Monday, February 25, 2019

Beetles and Bugs Versus Oscar Fashion

Right: Emma Stone (in Louis Vuitton) arrives at the Academy Awards February 24, 2019 (detail of photo by Marl Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) and left: Apriona swainsoni, female by Ben Sale

Sometimes I watch the Oscars, but mainly for the pretty clothes. I went to bed after Spike Lee won for his screenplay, probably correct in my suspicion the show had peaked (with a joyous moment overdue by a few decades). I did enjoy the clothes, and in particular that several men stepped it up with colour, and capes and one truly spectacular skirt. Today this is my excuse to contrast the astonishing biodiversity of beetles with the beautiful textiles and couture on display. See the previous such posts: I really enjoyed bringing you the best in nudibranch Oscar fashion and bee biodiversity versus Oscar fashion before. The variation in bugs and beetles is staggering, and I hope you'll see they show great beauty, even if you're inclined to think of them as creepy crawlies.

Left: Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa (detail of photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) and right: Cerambycidae from Senegal, male and female, shot by Insecte member ocis


Left: Helen Mirren arrives at the Academy Awards February 24, 2019 (Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) and right: Omophoita via National Geographic
Left: Glenn Close at the 2019 Oscars on February 24, 2019 in Caroline Herrera and right: Golden Tortoise Beetle (via Wikipedia)
Left: Chris Evans, February 24, 2019 at the Academy Awards (Getty Images) and
right: the six-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata)
(courtesy Matt Bright/flickr CC)

Left: Michelle Yeoh wearing Ellie Saab at the February 24, 2019 Academy Awards (By Steve Granitz/WireImage) and left: Corythuca ciliata, the sycamore lace bug (via here)

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Sol-Monath is for Science Cakes

Celestial Cephalopod Created by Corinna Maguire for the Threadcakes Competition

I learned from the Wellcome Collection (a museum which aims to share "science, medicine, life and art") that February was once the month of cakes.



so let's talk about cakes as science-art and science communication shall we?

ATLAS detector cake (credit: Katharine Leney via Symmetry)

Universe cake (credit: David Morse and Katharine Leney via Symmetry)

Particle physicists Katy Grimm and Katharine Leney who work on the ATLAS collaboration at CERN, discovered they also share a mutual love of baking. Symmetry magazine covers their delightful cakes (and other baked goods) which do everything from directly illustrating the ATLAS particle detector, to equations, diagrams and other data visualizations to metaphorically communicating the structure of protons according to the Standard Model or communicating through the medium of the cosmos cake, the proportions of regular matter, dark matter and dark energy. You'll find more via PhysicsCakes on Twitter.

In the wonderful world of science cakes, Earth and planetary science and amazingly well represented. Australian zoologist Rhiannon has posted several wonderful examples, including tutorials for nested spherical cakes on her blog Cakecrumbs.

This wonder Earth cake shows oceans and continents on the blue icing layer, orange mantle and yellow inner and outer core layers. (via Cakecrumbs)

The beautiful Jupiter cake likewise has three concentric layers to represent rocky and icy core, a middle liquid metal hydrogen layer and an outer molecular hydrogen layer. She says the famous giant anticyclone storm, the Great Red Spot was what attracted her. She recreated the patterns in the atmosphere with "ivory marshmallow fondant, then dry brushing a combination of ivory, brown and maroon edible ink." (via Cakecrumbs)

You can find space cakes bedecked or embedded with the planets of the solar system! Consider this tutorial for Mirror Glaze Galaxy Cake from the Also the Crumbs Please blog, the Astronomy themed groom's cake or the award-winning portrait of Galileo Galilei!

Astronomy-themed groom's cake shot by Laurel McConnell


Mirror Glaze Galaxy Cake from the Also the Crumbs Please

Galileo cake, winner of the Birmingham’s Cake International gold medal in the international class.

The mirror glaze is also just the thing for anyone creating cakes representing marble, many minerals or geode cakes. Geodes in fact, have been a real trend in wedding cakes and there is an astonishing array of geode inspired cakes in every imaginable colours.

Mirror glaze cake with recipe from Musely
Boho geode wedding cake by Cake Life Bake Shop | Photo by Hope Helmuth
Geode cake via You and Your Wedding

Natural history cakes don't stop with mineral specimens! Flora and fauna are popular too. There's a long history of using actual edible flowers, or sculpting flowers or leaves, often cast directly from actual plants - but those that convincingly recreate lifeforms with cake, icing, chocolate, fondant and other edibles are my favourites.

Lifelike deer cake by legendary Grand Dame of the cake decorating world, Sylvia Weinstock
This beauty hits on both natural history and the history of science as it's inspired by the hyper-realistic botanical still-life paintings of Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (1685 to 1750). This cake is deocrated with custom-made sugar flowers, created by Amy DeGiulio of Sugar Flower Cake Shop in New York City, and placed in a gold urn to complete the look. (via Martha Stewart Weddings)

Tasmanian Masked Owl cake from Cakecrumbs
Albino Burmese Python Snake cake by by Francesca Pitcher from North Star Cakes


Jakarta-based pastry chef Iven Kawi who runs the Iven Oven where she makes these wonderful terrarium inspired cakes which hit the succulent trend (via Colossal)


My son requested a dinosaur-shaped cake, capped with a Cretaceous scene with volcano and smaller dinosaurs for his 5th birthday, so I assure you, this is but a tiny peek at what is out there. I haven't even touched on paleontological cakes, or the gothic world of anatomy cakes. There's a whole world of yummy cake-based science art/communication out there for you to explore and, better yet, eat.

(Hat-tip to my friend Faunalia, who has been sharing images of amazing cakes with me for years! You can find some of our favourite images here.).

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