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January 12 2012

rubbd

Baby Loading

true_geek_mom_530

Remember those long gone times when babies were delivered by white storks? Today they are simply downloaded into mom’s belly. How superhandy! Apparently every era creates its own myths. Filed under Boomeranged Metaphors. Peculiar image of the week.


Geek Mom and Baby are doing fine. Via Thinkgeek. Thanks Ad.

Tags: Culture becomes Nature Anthropomorphobia Boomeranged Metaphors Manufactured-Bodies

October 04 2011

rubbd

Resizing Daddy

baby with ipad

A little girl gets angry at her father, and uses her index finger and thumb to make a pinching motion. No, she’s not trying to hurt him. She’s using iPad sign language to say, “I want you to be smaller.”

PCs and cell phones required restricted motions, mostly clicking and typing. In contrast, the recent slew of computers, tablets, and smart phones utilize more expressive motions: swiping, flicking, squeezing. These gestures may enter the vernacular of common signs, like waving and shoulder shrugging, just as internet terms like ‘lol’ and ‘brb’ entered everyday language.

All great apes stick out their hands to beg for food, but only humans pinch if their friend won’t share.

Image via Gawker

Tags: Culture becomes Nature Back to the Tribe Boomeranged Metaphors Physical-computing virtual-for-real

September 29 2011

rubbd

Social Microbial life

bacteria

MyMicrobes, interestingly dubbed “Fecesbook” by ABC News, is the new social network for your gastrointestinal bacteria. For only $2,100 and a bit of poo you can become a member of this ingenious network which connects you to like minded people through your own gut bacteria.

Peer Bork, a biochemist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, created this network after receiving 50 to 100 emails from people having troubles with their stomach or having diarrhea. It might look strange to connect people based on their microbiomes, but researchers think it will help people with similar digestive profiles to share and gather information about their digestive health. In the meanwhile they hope to gather data which could help to guide treatments for various diseases.

Imagine telling your children you met your wife because you both had the same bowel problems.

Via ABC News and PopSci

Tags: Nature becomes culture Boomeranged Metaphors Humane-Technology Manufactured-Bodies virtual-for-real

September 27 2011

rubbd

Gamers Solve Enzyme Riddle

fold-it-protein-game

In a vivd example of the blur between culture and nature, players using an online game called Foldit have helped solve complex questions for researchers about enzyme models. The solution, which eluded researchers for more than 10 years was solved by gamers in only a few days, contributing towards research into anti-AIDS drugs. Giving credit where it’s due, researchers have named the gamers as co-authors in the study published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

Read the full story on BBC.com.

Tags: Culture becomes Nature Boomeranged Metaphors Digital-Presence Toys-are-Us Wild-systems

August 27 2011

rubbd

Transformer Owl

Click here to view the embedded video.

So, what do you get when an owl watches too much animated TV cartoon series? An amazing shape-shifting Transformer Owl! Now seriously, we don’t actually think this wondrous White Faced Scops Owl from South Africa was inspired by the Transformer Robot series – rather the other way around. Off topic? Perhaps. We dig it nonetheless. Next nature rocks, but some times old nature just rocks even better.

Tags: Culture becomes Nature Boomeranged Metaphors Information Decoration

August 21 2011

rubbd

Dead Drops

deaddrops

Wikileaks gone physical? Aram Bartholl’s Dead Drops is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. USB flash drives are embedded into walls, buildings and curbs accessible to anybody in public space. Plug your laptop to a wall, house or pole to share your favorite files and data.

Tags: Culture becomes Nature Back to the Tribe Boomeranged Metaphors Physical-computing Sentient Spaces

August 20 2011

rubbd

Physical Scrollbars

physical scrollbars

Scrollbars is a series of installations and physical scrollbar-representations created by Dutch artist Jan Robert Leegte. According to the artist, most of us consider the scrollbar to be a virtual object – but in use it triggers reactions such as frustration, which suggests a subconscious acceptance of the inherent “reality” of these objects.

Via guerrilla innovation

Tags: Culture becomes Nature Boomeranged Metaphors Digital-Presence Hyperreality Officegarden Sentient Spaces The-map-is-the-territory transparant-interfaces
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