View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Katie Couric Media (@katiecouricmedia)

If you’re in the U.S., you’re either just coming out of or in the middle of a heat wave. Our increasingly hot summers can be devastating for our health, but at least we’re not made of wax. This past week, a Washington, D.C. sculpture of the nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, became another casualty of global warming.

In fact, poor Abe has suffered quite a bit this past year. The 6-foot-tall sculpture created by artist and University of Richmond assistant professor Sandy Williams IV has had to be taken in for reconstruction twice now.

Williams did intend for the Lincoln sculpture to melt, but only a bit. In September 2023, with over a 100 candle wicks in it, the artwork was prematurely lit by community members. The wicks were meant to be used, but only for a minute or two, and not every single one at once. Without any signage explaining the fact, passersby saw the sculpture, lit the wicks, and left without snuffing the flames out. This all happened before its official unveiling.

The sculpture was reinstalled this past February with only 10 wicks and signs making it clear to only to let flames burn briefly. The Lincoln sculpture was 3,000 pounds with a congealing point of 144°F, so it was expected to be safe for the immediate future. However, Washington, D.C.’s heat last weekend was too much for the Great Emancipator. First his head started leaning back, and social media users joked that maybe Honest Abe was having trouble coping with the current state of American politics. Then, one of his legs turned into a blob.

“I previously had joked that when our climate gets bad enough to where we are living in an environment where the ambient heat melts these sculptures, that’s when this work becomes an environmental artwork,” Williams admits. “I didn’t know that was going to be this summer.”

While the piece forebodingly became a commentary on climate change earlier than expected, the statue was always meant to be political. It was installed outside of Garrison Elementary School as part of Williams’ Wax Monument Series. Entitled 40 Acres: Camp Barker the piece commemorates the spot of a Civil War era refugee camp for formerly enslaved African Americans. Williams wanted to bring attention to the history of formerly enslaved folks during and after the Civil War, as the historical canon tends to skip this essential information.

In a phone call with Intelligencer‘s Matt Stieb, Williams stated, “I have no qualms with wherever people take it. I think that is what public artwork is about. That’s what I think [I] love most about public art. The thing that makes me most uncomfortable and the thing I love the most is that I never know what’s going to happen and it’s totally outside of my control.” It seems as though they can appreciate the memes that melting Abe has inspired.

The wax monument should be back on display, good as new, this week. However, they might want to invest in getting him an air conditioner.

Artist Sandy Williams IV created a wax statue of President Abraham Lincoln, which was installed outside of Garrison Elementary School in Washington, D.C.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Sandy Williams IV (@sandywilliams_iv)

Unfortunately, the 6-foot-tall sculpture began to rapidly melt during a heatwave.

A heat wave hit the DMV area over the weekend, and one of the country's leaders paid the price. A wax sculpture of Abraham Lincoln began to melt from the temperatures and lost its head: https://t.co/DycXdkPgSM pic.twitter.com/d6LqeaRMOI

— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) June 25, 2024

Though it was created with the intention of melting, the rising temperatures in D.C. expedited expectations.

another look at the wax lincoln sculpture in dc that melted during the heat wave pic.twitter.com/Wq3v0GCvUD

— Spencer Allan Brooks (@SpencerSays) June 24, 2024

Needless to say, the “headless Lincoln” melting statue made national headlines…

…and gained some funny reactions.

This is a shame. No one can hold a candle to him.

— Ross Duckham (@RossDuckham) June 25, 2024

How your email finds me⬇️ https://t.co/RbG146Nb7W pic.twitter.com/jBvjn8M8FU

— Zack Brown (@ZackBrownDC) June 23, 2024

Even our monuments are exhausted by our politics.

— Grover One (@groversmith1) June 23, 2024

This perfectly sums up how things are going.

— StandUnited1776(Matthew) (@StandUnited76) June 25, 2024

pretty decent symbol of America at only 1.2°C of global heating https://t.co/3hASCMxSJ2

— Dr. Genevieve Guenther (@DoctorVive) June 24, 2024

Sandy Williams IV: Website | Instagram
h/t: [BBC News]

Related Articles:

Artist Draws One Continuous Squiggly Line To Create Portraits of Famous Figures

Photo Restorer Colorizes Every Portrait of a U.S. President Who Was Photographed [Interview]

Public Art Installation Honors George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and John Lewis in NYC’s Union Square

Street Art Festival Breathes New Life Into Semi-Abandoned Italian Town

READ: Abraham Lincoln Wax Statue Melts From Extreme Heat in Washington, D.C.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Japanese stationary company PLUS just released a set of three of the cutest erasers. Featuring some of 18th-century Japanese woodblock printmaker Katsushika Hokusai‘s most popular prints of Mount Fuji, the erasers are perfect to use when channeling your inner artist.

Famously, The Great Wave off Kanagawa features a stunning wave in the foreground with a snow-topped Mt. Fuji in the distance. Yet that was just one panel of his series called Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. The panels titled Surface of the Koshu Misaka River and Fine Wind and Clear Weather are The Great Wave's companions in this set. You might think their cuteness will be a problem once you actually need to erase a mistake, but don't worry. There's a clever trick within them that only ups the ante.

