Cell 25 in Block 9 of Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary is now a cabinet of curiosities representing the animal life of this stabilized ruin.
art and science
Posted inArt
Our View from the Cosmic Shore: Early Modern Interpretations of Celestial Events
When Milton was writing Paradise Lost in the 17th century, a comet grazed through the sky, inspiring the English poet to describe how Satan “stood Unterrified, and like a comet burn’d.”
Posted inNews
The Chemistry of Why van Gogh Reds Are Going White
Vincent van Gogh’s reds have been turning white, but the exact reason why has remained unclear.
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The Minimalist Beauty of a Renaissance-Era Geometry Book
Perspectiva Corporum Regularium (Perspective of regular solids), created in 1568 by German goldsmith and printmaker Wenzel Jamnitzer (1508–1585), is a study in shapes inspired by the five Platonic solids: tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron.
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A Digital Waterfall That Illuminates the Threat of Air Pollution
Artist Andrea Polli’s “Particle Falls” is a waterfall of light that changes colors from blue to flaming reds and yellows based on real time air quality data.
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Art Students Reconstruct the Lost Faces of Unidentified Crime Victims
Last month, students in the Forensic Sculpture Workshop at the New York Academy of Art (NYAA) made faces for 11 anonymous skulls belonging to unidentified victims of crimes.
Posted inNews
Researchers Find Way to Read Papyrus Texts Buried at Herculaneum for the First Time
Only one library from the classical world is known to have survived along with its texts: the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum. Ever since its discovery in 1754, archaeologists have attempted to crack open the villa’s carbonized texts with knives, chemicals, and unrolling machines, all with little success and often irreversibly destructive results.
Posted inArt
Clouds Like Blood: How a 19th-Century Volcano Changed the Color of Sunsets
The eruption of Krakatoa on August 26–27, 1883, completely collapsed its Indonesian island, blasting the stratosphere with volcanic dust and sulphur dioxide. It also influenced art.
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Latin American Naturalists Step Out of the Shadows
In Latin American natural history, the achievements of outsiders often eclipse homegrown science and study, but Latino Natural History, a digital exhibition that launched this month, spotlights their contributions.
Posted inArt
The Physics of Pollock
The laws of physics were greater collaborators with Jackson Pollock than most painters.
Posted inArt
A Lost Purple Pigment, Where Quantum Physics and the Terracotta Warriors Collide
The connection between contemporary quantum physics and China’s ancient Terracotta Warriors is a lost pigment called Han purple. The vibrant hue appeared in the Zhou dynasty and faded out sometime near 220 AD; art didn’t see a purple as vivid until 19th-century manufacturing.
Posted inArt
25 Years of Photographing NASA’s Abandoned Launch Sites
Photographer Roland Miller has spent 25 years gaining access to abandoned NASA sites across the United States, capturing their history and strange imagery before they disappear.
