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SMELL OF MEMORY
Have you ever noticed that random smells on the street make you turn around and go back to any situation of your past? The smell of vanilla makes numerous Western people go back to the time of their childhood, while Asian people start to feel calm when a rose scent is hovering in the room. Actually, it’s not coming from special genes, but is related to them.
For example, the same odor can provoke different reactions in different people. This phenomenon shows us how neurons and nose receptors are working together differently in the sense of another person. However, one smell could work differently even with one person.

Why is this happening? In terms of biology, we have receptors in the upper part of the nose. They react to an odor and give an impulse to a specific pattern in our brain. As these receptors can respond differently to smells, we could describe it in a wider way. This is connected with the emotional vision of situations and specific genes that make you react or not to certain molecules. That part of the brain which manages all the odors is also placed near our memory section, so we react to them like a pattern of the person’s behaviour.
Since ancient times our ancestors used this skill to easily navigate and recognise harmless, edible objects. Their memory of pleasant things or bad experiences stayed in their minds from very childhood times until the end. Modern people haven’t lost this ability, so we use it every day widely. This ancient sense of danger or safeness follows us everywhere at any time.

Current art and fashion ideas put this fact as their muse and made a masterpiece for our nose. Artists started to make whole stories and landscapes from aromas.

Installations like «The Odoratorium» by Sissel Tolaas give us an example of how a spot like a city provokes us to different emotions related to a familiar, or not, place only by using its smell. Emotions can be complicated or even confusing.

At the installation «The Smell of War» a number of videos were shown, considering an absolutely peaceful world. While looking at the screen, the audience felt a disgusting and uncomfortable smell of war. That made the picture of how cruel war is even more vibrant in the viewer’s minds. Each of the odors made them see the real picture with their nose, not their eyes.

The «Parfum River» for the YSL museum by Asymptote Architecture gave a fully shrouding scene for every odor there. In contrast with the previous example, this time visitors admired fashion design in a dark room accompanied by pleasant images and light, noticeable perfume. This made people go far more in their minds, where any of the scents reminded them of special occasions.

There are a lot of aspects of our smelling systems that make us feel something ,unique, make us go back to times where we experienced the hardest emotions.
Throughout all of history before industrialization, people used
to think that almost everything produced by nature would also work for new technologies for humanity. During active industrial development, we forgot how close people are to nature. However, recent technological progress and art performances show us a rebirth of natural-inspired ideas in everyday life.

The concept of adapting whole systems from nature and using them for «new» human things is quite ancient.
From early ages, our ancestors were inspired by spider webs to create webs for fishing or by birds' wings, which were modified into whole flying machines. Even boats' forms were copied from fish body structures. Numerous spiritual symbols and philosophical ideas were just borrowed from nature's manifestations.

Why does this happen?
It is not a secret that all living creatures on earth from the very beginning were not such as they are now. Billions of years of evolution, adaptation, and development in their bodies led to a perfect form of life. Nature makes no mistakes. Any non-adapted organisms simply did not survive. When this thought occurred in the human mind, it started to come into the real life of humanity. Maybe it is the certain reason for people's progress.

Any of living beings can be an inspiration for a new technology or a new scientific discovery.
However, artists'minds have also handled their reviews of nature's processes.

Unfortunately, with the start of the world's industrial development, people forgot that the best and most reliable technology is covered outdoors.

In the new century of technologies, there are a lot of art performances and engineering ideas where
nature-inspired details are common. Nowadays, we do not even notice that daily life is filled with creative forms
of natural expressions. There are three types of nature borrowing cases: copying form, processes, and whole ecosystems. For example, fasteners for clothes are inspired by a plant with similar hooks. Swimsuits also use technology from living beings — shark scales. Self-cleansing texture from the lotus leaf. Entire drone control systems are inspired by predator and prey behavior and birds flying.Engineering ideas and methods
that are used in design are truly astounding.

Artistic modification of natural processes, together with deep scientific knowledge, illustrates true masterpieces
for us. There are some authors who gave the world their vision of a kind of nature, although it is not always of real beings.

Art modification of nature processes together with deep scientific knowledge, which illustrate us true masterpieces. There are some authors, who gave the world their vision of kind of nature, although it is not always real beings.

Due to the unique forms of natural objects, architecture often borrows an idea and implements it in a whole new building. Various examples demonstrate how fascinating an edifice can be when inspired by mother nature.

