Light is often a source of information, it tells us how to perceive and understand the world around us, depending on the story it tells. Light is a narrative within itself, its meaning morphing depending on the context in which it is displayed. At times it is a sign of welcome, other times it is a sign of warning. Its ability to bring revelation demonstrates not only physical existence, but also absence. The message of light can expose our relation to the world around us, as well as our impact on the earth and its well being. Light is often underestimated, overlooked, or taken for granted; however, if we really understood all that it entails we would slow down and listen to the light.
This link closely resembles the previous link, explaining how light enables us to perceive objects in the physical world we live in. The quantum concept that the human being can even see light is once again based on the idea that light can exist as both a wave and a particle. The human eye actually forms images through its capturing of light photons (although we do not yet know if the human eye is able to perceive singular photons - Professor Kwiat is actually soon conducting an experiment to find out). The ability for us to perceive depth and clarity is based on the principle of interference, which is mainly a wave concept. Light exists as the yin and yang of wave and particle - however it cannot exist as both at the same time. Also, it would like to say the colors of the jellyfish in the video exemplify many topics in quantum physics; however, my knowledge is not great enough to explain these concepts.
The images of animals giving off light in this video were really spectacular and I'm sure quite something to behold in real life. The idea of the undersea creatures using light to communicate with each other reminds me of the previous link and how bacteria communicate with each other. Both these animals and bacteria can't use words so they have to find other ways of communicating. This can easily be connected to our class because when we take photographs, it is our way of communicating with each other and others without the use of verbal language. In this way, art makes us more like the other physical beings in our world.
I think that the "Eye in the Sea" project is extremely cool. It combines photography with biology and looks at a light source that we typically don't think about as photographers: bio-luminescence. I also think that it is very neat how some of the deep sea organisms use light. We are used to using light to be able to see but they use light for a variety of different things. For example, the "burgler alarm" response which is meant to attract larger predators as a means to escape an attack. It's amazing that, by combining principles from photography, engineering,, and biology that these researchers were able to discover an entirely new type of squid within two minutes of their camera being activated.
The idea of using light to communicate between different organisms is interesting to me. The "burglar alarm" she was talking about with the bio-luminescent sea creatures is an intriguing defense mechanism. I also thought it was smart the way she solved the issue with scaring away animals by planting the lights on the camera that mimicked the natural luminescence of another deep-sea creature. The whole idea of communicating with light seems to be prevalent through many different areas of study.
The most important thing that I took out of this was similar to what Travis said- this reinforcing concept that Widder has about light as communication, especially for animals in the deep dark depths of the sea. I think its interesting that the darkness of the sea creates a necessity for the sea creatures to evolve and thus create their own light. The concept of light as communication applies to almost all things- light is a constant communication for our brains to create maps and signals- and I found the burglar alarm of the creature to be similar to things we humans do with light to communicate, such as using lighthouses.
Light is often a source of information, it tells us how to perceive and understand the world around us, depending on the story it tells. Light is a narrative within itself, its meaning morphing depending on the context in which it is displayed. At times it is a sign of welcome, other times it is a sign of warning. Its ability to bring revelation demonstrates not only physical existence, but also absence. The message of light can expose our relation to the world around us, as well as our impact on the earth and its well being. Light is often underestimated, overlooked, or taken for granted; however, if we really understood all that it entails we would slow down and listen to the light.
ReplyDeleteThis link closely resembles the previous link, explaining how light enables us to perceive objects in the physical world we live in. The quantum concept that the human being can even see light is once again based on the idea that light can exist as both a wave and a particle. The human eye actually forms images through its capturing of light photons (although we do not yet know if the human eye is able to perceive singular photons - Professor Kwiat is actually soon conducting an experiment to find out). The ability for us to perceive depth and clarity is based on the principle of interference, which is mainly a wave concept. Light exists as the yin and yang of wave and particle - however it cannot exist as both at the same time. Also, it would like to say the colors of the jellyfish in the video exemplify many topics in quantum physics; however, my knowledge is not great enough to explain these concepts.
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ReplyDeleteThe images of animals giving off light in this video were really spectacular and I'm sure quite something to behold in real life. The idea of the undersea creatures using light to communicate with each other reminds me of the previous link and how bacteria communicate with each other. Both these animals and bacteria can't use words so they have to find other ways of communicating. This can easily be connected to our class because when we take photographs, it is our way of communicating with each other and others without the use of verbal language. In this way, art makes us more like the other physical beings in our world.
ReplyDeleteI think that the "Eye in the Sea" project is extremely cool. It combines photography with biology and looks at a light source that we typically don't think about as photographers: bio-luminescence. I also think that it is very neat how some of the deep sea organisms use light. We are used to using light to be able to see but they use light for a variety of different things. For example, the "burgler alarm" response which is meant to attract larger predators as a means to escape an attack. It's amazing that, by combining principles from photography, engineering,, and biology that these researchers were able to discover an entirely new type of squid within two minutes of their camera being activated.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of using light to communicate between different organisms is interesting to me. The "burglar alarm" she was talking about with the bio-luminescent sea creatures is an intriguing defense mechanism. I also thought it was smart the way she solved the issue with scaring away animals by planting the lights on the camera that mimicked the natural luminescence of another deep-sea creature. The whole idea of communicating with light seems to be prevalent through many different areas of study.
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing that I took out of this was similar to what Travis said- this reinforcing concept that Widder has about light as communication, especially for animals in the deep dark depths of the sea. I think its interesting that the darkness of the sea creates a necessity for the sea creatures to evolve and thus create their own light. The concept of light as communication applies to almost all things- light is a constant communication for our brains to create maps and signals- and I found the burglar alarm of the creature to be similar to things we humans do with light to communicate, such as using lighthouses.
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