We’ve got a lot of friends here in New York, and we like to mention when they’re doing awesome things.  Here’s one of them, a Bioelectricity class run by HTINK over at Bug Labs this Wednesday night.

http://bioelectricity.eventbrite.com/
Bug Labs – 598 Broadway (at the corner of Houston) 4th floor, New York, NY
Wednesday, 3/23/2010, 7PM, Bug Labs

Have you ever wondered how living organisms create and control electrical energy?  Come learn how living cells use nanopumps and ion channels to generate and transmit signals that control everything from how hard you click a mouse to how quickly your heart beats.  Matthieu and Krystoff, biomedical engineers with the world.s largest implantable medical device manufacturer, Medtronic, will discuss these principles and more, as we cover everything from neural signal processing to heart rhythm control.

Explore the rapidly growing field of bioelectronic devices and get a chance to build your own EKG machine.  Come learn how implantable pacemakers and defibrillators track and control heart rhythms, and allow doctors to hack patient biorhythms remotely via a combined internet and RF communication channel.  Additionally, the science of pacing and defibrillation therapies will be discussed along with a demonstration of the effects of therapeutic electrical shocks.

There will be a kit available to build. Purchasing the kit is not required. If you do purchase a kit, you will want to bring a windows laptop to view the output from the ECG. No tools are required.

NYCResistor has a new space and it’s beautiful and we’re nearly done fixing it up. Maybe you’ve heard that we’re having an Arduino Art Party? It’s going to be featuring the superstars of the Arduino world! This show is important because while the arduino has been a growing factor in the cutting edge art scene, an art show that showcases the full capabilities of it as the main focus of the art show has never been done. This will be a landmark event in the history of mechanized and programmable art!

So what will be at NYCResistor on March 27th from 8-12pm at 87 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn?

wind-up birds (hc gilje 2008) from hc gilje on Vimeo.

HC Gilje’s wind up birds. Cyber woodpeckers, need we say more about that?

Arron Koblin will display data crashes transformed into art. (Not pictured above)

Laura Greig‘s arduino powered painting machine.

Hernando Barragán – The creator of the wiring board will display Infomatic driven LEDs.

Things – Edith Kollath Creates Books that Breathe from Bre Pettis on Vimeo.

NYCResistor Member Edith Kolath
Jan Borches and REne Bohne’s Luminet Jacket will be on display and blinking.

Becky Stern‘s interactive embroidery will be blinking.

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Oscar Torres and Jackoon the painting robot will be doing their thing.

Raphael Abrams has a twitchie. Half doll, half robot. It’s a dollborg.

Joe Saavedra – Will be displaying a jacket that has the game of life displayed over LED matrix based on your pulse!

Ok, now you know the awesomeness that is in store for you! Get your tickets now!

We’ve got the first batch of classes at the new NYC Resistor space online.  Come learn a few things and check out our new digs on stylish 3rd Avenue near downtown Brooklyn.

On Saturday, March 20th, Raphael Abrams does a double header.  At 2PM is the fun and practical Introduction to Electronics, a 3 hour lesson on hooking up batteries to components to make things happen.  Then, starting at 6PM, we’ve got our PCB Design using Eagle class where you learn how to draw out a schematic and PC board that you can either etch yourself or send out for production.

The next day, Sunday the 21st, we’ve got our Arduino & Soldering 101 class where you solder together a Freeduino board then write some simple programs to control it.  This one’s taught by Ryan and Liz and it usually sells out.

Finally for now, Pop-Up Shelby is repeating her Paper Engineering class from the Fall where you’ll learn about how to fold, tape, and cut paper to make all sorts of motion-activated animated designs.

[Graphic courtesy of http://sinbox.org]

If you’re near Manhattan this weekend, stop in to Eyebeam for their MIXER event Friday and Saturday nights (Mar 13 and 14) from 9PM to 2AM.  NYC Resistor will be one of the presenting artists with our “Color Commentary Teletype” a restored 1930’s era Model 15 serial printer, along with a sentiment analysis chart recorder!  MIXER is a huge party, with music, art, and performances.  It’s going to be awesome!

Check out the details at Eyebeam!  Now!

MIXER:Olympiad

Robert Carlson bridges both the NYC Resistor and DIYBio worlds – he’s an electrical engineer who turns E. coli into circuits! He famously discovered the Carlson curves, the biotech equivalent of Moore’s Law. They show that biotech is advancing at a pace consistent with digital tech.

Come join us at the NEW NYC Resistor space for an afternoon talk by Rob and discussion afterwards.

DATE: Saturday, March 13
TIME: 2:00pm – 4:00pm
LOCATION: NYCR

Here’s a video of Robert from the Economist that appeared on the DIYBio blog recently: http://diybio.org/2010/01/01/rob-carlson-discusses-diybio-and-open-source-biology-on-the-economist. And an excerpt from his Wired article where he wrote about the emergence of DIYBiology in 2005:

The era of garage biology is upon us. Want to participate? Take a moment to buy yourself a molecular biology lab on eBay. A mere $1,000 will get you a set of precision pipettors for handling liquids and an electrophoresis rig for analyzing DNA. Side trips to sites like BestUse and LabX (two of my favorites) may be required to round out your purchases with graduated cylinders or a PCR thermocycler for amplifying DNA. If you can’t afford a particular gizmo, just wait six months – the supply of used laboratory gear only gets better with time. Links to sought-after reagents and protocols can be found at DNAHack. And, of course, Google is no end of help.

Still, don’t expect to cure cancer right away, surprise your loved ones with a stylish new feather goatee, or crank out a devilish frankenbug. (Instant bioterrorism is likely beyond your reach, too.) The goodies you buy online require practice to use properly. The necessary skills may be acquired through trial and error, studying online curricula, or taking a lab course at a community college. Although there are cookbook recipes for procedures to purify DNA or insert it into a bacterium, bench biology is not easy; the many molecular manipulations required to play with genes demand real skills.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/view.html?pg=2