These erasers have the prints on their clear holders, but when you start to erase with the seemingly typical rectangular pieces of rubber, a snow capped Mt. Fuji is revealed. These erasers are a special limited-edition trio, but are part of PLUS's Air-In eraser series which feature designs, including their own rendition of Mt. Fuji, that are revealed once used. Using two layers of resin, users must erase evenly at the corners if they want to construct their own mountain. When you return them to their boxes, they turn into three-dimensional pieces of miniature art.

Hokusai's works inspired artists around the world, including Impressionists like Monet. Now you can be inspired to risk making some mistakes with erasers that you can't wait to use on hand. They're a great incentive to quell your inner perfectionist. The erasers are available at Amazon Japan and other stationary stores. They are retailing for ¥880 or roughly $5.50 on Amazon Japan, but at the moment only PLUS' standard Mt. Fuji erasers are available on Amazon in the U.S.

Japanese company PLUS released a limited-edition set of erasers that feature panels from Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji

PLUS: Website | Facebook
h/t: [Spoon and Tamago]

Related Articles:

LEGO Kit Lets People Make Their Own Version of Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’

LEGO Unveils a 2,125-Piece Architecture Set of Japan’s Iconic Himeji Castle

Doc Martens and The Met Team Up to Pay Homage to Japanese Master Hokusai

18 Quirky Pencils That Will Let You Sketch and Scribble in Style

READ: Fun Hokusai-Inspired Erasers Designed To Turn Into Mount Fuji the More You Use Them

Photo: Charles Russo/Standford University

Only a few short generations ago, American women were expected to end any professional aspirations once they married. For Virginia “Ginger” Hislop, now aged 105, this meant giving up a teaching career despite investing time and energy in years of training. In 1941, with most of her credits completed, Hislop moved away from Stanford University before receiving her master's degree in education. Now, after raising two children and an impressive career in education, Hislop finally got to cross the graduation stage and receive her master's hood and degree.

Hislop had little choice about cutting her degree short. Her then-boyfriend George had been called up to military service due to World War II. This prompted a quick marriage before they moved to the U.S. Army outpost at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Hislop originally wanted to be a lawyer like her father. However, he wasn't keen on women lawyers and even less so on paying law school tuition for his daughter. Teaching was the next best choice for Hislop who was inspired by her grandmother and aunt that were both teachers themselves. They instilled in Hislop that “if you’re part of the community, you help with the housekeeping. You have a responsibility to other people.”

She enrolled at Stanford in 1936 and received her bachelor's in education four years later. A year after that, she was nearly finished with her master's work, just having to submit a thesis. She never got to finish that thesis, but 83 years later, her son-in-law Doug Jensen found out the graduate program had done away with its thesis requirement. This meant Hislop had in fact finished her coursework, and all she had left to do was don a cap and gown. “My goodness,” Hislop has said, “I’ve waited a long time for this.”

Photo: Charles Russo/Standford University

Despite having only just been awarded her master's, Hislop managed to forge a career in education. It's worth noting that even if she had received her degree, many school systems wouldn't have hired her as a married woman. Not until the 1964 Civil Rights Act were these “marriage bars” that allowed for schools to not hire wives, and even fire teachers who got married after hiring, completely done away with. Gender disparities may have put a hold on her career, but they led to her becoming a powerful advocate for all students.

When her daughter Anne entered ninth grade, the Yakima school she was attending was adamant young Anne take home economics instead of her preference, an advanced English class. Her mother didn't stand for this, and ended up joining the Yakima school board. “I felt that all the kids should have an opportunity to develop their potential as best they could, and that everybody should have a crack at higher education if they wanted,” said Hislop, who remained on the school board for 13 years.

She then worked with local and state legislators to have what was a junior college under the Yakima school district, become its own entity with its own board and budget. Because of her work and the Community College Act of 1967, Yakima Valley College is no longer just 13th and 14th grades. It now awards associates, bachelor’s as well as master’s degrees. Hislop went on to serve as board member of several other education and arts-focused organizations.

“I didn’t return to teaching, but I feel I put my teaching certificate to good use serving in committees and on boards and trying to improve the educational opportunities every chance I got,” Hislop posits. While you might think her master's is a perfect bookend to her impactful career, Hislop is still very much an active member of her community. Jensen agrees, “The biggest lesson I’ve taken from her is that you never really stop learning. She’s a voracious reader, and at 105 she’s still actively moving and shaking. No moss grows under her feet.”

Judging from the uproarious applause she received from the audience at commencement, she's still continuing to inspire.

105-year-old Virginia Hislop finally received her master's degree in education from Stanford University, 83 years later than she anticipated.

h/t: [Today]

Related Articles:

Inspiring 84-Year-Old Is Working Towards Her GED After Her Husband Passed Away

Billionaire Surprises Grads With $1,000 Each, Encourages Them To Give Half to Charity

98-Year-Old World War II Veteran Finally Gets His High School Diploma

5 Trailblazers Will Be Featured on U.S. Quarters To Celebrate Women Throughout History

READ: 105-Year-Old Woman Finally Gets Her Master’s Degree From Stanford

Art trends come and go, but no matter the era, portraits are a foundational subject for artists. As far back as 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians were making portraits of their royalty and deities. Even the invention of photography couldn't keep artists from depicting faces in their works. Some of the most iconic 20th-century artists such as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol played with portraits to redefine art itself.