"The Lotus Temple", located in New Delhi, was designed by Hariboros Saxo. Its form and even texture are quite similar to a natural lotus. The meaning of this gorgeous flower is spiritual awakening and the will to overcome difficult situations in life. Accordingly, the temple was made for prayer, to be closer to God, no matter what happens.

"Gardens by the Bay" in Singapore represent technology meeting trees and plants. The exciting design of tree-like structures functions as solar panels, which absorb solar energy during the day and release it at night. This allows them to draw water from outside and help plants grow, while also illuminating the area with beautiful lights that look unreal in the dark.

Natural features are used not only in complicated structures and ideas, but also in the art and design industries.

Tree-like bags by Lisiki are a perfect example of how trees and moss can be used in textile production. Such beautiful plant structures can often be observed in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America.

The perfume collection "Aqua Allegoria" by Guerlain features a cap designed like a honeycomb with golden accents. This entire collection of fragrances uses natural notes to convey how vibrant and fresh nature smells.
For example "Orange Soleia" evokes a light, spicy summer. Through perfumes, textures, and forms,
people can interpret feelings and the essence of natural objects.

We see thousands buildings every day, what’s about them? There are some architectural examples of natural representations in our lives:

"Path" by Casey Reas. The author argues in a way
of intersection of natural processes and digital systems. Even so, keeping in mind the beauty of biological movement and natural flexibility, digital technology is not an instrument but a thing that can create art itself from the lines of living creatures.

"Artificial Natural History" by Sofia Crespo.
The performance displays that history itself could be different in each path. It uses AI for developing
an unknown reality with completely different organisms. This is shown as classic illustrations of real existing creatures. This concept is used to describe how biodiversity and the technology world could be involved in an absolutely unpredictable way in nowadays art.

"Flower Composition" by Jared S. Tarbell. The author
is also quite popular in this area of art. «FlowerComposition» became one of his most outstanding works.
The main idea of all of them consists in math calculations combined with nature's true aesthetic.
They are digital math elements that show something alike to petals and flowers. His artworks also remind us of fractals or cosmic objects.

Any representation of global nature, even in an unrealistic way, can be a masterpiece. All inspiration lies around us. Though, only a creative and intelligent person could bestow this only moment of life as something magical
in our lives.

Biomimicry: What Inspires

Architects and Designers

Color Meaning

We see numerous colors each day. On phone screens, at the mall, at work, or in movies. Some of us regularly visit exhibitions and try to understand something extraordinary there. However, why do we react to these colors?

Color theory is the concept of how different shades work. Our eyes perceive any color that we see, and the visual cortex of our brain processes this information into a reaction. Originally, the idea of Color Theory was developed by multiple people. From Ancient Greece till nowadays, it has improved, moving from mythology to more realistic explanations related to the effect of light. The Renaissance offered even more ideas. Leonardo da Vinci thought that the process depends on natural conditions and light hitting the object.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, scientists began to engage with the idea of Color Theory. Isaac Newton, in his work “Opticks”, explained how light divides into certain main colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. This system is still used in all color work as the color wheel.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 140 years later, improved this wheel by adding the color magenta (red+violet). Then he wrote the book “Theory of Colors”, where he explained the psychological meaning and influence of each color on people's minds.

Later, Philipp Otto Runge refined the color palette with black and white. This sense of color depth is still one of the three most important qualities in Color Theory. Hue, brightness, and chroma are these factors for each color.

Thus, the primary colors in this system are: red, yellow, and blue. If we consider brightness, then dark shades are less bright than light shades. Orange, green, and violet are considered secondary colors, which appear by mixing the primary ones.

Since those times, the Color system has continued to improve. Different palettes and structures are used. However, what about color meaning?

Each color has special characteristics in our brains. One color makes you feel relaxed, while another color provokes disgust or another emotion. Coloristics studies the impact of colors on people in order to use this information in marketing, art, and entertainment. For example, green makes us feel connected with nature, slows us down, or even makes us feel safe. Red is the opposite: on one hand, it can bring a feeling of energy and willingness to act, but on the other hand, it can make you feel more stressed and anxious. This example shows how careful we should be with such subtle non-verbal factors around us.

Also, red and green are quite a common case of complementary colors. Many artists use this sense of difference in color and shades to show form through colors. Whereas in graphic art the form of an object is superior, color art tries to show feeling through colors.

