When microbiologists aren't curing diseases, they create works of art in petri dishes. In fact, they have an annual competition at the international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) conference. This entry, inspired by Super Mario Bros., was submitted by the nanobiology laboratory at the University of Osaka. You can view a gallery of petri dish art at the link.

via Popular Science

UPDATE 12.20.09: Apparently we're having virus problems, so I deleted the link. I would not have guessed that New Scientist would be a bad risk.

(YouTube Link)

Artist Mark Formanek and his team of seventy assistants set up a huge wooden digital clock in a Rotterdam train station. It's completely manual and the digits must be changed every minute by the workers, which is precisely what they did for twenty-four hours. Video in Dutch (presumably).

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/huge-wooden-digital-clock-installation-shows-real-time-manually/ via DVICE

If you're the sort of person who's always wanted an image of Amy Winehouse tattooed on your teeth, then I have some good news for you. Heward Dental Lab, a combination tattoo parlor and dental office, can do the job:

Normally this artwork is created on the back teeth, the molars or bicuspids. Most people prefer having it on the cheek side of the tooth, some on the tongue side. Most considered these as some what a white collar tattoo. They are seen only when the person that has one wants to share what they have, by pulling their cheek out so it could be seen. The other advantage to these tattoos is that they can easily be removed in five minutes in the dentist’s office with just a little grinding with a rubber wheel.

Gallery at the link.

Link via DudeCraft | Image: Steve Heward

The picture above was taken by NASA's Cassini space probe of Titan, a moon of Saturn. The glint of light at the top of the moon is of a lake -- the first non-Earth lake ever seen. In Popular Science, Jeremy Hsu writes:

A haze of methane enshrouds Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and prevents scientists from seeing most sunlight reflections off the surface. But NASA's Cassini orbiter managed to snap a stunning image of sunlight glinting off a huge, liquid methane lake -- a smoking gun that confirms liquid in the northern hemisphere.

Titan remains the only other planetary body besides Earth known to have liquid on its surface, and appears eerily similar to our world as far as rain and other weather patterns. But instead of liquid water, methane and ethane drizzle down from Titan's atmosphere and fill the many lakes dotting the moon.

The newly revealed visual and infrared image was taken back on July 8, just as the sun had begun to directly shine upon the northern lakes near the start of spring on Titan. Scientists matched the reflection to the southern shoreline of Kraken Mare, a lake that covers almost 150,000 square miles and sits in the northern hemisphere.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-12/first-flash-sunlight-spotted-lake-saturns-moon | Photo: NASA

Artist Marshall Astor made a functional Rubik's Cube out of bronze. He describes how the Cube is designed and how this complicated a project that would use plastic parts to move metal pieces. Astor also mused philosophical on the project:

In making a Rubik’s Cube with undifferentiated sides, I was attempting to remove the concept of solving or of having a purpose or goal from the Cube. I wanted to create an object that better reflected my own feelings about the Rubik’s Cube, and in a broader sense, about the fundamental nature of the Universe. I view the Universe – or all observable phenomena – to be a purely subjective concept, best defined as the intersecting agreement between all potential subjectivities. The Cube functions as a receiving object, by denuding it of it’s role as a puzzle, it becomes a more intellectually malleable object, and the physical action of operating the Cube has a more personal meaning.

Well, aside from that, what I found most interesting about the article was how the seemingly simple Rubik's Cube is actually a very complex machine that is not easily duplicated in a medium other than plastic. You'll find more pictures and a comprehensive guide to how he made it (including patination with his own urine) at the link.

http://www.marshallastor.com/projects-art-stuff/the-cube/ via GearFuse

I'm not sure who is responsible for this chart, especially since there appear to be several versions available online, including a few for purchase. You can view a larger image at the link. If you look at the key in the lower left corner, ABV stands for "alcohol by volume", IBU stands for "international bitterness units", and SRM stands for "standard reference method" -- a measurement of color.

Link via Say Uncle

Michael Jordan of Urlesque compiled pictures of and links to some of the strangest nativity sets ever made. Some of these have previously been featured on Neatorama, but most will be new to readers. These include a bake set, one made out of human hair, and one made out of marshmallows.

Link | Photo: Museum of Idolatry

Medical researchers have developed artificial blood cells by layering proteins into a molded shell and then dissolving away the mold, leaving functional blood cells 7 microns wide. They hope that these cells can be used to deliver pharmaceuticals more effectively than ever before. In the magazine Discover, Andrew Moseman writes:

To make red blood cells in the lab, study leader Samir Mitragotri and colleagues started with spheres of biodegradable polymer. They then exposed the spheres to isopropanol, which collapsed them into the discoid shape characteristic of red blood cells. The researchers then layered proteins — either albumin or hemoglobin — onto the doughnut-shaped disks, cross-linked the proteins to give them extra strength and stability, and finally dissolved away the PLGA template to leave only a strong but flexible shell [The Scientist].

