Gorgeous Photos Made From the Bacteria on Toilet Seats and iPhones

A Photograph of the Crab Nebula Eaten by Bacteria Found on a Table at a Red Lobster Restaurant" Marcus DeSieno

A Photograph of the Whirlpool Galaxy Eaten by Bacteria Found in a Motel's Heart-Shaped Hot Tub" Marcus DeSieno

"A Photograph of a Star Cluster Eaten by Bacteria Found on a Light Switch" Marcus DeSieno 

"A Photograph of a Solar Flare Eaten by Bacteria Found on the Inside of My Shoe" Marcus DeSieno

 

"A Photograph of a Barred Lenticular Galaxy Eaten by Bacteria Found in My Belly Button" Marcus DeSieno 

 

Marcus DeSieno very well may have grown up a germaphobe, but you’d never know. The photographer works in the medium of germs, and to beautiful effect. In Cosmos, his most recent series, DeSieno uses bacteria harvested from the most unseemly places—subway poles, toilets, iPhone screens—to turn cosmic images taken from the Hubble into abstract blurs of color and shape.

Growing up DeSieno was horrified by the thought of touching dirty things. “I was absolutely terrified of germs,” he says. He’s since turned that neurosis into inspiration for his work (you should see his parasites series). Cosmos is perhaps his most courageous battle with that old fear. Today, DeSieno has a studio filled with petri dishes, parasites and “really bad taxidermy.” To date, he has bacteria colonizing on more than 500 strips of film with the goal of finding at least a few that will turn into this abstract art.

 

“A Photograph of the Milky Way Eaten by Bacteria Found in Unpasteurized Milk” March DeSieno

DeSieno’s work looks more like painting, with its woozy blending of color and texture. To achieve this, he begins by swabbing bacteria from just about anywhere. “I carry these sterile swabs and bags everywhere I go,” he says. He then swipes the swabs onto Hubble images he’s copied onto slide film. These strips of film are covered in agar to promote the colonization of bacteria. After a few days in the car trunk or under the sink, the bacteria eats through the agar and begins attacking the film, stripping the original colors and forms. DeSieno then scans the film to produce large prints (most are 30×40 inches).

The swirls of colors are more the result of bacteria doing its thing than any artistic decision. Bacteria in this case can act like a paintbrush, making what DeSieno calls painterly gestures. “Oftentimes I feel like I’m relegated to the role of editor,” he says. This lack of control in the creation of his images is reflective of the artist’s goal. Cosmos, you can imagine, is in part about DeSeino’s struggles to understand his place in the vastness of our universe.

On a philosophical level, it’s a reminder that so much of our lives is governed by things we can’t see. On a more tangible level, it’s just a cool process. Cosmos is a clever re-thinking of what it means to create a photograph. In this case DeSieno is using the real world to impact a representation of the real world. Using bacteria to do it, isn’t necessarily the prettiest process—“it smells horrible,” he says. “But you have to make sacrifices for your art I guess.”

ORIGINAL: Wired
By Liz Stinson
02.02.15

El Nuevo Cosmos

"Acabo de disfrutar el estreno mundial de la serie de ciencia más esperada de los últimos años: Cosmos, una Odisea en el Espacio-Tiempo.  Mi veredicto: ¡fantástica!  Aunque como dicen por ahí un hombre no se baña dos veces en el mismo río y este hombre se ha bañado más de ~10,000 veces desde que disfrutó por primera vez la Cosmos de Sagan, puedo asegurar que la joya de la divulgación científica de los años 80, ha vuelto a la vida"

“Solo un gran documental puede contener tan buenas ideas. La mejor del estreno del nuevo #Cosmos: todos somos descendientes de Astrónomos“
Marzo 11 de 2014
http://bit.ly/trino-estreno-cosmos

¿Qué hace a una serie documental una gran serie?  ¿qué hace al nuevo Cosmos tan bueno como el Cosmos de Sagan? Aunque muchos (o tal vez pocos, es mi esperanza) pueden pensar que mi emoción es desmedida y que el Nuevo Cosmos es tan solo una versión con mejores efectos especiales y un poco más personal que otras series científicas de nuestro tiempo, quiero presentarles aquí algunos argumentos para proponerles que declaremos oficialmente el renacer del Cosmos de Sagan.  Si sueno muy emocional es porque tanto mi razón como mis más profundos sentimientos sobre la ciencia están íntimamente vinculados con esta serie.  Hoy, sentimientos similares afloraron mientras disfrutaba del que para mí fue simplemente el capítulo 14 de Cosmos, congelado en el tiempo por casi 20 años como si esperará los adelantos científicos y tecnológicos de nuestro tiempo.

¿Cuál es entonces la receta para crear un buen documental de ciencia y que los productores del nuevo Cosmos lograron conservar por más de 20 años para producir de nuevo este tesoro? 

