Week 8 Nanotech + Art

The Almighty Artist created the world with several shades and colors. The intricacy of nature is both enrapturing and enigmatic. Today, advancements in nanotechnology have helped us better understand the art we see in nature everyday. While the image below looks like a painting of an erupting volcano, it is actually an image of the underside of a single scale on a butterfly wing (Carstairs, 2012). The scale is approximately 60 microns wide, and the image is taken by a scanning microscope. Structurally, the  design provides both strength and flexibility to the butterfly wings. Yet, it is also an artistic masterpiece. The scale allows visible light to pass through, enabling it to appear transparent. Even through there are thousands of overlapping scales, with a network of nerves and veins, the entire thing looks invisible.

Single scale on a butterfly wing

The applications of understanding unique nano structures in nature are remarkable. In his online lecture, Professor Gimzewski, talks about the nano structure of a Gecko’s foot hair. The feet hair have spectacular adhesive structure. One square meter of gecko tape could support the weight of 1 kilogram (Gimzewski, 2013). Scientific applications of this are still evolving, but who knows; maybe one day humans will actually be able to climb walls.

A greater introspection of nanotechnology and art may be very relevant on a philosophical level. Dan Brown’s infamous novel, Angels and Demons, entails a riveting plot about nanotechnology experiments being conducted at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the discovery of anti-matter has great implications for both religion and science. While the story is entirely fictional, CERN is not. Experiments being conducted at CERN currently, can help answer big questions about hidden forces in nature (O’Luanaigh, 2015) that both religion and science have speculated about for centuries.

CERN Particle Accelerator

References

Brown, Dan. Angels & Demons. New York: Atria, 2003. Print.

Carstairs, Iain. "When Nanotechnology Meets Art." ScienceAndReligioncom. N.p., 20 Apr. 2011. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://iaincarstairs.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/when-nanotechnology-meets-art/>.

Gimzewski. "Nanotech Jim Pt3." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 21 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=425&v=X0HCNiU_108>.

O'Luanaigh, Cian. "CERN Accelerating Science." CERN Researchers Confirm Existence of the Force. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2015. <http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2015/04/cern-researchers-confirm-existence-force>.

You, Jia. "Gecko-inspired Adhesives Allow People to Climb Walls." N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fnews.sciencemag.org%2Fbiology%2F2014%2F11%2Fgecko-inspired-adhesives-allow-people-climb-walls>.