There are several reasons why making portraits endures today. Humans are social by nature, and biologically compelled to find each other endlessly fascinating. There's no quicker way to build an emotional connection between a viewer and a work of art than featuring our wide range of expressions. While iPhone cameras make it easier than ever to take a selfie, a drawing or painting can expressively highlight characteristics of a subject and reveal deeper truths. Conveniently, there's never a dearth of faces to sketch, especially when it comes to self-portraiture. There's a reason why so many artists have self-portraits and its not simply vanity or egotism, but often sheer practicality. You never have to worry about getting more reference photos or accidentally insulting someone when you practice drawing your own visage.

Faces are universally are complex subject and creating a portrait can feel like a real accomplishment. However, despite their challenging aspects, there are also some basic principles that makes portraits accessible to the newest of art students. Especially with Melissa de Nobrega and My Modern Met Academy, portraiture is made simple. The artist will take you through the basics of anatomy, proportions, and shading in bite-sized lessons that demystify the practice. In her online course, titled Portrait Drawing for Beginners: Learn How to Draw Anyone You'd Like, new artists will forget any fears they have thanks to de Nobrega's clear instructions and guidelines. By the end of the class, you'll be excited to get started on your next portrait.

In the online class Drawing for Beginners: Learn How to Draw Anyone You'd Like, you'll be able practice your drawing skills like all the great artists through the centuries.

Artist Melissa de Nobrega will help you understand bone structure and how to use it to refine your portraits.

Watch to learn more about her class:

My Modern Met Academy: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok

Related Articles:

Beautiful Portraits Drawn on Vintage Maps With Brilliant Crosshatching Technique

These Drawing Tutorials Will Help You Create Realistic Portraits

3 Tips for Picking the Perfect Vista To Paint

Artist Shares Secrets of How To Draw Incredibly Realistic Portraits [Interview]

READ: Practice Sketching Like Your Favorite Artists Through Portraiture

Photo: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger

Scientists believe we're nearing the reoccurrence of the nova T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), nicknamed the Blaze Star. It's expected before 2026, and based on recent activity, it's likely to brighten the night sky this summer. The explosion happens roughly every 80 years. So unless you're a toddler or a vampire, this is probably your only chance to witness it.

A nova is an event that happens between two stellar bodies that make up a binary star. All binary star systems include a white dwarf, the extremely dense remnants of stars that have already exhausted their fuel. They are so dense they contain the mass of our Sun within the volume of the Earth. In T CrB's case, its white dwarf is in orbit with a red giant, which is a low-density massive star nearing the end of its life before becoming a white dwarf itself.

These two stars circle each other every 228 days with the dense white dwarf pulling off matter from its red giant. As the white dwarf gains more mass, its temperature and pressure steadily increase until the ignition point for hydrogen is met. Then an explosion akin to a thermonuclear bomb going off occurs. The explosion doesn't destroy either of the stars, but it blasts the accretion disc of material the white dwarf had siphoned from the red giant back home to restart the cycle.

Novae typically originate in binary systems containing sun-like stars, as shown in this artist's rendering. A nova in a system like this likely produces gamma rays (magenta) through collisions among multiple shock waves in the rapidly expanding shell of debris. (Photo: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger)

Scientists aren't sure why the T CrB nova seems to take place every 80 years. It might have something to do with how comparatively large the white dwarf is. They do know, however, that similar to the last two occurrences, T CrB has been growing in brightness since 2015 for seven years. Then for the past year it was dimming in magnitude. This is thought to be a sign that the nova will happen this summer. T CrB is usually too dim for it to be seen in the night sky, but it will be visible to the human eye for a few days to a week when the nova happens.

Along with the February 1946 nova, T CrB was definitely witnessed in 1866. Nineteenth century astronomers were even able to predict that it would return in 80 years from their observations. Impressively, astronomer Bradley Schaeffer has also managed to find two more likely instances of the T CrB in historical archives. In 1787, an English reverend and astronomer, Francis Wollaston, observed nova-like behavior in the same part of the sky that T CrB is.

Even further back, 570 years before Wollaston, a German abbot named Burchard saw a star become much brighter. Schaeffer has ruled out other possible explanations for this bright star suddenly appearing. It was in the wrong region of the sky to have been a visible planet and there was no mention of a tail suggesting it wasn't a comet.

“A wonderful sign was seen,” Burchard wrote. He also noted that the object near the constellation Corona Borealis “shone with great light” for “many days.” Monks were familiar with comets and at the time considered them bad omens. However Burchard seemed to think this event was a positive sign. This is why Schaeffer is convinced this was an instance of T CrB going nova. And if it was a supernova, its remnants would still be detectable.

