The other DNA

There is DNA and there is DNA. It’s a common phenomenon for the layman to put a certain amount of mystique into areas he doesn’t comprehend or have great insight into, or they can be twisted into something rather different from the true meaning of the word. I have stumbled upon some really hilarious and interesting forms of DNA, so please let me introduce to you the other DNA:

A Swiss project, visualdna, was launched as part of a final diploma project at the Art University (department of visual communication) of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in order to establish whether there are “cultural differences in creating visual work”, so over 400 designers from all continents were invited to participate and the only indication of when this took place is the copyright year, 2003. The designs were made with the term “choice” in mind and the results are extremely various. An analysis can be read in more detail on the web page and here is one of my favourite entries made by Caisso Emiliano from Argentina:

 

Then the VisualDNA at Youniverse: “Every day, Youniverse helps 1000s of new people discover their unique VisualDNA” they claim, and “Discover your VisualDNA and get matched to people“. I don’t feel the need to get matched to people, but I am interested in the outcome all the same, so what I did a year ago was to take the quiz and here is a part of who I am:

 

And finally my PersonalDNA: “Your true self revealed” in a “free, fun, fast and accurate” test. Sounds almost too good to be true, so this is a test I can’t miss to take. The result is even presented in the shape of a chromosome:

The “chromosome” comes with a lengthy analysis of several traits and seems to shoot pretty close, so although the test isn’t as fast to take as indicated it is still worth taking. Who would not want to know their personal DNA really?

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The Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge

2005, Illustration: The Synapse Revealed
Credit: Graham Johnson, Graham Johnson Medical Media

The American National Science Foundation (NSF) arranges since 2003 an annual, international Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge that accepts entries in five different categories: Photography, Illustration, Informational Graphics, Interactive Media and Non-Interactive Media. The winners are introduced on the challenge web page and some of them are interesting from the medical perspective, too. This years winners will be announced on 26th September.

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Origami

Origami, the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, seems to remain some kind of a secret in the Western world. The movie Blade Runner certainly didn’t do its share in unravelling the mystery either and so we still think of a white paper crane whilst knowingly nodding when origami is mentioned. Origami is ancient for sure, but is it outdated, as well? Take a look at some things that I recently have found on the net:

The brain – http://chosetec.darkclan.net/origami/

WALL·E - http://chosetec.darkclan.net/origami/

And finally the compulsory paper crane, too:

 

Keep in mind that all objects are folded from one single piece of paper. Almost unbelievable, right?

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