Final Essay

Here is my final paper. This is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-wKz1-isPb_eE95RXNmQlQ1QXlxbEg4LU84Zmpyc181czQ4/view?usp=sharing

Event 5 (extra credit): Museum of Jurassic Technology

The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City was a unique experience for me. This museum contains a vast collection of artistic and scientific exhibits that are very diverse. The first thing that caught my attention was a quote from Russian rocket scientists, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: A planet is a cradle of mind, but one cannot live in a cradle forever. This quote was written with a collection of his research and designs for rockets with thrusters, boosters, and space stations. The next project that looked fascinating was a miniature model of a moon by F.W. Wright. The space theme seemed to dominate much of the museum, but there was a plethora of other unique exhibits. The museum displayed an older organ, some of the first microscopes, and a collection of cat’s cradle. The museum was unique as it had a variety of objects and artworks. There was a phone exhibit portraying some of the first phones and other exhibits that contained dog portraits. The collection was diverse, to say the least.

Selfie in front of museum with admission ticket 

More importantly, a part of the experience at the museum was the Tula Tea Room. This is a Russian-style team room created to mimic the study of Tsar Nicolas II. I was served tea and led to a small garden outside where they had pet birds, flowers, and a small fountain. This interactive aspect of the museum emphasized hospitality while portraying a historic room.

Tea offered in the Tula Room 

Fountain in middle of garden 

Garden on the second floor of museum 

One of the pet birds in the garden 

Unfortunately, there was no photography allowed in the museum. Therefore, the only images I can obtain were ones of the garden described previously.

Event 4 (Extra Credit): Leonard Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site

Leonard Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site is considered the birthplace of the internet. Outside of 3420 Boelter Hall, a sign reads those exact words: birthplace of the internet. Leonard Kleinrock is a computer scientist and professor at UCLA’s engineering school. He is known for developing the internet. He played a major role in creating ARPANET, which is the precursor to the internet.

Sign outside Boelter Hall 3420 

The first message sent on the ARPANET was sent in 1969 from UCLA to Stanford. The message was sent from the university’s third generation computer known as SDS Sigma. Kleinrock and his group were the first to send a message on ARPANET paving the way for the tremendous internet boom that dominates modern day society.

SDS Sigma 

Prior to visiting this site and researching some history regarding the internet, I was oblivious that UCLA was the place where the first internet message was sent. I often pass by this room to get to other classes, but never gave it much attention. Such an incredible feat corroborates the school’s ambition and success throughout the years but is often overlooked by students. We have access to many incredible sites on campus, but we often narrow our school experience to class and work-related obligations.

Additional Machinery on the right side of room 

Visiting and recognizing Kleinrock’s work showed me that all great things have simple beginnings. The computer used in the room was the size of a refrigerator, and the machinery seemed ancient compared to today’s technology. However, everything done in that room set the foundation for the amazing advancements we enjoy today.  

Selfie with the computer displayed at the site

Event 3: Meteorite Gallery

This week I visited the UCLA Meteorite Collection at UCLA perfectly tying in our discussion of space. The UCLA collection is the largest in the West Coast containing almost three thousand samples. One particular piece came from the Seymchan meteorite that landed in Russia in 1967. The piece captured my attention immediately due to its uniqueness. It was spotted due to being composed of both silicate mineral and metallic iron nickel. The piece was a natural piece of art.

Seymchan meteorite 

Another piece that was displayed in the middle of the room was a 357-pound individual iron meteorite (shown below). This is UCLA’s oldest meteorite dating back to 1934. The Meteorite gallery combined many aspects of our class. The first and most obvious is the study of space that has historical, artistic, and economical influence as mentioned in lecture. The gallery incorporates science, art, and technology beautifully. The science behind the meteorites is displayed in a creative manner similar to an artistic museum. In addition, each piece from the meteorite contains a small barcode under it, that can be easily scanned by a phone providing immediate information about it.  

Oldest Meteorite Present in the Gallery 

The importance of such a gallery ties with our very first discussion of two cultures. Prior to this course, I never stepped foot in the Meteorite gallery. Such a fantastic display was easily accessible but completely ignored. This is one of the most important things that I was able to take away from my visit to the gallery as well as this course. Diversifying your scope of knowledge and expertise is not as inaccessible as we might think. We limit our thinking by categorizing ourselves into one and only one field. As we discussed the topic of Space this week, most of the example provided were billion-dollar projects by large national companies. How can students begin interacting with space and not simply go through the history of space projects? The Meteorite Collection essentially brings space to the students allowing for access to incredible knowledge.

Small collection of chondritic meteorites 

Selfie at Gallery 

Unit 9: Space

Although this week’s topic of space connected different elements of previous discussions, it was very unique. Learning about the history of Copernicus and his ideas of a heliocentric solar system was a refresher from previous history courses. However, I learned that Copernicus studied medicine before devoting his time to studying space (Vesna). This is an interesting fact that corroborates the connectedness of different fields. He was able to incorporate medical knowledge in his spatial observations (Westman).

Artist's rendition of Connection of Space and Medicine

This week’s lectures also saddened me. The story of Laika, the dog who was sacrificed and sent to space for research purposes, touched me deeply (George). Laika did not survive past a week and the study was simply an indirect attack on the United States by Russia. It was conducted to make the following claim: Russia is a superior nation. This brings to light some of the questions from the medical topics of previous weeks. What is considered ethical research? How can research be monitored to prevent unethical experiments?  