Good examples of this art are Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. Their art is not just about the realism of painting; it is more about how light and color work together. From artwork to artwork, feelings can be different depending on which colors are contrasting and how bright they are together.
Chemical Christmas

Since childhood, we have celebrated Christmas surrounded by special decorations, sweets, food, and presents. Primary school gave us this feeling of anticipation. While making cookies or presents, you were thinking about parents, siblings, and friends. Decorating the whole house could take days. Walks through a forest, seeking that perfect Christmas tree. Looking for presents under it.

Though, what is it that makes us miss those Christmas days?

There are a couple of factors: The music, smells, and colors around us become associated with celebrating Christmas. That combination of certain actions, sounds, and decorations creates the special tradition.
All the reactions in our brain are carried out by neurons. They carry impulses, a kind of information from the world around us, to certain domains. In them, impulses are managed as defined data, and there should be a response to them. The reaction depends on what the trigger is and the person's position. In this sense, we use our ancient cortex, like the limbic or reptilian brain.

Music has a massive influence on humanity. Over 90% of people listen to music daily. There is a reason why we do it. Firstly, people are not just “listening” to music. During this process, the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, limbic system, and corpus callosum are activated. That means our brain deeply recognizes all aspects of music: tempo, rhythm, notes. Emotional and physical reactions are there too. We try to predict our response to any sound, how our body feels at the same time.
The music we listen to during Christmas time truly connects with physical and emotional patterns. You can start to feel nostalgic or the same anticipation.
For a long time, humanity has used music in life-meaning situations: weddings, graduations, and so on, which makes us remember the music for a long time. This happens because music is quite easy to remember. Therefore, we remember such memories as Christmas in childhood for our whole life.

Color does matter in any situation. It can manipulate our emotional state and even psychological well-being. In winter, the shade of each color matters more: warm or cold. If you live in a cold region, where snow is fine or any cold season is remarkable, you would understand it deeper. Cold and dark weather outside a cozy home makes you feel even more protected and comfortable inside. Colors in general are just waves, reflected light that is managed in our brain as it seems to us. Such a reaction to cold-dark and warm-light shades comes from ancient times when daytime was the only safety, but night could be unpredictable and dangerous.

Different odors are also strongly connected with the memory part of our brains. As the closest and easiest way of memorizing, we sense smells even more deeply than other factors. Even more so if you smelled something in a certain place, with certain people, and in certain periods of your life. In this way, the Christmas scent of amber cookies, Christmas tree, snow, and home is associated with that time when your celebrations were special.

So that’s why your home with dearest people around, sweets, and waiting for a miracle with gifts gives you truly special emotions.

Have a nice Christmas holiday!

You can learn more about the Smell of Memory and Color meaning in our previous article here.
The nature's secret
For centuries, humans tried to predict patterns, find principles and establish laws. Till nowadays, we attempt to understand this certain definition of beauty to get closer to understanding the universe. There is something that maybe helped humans realise — the golden ratio.

The mathematics plot of the golden ratio is Fibonacci number. In childhood, Fibonacci was travelling Algiers with his father. There, he was taught mathematics by Arabic teachers. Accidentally, Indian works written in Arabic were talking about this consequences, that now we call “Fibonacci number”. Later, Leonardo da Vinci named it as “the Golden Ratio”.

By multiplying one number with previous one, we obtain one. Of course, if we start from one and one. That how we get common illustration of the Golden Ratio. So that, the Golden Ratio is proportion of next number to previous one. In general, the number 1.618 is golden ratio or the golden proportion.

If we try to line this construction, we can see the Archimedean spiral/ Golden spiral/ Fibonacci spiral. This is a product of 1/4 inscribed circle part of each block, the way how the spiral is made.

But how does the Golden Proportion affects us in daily life?

Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt is well known for his investigations in facial beauty by global analysis. His works showed us that overall beauty standards are the same for every race, culture, history eras. The reference is incredibly matching with the Golden Ratio by matching of decagon and pentagon, which are the closest to the Golden Number geometry shapes. Nowadays we can try this “standard” by ourselves. Although, keep in mind that we all shaped by the Golden ratio, but not by only way of its shape. People can imagine and find a shape that looks conventionally right in case of proportion. However, if we just move its lines to the different directions, but still based on the Golden Proportion, this object would look different, but still symmetrical and right.

So that, it is remarkable that beauty is not always about any of standard or system.

In case of architecture, design or art the Golden Ratio is base for composition. Plenty of buildings are designed according to the Golden Ratio, an ancient ones the most.
Taj Mahal, Norte Dame, Whells Cathedral and many others building are have extremely high and proper golden ratio design fundamentals. In design of logos this proportion is common. Photographs uses perspective formulas according this system too.