Mitragotri’s creations are about 7 microns across—the same diameter as real red bloods cells—and they have the same disc-like shape as their real-world counterparts. They act like real cells, too, he says. “The soft protein shell makes them squishy and elastic,” says Mitragotri. “They can squeeze through capillaries smaller than their own diameter, just like real blood cells” [New Scientist]. And perhaps most impressively, they can carry substances like the real thing does. Mitragotri’s team of researchers experimented with hemoglobin and the anti-blood clotting drug heparin; the synthetic cells could soak up either one and release it later.

Link via io9 | Image: Nishit Doshi

Scientists at the International Cancer Genome Consortium assert that they have genetically decoded lung and skin cancer. This will allow the development of drugs that specifically attack cancer at the genetic level because it will be possible to determine precisely which mutations cause certain cancers:

The scientists found the DNA code for a skin cancer called melanoma contained more than 30,000 errors almost entirely caused by too much sun exposure.

The lung cancer DNA code had more than 23,000 errors largely triggered by cigarette smoke exposure.

From this, the experts estimate a typical smoker acquires one new mutation for every 15 cigarettes they smoke.

Link via Popular Science | Image: US Department of Health and Human Services

Pong Prom is a video game/art project developed by Ed Keeble modeled on the 1972 video game Pong. Users were special hoodies with display panels on the front. They control the paddles by moving their partners back and forth in a slow-dancing motion:

The project uses the Lilypad Arduino platform to control game play, run the display, and communicate between devices. Patches of conductive fabric on the shoulders, hips, and cuffs of the shirts are used to create a serial connection between the Arduinos. An accelerometer attached at the back of the neck allows each player to control their game paddle by rocking their partner back and forth.

In the links, you can find a video demonstrating the system.

http://covertathletics.com/pongprom.html via Technabob | Video Demonstration | Photo: Department of Covert Athletics

(YouTube Link)

Simon Tofield's series of animated shorts about his cat are a regular feature here at Neatorama. In Tofield's latest episode, the cat encounters snow for the first time and is nearby bested by an adversary.

via Milk & Cookies | Official Website | Interview With the Artist

YouTube user jairust mounted bottle rockets on his motorcycle. He writes:

Before you comment on safety remember that they are made of cardboard and balsa wood. You can buy them at walmart, they don't have explosives in them, any sharp tips, no metal, and nothing that can hurt anyone.

I made rocket pods for the sides of my '06 CBR that shoot estes rockets with the push of a button. Some of the rockets in the video did not fly very well but I have got the problem under control so watch for another video!!

In the links, you can view a video of him firing rockets from his motorcycle at night.

via Gizmodo | YouTube Video | Screen capture by Gizmodo

This Blog Rules has pictures of four promotional posters for the censored and modified Star Wars movies released in the Soviet Union. They look surreal, like something out of Brazil rather than the plot of Star Wars. Would any Russian-speaking Neatoramanaut care to translate?

Link via Nerd Bastards

Artist Guy Shield proposed to his girlfriend Liz through a series of folded, sequential illustrations. He invested a lot of time in process, and you can read his sweet, romantic, and heavily-illustrated story at the link.

The plan was to create a series of images that I could work on at home, without giving away too much about the end (folded) result. The images would act both individually and as a series of captured moments of the irrelevant and mundane, utilising street-signs, strange signage and various forms of odd-ball graffiti to spell out the proposal. And naturally, when she'd ask me what I was working on, I could easily say "oh, I'm practising my hand created type because it needs A LOT of practice" and I'd be out of trouble. The hardest trick was working out how I could form the word 'MARRY' because just putting it into an individual image would blow my unique cover.

Link via DudeCraft

Laboratory-grade measuring instruments can be pricey, but some enterprising scientists are finding that the Nintendo Wii controller can serve as an alternative:

The Wiimote can track just about anything: All that’s needed is an LED light. Hydrologist Willem Luxemburg of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands demonstrated a hacked water-level sensor made from a Wiimote and a plastic boat at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union here Monday.

“Just switch it on and make sure it doesn’t get wet,” Luxemburg said.

Luxemburg’s team aimed the Wiimote at a problem that can be very tricky for hydrologists: measuring evaporation on a body of water. The easiest way to measure evaporation is to place pans of water near the lake, or whatever water is being studied, and put pressure sensors in them. The sensors record the drop in pressure as more and more water disappears. But this equipment can run $500 or more, and still the measurements aren’t accurate because the water in the pan gets warmer on land than it would in the lake. Alternatively, measuring the level of water in a pan that is floating in a lake is also tricky because the pan will inevitably be moving.

The Wiimote could overcome the evaporation-measurement problems. It has a tri-axial accelerometer and a high-resolution, high-speed infrared camera, which can sense movement with better than 1 millimeter accuracy.

Link via Make | Photo: Betsy Mason/Wired