Trichoptera (caddis larva) building case (studio view), 1980-2000. Material: Gold, pearls, turquoise. Length: 2.5 cm. Photographer: Frédéric Delpech. Image courtesy of the artist and Art:Concept gallery, Paris and MONA Museum of Old and New Art.

Right now, in almost every river in the world, some 12,000 different species of caddisfly larvae wriggle and crawl through sediment, twigs, and rocks in an attempt to build temporary aquatic cocoons. To do this, the small, slow-moving creatures excrete silk from salivary glands near their mouths which they use like mortar to stick together almost every available material into a cozy tube. A few weeks later a fully developed caddisfly emerges and almost immediately flies away.

After first learning about caddisflies, self-taught (and self-professed amateur) artist Hubert Duprat had a thought. Had a caddisfly ever naturally encountered a fleck of gold in a river and used it to build a home? And then one step further: what if a caddisfly had only gold and other precious stones or jewels to work with?

Trichoptères, French for the scientific name of the caddisfly, is Duprat’s answer to that question. For years the artist has been collaborating with the tiny insects, providing them small aquariums of gold, turquoise and pearls that the the larvae readily use to construct their temporary homes. Regardless of how creepy crawly you might find the insects, it’s impossible to deny the strange beauty of the final product, tiny gold sculptures held together with silk. Encountering them void of any context, one would assume they were constructed by a jeweler.

Duprat currently has a solo exhibition at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania which runs through July 28th, and it should be notced thath is work with caddisflies is only one small aspect of his art practice.

Trichoptera larva with case, 1980-2000. Material: gold and pearls. Dimension: 0.5 x 1.9 cm. Photographer: Frédéric Delpech. Image courtesy of the artist and Art:Concept gallery, Paris and MONA Museum of Old and New Art.

Trichoptera larva with case, 1980-2000. Material: gold and pearls. Dimension: 0.5 x 1.9 cm. Photographer: Frédéric Delpech. Image courtesy of the artist and Art:Concept gallery, Paris and MONA Museum of Old and New Art.

Trichoptera (caddis larva) case. Photographer: Fabrice Gousset.

Trichoptera (caddis larva) case on pedestal. Photographer: Fabrice Gousset.

Trichoptera (caddis larva) case. Photographer: Fabrice Gousset.

Trichoptera (caddis larva) case on pedestal. Photographer: Fabrice Gousset.

Trichoptera (caddis larva) case. Photographer: Fabrice Gousset.

Trichoptera (caddis larva) case on pedestal. Photographer: Fabrice Gousset.

A huge thank you to the Museum of Old and New Art and photographer Fabrice Gousset for providing the images for this post. If you liked this, don’t miss the work of (via ARTREBELS)

Ink Molecules

Suppose you were to print, in 12 point text, the numeral 1 using a common cheap ink-jet printer. How many molecules of the ink would be used? At what numerical value would the number printed approximately equal the number of ink molecules used?

David Pelkey

This is the kind of problem where Fermi estimation comes in handy. In Fermi estimation, we're not concerned about exact numbers. We just want, before we start doing research, to get an idea of how big the number is going to be. Will it have 10 digits, or 100 digits, or a zillion?

We'll see what we can figure out before we look anything up.

An inkjet cartridge lets me print out some number of 8.5"x11" black-and-white pages. Let's be optimistic and say a few hundred. If each page has 500 words and each word has 5 letters, then each page has 2,500 letters. 100 pages is 250,000 letters and 400 would be 1,000,000. So the number of letters per cartridge probably has six digits.

Now, how many molecules are in an ink cartridge? This will be harder to estimate without cheating and looking things up, but let's try.

Let's say I remember hearing about "Avogadro's number" in chemistry class, but I don't remember exactly what it is. It's definitely something times 10²³, so it has 24 digits. And I remember that it's the number of atoms in some number of grams of something. It was a smallish number. Probably.[1]For the record, it's 6.022×10²³, and it's the number of carbon-12 atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12 (or the number of hydrogen atoms in a gram of hydrogen).

Inkjet cartriges probably also contain a small number of grams of ink.[2]Citation: If it were a big number, they would be hard to pick up, and if it were less than a gram, the idea that we've been paying $30 for them is just too upsetting to contemplate. Let's assume it's the same small number, because Fermi estimation lets us do that.