Curiosity Rover 

Discussions of space cannot be made without the mention of Sputnik and other satellites. I became interested in this topic and researched recent projects in space. Mark Rober, a NASA engineer, helped create a car-sized rover that was sent to Mars in 2012. The planning of such an event took billions of dollars but was ground-breaking. The rover named Curiosity allowed for live footage to be received from Mars. In the video below, he discusses his opinion of his work at NASA and briefly touches on the engineering masterpiece that is Curiosity.

Sources

George, Alice. “The Sad, Sad Story of Laika, the Space Dog, and Her One-Way Trip into Orbit.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 11 Apr. 2018, www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/sad-story-laika-space-dog-and-her-one-way-trip-orbit-1-180968728/.

Greicius, Tony. “NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Finds a Clay Cache.” NASA, NASA, 29 May 2019, www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-finds-a-clay-cache.

Rober, Mark. “NASA's Curiosity Landing- 1 of Her Creator's POV.” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Aug. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCKogFDM3Zg.

Vesna, Victoria. “8 Space pt1 1280x720.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 July 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=277&v=6ZIqTR332l8.

Westman, Robert S. “Nicolaus Copernicus.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 May 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Nicolaus-Copernicus.

Unit 8: Nanotechnology

This week’s topic regarding nanotechnology introduced new subject areas of quantum physics and chemistry. Dr. Gimzewski’s introduction of nanotechnology was brilliant. He touched on Richard Feynman’s famous lecture “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” (Gimzewski). In this lecture in 1959, Feynman states, “The principles of Physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom” (Feynman). This is applicable now with chemistry tools such as mass spectroscopy. In this this technique, a molecule is broken into smaller ions by bombarding it with electrons. The fragments are then able to be detected through a spectrometer. Such a commonly used tool used in research labs and even courses such as CHEM 14CL are a prime example of nanotechnology.

Mass Spec Chart showing the fragment ions 

                                                          Mass Spec Explained 

After hearing the lectures from Dr. Gimzewski, I began researching some of his laboratory work at UCLA. One project that his lab worked on involved cancer diagnosis through nanotechnology. Immunofluorescence (IF) of cancer tissue supported that cancer cells are “softer” than normal cells. This type of research is extremely significant and combines wide range of subject areas to attempt to diagnosis one of the deadliest diseases. This week, I was introduced to nanotechnology including its history and found myself investigating areas in my academic career where nanotechnology is prominent. Mass spectroscopy and advancing microscope technologies have allowed us to visualize individual cells, bacteria, etc.  As Dr. Gimzewski mentions, we are able to visualize at the nanometer scale. These tools have allowed for the creative minds such as in Dr. Gimzewski’s lab to work on answering important physiological questions.

IF of Cancer Cells 

Sources:

Feynman, Richard P. “There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” Phy.pku.edu, CaliforniaInstitute of Technology (Caltech), 1960, www.phy.pku.edu.cn/~qhcao/resources/class/QM/Feynman's-Talk.pdf.

Gimzewski, James. “Nanotech Jim pt1.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 May 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=704&v=q7jM6-iqzzE.

Gimzewski Lab. “Cancer Diagnosis by AFM.” Cancer Diagnosis by AFM | Gimzewski Lab, Gimzewski , gim.chem.ucla.edu/content/cancer-diagnosis-afm.

Harris, William. “How Mass Spectrometry Works.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 28 June 2018, science.howstuffworks.com/mass-spectrometry.htm.

Mendis, Lakshini. “Imaging Mass Spectrometry: The New(Ish) Kid on the Block.” Bitesize Bio, Bitesize Bio, 9 July 2016, bitesizebio.com/25770/imaging-mass-spectrometry-the-newish-kid-on-the-block/.

Event 2: Science + Sound 2.0

Rattlesnake project 

On May 5, I attended two different presentations at the Science + Sound 2.0 program: Sarah Brady’s “Sound as Extruded Form” and Jocelyn Ho’s “Sheng-mobile phones as musical instruments.” In her talk, Brady incorporated her artwork containing aspects of technology to highlight the creation of sound. One of the most interesting pieces involved the interaction of viewers. It was a large electronic board that sensed the viewer’s hand motion and emitted different sounds based on that movement. Another one of her pieces was inspired by rattlesnakes. She mentions her fascination with the natural sound coming from the animal. In her rattle snake project, she was able to recreate that sound with an automated metal rod with a coiled head. I really enjoyed her talk because she described the process of an artist. She begins with stating her inspiration and follows with the technological and artistic work creating sound.

Video of electronic sound board by Sarah Brady. 

Sarah Brady Presenting 

The second talk was one of the most unique talks I have ever attended. Jocelyn Ho, a pianist and artist, took a completely different approach to piano recitals and concerts. She wanted the audience to become the performers, a concept that I have never heard of. In the first half of the talk, she described the way she communicated with the audience. To show the changes in her body expression as she played the piano, she dressed herself in luminous coils that changed color based on her body motion. The second part of the talk was a performance, in which everyone in the audience became involved. She instructed us to use our phones and enter a specific site. The website divided the audience based on location (4 parts each a different color). The performance was very unique. The website contained different instructions for the different parts of the room. One instruction I received was “Tap when you swallow saliva.” When I tapped, my phone would make a unique sound. Each one in the room had an instruction and the collection of sounds was the performance. This was such an amazing display of originality and creativity. 

Selfie at the event 

The way the room was split on the Jocelyn Ho's website. 

Jocelyn Ho presenting