Design Project #2 for Art 325: Computer Art: Principles of Graphic Design Spring Semester: 11 February 2003 Professor George Williams, Chairperson: Department of Art and Art History Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit, WI 53511 "Topological Toys, Tinkering, Thinking: Knot Theory for the Three R’s of DNA" |
Goal: Design a two-dimensional origami container for one of four models of DNA knots. Criteria: The template for the container should be no larger than standard game board stock. (Parco in Beloit is a game printer with extensive experience in such materials and would be approached first if satisfactory materials can be manufactured for the actual contents of these containers. In general, four-color printing is less expensive.) Commercialization: These materials would primarily be marketed through science museum shops (e.g., Exploratorium in San Francisco, Rosenwald Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Boston Museum of Science) or through science educational material suppliers (e.g., Carolina Biological Supply, Connecticut Valley Biological Supply). The immediate use of your designs will be used for a grant proposal to NCIIA http://www.nciia.net/. Aesthetic Criteria for Judging: The developer has a strong preference for Oriental minimalism and striking geometric iconography. I am seeking a mutual embrace of elegant art, whimsical toys, mathematical puzzles, poetic puns, and biological symbolism. Sources: I have attached an abstract for popular talk that I give in such settings as the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual "Science is Fun" symposium, a bibliography of articles intended for general audiences that have been published in popular science magazines and newspapers, books, and some web sources that are good sources of imagery, and four images that illustrate the prototypes of the four DNA knots that I would like eventually designed and manufactured. You might also explore science museum shops and catalogs for ideas that have been successful with such audiences such as Rubik’s cubes and snakes, the "Brain," Quix, Tensegritoys®, LEGO, Fantastix, and Why Knots. Awards: Rosalind Franklin Prize: $100 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Prize: $75 Jane S. Richardson Prize: $50 Margaret ?? Prize: $50 Internship Possibility: I will interview anyone in the class after the completion of the project for a possible ten-week summer internship with me as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Digital Scholar. This has a $3,500 stipend (the last $1,000 is withheld until a satisfactory project is completed), room and board on campus for the ten weeks. Only one position is available. Starting time of ten-week period is negotiable. Intellectual Property Rights: Any use of your imagery or designs that is used in publications or projects would be acknowledged. If a commercial product is sold, designers would receive a share of royalties that would be determined when a contract was signed with a publisher and/or distributor. The four DNA knots: I have not determined the names of the four DNA toys/puzzles. For the first one, part of the challenge is whether you can unzip supercoiled DNA? For the second one, if you cannot unzip the supercoiled DNA, then how can you relax the molecule; that is, remove twist, writhes and/or links by cutting both strands of closed circular DNA at the same place? For the third one, if you cannot unzip supercoiled DNA, then how can you relax the molecule; that is, remove twist, writhes, and/or links by cutting only one strand at a time of closed circular DNA? For the fourth one, how can you replicate closed circular, twisted, writhed DNA and allow each daughter cell to receive a complete and separate copy? Currently, my working title for the series of models is: "Knotty DNA" and the individual titles for the four different models are: Supercoil, Topo II, Topo I, and Catenane. Assignment: I expect to receive hard copies of the final products as well as electronic copies of all supporting Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files for individual images as well as of your whole project. They will be used in PowerPoint talks and on web pages.
Contact Information: John R. Jungck Department of Biology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit, WI, 53511 Email: jungck@beloit.edu Messages: Sue Risseeuw 2012 Web sites: http://bioquest.org and http://www.beloit.edu
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