TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| NIH to resume funding stem cell research for now By LAURAN NEERGAARD 2010-09-10T17:08:59ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The government said Friday it's back in the business of funding embryonic stem cell research - at least for now - after an appeals court temporarily lifted a judge's ban.... hosted.ap.org |
Calif. utility stumbles on 1.4M years old fossils By GILLIAN FLACCUS 2010-09-21T13:38:01ZRIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- A utility company preparing to build a new substation in an arid canyon southeast of Los Angeles has stumbled on a trove of animal fossils dating back 1.4 million years that researchers say will fill in blanks in Southern California's history.... hosted.ap.org |
Bull ants have right eye for the job Worker bull ants have military-style night vision, while their higher status winged nest mates see best during the day, Australian researchers have discovered. abc.net.au |
Bringing out the inner chimp | Carole Jahme Pauline Fowler describes the joys and frustrations of sculpting prosthetics that can make a believable ape out of a human actor. Carole Jahme visits her at workWhen I ask Pauline Fowler what her job is, she sighs before replying, "Sculptor, but I usually say director of a company, as it takes so long to explain." Let me try instead. She and her jointly run company, Animated Extras, design and make animatronics, prosthetics, silicone bodies, puppets and any other effects for film and TV that are not pyrotechnic or special CGI effects. Fowler's job is to keep the magic going and her spells are wide ranging. She was responsible for the subtle aging of Kate Winslet in The Reader (for which Fowler was short-listed for an Oscar) and she created the prosthetics used by Nicholas Cage in Kick Ass. She makes the bodies and parts for Silent Witness and designs ape actor Peter Elliott's gorilla and chimpanzee costumes. Her partner, Nik Williams, controls the animatronics on set.I asked Fowler how she researches ape costumes. "The primates are a well documented group, there's a great deal of data for me to work from. But I usually go to London Zoo or to Aspinall's Zoo and I take a video. I've read several of Jane Goodall's books and I have watched all of her National Geographic documentaries. Understanding the structure of the soft tissue and muscles and how they work and how the hair moves when the animal moves is a big part of what I do."I try to keep up with the latest scientific research but it depends on the job. Yesterday an animated penis came in, I have a wide variety of things to bring to life. But it's Pete's job to give the ape a character with a personality and emotional depth, a lot of the final effect is down to Pete. I have to turn Pete into a chimp, not create a real chimp and, as Pete's not a typical chimp shape, there's a lot of subtle compromise."It's all about the angle of the sculpt. For example, chimps have a muzzle but humans don't, humans have a forehead, but chimps don't. Humans have a nose but chimps don't, and Pete needs a chimp brow-ridge, but his eyes are at a fixed point, I can't change the width. Chimpanzees have different teeth: there are many morphological differences between humans and chimps."I wondered how many times she'd worked with Elliott. "Oh many times, I can't remember, there's been lots of gorilla commercials and we do a lot of work for mainland Europe. Gorillas in the Mist worked so well because it was cleverly shot. [Elliott played Digit, Dian Fossey's special gorilla.] Getting the impact shot is all about the tilt, a three-quarter head-down shot works well. They came in tight, over the shoulder and showed elements of a gorilla's body."A manmade construct worn by a man can only look like a man in a suit, there's always a trade off. I much prefer to sculpt and animate a creature that will not have a man inside. When I make a chimp puppet there's the challenge of realism and anatomical accuracy. Making an ape mask that will fit a human skull is a technical exercise. A gorilla suit is much easier to create than a chimp suit. With a chimp there's more comprise, a chimp's legs are short and bandy with thin ankles, they've got long, strong skinny arms, you always need arm extensions."I was curious to know if anthropomorphism played a part in her work? "I anthropomorphise the orangs, the males are like depressed generals. I'd like to create an orangutan, that's the only ape species I've not done. Chimps are funny and unstable, I don't anthropomorphise chimpanzees, probably because they are more aggressive." Fowler pauses for a moment. "The mountain gorillas are so endangered. The silverbacks are like your average bloke, quiet and lugubrious. I prefer sculpting pigs and dolphins and other emotionally intelligent animals to chimps. I find chimps a bit annoying."Animated Extras also made the Australopithecine afarensis, the Neanderthal and Homo habilis suits for the BBC's Walking with Cavemen, enabling the public to trace the evolution of the Homo lineage on film. Paleoanthropogist, Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum, was consultant.I asked Fowler how she would go about animating an Ardipithecus ramidus, who lived 4.4m years ago. The 45% complete fossil, known as "Ardi" was discovered in Ethiopia by Tim White's team in 1992 just 75km from the location of the famous "Lucy" fossil. "Well Ardi was short, stood about three and half to four feet tall. She had long arms. If you are going to make suits you need small people and arm extensions. Children are hard to work with so you need adult midgets, not dwarfs, you need average human proportions, but smaller. But finding enough midgets who can act is tough. You could blue screen Ardi and put in the environment later or have it as a CGI construct. There's several ways you could animate Ardi. But the colour of Ardi, her hair and size and shape of the soft tissue is informed guesswork, soft tissue doesn't usually fossilise. I always liaise with an expert and we find a realistic compromise."Was there was anything she couldn't do? "I did the tigers in Gladiator; when creating living creatures I think the big cats and human new-born babies are the hardest. Their bodies move as one, in a fluid way, whereas dogs have a chunky movement and they are easier to do. In this business, 'less is more'. All a new-born baby needs when sleeping in a cot is a subtle, animatronic bladder."Animal behaviourAnimal researchBiologyZoologyAnimalsCarole Jahmeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Cloned meat safe to eat: scientists An independent panel of British scientists has suggested that meat and milk from cloned cattle is safe to eat. abc.net.au |