El primero, nuevamente, es Sagan.  Muy a pesar de haber muerto hace poco menos de 20 años, el fantasma del creador de la serie sigue ahí e incluso se nos aparece en uno de los momentos más emotivos de este capítulo 14.  No en persona sino en una vieja agenda que conserva intacto el nombre del nuevo presentador, al que conoció cuando este último tenía apenas 17 años.  Se nos aparece en un acantilado, el acantilado en el que comenzó el viaje de la nave de la imaginación en 1986.  Esta vez personificado como otro astrónomo.  Uno como él y que en esa carrera de obstáculos que llamamos la ciencia, le recibe el testigo.  Se nos aparece en una voz en “off” que repite una de las frases más contundentes de toda la serie, “Somos el medio para que el cosmos se conozca a sí mismo”.

En síntesis, una gran serie documental, es también una gran personalidad científica.  Sagan, deGrasse Tyson y no Tom Selleck  o Morgan Freeman.

El segundo elemento que hace a la nueva Cosmos tan buena como la Cosmos de Sagan es que te sorprende con lo inesperado.  En el momento en el que te podrían simplemente soltar un dato más, algo que podrías encontrar en una enciclopedia o en un libro de texto, te deja caer una variación de algo que ya sabías y que simplemente no habías pensado de esa manera.  Si bien para personas distintas el dato más impactante de un capítulo en una serie como esta puede variar, para mí el de este estreno fue uno solo: todos somos, de alguna manera, descendientes de astrónomos;  la astronomía estuvo de una manera u otra vinculada con nuestra supervivencia cuando comenzaba nuestro periplo en este planeta.  ¡Fantástico! Ese es el Cosmos que me conecto con la ciencia en los años 80. 

El tercer elemento es hacerlo personal.  Los seres humanos vibramos con todo lo que implique a otros seres humanos.  Una cosa es explicar lo que le pasa a un asteroide cuando cae en un agujero negro y otra es contar la misma historia pero con un astronauta de carne y hueso como protagonista. En Cosmos, el viaje es personal, como rezaba el título de la que ahora llamaremos la primera era de la serie.  Y es personal porque todo en la ciencia lo es.  Por encima de todas las cosas, la ciencia es un proyecto cultural y social.  Creado y sostenido por series humanos.  Un viaje de descubrimiento y uno muy largo en el que aún la muerte de los viajeros es un evento más que no puede ser motivo para detenerse.

En este capítulo de estreno nos encontramos con los sueños personales de un hombre completamente chiflado: Giordano Bruno.  Después del capítulo de hoy ya no sé si admirarlo o gritar a voz en cuello que fue el chiflado más recordado de todos los tiempos.  Les confieso que yo podría estar perfectamente entre los que le tiraban tomates en ese auditorio en Inglaterra.  ¿Cuantos Brunos habrán por ahí? ¿cuánto tiempo tardaremos en saber que estaban en lo cierto? ¿10 años? ¿1,000 años?

El cuarto elemento de una gran serie científica es que te hable en un lenguaje en el que todos podamos entender.  Me sorprendió poderosamente el lenguaje claro y preciso de la nueva Cosmos.  El mismo lenguaje que utilizaba Sagan y que hoy le vale toda la admiración de la comunidad divulgativa internacional.  En esto los creadores de la nueva Cosmos se lucieron y debo confesar que a pesar de mis temores, sé que este logro puede ser en gran medida obra del mismo DeGrasse Tyson.

Me quito el sombrero ante este digno continuador de la Saga Sagan.

El uso de un lenguaje sencillo tiene que ir acompañado de analogías, herramientas didácticas o visuales sencillas también.  El Calendario Cósmico es la mejor de todas.  ¿Quién no tiene claro que marzo es muy temprano y noviembre bastante tarde? Una invención original de Sagan vuelve a la vida magistralmente ilustrada por las herramientas que él lamentablemente no vería en vida.  Como en la vida, Enero coincide con el período de “oscuridad” más profundo de todo el año: todo esta por hacerse, todo se esta cocinando en silencio.  La Galaxia cumpleaños en marzo, claro en el marzo del calendario cósmico.  El Sol llega tarde.  Hay que esperar las vacaciones de fin de año para que el Universo haya cocinado los elementos químicos que se apilaran como basura a su alrededor y crearán a la Tierra apenas hasta el mes de agosto.  La vida es una invención  del cálido septiembre cuando “prácticamente” el año se acabo.  Las flores llegan como una broma el 28 de diciembre.  Y todo lo que ha sido la miserable (en términos cósmicos) historia de la humanidad, se reduce a un “faltan 12 (segundos) pa’las 12, el año va terminar“.

