meat, damn my love for greasy spoon fry ups and cheap fried chicken! I think I manage it 90% of the time though!)

Animals for meat require a lot of land, which could instead be used to grow food - grains, vegetables etc that could feed many more people than can be fed by meat produced on the same amount of land. Plus the huge amount of methane produced by cows, adding to the problem of global warming problem. And farming practices can be awful, causing unnecessary pain and suffering to the animals we eat to make it cheaper and use less space. As the population ever increases, the problems also increase.

So when I saw that Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University (whose team is behind this research and the burger) was giving a talk at KCL, I had to go. 

And I found it very interesting and informative. Prof Post explained the reasons behind the research (see above - environment/animal welfare) before explaining how the burger was created. This made sense to me at the time but I wasn't making notes so cannot now remember the how, but moving on, they are now working on perfecting the taste/texture of the burger, increasing the efficiency of production/sustainability and lowering the cost! Also - creating a steak is on the agenda. They think that in 7-10 years these burgers could be in shops, though this sounds rather overly optimistic to me considering the cost for the burger last year was something like £220,000!!

I do hope this research succeeds in creating affordable, ethical meat on a mass market scale though. How amazing!


Links:

BBC news - World's first lab grown burger
KCL - Creating meat with stem cell technology
Evening Standard article - image taken from this page
Scientific American - Meat/Environment
Wiki - Meat/Environment
Compassion in World Farming

Britain: One million years of the human story at Natural History Museum

Of course I loved this exhibition. Not only am I fascinated by how people live but I'm fascinated by the ice age and how people began. This is probably a lot due to my love of Jean Auel's Earths Children books, the first four of which I've re-read repeatedly since I was 13. The stories follow Ayla, an early modern human child who comes to be taken care of by a group of neanderthals. The detail is epic without being boring and describes so many imagined societies and culture.

Anyway, the exhibition tells the story of human life in Britain. You can actually touch replicas of their tools! And watch video of how the tools were made! And did you know hippos used to live in this country back in the day when we were still attached to Europe?? There were hippos right where Trafalgar Square is! They have maps showing how things looked attached to Europe and gradually changing into an island.

There are skeletons on hippos and other animals in the exhibition. Bones with knife marks on so they know the animals were hunted by people. Giant antlers. Magnified images of pollen which is how they can tell what kind of plants were about. Models showing a neanderthal and an early modern human.

The climate changed a lot over the millions of years, from hot for hippos, to too cold for anyone. Neanderthals and homosapiens both lived here and there was interbreeding. Many people today actually have neanderthal DNA. There is video at the end where people have found out how much neanderthal they have. So interesting.

I might actually visit again because I want to absorb more.

On till 28 Sept 2014


Links:

Britain: One million years of the human story
Earth's Children

Georgians Revealed at British Library

Bit of a history lesson for me...despite having grown up near Bath and its beautiful Georgian architecture, I don't know much about the Georgians. I know a little more now though, mainly about how people lived. I think how people lived is the most interesting thing in history. Secondary school history really put me off because it was ALL politics and war. Obviously this is important but young me wanted to know about people and how they lived and felt. Present me still finds that more interesting but I do now want to understand politics and war as well although I find it hard.

This exhibition covers everyday Georgian life and pleasures. As you wall in there is a brief timeline of Georgian kings and historical events and we go on to normal people.

There were more middle class people so more people were able to read for fun, decorate their homes, go on holiday and go out dancing etc

Highlights for me include a set of teeny tiny exquisite little books called 'The Infants Library', various massive books with botanical illustrations, Jane Austen's writing desk and tiny glasses, plans of dance steps and Harriet Parry's 1825 travel diary. The travel diary is a scroll map annotated with pen and ink with drawings and notes as she records her tour Scotland. It's beautiful and I want to do this!
Then the last room is a giant map reproduced on the floor of Georgian London. They had wanted to show every house and number on it but realised it would be impossible! It's a beautiful map (love old maps anyway) and it's great to see it so big.

On till 11th March

Links:

Georgians Revealed

Kindertransport

I've seen this play before perhaps 7 or 8 years ago. And that production was ok but this one had me weeping throughout.

I forget that the Kindertransport is not a commonly known bit of history. I know about it because it is my history. The Kindertransport evacuated thousands of German and Austrian Jewish children just before the second world war. This took them from their families but saved their lives. My Granny and her sister were two of those children and my Granny has published 3 diaries chronicling her experiences as a refugee, her new life in England and her crazy love life as she grows up. I feel so lucky to have such a detailed window into her past. Plus she is awesome.

The play is more about mother/daughter relationships than the holocaust and I think this is shown wonderfully as well as showing how the holocaust tore families apart and the harm done to those who survived. It breaks my heart that war is still tearing families apart today. 

In the play, past/present/memories/fears all overlap. You see layers of life and how it interconnects emotions and relationships. I believed these characters had real affection and history and that's probably why my eyes wouldn't stop leaking. 