Nature uses golden proportion as the most effective form of living. Hexagons, fractals are widely in nature. The way seed are placed, how cyclones and galaxies are formed is connected by this golden ratio formula.

Spictrual and light
There is a theory that light, colours and vibrations are connected with human body not as simple as it can seem. According to Hindi culture, humans have 7 chakras—kind of energy centres in our bodies. So their colours are quite the same as a basic 7 colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. On the colour spectrum recognisable that some of colours get more length than others. It is exiting to notice that colours proportions the same as chakras proportions. Maybe, the way different colours vibrates can be connected with how chakras are vibrating too.
A lot of people thinks, that computer does everything better then human do. Although, there’s an ability, that computer cannot have — neuroplasticity. Not long time ago we thought, that “neurones does not recover”, but since the end of XIX century it’s a mistake. Satyago Ramon-i-Kahal invited this feature of human’s brain.

Our brain is the highest form of structure, complexity and reaction. Of course, there is some management to alter our behaviour in response to worlds changes and knowledge expansion. Neuropasticity is an ability of human brain to recover and to change its way of functioning under influence of specific conditions. The reasons of modification could be just self-working, trying unusual activities and studying, or serious injury of a body part or even brain.

The begging of neuroplasticity starts as kids. Our brain produce thousands of neurones everyday until 2 years old. After this period the most important connections start strengthening, but the least developed ones just destroying. The significant differences made the process of parent and child connection. Proper emotional, verbal and physical interaction improves neurones connections. That makes us smarter from really early age. So, this process continues a whole life, but a bit slower.

Memory is extremely important in neuroplasticity process. Cause of learning new things, working with your mentality is the right way to enhance this brain ability. Common example— London taxist’s brain. Well, not all brain parts, but hippocampus. This part inside two big cortex do long term memory. While taxists learned all information, their hippocampus increased its volume.

However, humans memory is not that perfect, how it seems. Past events could be not certain, amended just by itself or by other circumstances. Or if your parents tell you a fake story from childhood, your brain adapt this scenario to your vision. That happens cause of brain needs a consistency. If you know the result, you can predict, what is going towards it.

This paradox it’s not about only memory, but about all sensory information. In sports people use a sound signal, either light signal, in case we react on sound faster. Though, light is simply is simply, than sound. Yes, this specific feature of brain uses synchronicity for all sensors. That helps us properly navigate and control our bodies, despite differences between neuro signals. Obviously, neuro impulse from leg takes longer than from chin.


Synchronicity is also the reason, why we can do so much complex things. Billions neurones works in parallel to each other. Different parts of brains activate in certain times, so every of them manage information and memorise it daily. At night our brains “clean up” all the useless information to preserve energy correctly.

This intericate system of humans brain is incredible even for all technologies, that we invented by now. In comparison to our brains abilities it takes small amount of energy, only 20% of all. That’s why even General AI still not as powerful as humans brain: just an energy and memory point. There is already created chips, which simulates neurons work.

The system of colour vision is also influenced by evolution and neuroplasticity. Colour is a wavelength of light, that reflects from an object. From all waves that exist we see only a small amount. Through all history of human formation these ones were the most helpful. For different spices there is a specific way of vision, according to their evolution needs. Bats uses echolocation to navigate, sharks can feel electromagnetic waves to haunt in all ocean conditions.

Some of people can see the world differently from others. Synesthesia is a brain characteristic, provoked by closer connections between sensors parts of brain. This way people can see colours in letters or smell of notes. From this perspective scientists can distinguish different types of humans brain or even mind.

Back to the neuro connections, we can easily be used to technically hard work. If you would train to do any of jigsaw puzzles fast and regularly, brain will adapt for this. Just by training your mind, that “hard” thing becomes really simple to your perception. It happens accidentally, no control is needed. That what’s called a flow state. Only for unpredictable situations our conscious perception awake. In thinking process, planning and creating of course we use conscious perception.

The main idea of this article is to tell you that our brain can do everything, adapt to whatever conditions. It depends on you.

Future purpose is exploring new about our abilities and continue developing biotechnologies as much as it possible. For now scientists and engineers think about symbiosis of humans brain and artificial intelligence by input a microchip. This technology could help people with disabilities by manipulate their body by their mind freely.
neuroplasticity