Lethargy of Biosphere 3′s Project at Gorgon
“Lethargy: Inactivity and state of absolute rest in which some animals remain during certain periods of time.”
Around 2000 people have been able to enjoy and to share Biosphere 3 with Open Science, since it was inaugurated at the beginning of 2010, and that enters in lethargy today due to external problems of our sponsors, closing temporarily its door at Gorgon SIM. This closing of the place doesn’t imply the cease of the activities related to Biofera 3, that will be relocated.
Sponsors, artists, photographers, collaborator, builders… to all you: Thanks for have done it possible,
Noke Yuitza, Open Science.
Sci&Art Winners
Merlino Mayo & Abstrac Baroque have conquered this 1st ed. of the Sci&Art Contest, dedicated to Physics, and they have won the Awards of Science and Art. The artists Democrito Sands and Lea Supermarine have won the public prize.
Our best congrats to all.
The ceremony has finished but you can still watching the finalists’ artworks for a week at CSW Island.
161 People
161 people had come to Big Bang Sci&Art Constest’s category at Biosphere 3 to enjoy the artworks of:
Loki Glas (France)
Elin Egoyan (The Netherlands)
MosMax Hax (Switzerland)
Selavy Oh (Germany)
Dixit Writer (Italy)
RAG Randt (USA)
zephyru Zapedzki (Portugal)
pcguru Xi (USA)
Thanks to all who came to visit and gave support.
If you would like to see some photos about:
Who is going to win?
Today at 8.00h SLT will be the Award ceremony of the Sci&Art Contest.
The finalist are: Pol Jarvinen (Atom), Jess Oranos (Elec.), Mayo Merlin (Rays) Abstract Baroque (Strings), Rodriguez Mila Thatam Imako (Strings), MosMax Hax (B Bang), Dixit (B Bang), Freewee Ling (Nanotec), Kolor Fall (Nanotec).
Who is going to win?
Let’s see it at the ceremony!
Opening Science & Art Contest
Imagine the moment of the creation of the Universe from the point of view of an artist. This way begins Art & Science Contest’10, that is dedicated to Pysics in this 1st ed.
Open Science collaborates in this initiative of the groups Second Physics and SL ART welcoming the category origin, the Big Bang, in Biosphere 3. Loki Glas (France), Elin Egoyan (The Netherlands), MOsMax Hax (Switzerland), Selavy Oh (Germany), Dixit Writer (Italy), RAG Randt (USA), Pcguru Xi (USA) and Zephyru Zapedzki (Portugal) are the artists that fulls Biosphere 3 with their particular conception of the universe.
Today, as a premier, the members of the group are invited to come and talk with some of the artists who participate in this cathegory. In next, we will explain how one can vote to its favourite.
What is Science & Art?
Scien&Art is a project of Talete Flanagan (Second Physics) and Marjorie Fargis (SL Art) in collaboration with UWA (Jayjay Zifanwe), Open Science (Noke Yakuza), Alpine Executive Center (Sunset Quinnell), CSW Island (MarkWD Helendale, Antony Jun) and USMP (Maximo Eames).
The project was born from the idea of combining two major disciplines: art and science.
The intention is to accompany the artists to express their creativity through scientific concepts and help scientists to communicate creatively.
This first contest was devoted to physics and will be divided into 6 categories: Atom, Big Bang, Cosmic Rays, Electricity, Nanotechnology and Strings.
For these reasons were composed two juries will assess the works: a jury artistic and a scientific jury.
In addition to the juries that will decide the winners of each category and the winners, it was decided a public vote. All SL residents can express their preference for the works exhibited for a period of two weeks of voting on panels made available in the land hosting the competition.
The works will be exhibited to the public from May 30, 2010.
The awards will be June 13, 2010.
New HIDE in Biosphere 3
A great crested grebe with its littles on its back, a kingfisher that sometimes caches a fish… these are some of the species that you will see in the new Biosphere 3′s HIDE, a little space to relax looking the animals.
The tp to the HIDE is in the little Stargate on the main floor.