This image of the classic nova GK Persei contains X-rays from Chandra (blue), optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (yellow), and radio data from the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array (pink). The X-ray data show hot gas and the radio data show emission from electrons that have been accelerated to high energies by the nova shock wave. The optical data reveal clumps of material that were ejected in the explosion. The nature of the point-like source on the lower left is unknown. (Photo: NASA)

Schaeffer hopes to find more historical observations to give us a greater understanding of novas. Either way, this instance will stand apart from previous generations as we now have far more advanced technology to observe it. As project scientist for NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, Stephanie Hays explains, “Typically, nova events are so faint and far away that it’s hard to clearly identify where the erupting energy is concentrated. This one will be really close, with a lot of eyes on it, studying the various wavelengths and hopefully giving us data to start unlocking the structure and specific processes involved. We can’t wait to get the full picture of what’s going on.”

The last time the Blaze Star graced the night sky, NASA was still over a decade from being founded and the world was recovering from the end of the Second World War. This nova will be an event that connects us across generations through history. Despite the massive societal shifts that have happened in between sightings, the nova continues to highlight how unfathomable the scale of the universe is to us humans on tiny Earth. It will also be an opportunity to advance the science of what we can comprehend.

Based on past observed behavior, the recurrent nova T Corona Borealis will make an appearance this summer before it restarts its 80-year cycle.

Dead Star Warps Light of Red Giant-This artist concept depicts an ultra-dense dead star, called a white dwarf, passing in front of a red giant. This is a binary system similar to the one about to have a nova, T Corona Borealis. (Photo:NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Last occurring during the Truman presidency, this will be the first time space telescopes exist to capture images of the explosive event.

A stunning amount of energy is unleashed when a star goes nova. (Photo: NASA/Goddard)

With more knowledge about novas, we'll get closer to understanding the life cycles of stars.

The white dwarf remains intact even though the explosion releases as much energy as our sun emits in 100,000 years.(Photo: NASA/Goddard)

Look up after sunset during summer months to find Hercules! Scan between Vega and Arcturus, near the distinct pattern of Corona Borealis. Once you find its stars, use binoculars or a telescope to hunt down the globular clusters M13 (and a smaller globular cluster M92). If you enjoy your views of these globular clusters, you’re in luck – look for another great globular, M3, in the nearby constellation of Boötes. (Photo: NASA/ Stellarium)

h/t: [IFLScience]

All images via NASA.

Related Articles:

Incredible Sky Map Details Over 900,000 Stars, Galaxies, and Black Holes

ESO Unveils Incredible Photo Revealing How Giant Planets Are Formed

NASA Space Telescope Discovers Its First Starless Rogue Planet

James Webb Space Telescope Captures Earliest and Most Distant Galaxies Known by Scientists

READ: Once-In-A-Lifetime Stellar Event Expected To Happen This Summer

Photo: Shanemyersphoto.com/Depositphotos

Though many high school students may not be enthusiastic about science projects, one determined student decided to take it upon himself to spend nearly three years on one. Meet Maddux Alexander Springer, a Hawaiian teen who noticed a lack of study on a species of sea turtles afflicted by a mysterious disease and decided to research it himself.

Springer, now 18, first saw the green sea turtles covering the sea floor while on his free dives in Kāneʻohe Bay, on the eastern side of Oahu, during the pandemic. They were covered in cauliflower-like tumors because of fibropapillomatosis or FP, a disease that affects up to 97% of sea turtles world-wide. Usually it remains latent, but once the illness becomes activated, tumors grow first on the outside and then sometimes the inside of turtles. While the tumors themselves are not dangerous, they can block breathing and eating, leading to tragic results.

After not finding enough answers about the illness taking its toll on Hawaii's turtles, Springer set out to do his own research. He wanted to figure out what was activating the FP in Hawaii's turtles himself. He applied for permits to biopsy the turtles' tumors, but was denied his request. Undeterred, he set up a network of underwater motion-sensing cameras to survey the turtle population.  Not only did the cameras help him find out that FP was indeed extremely prevalent, but it also helped him discover that the turtles were eating a lot of an invasive species of algae, graciliaria salicornia. Normally, eating algae is one of the turtles' key jobs in their ecosystem, as too much algae will suffocate corals reefs, which are already stressed by rising temperatures. However there turns out to be a difference between the invasive algae and native species. Graciliaria salicornia absorbs sewage 11 times more than the turtles' historical meals.

This Hawaiian green turtle is severely afflicted with fibropapillomatosis. The mouth tumors are unique to Hawaiian greens. (Photo:Peter Bennett & Ursula Keuper-Bennett via Wikimedia Commons, CC by 3.0.)

In case you weren't aware, Hawaii, arguably one of the most beautiful places on Earth, is essentially stewing in its own poop. There are over 83,000 cesspools in Hawaii. Partly because of geography and partly because of a post-WWII population boom, many Hawaiians rely on a hole beneath their houses to store wastewater. This wastewater leaches into the ground, and because Hawaii's volcanic soil is very porous, it quickly flows into the ocean. Fifty-two million gallons of untreated sewage are released into the ground each day in Hawaii.