I have no idea what's in ink. (Remember, we're not allowed to look stuff up yet.) I know squid can make ink of some kind, so maybe ink has some big complicated organic molecules in it. That's bad, because I have no chance of estimating their weights to within even a few orders of magnitude.

Fortunately, what we need to worry the most about is the smallest molecules, because they'll contribute the most to the total count.

Ink probably has a lot of water in it, like many liquids. On the other hand, I bet most of those water molecules wander off when the ink dries—since that's what the word "dries" means.

We have nothing to go on here, so let's take a wild guess and suppose that a 10% of ink's bulk comes from large numbers of little molecules, ones comparable in size to the [mumble mumble carbon or something] atoms in Avogadro's number. Since Avogadro's number has 24 digits, 10% of it would be a 23-digit number. If our other guesses are right, then the number of molecules in an ink cartridge might also have about 23 digits

If there are a 23-digit number of molecules in an ink cartridge, and that cartridge prints a 6-digit number of letters, then each printed letter (or number) should contain a number of ink molecules with 23 - 6 = 17 digits.[3]What we're doing here is dividing by subtracting the number of digits. If you think this is a cool shortcut, and decide to develop it further and make it a little more rigorous and precise, then congratulations! You've just invented logarithms.

That means a printed 10-digit number contains about an 18-digit number of ink molecules, and a 100-digit number contains a 19-digit number of ink molecules. Aha! The crossover point, where the number of molecules and the printed number are equal, must happen somewhere between 18 and 19 digits.

So our answer, according to Fermi estimation, is in the neighborhood of a high 18-digit number. We might be off by several orders of magnitude in either direction, but in either case, it's definitely a number you could print out on a single line.

Now, let's do some actual research and find out how we did.

Inks, unsurprisingly, are complicated and vary a lot. Color inks contain a lot of large and heavy molecules, especially some of the pigments. Fortunately, cheap black inks—which are what David asked about—are simpler.

As our example, we'll take the ink used in the random HP printer at my house. HP doesn't disclose everything about what the ink is made of, but they do publish a material safety data sheet for it here.

The MSDS data tells us that the ink is over 70% water. It also contains the molecule 2-pyrrolidone (which is apparently used to synthesize the anti-seizure drug Ethosuximide) and 1,5-pentanediol.

In addition, it contains up to 5% "modified carbon black", a form of crystalline carbon (like graphite and diamond). This is great news for our estimate, because crystalline carbon is very simple; its molecular formula is just "C".[4]Assuming you count each carbon atom separately. You could interpret David's question to mean particles of ink, so each hunk of carbon black would only count as 1. However, that would mean working out exactly what water fraction remains in the dried ink and how much weight 1,5-pentanediol contributes and so forth, and that sounds like more work.

Conveniently, "C" is also what's used in the definition of Avogadro's number. Small consumer cartridges contain a few grams of ink, which is less than the 12 grams used in Avogadro's number. That might make our estimate about half a digit too high. And while we were lucky at guessing carbon, HP ink contains less than 5% carbon black, not the 10% we guessed. That pushes the real answer down even lower than our estimate. But all in all, we did pretty well!

Of course, this is a reminder of how much easier the digital world is:

It's also a reminder of how expensive ink is. Speaking of which, the ink sac from the tiny Octopoteuthis deletron squid are probably a few milliliters, based on the collection bottle sizes mentioned in this paper, for a squid that probably only weighs a hundred grams or so.

$30 could probably get you a few kilograms of fresh whole squid, and—if you picked the right squid—a total of five or six cartridges worth of ink.

Lifehacks.

In earlier times, when English-speaking people wanted to get down and dirty, they might say they were playing at couch quail, engage in pup-noddy, make butter with one's tale, or ride a dragon upon Saint George. Want to brush up on your historical sexy slang? These charts can help.

Read more...

Volcanic Selfie

Photograph by Andrew Hara, National Geographic Your Shot

Lava glows red-hot, churning and rumbling in Kilauea Volcanos Halemaumau Crater in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. It is quite an experience when Earth feels incredibly large and one feels microscopic and insignificant in comparison, writes Your Shot member Andrew Hara.