En esta escala solo falto un evento importante: Cosmos, el nuevo Cosmos, se estrenó 6 centésimas de segundo después de la media noche del primero de enero del calendario cósmico creado por el mismo Sagan en 1986.

ORIGINAL: Trinoceronte
Por Jorge Zuluaga

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Why Cosmos Will Be Better Than Ever

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will host the new Fox series Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey, blasting off in March. Peter Yang

Before Carl Sagan, science and TV didn’t get along too well. Then, in 1980, the man in the turtleneck blew our minds with his PBS miniseries, Cosmos. Sagan took a nar­rative approach to science, inviting viewers to explore the universe and discover their own place in it. Thirty-four years later, the sequel has finally arrived: Hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey hits Fox in March. It’s far from Tyson’s only gig; while nominally the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, he has become our most visible champion of science, thanks to numerous appearances on The Colbert Report and shenanigans like his (viral) Twitter fact-checking of the movie Gravity. Sagan may be busy somewhere among the heavens’ billions and billions of stars, but Tyson talked with WIRED about inheriting the man’s mantle, what the new Cosmos hopes to teach us, and the future of science and education in the US.

You’ve spent the past year working on Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey. You’re no stranger to television, but this is the first time you’ve been involved in a project of this magnitude.
It was a surreal experience for me as an academic. Everything about it was novel. Everything. A particular pleasure was working with people who felt strongly about Cosmos at a time when the country most needs an injection of science literacy. I don’t know if love overstates it, but people came to the project with a commitment to making something bigger than all of us.

The first series was associated very closely with Carl Sagan.

As a matter of fact, it was subtitled “A Personal Voyage.”

How do you build on Sagan’s legacy, then, without letting your series be defined by it?
Well, it depends on how you think of the old Cosmos. If you think of it as “the Carl Sagan show,” then it can’t be redone with anyone else. But if it’s “Carl Sagan presenting the universe,” and the universe is the subject and he’s your guide, then it works just fine—and that’s how we’re proceeding.

What are some differences we can expect to see?
We have a cinematic dimension this time: People working on the show have brought tools from cinema and are applying them to tell the story of the universe. Think about how potent and powerful things like camera angles and scene development are. In a stereotypical documentary, somebody sets up a camera and somebody walks in front of the camera and just talks to you, and then you go to some other thing and then you come back. With this, I think, the viewer will walk away with a much more complete encounter.

How has the current climate around science in the US informed the new series?
Cosmos was conceived and filmed in the midst of the Cold War. The exploration of the solar system was still considered an odd thing that, maybe, if you had no other problems in the world, you might undertake. Then Cosmos airs in 1980, and its entire mission statement is all about a cosmic perspective, understanding things on the largest scale possible. Today there’s the issue of what we are doing as a species to the environment on a global scale. The environmental movement really started out at a very local level.

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey features a “cosmic calendar” that helps viewers make sense of the universe’s vast history.  Courtesy of Fox


That all changed when photos from Apollo 8 showed Earth as an object in space.
As Sagan is famous for saying, “Molecules don’t have passports.” The idea that your influence on a local environment has global consequences is something I don’t think we could’ve arrived at were it not for Apollo 8. Climate change has influenced the modern Cosmos in the way nuclear proliferation influenced the previous one.

In addition, at least in America, science has been treated sort of cavalierly, not only by the public but also by government. The idea that science is just some luxury that you’ll get around to if you can afford it is regressive to any future a country might dream for itself. Innovations in science and technology are the engines of the 21st-century economy; if you care about the wealth and health of your nation tomorrow, then you’d better rethink how you allocate taxes to fund science. The federal budget needs to recognize this.

It seems like right now, we’re leaning on the private sector to pick up that slack, with for-profit companies like SpaceX, for example.

The private sector requires quarterly reports and annual returns on the investors’ capital. It’s not a 20-year baseline. It’s not even a five-year baseline. If you really want to invest in the long-term health of a nation, the government needs to step in for the long-term returns on those investments.

“The Idea That Science is a Luxury is regressive to any future a country might dream for itself.”

In the 1920s, the government was investing huge amounts of money and physicists’ brainpower on understanding the atom. What emerged was the birth of quantum physics. If you were around back then, you might have said, “Look at all the smart people just wasting their time. Why are we even doing this?” But the information technology revolution has at its foundation techniques for the creation, storage, and retrieval of information that would not have been possible without an understanding of quantum physics.

So corporations engage in applied science, while pure science requires the ongoing support of the state?
Exactly. As history has shown, pure science research ultimately ends up applying to something. We just don’t know it at the time.

But in an era where science is low on many people’s priority lists, do you think there’s also enough hunger from viewers to sustain a show like Cosmos?
The top two shows in all of television are The Big Bang Theory and NCIS. The Big Bang Theory has received plenty of criticism for its caricatures of scientists, but what comes out of their mouths and what’s on the whiteboards is real science. At the same time, I have 1.6 million followers on Twitter—all of this tells me that there’s an appetite.