One story is of Eva, a German Jewish child evacuated to Manchester and taken in by Lil who cares for her as her own. Eva learns English and prepares for her parents to arrive. Eva's parents intended to join her in England as soon as they could but 'war breaks promises' and she finally has to accept she will not see them again and starts a new life.

Second story is of adult Eva who has changed her name to Evelyn and denies her past. Her daughter is preparing to leave home when she discovers a box containing proof of Evelyn's past as Eva. She feels betrayed at not knowing her real history or real family and that she has been so closed off. Evelyn doesn't want to remember who she was and all the pain of her childhood. She want to be an English woman.

Third story is Evelyn's memories and internal torment. Her mother survived the war and came for her but Evelyn had grown up with a different mother and didn't want to go with her. She feels guilty for losing who she was. She turned away from Judaism, her real name, her childhood, her real family. 

These stories are interwoven beautifully and interspersed with terrifying visions of the ratcatcher from Eva's childhood storybook.

I saw this production at Derby Theatre but it was only there a few days and ends today. It will be touring though and I hope if anyone reading this is interested, they manage to catch a performance.

Links:

Kindertransport - A Hall & Childs Production

My Darling Diary by Ingrid Jacoby

Kindertransport - wiki

Collider - Science Museum

This exhibition gives the effect of visiting the Large Hadron Collider, the massive experiment that I had heard of but didn't really understand. I can't tell you I really understand it now, but I understand it better.

It begins with a video on a massive curved screen (you are supposed to feel you are in the lecture theatre with the scientists who are talking about their excitement about the experiment and finding out the results) which is a nice start but I did find the computer generated people used to fill seats in video lecture theatre a bit weird and distracting.

You then walk round a model of the experiment complete with photographic tabletops scattered with notes ad safety goggles etc which is a lovely touch! There are whiteboards and videos explaining things along the way. You then enter another large curved screen area which gives you an idea of the scale of the experiment and visualizes the particles travelling through at almost the speed of light and colliding.

The last bit shows the offices of the scientist and gives a little more information on what/why they wanted to discover.

I get the gist of how the Large Hadron Collider works and it's great to feel I learned some science, 10 years after dropping AS Level Biology and Chemistry. What I don't fully understand is why the Boson Higgs Particle (that they proved exists with this experiment) is so important and what it really means and where things go from here.

It is entirely possible that this information is explained and I missed it. Although I chatted with some cleverer people than me (my dad that day, my scientist boss the next day) and both said it was very difficult to understand even for scientists....which is both comforting and frustrating as I hate being unable to understand! I think I'll need to learn slowly for myself.

Full understanding or not, this is a fascinating exhibition and provides insight and inspiration. On till 6th May 2014.


Links:

Science Museum - Collider
Wiki - Higgs Boson
CERN - Large Hadron Collider

Beyond El Dorado - British Museum

I didn't know what to expect from this exhibition as Columbian tribes, their work with gold and the source of the legend of Eldorado isn't actually something I've thought about before but in I went to learn and was very glad I did.

The gold artifacts are beautiful and exquisitely crafted and the British Museum tells you a story, beginning with the spiritual ritual which involved putting gold and precious artifacts being put in a lake, winding through daily life, gold crafting techniques and spiritual beliefs (gold had spiritual value rather than monetary) and ending with the Spanish invasion/influence.

On till 23rd March 2014


Link:

Beyond El Dorado - British Museum

Planning a journey...

So we are finally planning our 2 month travels......and so very very excited! Stu has never been to Asia at all and I've never been without my family, never independently planned a trip.

One month will be spent travelling Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. One month will be spent in Japan. In Japan we will spend 2 weeks with my family (who don't speak English) and 2 weeks sightseeing.

My main goal is to improve my Japanese to a level where I can hold a conversation. My Japanese is basic and I've forgotten so much. It makes me very sad that I can't really communicate with most of my family. I'm trying to self teach from my sisters old textbook, and talking to my mum in Japanese when we phone...

Other than that I want to learn about and enjoy different cultures. I spent alot of time looking into volunteering, but realised short-term volunteering may not be helpful. I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough to make definite judgements, but I can certainly see how "voluntourism" could be a problem, especially where children are involved. I'm going to opt for not. But will see if there are any opportunities to get involved in conversation practise, so we wouldn't be amatuer teachers teaching a class, just a bit of extra help. I like the look of Big Brother Mouse in Laos...obviously, as a former bookseller and lover of storytelling. Definitely want to drop in there! I'd like to donate as well. Books were my world as child.

I could ramble on, I'm so excited but I guess I should stop :)

Exquisite Bodies @ Wellcome Collection

Wellcome Collection always put on fascinating exhibitions and this is no exception. It goes from fairground grotesque to anatomical learning. The detail in the models are amazing...you could think they were real. It's amazing to think of them being made. It's all so complicated that it seems unfathomable to think how scientists and doctors worked out what everything did!

