Nature

Halloween is coming and I was looking around the web at pumpkin carvings when I found these brilliant pieces of art. Carved by Ray Villafane, they have such incredible detail and expression I thought I’d share them here.

Here is a video of one sculpture Ray has created with remote control eyes.. a very cool idea to add more realism to the work.
It might be a bit unnerving having these eyes follow you around after a few beers at a party!

Some more of Rays pumpkin sculptures.

Carved pumpkin by Ray Villafane

By Ray Villafane

See lots more on Villafane Studios – Ray’s sculpture website.

Richard Dawkins first introduced these Biomorphs in his book The Blind Watchmaker as a way to show how evolution has resulted in the existence of complex organisms. The software applet that shows this can be found here and allows the user to choose the steps of the evolving Biomorph from a selection of options, the chosen Biomorph then becomes the parent of further options for the next generation of offspring.

Evolve Your Own Organisms

Most of these offspring options offer only a tiny change from the parent organism, while a few offer greater alternative forms.

These options mimic the slight variations of living things, allowing us to see how natural selection can result in amazing changes in the evolution of creatures over a number of generations. Big changes can often be seen to occur through just 10-12 generations / clicks of the mouse.

What is a Meme?

Richard Dawkins is also known for coining the term “Meme”. The term is loosely based on the word Gene and first mentioned in another of his books, The Selfish Gene. A Meme is an idea, a fad or an interest that seems to spread through popular culture and communication networks in much the same way as genes pass on information through generations.

The word “meme” is more commonly used now than it was in the early years following the original publishing of Dawkins’ book in 1976. Now that the internet, the web and social networks allow the transmission and spread of ideas & thoughts more rapidly, there have been a number of internet memes that have caught on quickly. Creating a meme, or a mass public interest (buzz) around something can be very profitable for a brand or product manufacturer.. or even a film studio or a musician… or a damn Crazy Frog!

The science of genes, evolution and the spread of information, both on the web and in the world, can be seen as similar systems. Understanding the natural world can even lead to better marketing ideas… I’m sure it already has and we’ve probably often helped the subjects of those ideas to spread… ever heard of something “going viral”?

Biomorphs Video

Shows the steps this particular Biomorph takes in its evolution.
(this video often seems to take a moment to begin)

Biomorphs Interative Applet – Richard Dawkins
Another Biomorph program

I believe there are some other similar programs around.. maybe if you know of any, please post a comment and I’ll add a link here.

The rings of Saturn captured by Cassini, also features Earth in the distance.

This is a stunning photograph of Saturn taken by the Cassini space probe in 2006.

It might look like a perfect computer-generated graphic.. but this image was created by combining 165 images taken over 3 hours with the wide angle camera on Cassini as it orbited the planet. Earth can be seen here too, but due to the distance we are from Saturn it is only seen as a tiny bright dot. If you imagine a clock face; look just inside the second largest ring at about 10 o’clock.. there we are!

See more about this image on the NASA website.