"I was able to legally access the edge of Halemaumau crater while volunteering for the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park," Hara explains. After cautiously hiking through a closed-off area of the national park, respirator in tow, Hara deployed his tripod and camera. I carefully set the timer for two minutes and walked around to the farther, visually stable edge of the crater to create this self-portrait.

Haras picture recently appeared in the Your Shot assignment Embrace the Untamed.

This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.

Creations from French Girls, an iPhone app where people draw portraits based on selfies of others. [via]

Related: Subway Snapchat Art

Cans have contained a series of strange items throughout history: There’s been the Candwich, Sweet Sue’s Canned Whole Chicken (yes, that’s right), and fully-cooked canned bacon. But the newest product in an aerosol can is no joke. After figuring out…

The post College Students Invent Aerosol Spray-Can Cake appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

Kaunergrat, Tyrol

Nature Park Kaunergrat. This beautiful Austrian natural park is characterised by the high mountain area of the Oetztal Alps.

Lake Faak or Faaker See

Lake Faak or Faaker See is an alpine lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia. With an area of approximately 2.2 km², it is the state’s fifth-largest lake. Lake Faak is a popular vacation and swimming destination, known for its clear turquoise water

Lake Vilsalpsee

A stunning deep blue lake in the Vilsalpsee Nature Reserve. It is one of the most popular destinations in the Tannheimer valley.

Speicher Durlassboden

Ampitheater, Tyrol

Hallstatt

Freeze Frame

Photograph by Keith Szafranski, National Geographic Your Shot

"On my last day in Antarctica photographing emperor penguins at their nesting grounds, I came across this little hole (a little more than a foot across) in a small piece of blue ice," writes Keith Szafranski, a member of our Your Shot community. Originally hoping it would make a good frame for the landscape, Szafranski then saw a string of penguins moving toward it. "I stuck my camera with a wide-angle lens into the hole and waited."

Szafranski's picture recently appeared in the Your Shot assignment Embrace the Untamed.

</p>This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.</p>

Magic Eye

Photograph by Simon Kwan, National Geographic Your Shot

Hong Kongs breathtaking skyline takes on a dizzying effect in the darkness. It is a forest made by the buildings, writes Your Shot member Simon Kwan, who made the one-and-a-half-hour journey to the top of Beacon Hill to capture the cityscape.

This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.

50 Shades of Ray

Photograph by Eduardo Lopez Negrete

A large school of mobula rays fades into the waters of Baja, Mexico. The rays were moving quite fast and it was hard enough keeping up with them from the surface, let alone diving down to take a closer look, writes photographer Eduardo Lopez Negrete. Mobula rays are often referred to as flying rays due to their fondness for breaching.

This photo and caption were submitted to the 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. Winners will be announced July 31.

Browse editors' favorites and download wallpapers &raquo

Running the country can be tiring. Sometimes, you need a burrito bowl to keep you going. Obama stopped into a Washington D.C. Chipotle Monday on his way to a forum on working families, reports NBC. On the topic, the President…

The post Watch President Obama Take a Lunch Break at Chipotle appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

I… am a white guy. My dance moves… are sub-par, yet iconic. In fact, my skills on the dance floor are so iconic, I was able to find an infographic teaching you how to do them, so that you may get the enviable chance to feel just what it’s like to be a white guy *cough* (loser).  So, find a pair of 80′s style sneakers, and let’s cut footloose!

Before we begin our first move, it is of utmost importance that you understand when performing these moves, you mustn’t execute them exactly as described. This will bring the “white guy” element you’re searching for, and if the moves themselves don’t deter others from dancing near you, by God, not performing them correctly will, and that’s all you’re really trying to do in the first place. It is equally important that you only choose three moves from the prescribed list to perform throughout the night. You want people to see just how much of a white guy you are, so choose your favorite moves and don’t stop alternating through them. And in fact, just don’t stop dancing at all. Just use those three moves as often as you can for the entirety of the night, and you’re guaranteed to repel all attractive people there.

A good starting point is The Sprinkler. It’s a classic, and you can’t go wrong with it if you’re a beginner. The Sprinkler also segways nicely into The Running Man. This transition will establish you as the white guy of the party, but you’re not in the clear yet. You see, there’s still hope that you might just be someone goofing around. So I urge you to end with The Baconator, an explosive burst of ridiculousness that’s sure to leave the crowd not wanting more.