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/exhibitionsandevents/exhibitions/Exquisite-Bodies/index.htm

Madness & Modernity & Wellcome Collection

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/exhibitionsandevents/exhibitions/Madness-and-Modernity/index.htm

The Wellcome Collection never fails to fascinate me. I took my sister for her first visit weekend before last! Madness & Modernity...not something I'd had any interest in before. The exhibition is both disturbing and intriguing. I certainly learnt alot. The part I like best was the very las part though, with art by patients. The painting above is by Joseph Karl Radler. Click for more info.

Work in Progress Show - Re:Future

My work - print on paper, only visible as shadow when light shines through

Min Nyoung Seo's work - Craft recycling cork, cardboard and carrier bags

Clover Robin's work - layered ghostly photography for wallpaper

I think the show went well :) I had some positive feedback, which is lovely and encouraging to hear. Also, a shove to get industry contacts...I know I should...but it's very daunting!

Crazy video facades

Can this be real? Amazing!

Bix Facade

Oh dear...I've slacked severely on posting.

Well, here's a video from November when a short shadow film I made was played on the Bix facade in Austria. 

Thanks to Ruiari. This video shows mine, Alana's and some of Ruiari's other students I think. 

Moholy-Nagy - Light Space Modulator

I want to do something like this but more beautiful and illustrative....

Sunlight Transportation Systems

So interesting! I wish the bookshop had had this.

From Now to Eternity

Plastic Nostalgia by Raw Edges

Plastic Fandangoes by Committee

Exhibition about plastic - pros and cons. Some designers celebrating plastics versatility and others highlighting it's drawbacks. It was interesting. For some stuff we really need plastic. But it is misused alot too. And it is hard to recycle. I've been talking to a guy at an acrylic company and while they recycle everything internally, there is no system to collect acrylic from outside because if it contaminated with other plastics it will degrade the recycled product. I'm really mixed up over whether I should use acrylic or not...

Days of Reading - Proust

Favourite quote -

"For me, voluntary memory, which is above all a memory of the intellect and of the eyes, gives us only facets of the past that have no truth; but should a smell or a taste, met with again in quite different circumstances, reawaken the past in us, in spite of ourselves, we sense how different the past was from what we thought we had remembered, our voluntary memory having painted it, like a bad painter, in false colours."

There was also a long memory description of stolen moments reading as a child and it reminded me of myself reading as a child <3

The Lamp of Memory by Ruskin

I'm borrowing some of the new Penguin Great Ideas range from work. They are such beautiful little embossed matt books :D I read this one too quickly and it was difficult. I probably shouldn't have but the superior tone grated on me and it was quite religious too. But I could agree with some stuff he was saying like that we don't appreciate things enough and that understand their meanings. And that architecture is full of memory and meaning, it contains the past? There was a huge section in Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame saying the exact same thing I think. Anyway I think Ruskin reckons we should take as much care over the building of our own house as of like a cathedral, it should be as beautiful and well loved. I think I see, like if we took care, put our hearts into our homes and everything, we wouldn't throw away and consume so much?

Skeletons @ Wellcome Collection

The skeletons that lie buried beneath London. Really interesting. The room is so nice and simple too. All black with photographs of the burial sites as they are now around the walls and neat rectangle boxes for the skeletons across the room. They tell you facts about illnesses/what they can tell from the skeleton, what lives may have bewen like to cause things on the skeleton. There are hidden stories...I think I forget that everyone has a skeleton/is a skeleton and I'd never recognise them without their skin. I know I sound kind of silly probably but I'm always a little surprised when I remember and try to imagine people as skeletons.

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/exhibitionsandevents/exhibitions/skeletons/index.htm

Website :D

I can't believe I never excitedly posted when I finished building my website and got it online. I was so pleased with myself cuz I did the whole thing in code in notepad :D And now I have a new bit for collecting memories for my new project. Bit of memory research. The form was done by http://www.emailmeform.com/ cuz I couldn't do it. I did the html and css to get it looking right fine but I could not do the scripting to make it work. I think I wasted like 2 nights rewriting the code over and over and trying to work out what I was doing wrong till I decided it was a waste of time. I still want to learn at some point though but I think I need a person to explain to me.

Please go to my website and send me some memories!!! I want to illustrate them and it's as anonymous as you want it!

http://www.emmie-joseph.co.uk/

Epigenetics

A couple weeks ago we did a week group project combining science and design following an intense day of talks about epigenetics and model organisms - Fabrics of life, marrying design to discovery. It was so interesting! My group were focusing on my favourite talk as well which was by Jim Smith ( Molecular basis of mesoderm formation, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge) about frogs and how cells cleave and organise themselves into what they need to be. We made a concept animation thing about self repairing plates much like how newts can regrow lost limbs :)

My favourite part was thinking about mutations and playing with all the crockery. I made a cake stand out of plates and a wineglass. And of course I needed to bake cupcakes to go on it...any excuse to bake cake :D I've always wanted a cake stand and now I can create a makeshift one whenever I may need then take it apart again for easy storage. Eggggs.

You can see our work here and what all the other groups did over here.