Conjuring Tornadoes of Light With LEDs and Hula Hoops

To include the stars of the night-sky, the exposure for this image was over 2 hours. Martin Kimbell

To include the stars of the night-sky, the exposure for this image was over 2 hours.

Martin Kimbell

“I have different sizes and weights of hula hoops which create different effects," says Kimbell about his modded hula hoops. Martin Kimbell

“I have different sizes and weights of hula hoops which create different effects," says Kimbell about his modded hula hoops.

Martin Kimbell

Kimbell is happy to play around with pyrotechnics too. Martin Kimbell

Kimbell is happy to play around with pyrotechnics too.

Martin Kimbell

"If it looks like the hoop went really far, it usually did. The hoop is pretty easy to throw far.” says Kimbell. Martin Kimbell

"If it looks like the hoop went really far, it usually did. The hoop is pretty easy to throw far.” says Kimbell.

Martin Kimbell

Kimbell uses the simplest tools: hula hoops rigged with LEDs he has wired himself. Martin Kimbell

Kimbell uses the simplest tools: hula hoops rigged with LEDs he has wired himself.

Martin Kimbell

Martin Kimbell has been making light-paintings since 2006. Martin Kimbell

Martin Kimbell has been making light-paintings since 2006.

Martin Kimbell

Kimbell shoots both B&W and color on his trusty Bronica Martin Kimbell

Kimbell shoots both B&W and color on his trusty Bronica

Martin Kimbell

Resembling holograms, some photos are like a cross between The Blair Witch Project and Close Encounters. Martin Kimbell

Resembling holograms, some photos are like a cross between The Blair Witch Project and Close Encounters.

Martin Kimbell

This image is a mere 30 second exposure. Martin Kimbell

This image is a mere 30 second exposure.

Martin Kimbell

Kimbell's lights once startled, and then attracted the attentions of, a horse on Dartmoor. Martin Kimbell

Kimbell's lights once startled, and then attracted the attentions of, a horse on Dartmoor.

Martin Kimbell

The stunning photographs have gone viral in the past few weeks, despite much of the work being years old. Martin Kimbell

The stunning photographs have gone viral in the past few weeks, despite much of the work being years old.

Martin Kimbell

“I’ve simply called the work 'Light art' when I've been pushed to give it a title. 'Light Tornadoes' didn't come from me,” says Kimbell. “I’ve heard a lot of people describe the patterns as tornadoes, but different people see different things.” Martin Kimbell

“I’ve simply called the work 'Light art' when I've been pushed to give it a title. 'Light Tornadoes' didn't come from me,” says Kimbell. “I’ve heard a lot of people describe the patterns as tornadoes, but different people see different things.”

Martin Kimbell

Kimbell doesn't consider this work as part of a series with any closure. He will be making these light artworks for as long as he is able. Martin Kimbell

Kimbell doesn't consider this work as part of a series with any closure. He will be making these light artworks for as long as he is able.

Martin Kimbell

When Martin Kimbell goes into the British countryside at night to make photographs, he tries to warn the locals first. It seems wise, given that the method he uses to make his stunning images—lobbing a hula hoop wired with LEDs high into the air—might lead some to wonder if an alien invasion is afoot.

“I’m sure I’ve freaked out a few people who have happened to walk by at the wrong time,” Kimbell says.

Looking at pictures, you’d think they were shot digitally, but Kimbell is loyal to his Bronica. The photos were made in-camera using long exposures. Some take a few seconds. Others, like those that include the movement of stars across the night sky, take a few hours. Kimbell will use a digital camera to check composition and lighting but is adamant that the silkiest images come from film.

“I can leave the shutter open for as long as I want without worrying about the quality degrading or my battery running out,” he says.

Kimbell, 26, started experimenting with light and photography when he was 17. Back then he toyed with objects like torches and cold cathodes but eventually stumbled onto a hula hoop. He realized it would be the perfect medium for lights, so he wired some LEDs and taped them on. It’s been his preferred tool ever since.

Kimbell’s fascination with lights was also sparked by the work of Stu Jenks. This image in particular. When Kimbell first saw it, he was determined to figure out Jenks’ technique, then repeat and modify it.

“I had no idea how he created the images at first. I never thought it was Photoshop or photo manipulation but at the same time I simply couldn’t get my head around how he had created some of the patterns,” Kimbell says.

Nowadays, Kimbell has various sizes and weight of hula hoops. Each creates a different effect. He’s been posting the results to his Flickr page for years. For the photos where the pattern seems to stretch on, Kimbell just throws the hoops. He’s had to work on his aim over time, but he says he’s gotten better, which helps his composition.

When people see Kimbell’s work, they sometimes refer to the patterns he creates as light tornadoes. Or they group the work into the genre of light painting. He refrains from titles and doesn’t even consider the photos a true series.

“To me it is just a style of photography,” he says. “I often refer to it as light painting, but I don’t really consider it to be true light painting. To me, that describes a photograph where someone has drawn with light, or painted light onto a surface”

Whatever category they fall into, the images have proven popular, and even gone viral online. This Is Colossal, PetaPixel, Lost At E-Minor, Boing Boing, DIY Photography and VICE all have featured the work, landing Kimbell on the map as an up and coming photographer.

“I’ve had more interest in the last two weeks about my work then I’ve ever had before,” says Kimbell. “It really came out of nowhere.”

