HRS177|Spring2021

Project preposal

 My final project: serendipity and the nuances that make life worth living. Biotechnology and Art go hand in hard.  Not only is art  the most clear and interpretable way to explain scientific concepts, art is also a scientific concept. As pencils use lead and singers use their voice. Art is based in science.

Final Project Proposal

For my final paper, I would like to cover the content that we went over in class about bread. I chose this topic because I have always loved baking, so the process of making bread is very interesting to me. Additionally, bread in my family has very significant cultural and religious meaning, and I would love to further explore the significance of different types of bread across various cultural and spiritual traditions.

Final Project Proposal

The reason I chose to take this class is that the pandemic has made me realize that science and art are inevitably connected. I wanted my final project to reflect the pandemic, a moment in time where art and science have never influenced each other more. I have a few ideas that I want to explore for the final, which I haven’t narrowed down yet.

Connectedness and Sounds

This class has given me a lot of perspective into the various things life has to offer. However, I came to this little realization after becoming aware to the things I often neglected. As a result, I wanted to wrap back towards the effects of sounds, and how those sounds appear to affect us. The extent to which sounds affect us aren’t limited to just a psychological level, but to a physiological level as well. I’ve learned that laughter can become contagious, simply by listening to the sound one exudes.

The Mystery of Sound - final paper topic

In the beginning of this class, we talked about how we have a very musical student body present in this lecture. I was really looking forward to learning more about the science behind sound and music. The lecture a few weeks ago left me wanting more – I so enjoyed hearing and guessing everyone’s sounds! I learned so much about sound from reading other’s blog posts and listening to their stories, and I am curious about what other aspects were not explored. Thus, I want to expand on these themes in my final paper.

Exploring the Connections

For my final paper I would love to further explore the interconnectedness between all the concepts we have discussed this quarter. I would like to further look into the artistic connections between the concepts as well as the biotechnological connections and then relate the two together. I believe that everything that we have learned about this quarter has an underlying theme. I was most surprised this quarter by how many things are related to each other that I would have never thought of before.

Final Paper Proposal - Artificial Meats

With hundreds of meat options in stores all coming from farms across the United States, the idea of artificial meats grown in cell culture seems daunting but economical. Over 94.4 million cattle and 504.5 million chickens populate the United States alone. The idea of cultured meats provides solutions for land usage and produced crops for growing these animals as commodities in grocery stores.

Potential Topics for Final Paper(s): Music and Sound Therapy, Carbon and Biotechnology, Antibodies and Animals, or Microbiology and Art

I would like to choose the applications of music and sound to medicine and healthcare as the topic that I write about in my final paper. To approach this topic, I plan on using research studies and experimental results to root my discussions on the potential benefits and application for music and sound in various aspects of healthcare. 

The Beauty Around Us...

For the past weeks, it has been quite a journey, exploring various aspects of the world around us (and within us) in new dimensions that I have never seen or thought of before. Something so simple, like bread, or graphite, are ubiquitous and easily ignored, but with contemplation and reflection, have meanings that can extend beyond just a superficial glance.

Final Project Proposal - Challenging Human Exceptionalism through Empedoclean Notions of Universal Kinship and Metempsychosis

I recently published and presented a piece at NYU on Empedocles, a pre-Socratic who argued towards an ecological perspective of human situatedness in the wider biosphere (or perhaps even just among all things which have being). 

For my final project I'd like to first set out Empedocles' basic notions, likely borrowing on my previous work, and discuss both universal kinship and metempsychosis as well as they ways Empedocles' gets to these ideas. 

The end of the beginning

Since the beginning of the course, I realized that this class is not your typical honors class with rigorous structure and stressful examination and deadlines we need to meet each week, but rather a very unique, creative, fun discussion we have once a week to reflect on the important aspects of our lives; nature, art, and biotechnology. As honors students, we are often not given the opportunity of freedom and creativity in our regular courses.

Final Project Proposal - Biotechnology in Cosmetics

Throughout the course of this class, we have explored the intersection of science and art in everything from bread to fungi to the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Week after week, I fell in love with the idea of looking for connections, quietly making observations, listening to my peers' interpretations of the world around them, and getting opportunities to just away from my computer in favor of just walking around outside and just absorbing the world around me in all its glory.

The Creative Potential of Carbon Nanotubes

For my final paper topic, I would like to end right where we began - with carbon. Indeed, carbon is a very unifying substance (perfect to tie together the topics in this class), as it is practically everywhere. Carbon is in all of our food, in every plant and tree, in every animal, and of course, it is the element that holds our DNA together. Who we are at the most intrinsic level is literally written with a carbon alphabet. 

Final: Noxious noises

I want to explore what may be called noxious sounds—those sounds that, rather than calming or soothing, instead serve to disturb, annoy, or even hurt their listeners. I think we are all aware of these: nails on chalkboard, screeching Styrofoam, wailing sirens, squeaking hinges, crashing construction, and the like. Why do we hate the sound of Styrofoam; nails on a chalkboard; ambulance sirens? And what can constant exposure to these sounds mean for our health? I do not know if I will be able to answer these questions in the next few weeks, but I certainly hope to try.

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