Along with increasing skin and gastrointestinal infections among beach-goers, wastewater includes a high amount of nitrogen. In humans, this has been shown to increase rates of cancer, but we're not the only ones getting hurt. Springer wondered if the invasive algae was soaking up nitrogen from waste and converting it to arginine, an amino acid that was already shown to correlate to FP. The inquisitive teen started collecting and processing algae samples to be measured by a lab's mass spectrometer. The spectrometer confirmed Springer's suspicions about arginine levels in the turtles' main source of grub.

While his study hasn't been peer reviewed, he won first prize in the animal sciences division of the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Additionally, he received the Peggy Scripps Award for Science Communication, giving him $10,000 towards his education. Springer plans to study marine biology at Orgeon State University in the fall. He's hoping that his project will help bring attention to the urgent crisis in Hawaii. He states, “I just really want to raise awareness that this is an issue, and that the only way that this can be solved is by government intervention.”

The state has committed to replacing all cesspools by 2050. But that's not soon enough to avoid dire consequences for the turtles and the entire ecosystem, including humans. In May, the legislature passed a bill imposing fees on property owners who have cesspools to help fund cesspool alternatives. However, that will only put a dent in the costs expected to convert cesspools to modern wastewater management systems. Hopefully, as they turn of voting age, Springer's peers will follow his lead and be effective advocates for clean water.

18-year-old Maddux Alex Springer won the Peggy Scripps Science Communication Award for his work on sickly sea turtles living off of Oahu.

Photo: Shanemyersphoto.com/Depositphotos

Answering a question that had stumped scientists, the high schooler demonstrated the serious consequences of water pollution.

Majestic Ka'a'awa mountain and lovely Kāneʻohe Bay (Photo:Eric Tessmer/Wikimedia Commons by CC 2.0)

h/t: [Reddit]

Related Articles:

10 Endangered Marine Animals That Need Your Help

Critically Endangered Burmese Turtles Hatch and Bring New Hope for the Species

New Plant-Based and Biodegradable Filter Removes Over 99% Of Microplastics in Water Without Creating Further Pollution

Scientists Discover and Photograph New Deep-Sea Species Called ‘Barbie Pigs’

READ: Hawaiian Teen Wins $10,000 for Research on Mysterious Outbreak Killing Sea Turtles

Hand lettering by Danison Fronda

Have you ever wanted to incorporate more art into your everyday life? Are you looking to throw the best birthday party this summer? Maybe you want to finally organize your space or up your gardening game? Try out hand-lettering, a versatile drawing skill that has plenty of real-world applications.

Unlike calligraphy, hand-lettering doesn't rely on you having great handwriting or a whole set of special pen nibs. So even if you have the illegible scrawl of a doctor or you’ve decided not to buy any more art supplies until you use up what you already have, hand-lettering could be the creative outlet for you.

To make it even easier to get started, My Modern Met Academy offers an introductory hand-lettering course—Write Out the Future: Hand Letter an Inspiring Phrase—taught by Danison Fronda.

There are various crafts and projects that use hand-lettering to elevate them. Scroll down to see four of the most common types of projects you can use hand lettering for and then get a sneak peek at Fronda’s class to dive into this beautiful art.

Here are 4 projects you can use hand-lettering for:

Greeting Cards

Photo: AtlasStudio/Depositphotos

There's always a reason to send a card to someone. It could be their birthday or wedding, or maybe you just want to let them know you're thinking of them. Sending them a greeting card you illustrated yourself will be a cherished surprise hidden in a pile of bills and junk mail.

Garden Labels

Photo: Struvictory/Depositphotos

Remember which herbs you planted where with adorable labels that make your garden seem even more idyllic.

Party Supplies

Photo: FreddyNapoleoni/Depositphotos

From invitations to seat placements to gift bag labels, there's always room for more personalization at a party. Being able to create your own materials can help keep the budget down and also allow for maximum customization to fit any party themes.

Motivational Illustrations and Journals

Photo: rawpixel

Whether you want to send a friend a pick-me-up or could use a reminder each morning to go after your goals, hand-lettering can make for beautiful art that keeps your eye on the prize. It is also a great complement to bullet journals to keep you engaged with your habit-trackers when the joy of achieving your accomplishments begins to lag.

If you're ready to get started, check out artist Davison Fronda's class on My Modern Met Academy.

This introduction to hand lettering class contains multiple short lessons that can be reviewed whenever needed.

Fronda will guide you through the alphabet and teach you several different strokes for lettering.

By the end of the course, you'll be ready to make your own word art.

Danison Fronda: Website | Facebook | Instagram
My Modern Met Academy: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Danison Fronda.

Related Articles:

Try Your Hand at Beautiful Lettering With These Drawing Supplies

13 Best Colored Pencil Sets for Coloring Book Enthusiasts and Professional Artists

Illustrator Teaches How To Capture Your Favorite Animals in Vibrant Colored Inks

Hand Lettering Artist Illustrates Empowering Phrases And Will Show You How

READ: 4 Ways to Incorporate Hand Lettering Into Your Next Creative Project

Photo: Iris Photography

We see the world through our eyes, but it turns out there's a whole world to see within our eyes. Photographers like Mitchell Zeer, founder of Iris Photo, are placing the spotlight on our mesmerizing orbs. Through macro photography, high-resolution images of our irises (the colored circle around our pupils) are transformed into otherworldly deserts and galaxies.