An appetite for scientific information, or just for the human stories around it?
Whoever said you couldn’t communicate science by way of stories? Cosmos is an occasion to bring everything that I have, all of my capacity to communicate. We may go to the edge of the universe, but we’re going to land right on you: in your heart, in your soul, in your mind. My goal is to have people know that they are participants in this great unfolding cosmic story.

ORIGINAL: Wired

By Rachel Edidin
03.07.14

Neil deGrasse Tyson Hosts “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” (at SXSW)

How did we discover the laws of nature? 
How did we find our coordinates in both space and time? 

“Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” uses rich, epic storytelling to ignite our curiosity and inspire us to take a deeper interest in science and the world around us.

The series is hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who will be delivering a SXSW Interactive keynote speech on Saturday, March 8th.

Three decades after the debut of “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,” Carl Sagan’s scientific exploration of the universe, Executive Producer Seth MacFarlane is working with Sagan’s original creative collaborators to produce the series.

The television premiere will take place Sunday, March 9th, debuting simultaneously across 10 U.S. networks, including Fox and National Geographic Channel. National Geographic Channel will be airing Cosmos every Monday night at 10pm, which will include additional bonus footage and behind-the-scenes content.

Be the first to see it at the SXSW Film Festival on Friday, March 7th at the Paramount Theatre at 10pm, followed by a Q&A with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

ORIGINAL: SXSW

by Cori Burford

February 26, 2014

Fox Networks Group To Launch ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’ In 181 Countries, 220 Channels

Fox Networks Group today announced its first ever cross-network global premiere event — for Seth MacFarlane‘s passion project, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, on Sunday, March 9, 9-10 PM ET/PT. In addition to premiering on the 10 U.S. networks simulcasting the premiere episode — Fox Broadcasting Company, National Geographic Channel, FX, FXX, FXM, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo and FOX Life — and on the Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels International, as previously announced, Cosmos will premiere on all 90 National Geographic Channels in 180 countries, as well as 120 Fox-branded channels in 125 countries, making this the largest global launch ever for a television series. Rolling out immediately after the U.S. premiere, international markets will begin airing the premiere episode day and date on both Fox-branded and National Geographic Channels, concluding within one week of the domestic premiere event. The additional 12 episodes will air exclusively on National Geographic Channels outside the U.S.

TV Trailer: Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Cosmos’

This first multi-network launch event for Fox Networks Group, along with the series debut on Fox International Channels and National Geographic Channels International, will make Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey available on 220 channels in 181 countries, with an overall footprint of more than half a billion homes.

In today’s announcement, Fox Networks Group chairman and CEO Peter Rice called it “one of the most incredible experiences ever imagined for television.” From the announcement:

After the cross-network premiere event, COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY will continue its epic 13-episode run, airing Sundays (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX, and Mondays – with all-new bonus footage and behind-the-scenes content – on the National Geographic Channel (NGC) (10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT).

More than three decades after the debut of “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,” Carl Sagan’s stunning and iconic exploration of the universe as revealed by science, Seth MacFarlane has teamed with Sagan’s original creative collaborators – writer/executive producer Ann Druyan and co-writer, astronomer Steven Soter – to conceive the 13-part series that will serve as a successor to the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning original series.

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY is hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. As with the legendary original series, the new COSMOS is the saga of how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. The series brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge, transporting viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest – and the smallest – scale. The series invents new modes of scientific storytelling to reveal the grandeur of the universe and re-invent celebrated elements of the original series, including the Cosmic Calendar and the Ship of the Imagination. The most profound scientific concepts are presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience.

ORIGINAL: Deadline
By THE DEADLINE TEAM
February 13, 2014

First Trailer for New "Cosmos" Series Arrives

ORIGINAL: Mental Floss
Chris Higgins

July 22, 2013

Image credit: YouTube / FoxBroadcasting

In 1980, Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage aired on PBS. More than three decades later, Neil DeGrasse Tyson is at the helm of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, set to air on Fox in 2014. Some of the team who made the original series, including Sagan's widow Ann Druyan, have returned to work on this one; Druyan is both Executive Producer and Writer for the show. The first trailer was released over the weekend at Comic-Con, and it's a doozy -- cut like a summer blockbuster, it invites re-watching and pausing to peek at the places the show will take us. Behold (and be aware that, yes, the first 15 seconds are intentionally left black):

To get warmed up, watch the original series on Netflix (it's streaming), buy it on DVD for a zillion dollars, or follow the new show on Facebook. Get excited, people!

The Scale of the Universe 2

ORIGINAL: htwins.net

Maravillosa puesta en perspectiva de la escala del Universo.
-Vanessa Restrepo Schild

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