Digital technology has allowed art to liberate itself from the physical and thereby transcend boundaries and teamLab an interdisciplinary group of ultratechnologists whose mindblowing projects seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, design and nature, shows us just what is possible nowadays.
Various specialists such as artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects of this collective named teamLab are creating new experiences in a vast complex, three-dimensional 10,000 square meter space, 520 computers and 470 projectors which invite you to an entirely new world; borderless art.
Artworks in the Mori Building move out of the rooms freely, communicate with other works, form connections and relationships with people and influence and sometimes intermingle with each other.
Their main aim is to discover new relationships between humans and nature, and between oneself and the world through art.
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teamLab's philosophy behind the fantastical and high tech magical art they create:
"There is no boundary between humans and nature, and between oneself and the world; one is in the other and the other in one. Everything exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous, borderless continuity of life."
Ultrafine bubble are just one-billionth of a meter in diameter but they have amazing potential because recent scientific studies has shown that they are able to extend the freshness of raw seafood and promote crop and vegetation growth.
This innovative field of technology originates from Japan and its applications are very promising and highly experimental in the work of applicable nano sciences in water.
For example in the medical field the use of UFB's (short for Ultra Fine Bubbles) raises high expectations as research is now being focused on their ability to destroy bacteria and even viruses.
According to Nanoteragroup a company who specializes in developing the technique UFB's are shown effective in:
Helping the growth of aerobic microbes and decomposing sludge at water bottom. Removing bad stenches and even more exciting stimulating self purification to recover a clean water environment and improving the quality of water without destroying the water environment.
UFBs have also shown very effective in oxidation and reduction of organic compounds, in eliminating floating blue-green microbes (and thereby supplying oxygen to bottom water) and in resolving excess nutritious matter.
In laymans terms UFBs make it possible due to their ultra fine or small size to come in between the mass and the volume of other particles by changing the structure on the inside on a nanolevel; this results in a rearrangement of the available space and the waterbubbles breaking down the structural pattern of the bigger particle at its deepest core by filling it with UFBs.
Lifehack Finders Nice to Know: nano-size bubbles do not scatter visible light, making the water solution look transparent and have been confirmed to stay in a liquid for over six months.
Newly discovered approximately 5.7 million years old human-like footprints in Crete question the common narrative of early human evolution.
The discovery of these newly found securely dated human-like footprints in Crete, suggests a different and far more complex reality, mainly because the footprints were made at a time when previous research puts our ancestors in Africa with ape-like feet.
The origin of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa. All fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years came from Africa, leading most researchers to conclude that this was where the group evolved.This has been the case ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa during the middle years of the 20th century.
After that, fossil discoveries in the same region, including the 3.7 million year old Laetoli footprints in Tanzania have founded the idea further that early hominins not only originated in Africa but remained there isolated from the rest of the world for several million years.
Gerard Gierlinski a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute specialized in footprints, first discovered the Crete footprints but identified them as mammal.
After intensive study and research however, together with another scientist named Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, he came to the conclusion that the footprints were made by early hominins.
Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals. The combination of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a hallux ("big toe") that is larger than the other toes, is unique.
The new footprints, from Trachilos in western Crete, have an unmistakably human-like form. This is especially true of the toes. The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position; it is also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole, which is never present in apes.
The sole of the foot of the dicovered footprints is proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli prints, but it has the same general form.
In short, the shape of the Trachilos prints indicates clearly and unmistakenly that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker.
What makes this discovery so controversial is the age and location of the prints according to Professor Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University.
At approximately 5.7 million years, they are younger than the oldest known fossil hominin and contemporary with the fossil from Kenya, but they are more than a million years older than the fossil called Ardipithecus ramidus which is a fossil with ape-like feet.
This conflicts with the hypothesis that Ardipithecusis a direct ancestor of later hominins.
Prof. Per Ahlberg involved with the study of the footprints says: 'This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate. Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen.'
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Earlier this year, another group of researchers reinterpreted the fragmentary 7.2 million year old primate Graecopithecus (only known from teeth and jaws) found in Greece and Bulgaria as a hominin.
The Giacometti Robotic Arm of the Tokyo Institute of Technology invented a nearly two-meter-long robotic arm which is filled with air and is able to be monitered easily and accurately thanks to artificial muscles and a camera.
The weight: a little over a kilo, makes it easy to transport, perfect for instance in rescue operations in disaster areas, when there is being searched for survivors in difficult accessible places.
Copyright: Suzumori Endo Lab Tokyo Institute of Technology
Lifehack finders Nice to Know: Finally real life Go, go, gadget arms!
Previously Suzumori Endo Lab at Tokyo Institute of Technology developed together with A2Lab, UTM a lightweight and slim Giacometti Hexapod Walking Robot. This particular robot has a height of 0.94 m, a width of 1.67 m and a length of 1.5 m. It weighs 3.7 kg and has a simple structural design using soft and thin soft actuator and CFRP material. This way the damage to the robot and the surroundings would be very small if an accident occurs making safety again a priority in their design.