Irises are unique for each person, just like our fingerprints. On account of this, they are beginning to be used for identification and security purposes. However, its this distinctiveness that makes iris photography so intriguing. And unlike fingerprints, they are much more aesthetically engaging. In fact, each of our two irises are unique from each other as well. We typically distinguish between eyes by color: brown, blue, hazel, grey or green. Yet the base of all irises is blue. The amount and type of melanin added to it determines which color the irises appear. A lot of eumelanin equals dark brown eyes, whereas just a slight hint of pheomelanin adds a yellow tint, causing green eyes.

These macro photos enhance the eye to such a degree that the colors seem to separate so you can see the blue and the melanin layered above it as two different colors. Zeer's photographs also demonstrate that eyes of the same shade can look drastically different. The muscles and fibers of the iris create unique geographies that are then made more distinctive via the roughly 16 genes that determine melanin levels. Despite seeming like a complicated task, photographing the eye and printing art prints takes only 10 minutes at Iris Photo, a process that has been perfected since its inception.

Iris photography first became popular in Europe starting in 2012 when German photographer Felix Mayrl originated the process. Zeer, who had studied photography and psychology, opened his business in 2019. “We believe that every pair of eyes tells a story, a narrative of depth and individuality waiting to be captured,” Iris Photo states. “Our passion lies in the artistry of preserving these tales, transforming them into stunning pieces of high-gloss artwork.” Now, the Aussie company is opening franchises around the world with its first American outpost in Miami.

To keep up to date with new eye-catching additions, you can follow Iris Photo on Instagram.

Mitchell Zeer and Iris Photography take high-resolution photos of eyes that look like something from outer space.

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

In only a few minutes, irises are turned into highly personal and unique art

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Up to 79% of the world's population has brown eyes, and less than 1% have gray eyes.

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Iris Photo also occasionally edits their iris photographs to more directly depict galaxies or explosions.

Photo: Iris Photo

Photo: Iris Photo

Iris Photo: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Iris Photo.

Related Articles:

Close-Up Paintings of Eyes Examine What People Are Feeling in That Moment

Indigenous People in Alaska Invented Snow Goggles Centuries Ago To Protect Eyes and Improve Vision

Cancer Survivor Creates Light-up Bionic Eyes That Make Him Look Like the Terminator

Stunning Macro Photos Pay Homage to the Frozen Beauty of Winter

READ: Captivating Iris Photography Captures the Unique Galaxies Within Each of Our Eyes

Photo: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University)/Rendering by D. Berger (Harvard University)/CC4.0

The human brain is one of the most significant objects in the world, and also one of the most complex. Yet that three pounds of tissue that mediates every moment of our lives, every decision, every reflex, every emotion, is essentially still a mystery to scientists. A recent joint effort by Harvard and Google research teams has extracted an incredible amount of data from just 3 mm of brain tissue. With machine-learning modeling, the team created the world's highest-resolution brain tissue map. This brain map lets researchers see 57,000 cells and 150 million synapses, which are connections between the neurons.

While the brain tissue was only the size of half a rice grain, the raw data produced by the study is equivalent to 2,800 laptops worth of storage capacity or 14,000 full length movies. “It’s a little bit humbling,” Viren Jain, a co-author of the study and neuroscientist at Google, told Nature News. “How are we ever going to really come to terms with all this complexity?”

The researchers have openly published the 1.4 petabytes of raw data so that anyone can use and review the data themselves to untangle some of the complexities of the brain.

The brain tissue comes from a 45-year-old woman who had undergone surgery to address her epilepsy. This was a rare instance of live brain tissue for the researchers to preserve in resin, as brain biopsies are rare and usually only of tumors. Additionally, cadavers, which are often used in medical research, are not helpful because brains decompose quickly.

Once the scientists had preserved the tissue, they had to cut it into 5,000 slices that were 30 nanometers thick. Those slices were then examined through an electron microscope made specifically for this study. This took over a year, but then artificial intelligence took over to reconstruct the images correctly, making sure each neuron had the correct synapses connected to it.

Rendering based on electron-microscope data, showing the positions of neurons in a fragment of the brain cortex. Neurons are colored according to size. (Photo: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University)/Rendering by D. Berger (Harvard University)/CC4.0)

The 3D reconstruction, complete with all tissue elements such as glial cells, blood vasculature, and the myelin sheath that wraps around the neuron, has already produced surprising results. Jeff Lichtman, the molecular and cell biologist who heads the Harvard lab that worked on the project shares, “there were just so many things in it that were incompatible with what you would read in a textbook.”

One of the most intriguing findings is the multiple neurons connected to many synapses, including, in one case, 50.96% of neurons only connect to one synapse with 99% having fewer than three synapse connections. Scientists are not sure what these extra-connected neurons mean for sure, but the current theory is that this might be what a well-learned response that takes little thought looks like.  For instance, moving your foot to brake is so engrained in experienced drivers' minds that they aren't consciously thinking about it.

