Dance Your PH.D.

In 2008 science writer John Bohannon launched the first Dance Your PH.D. contest. The rules were simple, each dance had to be based on a scientist’s Ph.D. research, and that scientist had to be part of the dance. In an article he asked the question “Can Scientists Dance?” and the answer turns out to be yes, yes they can. Since then The New York Times and NPR have reported on the contest. 

I think the idea is inspired. Forcing scientist to get our of their heads and connect with their bodies to convey complex concepts probably led to additional moments of insight.

Below you can see for yourself last year’s winner, which besides showing new physics research in dance form also demonstrates a great panache for filmmaking reminiscent of the dance pieces discussed here yesterday. 

Microstructure-Property relationships in Ti2448 components produced by Selective Laser Melting: A Love Story by Joel Miller. 

Hip replacements have a limited life before they too need replacing. This is known in the medical field as revision surgery and it is a source of much pain and inconvenience for the patient. Revision surgery is most often because the underlying bone has deteriorated. Bone needs stress to grow and to maintain strength, yet current hip replacement implants are too stiff - they constrain the affixed bone and prevent it from stretching. The bone around the implant starts to deteriorate and the bond between bone and implant fails. Titanium, used in orthopaedic implants because it is strong, lightweight and biocompatible, transforms at temperatures above 883°C. The atoms rearrange from a densely-packed structure (called the alpha phase) to one that is loosely-packed (beta phase). Both alpha and beta phases are strong, but the beta phase is half as stiff and has elastic properties closer to that of bone. By adding elements such as tin, niobium and zirconium, our titanium alloy keeps its flexible beta structure at room temperature. If the alloy is then re-heated to 450°C, some alpha phase re-emerges, complicating the microstructure. This makes it more difficult for cracks to progress through the metal, making it less susceptible to fatigue failure. If the amount of alpha is controlled, a metal with good fatigue properties and low-stiffness is made. To further reduce the stiffness of the implant and match it to that of bone, we use flexible scaffold structures. The scaffolding also allows the bone to grow into the implant, creating a strong bond. These complicated scaffolds are built from thin layers of titanium powder that are melted with a laser, then cooled to solidify. This manufacturing method is called Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and it is like 3D printing. Because SLM is good at producing one-off items, customised implants are possible; the patient’s CAT or MRI scans can be combined with Computer Aided Design to ensure a perfect fit. My research at the University of Western Australia uses these new materials and advanced manufacturing techniques to try to overcome the main reason why orthopaedic implants fail. If successful, this work will help lead to more durable implants, reducing the need for revision surgery and allowing orthopaedic implants to be used on younger adult patients. This video was created with friends and family for Gonzolabs "Dance Your Ph.D" 2011 Contest. It illustrates a central part of my research: the effect of the titanium alloy microstructure. The video was created using 2200 photographs because we didn't have a video camera, but also (and more importantly) because stop motion, even though tedious to shoot, is fun. The music is "Mischa" by unsigned Perth indi-electropop outfit The Transients. Hear more of their music at www.thetransients.net

(via ScienceMag.org)

The Path To Smarter Creativity

Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output? From the New York Times best-selling author of How We Decide comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration, and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective. You’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addictions of poets. You’ll meet a Manhattan bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. You’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar’s office space is designed to spark the next big leap in animation. Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world. www.jonahlehrer.com Directed & Edited: Adam McClelland Produced: Rachel Lehrer Music: Michael Maurice

Last week I talked about Jonah Lehrer’s new book Imagine: How Creativity Works and shared some interviews he had done in anticipation of the release of the book. Having finished it I think it is worth revisiting the book and share another interview. If you are interested in learning how the brain works, how creativity happens, and want to learn how to recognize creatively productive behaviors you really should read this book. 

WHERE do good ideas come from? For centuries, all credit for these mysterious gifts went to faith, fortune and some fair muses. But to assume creativity is some lofty trait enjoyed by the few is both foolish and unproductive, argues Jonah Lehrer in “Imagine”, a smart new book about “how creativity works”. Drawing from a wide array of scientific and sociological research - and everything from the poetry of W.H. Auden to the films of Pixar - he makes a convincing case that innovation cannot only be studied and measured, but also nurtured and encouraged. 

The roots of creativity: Throwing muses | The Economist

 (via NPR’s Fresh Air)

How simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries

From the newly launched TED ED channel, Adam Savage walks through two spectacular examples of profound scientific discoveries that came from simple, creative methods anyone could have followed — Eratosthenes’ calculation of the Earth’s circumference around 200 BC and Hippolyte Fizeau’s measurement of the speed of light in 1849. 

How Creativity Works: Jonah Lehrer Says It's All In Your Imagination

(via NPR All Things Considered)

I am a huge fan of neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer. He seems impossibly young for someone that has studied and published so much already. I devoured his books Proust Was A Neuroscientist, How We Decide and have already gotten halfway through the just published Imagine: How Creativity Works. His Wired blog Frontal Cortex is also a must read for anyone interested in the brain. Besides his obvious intelligence Lehrer has the talent to understand and convey deeply complex science in narratives that are engaging and thought-provoking without diminishing the power of his research. Highly recommend you take a look at his books. 

Your Brain On Fiction

Brain scans are revealing what happens in our heads when we read a detailed description, an evocative metaphor or an emotional exchange between characters. Stories, this research is showing, stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life.

Researchers have long known that the “classical” language regions, like Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, are involved in how the brain interprets written words. What scientists have come to realize in the last few years is that narratives activate many other parts of our brains as well, suggesting why the experience of reading can feel so alive. Words like “lavender,” “cinnamon” and “soap,” for example, elicit a response not only from the language-processing areas of our brains, but also those devoted to dealing with smells.

The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction by Annie Murphy Paul, NYTimes.com

The more we study the brain the more we realize that it does not make distinctions between reading and watching, between thinking an experience and having it in real life. The same parts of the brain are stimulated. The same has been discovered about empathy, when we see others in pain, the areas of the brain that would be active if we were suffering from the pain become active as well.

The more we study the brain the more obvious it becomes that the role of art, written or otherwise, is to educate us on how to handle experiences that we would not normally encounter. To educate us by allowing us to see the world from someone else’s point of view.