Sci-O Magazine: BIODIVERSITY, Some Concepts
Sci-O nº2 dedicated to the on line lecture “BIODIVERSITY, Some Concepts” given by Noke Yuitza for the Earth Day’s Week celebrations in Second Life.
Sci-O nº2
Second Life Users File Class Action Lawsuit Over Virtual Land
Via Jolie O’Dell//
A group of Second Life users is suing Second Life’s creator over a virtual land dispute. They say their contractual property ownership rights have been changed and that this alteration of the terms of service constitutes fraud and violates California consumer protection laws.
Before you scoff too much at this seemingly ludicrous lawsuit, remember that virtual worlds aren’t just “funny money” and avatars. They’re serious business, both for the owners and investors who profit from them and for the users who pump hundreds and even thousands of dollars each into creating characters and interacting online.
Second Life’s parent company, Linden Labs, was recently valued at $383 million. The virtual world’s economy was at an all-time high when Q1 transactional data was reported last month. And although the economy is virtual, remember these transactions have a basis in very real funds.
The lawsuit gives rise to the question: Who owns virtual goods, the creators of the goods or the people who have paid virtual currency for them?
The users are claiming that Linden Labs and Founder Philip Rosedale persuaded them to invest money and pay a sort of “property tax” with the promise of actual ownership of virtual land. Now, the users say, the terms of service have been changed without their prior knowledge or consent. They say the new terms “state that these land and property owners did not own what they had created, bought and paid for, and that these consumers had no choice but to click on a new terms of service agreement or they could not have access to their property.” Moreover, the group alleges that Linden Labs froze user accounts and deleted or converted non-virtual currency and virtual property without giving any explanation or avenues for recourse.
We’ve contacted Mr. Rosedale for comment and will update this post as new information becomes available.
What do you think: Is this a frivolous lawsuit over a virtual non-issue? Can anyone really “own” pixels? Did Linden Labs have the right to change the TOS for their own product, just as Facebook does on a regular basis? Or do these users have a justifiable complaint when they say that Linden Labs broke its promise to them?
Lecture: Some concepts on Biodiversity
Inside of the Earth Day’s Week events in Second Life, the Italian group Second Physics has invited me to give this Saturday the lecture “BIODIVERSITY”, at 01.00pm SLT in Gallaxy. It will be in English, using the voice and the text in local chat (for those who’ll dress a translator hud).
So it would be a pleasure to invite you to swim with me into the biological concept of diversity during this lecture. See you there!
TALETE FLANAGAN, from Second Physics group project
I put the coffee to a side of the computer while I have one of the most pleasant chats, under a virtual parasol, on science and education through metaverses. Thanks to: Talete Flanagan, the avatar name in Second Life of the Italian physics’ professor founder and coordinator of Second Physics’s project. He takes also part to “Scienza Per Tutti - FRIEND” activities.
Lung breathing, an apple falling, our reflection in the mirror, … Physics is around us, it is in everywhere, like integral part of a whole, even in the Bits & Bites of this digital Coffee of the Science where we are.
Talete, what’s Second Physics?
It’s a group project in this metaverse. The aim of Second Physics is to disseminate Science, in particular Physics, in the Italian community of Second Life. Anyway, all our activities are done in Italian and English, because in our group about 700 enrolled is composed of 60% Italian and 40 % English speaking avatars, so that both communities can attend tour projects.
Is it too difficult to combine two different cultures as the English and the Italian one in the same group?
Depends on the specific project. For example on the news network we broadcast science news on both languages.
And which of them is more interested in science projects?
Italy still thinking in metaverses as a game, doesn’t see the enormous capacity of this type of applications for e-learning. Countries of English speech, like USA, have broken this barrier.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t have Italian scientists and teachers in Second Life, but some prefer to maintain their lives faced secret while they are here. I’ve made a house for them, Second Physics, a space to find and to improve together.
Maybe is due to our fascism legacy that science and culture in our countries are known as different things?
At the 20th beginning, Benedetto Croce, and Italian politician and philosopher, said, “science is not culture”. And its words influenced diverse Italian thinkers as fascist ideologist Giovanni Gentile, who was Minister of Education during the fascist government of Benito Mussolini between 1922 and 1925, being author of the important reform of the education, setting its bases in Italy. But, paradoxically, he had a son that was a physicist.