Several other facts that surprised scientists include the fact that pyramidal neurons, which have dendrites—the branches that carry information away from a neuron—are symmetrical. Also, they found axons—branches that carry information from a synapse to the cell body—that formed whorls, going in circles around themselves, which had never been seen before. It's easy to see how, with more eyes thoroughly reviewing the data, many more paths for neuron research will open up.

Brain maps have been created before, starting in 1986 when 302 neurons were mapped in a roundworm. More complex maps from other species have slowly been created, but it will take years and technological advances for a fully mapped human brain at this resolution. Until then, the team has mapped the hippocampus of a mouse, which has a fairly similar brain to humans in terms of structure and neuron composition. If successful, a mapped mouse brain may give some insight into how humans learn and even free will.

Harvard and Google researchers published the most in-depth map of brain tissue to ever be created.

Distribution of cells, blood vessels and myelin in the sample. White lines in all panels indicate approximate layer boundaries estimated from cell clustering. A: All 49,080 manually labeled cell bodies of neurons and glia which were found in the sample, colored by cell body volume. B: All neurons classified as spiny cells (putatively excitatory), extracted from the C3-agglomerated. (Photo: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University)/Rendering by D. Berger (Harvard University)/CC4.0)

The sample's density was 16,000 neurons per cubic millimeter—almost a third lower than previous estimates.

Image acquisition for the human brain sample. A fresh surgical cerebral cortex sample was rapidly preserved, then stained, embedded in resin, and sectioned. More than 5000 sequential ~30 nm sections were collected on tape using an ATUM (upper left panel). Yellow box shows the site where the brain sample is cut with the diamond knife and thin sections are collected onto the tape. The tape was then cut into strips and imaged in a multibeam scanning electron microscope (mSEM). This large machine (see middle panel with person on chair as reference) uses 61 beams that image a hexagonal area of about ~10,000 μm 2 simultaneously (see upper right). For each thin section, all the resulting tiles are then stitched together. One such stitched section is shown (bottom). This section is about 4 mm 2 in area and was imaged with 4 x 4 nm 2 pixels. Given the necessity of some overlap between the stitched tiles, this single section required collection of more than 300 GB of data.(Photo:GOOGLE RESEARCH & LICHTMAN LAB, HARVARD UNIVERSITY / D. BERGER (RENDERING)/CC4.0)

The sample was taken from the left anterior lobe, which is thought to deal with our knowledge of words, objects, people, and facts.

A: Fine-scale alignment with optical flow. Left: An XZ cross-section of the initial coarsely aligned subvolume exhibits drift and single-section jitter. Two adjacent XY sections z and z-1 are extracted. Center: z and z-1 are overlaid to illustrate their misalignment (z is pseudo-colored green for contrast). Image patch-based cross-correlation is used to compute an XY flow field between the sections. Red and blue intensity indicate the magnitude of the horizontal and vertical flow components respectively. The flow field is then used to warp one of the sections, improving the alignment apparent in the overlay. Right: XZ view of the same subvolume with flow realignment applied throughout. Scale bar: 2 μm. B: Sequential segmentation of a subvolume with an FFN. XY cross-sections illustrate the 3D segmentation process. Each yellow crosshair indicates the seed location for the next segment. Scale bar: 1 μm. C: FFN agglomeration.(Photo: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University)/Rendering by D. Berger (Harvard University)/CC4.0)

The raw data has been published online so that anyone can use and review the data themselves to untangle some of the complexities of the brain.

A single neuron (white) shown with 5,600 of the axons (blue) that connect to it. The synapses that make these connections are shown in green. (Photo: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University)/Rendering by D. Berger (Harvard University)/CC4.0)

h/t: [Smithsonian Magazine]

Related Articles:

Researchers Discover That Your Brain’s Mental Speed Doesn’t Decline Until Your 60s

Spectacular Visualizations of Brain Scans Enhanced with 1,750 Pieces of Gold Leaf

Scientists Develop Brain Implant That Translates Paralyzed Man’s Thoughts Into Text

World’s Oldest Preserved Brain Found in a 319 Million-Year-Old Fish Fossil

READ: Google and Harvard Team Up to Make the Most Detailed Map of Human Brain Ever

“Vénus Italica.” Sculpture is again given the place of honour in this gallery through Canova, Pradier and even Praxiteles. However, Wim Delvoye’s intervention is quickly felt when our eye attempts to follow a marble traversing Venus’ body, which has become a circuit.  (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

Artist Wim Delvoye has made a career out of provocatively examining how society classes art and its role in the market economy. In the past, that’s led to tattooing pigs, and even a human who is now contractually obligated to go on display three times a year. His recent exhibition, titled The Order of Things, while less grisly, demonstrates his continued use of irony to poke holes, sometimes even literally, into the hierarchy that the art world imposes on artists and their works.

