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American Girl Magazines from the Swingin’ Sixties
My sister and I flew home to California this past weekend for my grandmother’s memorial service. My family organized the whole thing, and one thing I’ve learned from the experience is that to do a memorial properly, you need tons of photos of your loved one: there are obituaries and slideshows and photo boards and funeral decor, all of which require them. The day we flew in, the family... »
Blacksmithing, Hair Sticks and Seeing the Matrix
I would like to share something that happened to me while I was selling my work in an art show. Well, more something that happened around me. It was the sort of thing that dismantles some of your illusions and lets you see the world through someone else’s eyes. I have participated in several art shows and sold my stuff in booths at conventions, but this was the first time that I had brought ... »
Kaatsu: a shortcut to more muscle, but maybe not better health
Last week, Anne asked the backchannel about a workout trend she had come across called Kaatsu, sending along this link from Military Times and this one from Wikipedia. Her question was basically “does this set off any of your bullshit detectors” and as I am in the weird half-way point between fitness instructor and biologist, I took it up. »
Material Science for Cosplay 2: Copper and its Alloys
Steampunks and other cosplayers spend a lot of time in the company of copper and its alloys, brass and bronze. Here I hope to throw a little of the science of the stuff your way to make it easier and more rewarding to work with. History Copper was one of the first metals to ever be used by humans. Chunks of it could be found in a workable state lying about on the surface, requiring no mining or sm... »
The Illustrated Women In Science: Year One!
Thrill to the jungle-crawling entomology of Maria Merian, cheer at the multi-dimensional mathematics of Maryam Mirzakhani, weep at the tragic end of Sofia Kovalevskaya, and gasp at the universe-cracking insights of Emmy Noether! All 26 of the MadArtLab Women In Science cartoons and essays are now available in one handy volume, dear friends. With luscious full color interiors and a lovely introdu... »
This is Your Voice on Hormones
I recently got the privilege to see Laura Jane Grace perform live. Grace is the founder, guitarist, and lead singer of the band Against Me! who made headlines for being the one of the most high-profile musicians to come out as transgender. She was actually a last-minute addition to the show I came to see, and as a result had no backup band — it was just her, a couple of acoustic guitars, and... »
Nous sommes tous Charlie Hebdo
I haven’t posted here at MadArtLab before today, and although you will come to find out I’m not an artist as much as an artistic supporter, today that doesn’t much matter. Many other outlets will give you more details than I wish existed about today’s terrorist attack in Paris. You can find the details of the event and the ongoing hunt for the criminals and quest for justice all over the news. We ... »
Unearthing the World Jurassic: Mary Anning and the Founding of Paleontology (Women In Science 28)
As the tide rolls out, a woman in a hardened bonnet and loose fitting clothes scrambles across the crumbling cliffs of Lyme Regis, a large sack flung over her back, and pick axe in hand. She is Mary Anning, out on the hunt for fossils to sell in order to earn enough money to eat, and before her fifteenth birthday, her discoveries will challenge all established wisdom about the Earth’s geolog... »