Homosapiensapiens

silfarione:

by Sam Haskins

theories-of:

Diane Arbus-a young waitress at a nudist camp, nj, 1963

silfarione:

Yaquina Bay Bridge by David Plowden. 1968

beyondneptune:

Nanoparticle Coating Makes Paper Magnetic, Waterproof, and Antibacterial

by Rebecca Boyle

A nanoparticle spray can turn regular paper into superpaper, rendering it waterproof, antimicrobial, magnetic and probably very expensive. Who said paper was an old technology?

Scientists at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genoa, Italy, developed a process to cover any cellulose fiber, like paper or fabric, with a reactive coating. It involves combining the fiber molecules with a nanoparticle solution, creating a polymer matrix.

The cellulose fibers are wetted with an acrylic solution containing manganese ferrite nanoparticles, which are magnetic. When it gets wet, the mixture forms a nano-shell around each individual fiber, rendering the fiber water-repellent. Scientists can change the composition of the nanoparticles to make it more or less magnetically responsive, or to add other attributes, like perhaps fluorescence. Add some colloidal silver, and it could be antibacterial.

Aside from the small nano-shell around each of the fibers, the paper’s properties don’t change— you could still print with it, fold it, mail it or whatever you want, as Forbes explains. The paper could have a wide range of applications, from food packaging and medical documents to secure bank notes. Waterproof paper could be used to protect valuable documents, according to Roberto Cingolani, scientific director at the IIT.

The superpaper is described in the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

[Forbes via Wired UK]

Vintage Soviet Circus Poster

f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s:

(via beyondneptune)

silfarione:

by Elliott Erwitt

K

‘I Missed My Period’ (Taken with Instagram at Alberta College of Art & Design)

ironmaiven:

J

(via beyondneptune)

Dear Stranger, by Shizuka Yokomizo

For this 1998-2000 series of portraits, photographer Shizuka Yokomizo left several anonymous letters on the doorsteps of random ground floor apartments that read:

“Dear Stranger,

I am an artist working on a photographic project which involves people I do not know…. I would like to take a photograph of you standing in your front room from the street in the evening.”

The letter specified a certain ten-minute period during which the artist would approach, take the picture, and slip back into the darkness. She would only reveal her identity once her subjects received a print and contact information (so that they could let her know if they objected to their portrait being exhibited).

Yokomizo made sure that when the photos were taken, the light would be too dark outside to see her — it would only allow her subjects to see their own reflections in the window they were looking out of.

(Source: codeines, via andreantaya)

Different styles of book-binding.

lingering-sentiment:

(via beyondneptune)

theblondejournal:

The 8 of the 12 covers of the recent issue of i-D Magazine celebrating the year of the dragon. Photographed by Chen Man and styled by Lucia Liu.

(via andreantaya)

Julio Cortázar, Self-Portrait, Paris, 1975   [+]  [also EGyB]
© Fonds Aurora Bernárdez, Coll CGAI

Creo que sé mirar, si es que algo sé, y que todo mirar rezuma falsedad, porque es lo que nos arroja más afuera de nosotros mismos, sin la menor garantía […]
— Julio Cortázar, in ‘Las Babas del Diablo’ [Las armas secretas (1959)]

I think I know how to look, if it’s something I know, and also that every looking oozes with mendacity, because it’s that which expels us furthest outside ourselves, without the least garantee […]

from photosapiens

chagalov:

(via beyondneptune)