I guess they had a difficult relationship…
Yes, a very difficult one due their opposite ideas.
Imagine I have two pills, one is reductionism and the other is chaos, which one will you choose?
(Laughs) At the beginning, I was a reductionist. I was thinking that all could be explained reducing it at the small part. How we can understand big without small? This is what allow us to search for the Theory of Everything.
But the fact is that our system is chaotic, and our future will be chaotic. We can see this in fractals but per example how it works the network too. We cannot predict how it wills develop cause the possibilities of different links are a chaos that escape to our control. Imagine that we have a pen and we put it vertical. We cannot predict in a 100% if this pen will fall down to one side or another, neither if it wouldn’t fall down. We just can have a chaotic approach, giving them some rules based on the basics. We can have a probability. So nowadays I will, probaby, choose chaotic approch. But, please, leaves open the two doors, science is never monotonous.
Talking back about Second Physics, how it began this splendid adventure about science in Second Life? I’ve seen that we are nearly 1000 “Second Physics” in the group!
I know in Second Life numbers are important, but for we is much more important to arrive to people and to meet new ones to create feedbacks of knowledge.
Scientists have to explain what they are doing to the society. We all born scientists. A baby is a scientist, a young student too. If you observe them, you will see. But when we grow up, if we loose interest, probably because of society around us, we can forget this. And this can happens too to a researcher. We need some new ideas to arrive to people. Because of this, I create Second Physics.
Sometimes, a scientist is too itself, closed in its own world. Main priority is just research. So if you are a good scientist, why to spend your time in education and divulgation? This isn’t a wrong point of view, but is an old one, and if science community doesn’t explain itself, approaching scientific language to people, cannot be understandable for politicians, teachers, parents, etc. Then, we need, as scientists, to communicate ourselves with people. Because of this, is too important to me to work in this direction.
Why Second Life?
I believe new medias as this one can help us to disseminate our message. Per example, you are in Spain and I’m in Italy, but now we are here, using this 3D social network, having a good time together talking about science, history and education.
But Second Life had had certain problems due some criminal activities.
This isn’t related to media, it’s related to some faction of our society that uses for negative reasons the media. This is the point. You cannot say Second Life is what produces this; the problem is that criminals use this new medias to do their criminal activities.
I agree. Same problem has Internet.
Yes.
Science on the Road and Science Movies are some of the projects you’ve done in these 2.5 years. Can you tell us what is your favourite one and why?
The most interesting one for me was Science on the Road, because two reasons: first one is that I love to find a new community every time, and second one is that we put a scientist group to work together and do teacher task. This year we would like to repeat the experience and we expect to be over 10 doing this project.
My favourite one: Science on the Road too, cause we can get in contact with new fantastic people, as Giovanna Delphin (from Inmersiva Group)
who is a perfect incredible organizers of events and Marjorie Fargis who takes care in a magnificet way our public relations. We are from
different disciplines, that allow us to grow as persons, but also as a group. As a group we are now really well taylored to push ahead even further our collaborative projects.
And now, with what new projects are you going to surprise us?
We have some new projects related to other disciplines as medicine, archaeology and biology. But we are preparing too a new project that, I’m afraid, it will replace favourite one in my heart: “Physicists”, a theatre project, with Madame Curie, Einstein, Newton, … But also Mr. Tompkins (a character of the Ukrainian physicist and astronomer George Gamow) and Miss. Marple (from Agatha Christie) will be in the public. Even Catwoman will be there!
Sounds really interesting! Too creative!
Creativity is the base of life. If you are not creative, you don’t get anything.
Who did the role-play?
Between all the performers. Each actor wrote the part related to its character. We believe in collaboration. Maybe the result is not going to be as perfect as when there’s a professional role-play cast behind, but we are going to do our best, learning together. We want to show science in a funny way.
Talete, you are a pioneer, how do you feel like?
(Laughs) Well, a Scientist has to be always pioneer.
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