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Feynman, you are a fine man!

Broadcast about Richard Feynman!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ts5mm/The_Archive_Hour_The_Feynman_Variations/
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V&A LATES: WIN WIN WIN PRIZES, Two's a Pair on 24th September 2010

WIN ONE OF THESE! For free, at the V&A from 18:30, Friday24/09/2010




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V&A LATES: PRIZES! Two's a Pair on 24th September 2010

On Friday the 10th of September, the lovely Natalie Kay-Thatcher and myself went to the V&A to get to work on some 'identical' illustrations to be used in the event. Natalie Kay-Thatcher will be making some delicious ATLAS inspired cards that YOU can win!

Victoria and Albert Museum on the 24th of September 2010: Part of the London Design Festival, a night that celebrates famous design duos and collaborative working in contemporary design through installations, talks and workshops, and culminates in a great design giveaway. In collaboration with Designersblock.


PRIZES! Almost identical cards made and contributed for this: Two's a Pair, Memory Game
With over 100 original illustrations and prints by leading international artists, this is your chance to pair up and match a set of cards. Winners get to take one home. Places are limited. Participation is on a first come, first served basis. Details of the artists who created illustrations for this game will be available on the V&A website Friday Late pages.



Inside the Victoria and Albert Museum

This is what I have done thus far...
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The Taylor Glacier, Blood Falls and Europa

Antarctica's "Blood Falls", was initially thought to be red algae.  But its spewing red because of ferrous ions in water coming into contact with oxygen. Ions of iron, were originally dissolved in what became an isolated pouch of ancient seawater (the former Antarctic Ocean) which was trapped below the Taylor Glacier during the Miocene period about about 23.03 to 5.332 million years ago- a time not-as-long-as-it-seems-ago in terms of geology; flowering plants were around accompanying the long-beaked dolphin Pomatodelphis and our modern shark. 

This isolated water pouch, which is the source of blood falls, contains a very high concentration of salts (brines) and is described as a hyper-saline solution. It is; oxygen free- due to physical and chemical mechanisms at work progressing from this isolation, rich in chlorides, rich in sulfates- association with marine conditions and rich in ferrous ions- signaling microbial activity in the water and sub-glacial bedrock and its extremely dark and cold. This sub-glacial ecosystem is a very unlikely place to find life considering these harsh conditions, Extremophiles are organisms adapted to such extreme conditions. This makes it an interesting place to study when pondering over evolution and genetics and even speculating where else in the universe life could be found. Like Europa for example; Europa is one of Jupiter's moons, primarily made of silicate rock with a likely iron core. Europa has a feeble atmosphere containing a significant percentage of oxygen, and a thick crust of ice- suggestive of extreme types of 'sub-glacial' water pouches, oceans even. But it has yet to be proved/disproved if there in exists any bacterial life- or life of any description at all. Its very unlikely.

Possibly something worth engineering? Perhaps not? Who knows?

Actually, why not?

ANYWAY, when these soluble ferrous ions come into contact with atmospheric oxygen they  are oxidized (surprisingly) and iron oxide has this rusty pigment you will probably recognize.



An outflow of an iron oxide-tainted plume of saltwater, occurring at the tongue of the Taylor Glacier onto the ice-covered surface of West Lake Bonney in the Taylor Valley of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land, East Antarctica. (via wikipedia)