When Art Meets Science

I find it a huge challenge at the interface of art and science. Since young, I was amazed by how fancy portraits of cellular structure, molecular components and many more are made visualized on the books. I wondered how the graphics are drawn. It remained imaginative till then.

Scientists must embrace the art world in order for invention to occur - John Maeda

But now, a musical party powered by biotechnology?

The correlation between music and biotechnology caught my attention since years ago. The first musical album related to which I came across is the "Sounds of HIV" by Alexandra Pajak. Interestingly, she translated the genetic code of HIV into musical pitches. The album is still available in Amazon.

I did not pay much attention on that since then. Recently, I came across to the term "Chromochord" at random and it reminds me the possibility of relating sciences to humanity. No doubt, scientists are humans. At random thought, however, I think most scientists are insane :P

Alright, let's go into this fantastic little creation. Chromochord, as named by its inventor Josiah Zayner, is able to play protein like piano keys. "Chromo" refers to the colored lights whereas "chord" refers to the strings of a musical instrument.

A chromochord

The chromochord is a small black box which consists of a microprocessor and 12 vials containing engineered oat protein. If you'd love to read more about the protein engineered, just click here. I'm not going to describe any deeper into it as you can find both scientific and non-scientific explanation on the term by simply Google it.

The engineered oat protein

In brief, the theories behind this small box include quantum mechanical transitions and protein conformational changes. Using LED as the light source, protein in each vials responds to the light differently. The response is then measured by a spectrometer. This modulates a set of musical notes and music is then generated by the built-in software in a computer.

So, doesn't it sound awesome when someone says, "I'm strumming a protein instead of a guitar" ?

I love how the young inventor intending to create a way of communication between nano-world and humans. He wishes the people could experience the protein life and feel their existence.

Zayner and Trigueros

It is even more appealing when Zayner paired up with Francisco Castillo Trigueros, a music composer. The Zayner-Trigueros collaboration gave rise to the production of a beautiful music. During the musical installation, the room was dark. As the calming music was played, deep-blue blobs morphing into one another was projected on the wall. Everything was perfect and beautiful. During the second day of musical installation, the music started to become distorted. Trigueros was dissappointed and felt discouraged. Then Zayner revealed his intention. "In our bodies, there might be a million proteins in a cell. Some of them get damaged - things happened, " Zayner suggested, "In the end it's not perfect, but it's still beautiful because of that imperfection." Oh man, these are wise words!

Check out the small clip below to LISTEN to the protein singing ~♫

Here's the full cycle of the oat protein playing:
https://soundcloud.com/castillo-trigueros/chromocycle-protein-lov

And, I'd love to share another video wherein Josiah attempted to play another version of chromochord at 3.50'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJoFazIJ3w4

They are still working on to produce more versions with more shaped sounds (what they've done is merely MIDI though). They even want to listen to bacteria. Perhaps this is insane but I personally think that this is incredible! Someday later, shall we talk to whoever/whichever we wish to?

Disclaimer: All photos and videos on this post belong to the respective creator and are open access.

New Layout!

Yeah yeah yeah~ I'm back here with the new layout! 

My blogging history stretches back to the year 2007, even before I joined Twitter and Facebook. It has been 7 years! The first blog post wasn't here though. I remembered I wrote the post out of despairs. I had no where to express my feelings and I started to blog. Later, I switched to another blog, which is the current one. The initial intention was I wanted to improve my Chinese. Why? Despite the fact that I'm a Chinese-educated student, my writing has become weaker as I could barely write them for education purposes. Recently, I feel like writing in English. Hah? What a fickler I am?

Back to the story of the layout. I seldom make a change but now I feel that there is a need to. Reason? Hmm. I guess, I'm stepping onto my mid-twenties. In a few months time, I will be in another course of my life, i.e. I'm going to graduate from my university! Sooooo looking forward for the brand new journey!‎ヽ(^o^)ノ

I'm in doubt that whether there will be a wonderful breakthrough in my life later. I think the style of this new layout describes me best. 

♔ The image was removed from the header and the blog title was remained.

I think my blog title is nice. Don't you think so? :P

♔ The feedjit which expose the traffic count was removed. 

Perhaps the obstinacy in me has been replenished?

♔ Tabs were added!

No specific intention but just to replace the "About me" section.

♔ Cute favicon added!
Look up on the tab of the window. Spot this new icon of mine =)

♔ I'm in Bloglovin!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Overall, I changed my layout to feature more simplicity. I glamoured this place with a touch of faint pink as well. I hope my new layout looks more to the real me.

I love my new design so much and I hope you like it too~ ♥ 

October Cafe, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Located at The Peak Vista, Tanjung Lipat, October Cafe is the first leisure cafe in Sabah. You can have the best coffee and the best bread in town. Every crispy bites of their bread enlighten my taste buds. Their pastries are somewhat different from the cafe I tried in elsewhere and worth for another visit. The atmosphere is heart-warming and relaxing for my first visit. After which, I visited them again and the cafe was crowded with diners. As it gained its popularity, I guess we have to make a queue since the seats are very limited.

The cafe is nicely decorated from exterior to interior, with a feel of a vintage coffee house.

 The owner of the cafe is a korean barista and the qualifications and awards he earned are show-cased in the small corner of the cafe. He has a collection of coffee-maker as well.

The menu is pleasantly presented on the brick wall. They have a variety of hot and cold beverages. The savory snacks are, however, only available before evening. 

Not to forget, the cakes here are pretty good too.

Tiramisu. I was surprised to see the plate and the forks.

The honey bread. Topped with nuts and cream.

French toast. Topped with fruits

Korean Street Toast. With a ham and carrot omelette fillings.

This is not Bruschetta. Have no idea what it is but it tastes good.

Ahh, they have homemade bread and pastries also. Perhaps you can grab some home after dining.

Hot cappuccino. Perfectly brewed but it was not thick enough.

As updated Jan 26, 2014