So good luck to you, my fellow white guys. I hope to not see you at the next get-together. [via]

 

 

 

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Post tags: Dance, funny, Goofy, Guy, health, Moves, party, skills, Sprinkler, white, workout

Flying Confetti

Photograph by Steffen Reichle, National Geographic Your Shot

A cloud of butterflies descends upon the Tucavaca Valley in eastern Bolivia. In years with shorter, wetter dry seasons, millions of butterflies will arrive at the beginning of the rainy season. We probably saw several millions of butterflies in the approximately ten miles that we drove through the valley, writes photographer Steffen Reichle, who waited 11 years to get this shot after first visiting the region in 2001 without a camera.

Reichles picture recently appeared in Your Shots Daily Dozen.

This photo was submitted to Your Shot. Check out the new and improved website, where you can share photos, take part in assignments, lend your voice to stories, and connect with fellow photographers from around the globe.

Welcome to “Eating History,” a series in which Jaya Saxena of the New-York Historical Society mines the vast archives of the museum and library in search of vintage images and ephemera that offer a look into how New Yorkers used to dine. Follow the…

The post Eating History: The Menus of Classic New York appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

Pablo Neruda

Biography
More poems by this author

Louis Léopold Boilly

Date: 1810
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 24 1/4 x 32 1/2 in. (61.6 x 82.6 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2012
Accession Number: 2012.156

Information about hundreds of thousands of works of art is available in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection Database.

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© 2000–2014 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All rights reserved.

Dr. Tom Povey, a real-life rocket scientist and professor of engineering at Oxford University, has developed a new and improved pan. What’s so revolutionary about it? The Flare pan heats up faster and uses 40% less energy than conventional saucepans. But how? Stainless…

The post The Saucepan of the Future? British Rocket Scientist Designs a Better Pan appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

Branching Out

Photograph by Franck Boutonnet

A lone tree on the edge of the city seems to stand as a testament to Dubais changing landscape. The burgeoning cosmopolitan metropolis is home to some 2.1 million people.

This photo and caption were submitted to the 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. Winners will be announced July 31.

Browse editors' favorites and download wallpapers &raquo

The Twitter pictures that surfaced yesterday of a rodent peeping out of a wrap at Chop’t were no joke. It stared when a Stroock law firm employee heard his coworker scream. His unlucky coworker had bitten into a wrap that had…

The post A Dead Rodent Was Found in a Wrap at Chop’t appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

Bandbox is a line of bicycle and equestrian/skateboard helmets and helmet covers that are designed to look like fancy men’s and women’s hats. Models include the Southampton, the Ascot and the Brooklyn wool felt fedora.

With the wide variety of Bandbox Helmet Cover styles, you can chose helmet covers to match the weather and locale from beach hats with sun protection to felt newsboy caps for urban rides on cool days.

images via Bandbox

via Cool Hunting

The potential to save Crumbs has its stock soaring.

One of the best parts about late spring/early summer: berry season. One of the worst parts about berry season: picking seeds out of your teeth. Read More

Over the Fourth of July weekend, California Heritage Market hosted the L.A.’s first-ever medical marijuana farmers market. Over 16,000 people attended, each carrying the official medical marijuana card they needed to get in. Cannabis activist Cheryl Shuman talks about the overwhelming turnout…

The post L.A.’s First-Ever Medical Marijuana Farmers Market Draws 16,000 Visitors appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

Everyone has a dream. Zack Danger Brown’s dream is about to be realized through the Potato Salad project Kickstarter campaign. ”Basically I’m just making potato salad,” writes Brown on the Kickstarter page. “I haven’t decided what kind yet.” The project is…

The post This Guy Started a Potato Salad Kickstarter (So He Could Make Potato Salad) appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

A warm tortilla with butter is comforting in the same way a grilled cheese is. Using that logic, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that tortillas instantly became popular on NASA space missions in the 1980s. But did you know that Taco…

The post Taco Bell’s Tortillas Are Extreme Enough For NASA appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.

Klondike’s Choco Taco came onto the scene over 30 years ago, and has since revolutionized the world of frozen treats. If you didn’t experience one as a child (tear), here’s the Choco Taco breakdown: fudge-swirled vanilla ice cream is encased…

The post How To Make Choco Tacos At Home appeared first on FirstWeFeast.com.