Delvoye is the fourth artist to participate in the carte blanche XL exhibition at the museum. The intention with carte blanche XL is to let artists curate shows that feature their own work along with the museum’s in order to interrogate the relationship between “the museum’s connection to its collections and institutions.” Combining neoclassical sculptures such as the Venus Italica and modern art by the likes of Warhol, Delvoye upends the traditional narrative of art history. Further complicating matters, the Belgian artist has made copies of the works that are punctuated by tracks with steel balls circuiting around. In this manner, priceless works of art turn into something more fitting for a toy store. The ever innovative artist also used artificial intelligence to create some of his works, stating, “ I wrote a program that does the work for me actually… It's beautiful because the computer does it better. It has no emotions. It doesn’t see [a] nose or eyes.”

Delvoye was an especially apt choice for artist-curator of the carte blanche XL as he is also an art collector and included his archives in the exhibition. Unsurprisingly, considering his history of questioning how art is valued, he features many works that are often unnoticed in the museum. Delvoye notes that often great art, especially of the old masters, is priced less than contemporary art which moneyed collectors look at as investments foremost over their aesthetic quality.

Delvoye's The Order of Things is currently on display at Museum of Art and History in Geneva, Switzerland, through June 16, 2024.

Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye acted as artist-curator for Geneva's Museum of Art and History's fourth carte blanche xl exhibition.

“Ball Track Venus Italica.” (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

“Venus Italica” or “Venus Coming Out of Her Bath” by Antonio Canova and “Ball Track Venus Italica” by Wim Delvoye. (Photos:© Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/ B. Jacot-Descombes/© Studio Wim Delvoye)

Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger

Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger

Twisting sculpture based on “Venus and Adonis” by Antonio Canova. (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

Delvoye forces viewers to examine classic works with a new perspective.

“La peur du vide.” As the name indicates, this room explores the artistic repercussions of the phenomenon of horror vacui, which refers to an ornamental practice aiming to fill the totality of a surface or an object with features and details to replace the empty with the full. The installation reveals our culture’s passion for ornamentation to decorate and fill the surface of both noble and functional objects from many areas. Car bodies, shovels and suitcases emerge as symbols of a full arsenal of protection. From historical helmets to fire extinguishers, from dishes to cars, ornamentation distinguishes functional objects as unique pieces. (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

“Dual Möbius Quad Corpus” is the title of a well-known Wim Delvoye piece in polished bronze that depicts four Christ-like bodies intertwined and seeming to reinforce the strip of the same name. The rectitude of the crucifix disappears, and the passion of Christ finds new expression in this enigmatic twist. However, in using the stained glass windows from the fifteenth century, the artist deepens his reflection on movement. (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

“Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” With a replica of the tower of Brussels in laser-cut stainless steel, this room hosts one of Delvoye’s “Gothic” style symbols. In this period room of the museum, the Castle of Zizers’ Ceremonial Room, the tower is alongside a model of the Scaligeri funerary monuments in Verona, which inspired the Brunswick Monument.(Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

With his trademark humor, Delvoye commits an act of “philosophical vandalism” as the museum's director calls it, subverting the preciousness of what are considered priceless objects.

“Untitled (Engraved Helmet)” by Wim Delvoye and Morion (c. 1570-1580) unknown. (Photo credits:© Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/ F. Bevilacqua/© Studio Wim Delvoye)

“Rimowa Classic Flight Multiwheel” by Wim Delvoye and “Ceremonial Roundel” (c. 1557-1560), attributed to Eliseus Libaerts (1557-1572).  (Photos:© Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/N. Sabato/© Studio Wim Delvoye)

“The Order of Things” Installation + “St-Francis Xavier” (c. 1700). (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

“Le juste retour des choses.” By bringing together old paintings from Delvoye’s own collection, remarkable paintings from MAH’s storerooms and famous names like Raphael, Picasso, Warhol and even Lucas Cranach, this space is immediately distinguished by the breadth of the questions it invokes. But its unique quality is the vast marble circuit that traverses the room and even through some of the pieces (that do not belong to the MAH).  (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger

“L'ordre des choses.” This part of the installation, which borrows the exhibition’s overall title, returns to the passion of collecting and immerses us in the artist’s personal obsessions. Here, we find Delvoye’s collection of Vache qui rit ® cheese box labels and four display cases that combine the artist’s and the museum’s coin collection. Who is more enthusiastic, the tyrosemiophile (collector of cheese labels) or the numismatist (coin collector)? (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

“Room Fait à la main.” Plunged into darkness, this gallery plays an impressive perceptual and conceptual magic trick. With detonators alongside their madrier planks designed to blow open doors during a military siege and hand-carved tyres (again among Delvoye’s iconic work), the artist seems to be playing with the museographic codes reserved for contemporary and conceptual art. (Photo: © Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève/Stefan Altenburger)

Wim Delvoye: Website | Instagram | Facebook
Musee d'Arte et d'Histoire: Website

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Musee d'Arte et d'Histoire and Studio Wim Delvoye.

Related Articles:

Yoko Ono Invites Visitors To Participate in Immersive Exhibit at Tate Modern

Monet Painting Sells For $38.4 Million in New York

15 Art Installations Inspired by the Desert Pop Up in Saudi Arabia

Polish Museum Gets Mysterious Package in the Mail With Missing Tiles From the 17th Century

READ: Surreal Sculptures Reimagine Neoclassical Art With an Unexpected Modern Twist Full of Humor