McLaren’s $3.3M Hypercar Comes With Two Years of Training for Wannabe Racers

The P1 GTR is a track-dedicated version of the P1 hypercar, with even more power. It was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Jason Henry/WIRED

The P1 GTR is a track-dedicated version of the P1 hypercar, with even more power. It was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Jason Henry/WIRED

The GTR uses the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine and electric motor as the P1, but different pistons and higher octane fuel bump the output to 986 horsepower. Jason Henry/WIRED

The GTR uses the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine and electric motor as the P1, but different pistons and higher octane fuel bump the output to 986 horsepower.

Jason Henry/WIRED

The rear wing, which on the P1 automatically adjusts to increase or decrease downforce, lost some of its mechanical actuators to save weight. Jason Henry/WIRED

The rear wing, which on the P1 automatically adjusts to increase or decrease downforce, lost some of its mechanical actuators to save weight.

Jason Henry/WIRED

The P1 GTR McLaren showed at Pebble isn’t quite finalized. The radiator will be made bigger, to increase cooling. Jason Henry/WIRED

The P1 GTR McLaren showed at Pebble isn’t quite finalized. The radiator will be made bigger, to increase cooling.

Jason Henry/WIRED

And McLaren will add louvers to the front fenders to improve airflow. Jason Henry/WIRED

And McLaren will add louvers to the front fenders to improve airflow.

Jason Henry/WIRED

Now that McLaren has made the P1 into a race car, it has to turn P1 owners into race drivers. That’s the goal of the Human Performance program. Jason Henry/WIRED

Now that McLaren has made the P1 into a race car, it has to turn P1 owners into race drivers. That’s the goal of the Human Performance program.

Jason Henry/WIRED

The $1.15 million McLaren P1 hypercar is one of the best cars ever built. It ran Germany’s famed Nurburgring Nordschleiffe in less than six minutes. It’s got 903 horsepower, it hits 60 mph in under 3 seconds and it’s drop-dead gorgeous. Oh, and it also gets 31 mpg.

But even that is not enough for some of the 375 people dropping the cash to buy a P1. For them, McLaren offers the P1 GTR, a track-dedicated version with more power that it unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. More is never cheaper, especially in the hypercar realm, and the P1 GTR is priced accordingly: £1.98 million, or $3.29 million.

For all that, though, the big spenders—who must already own a P1 to be eligible—get more than a car. They get an experience. McLaren test driver Chris Goodwin and other professional drivers will, over the course of about two years, personally teach them how to drive their cars on a track. McLaren calls it the Human Performance program. You can think of it as fantasy camp for the world’s wealthiest gearheads.

Jason Henry/WIRED

Before we get to the details of the program, let’s look at the car, because it’s nuts. The GTR uses the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine and electric motor as the P1, but different pistons and higher octane fuel bump the output to 986 horsepower. (The car is in no way street legal, so McLaren needn’t worry about things like emissions regulations.) The engineers cut 100 kilos (220 lbs) by tossing the airbags, interior trim, and a few layers of paint. The windows are plastic instead of glass. And there’s an F1-style steering wheel and a fire extinguisher, but no roll cage. It turns out the car’s carbon fiber “monocell” structure made it unnecessary. The front track—the distance between the wheels—is three inches wider than the P1′s. And the rear wing, which on the P1 automatically adjusts to increase or decrease downforce, lost some of its mechanical actuators to save weight.

The P1 GTR McLaren showed at Pebble isn’t quite finalized, says Paul Mackenzie, who runs the automaker’s special operations division. After building and testing the car, the team realized it would have to move the side mirrors up a bit, because they block airflow to the clutch cooler. The radiator will be made bigger, to increase cooling. And McLaren will add louvers to the front fenders to improve airflow.

Now that McLaren has made the P1 into a race car, it has to turn P1 owners into race drivers. That’s the goal of the Human Performance program. McLaren expects 25 to 35 people to sign up. Each will get a custom-tailored car, one-on-one training with a professional drivers, time in McLaren’s race simulator to sharpen their skills without killing themselves, and the opportunity to drive on six race tracks around the world.

The program starts in February, when each fantasy camper will meet with McLaren chief designer Frank Stephenson to design custom livery for their P1 GTR. They’ll be fitted for a race suit and a seat molded to perfectly fit their rear end. By springtime, they’ll be headed to the track—most likely the Silverstone Circuit in the U.K.—to test their skills in McLaren’s sublime 650S (which retails for a mere $265,000.). In July, they’ll take their new toys to Paul Ricard Circuit in the south of France for the first of several track days that will continue through 2016.

The $3.3 million price tag covers just about everything, including transporting and maintaining the cars. That said, any repairs come out of the driver’s silk-lined pockets. And anyone who wants a P1 GTR but doesn’t want to be properly schooled in how to drive it, well, that’s cool, too. When you’re spending this kind of money on a car, McLaren will pretty much say “Yes” to whatever the drivers want.

First crystal structure of the C. difficile surface protein Cwp84

The bacterium Clostridium difficile causes antibiotic-related diarrhea and is a growing problem in the hospital environment and elsewhere in the community. Understanding how the microbe colonises the human gut when other "healthy" microbes have been destroyed during a course of antibiotics might lead to new ways to control infection. An important clue was reported recently in an open access article published in the journal Acta Crystallographica Section D Biological Crystallography.

Ravi Acharya of the University of Bath, UK, and colleagues have reported the first crystal structure of the C. difficile surface protein Cwp84. This cysteine protease enzyme is found on the surface of the bacterium and assists with production of the microbe's surface-layer, which is likely to play an essential step in the colonisation of the gut. The enzyme cleaves a single polypeptide (surface-layer protein A; SlpA) into low- and high-molecular-weight subunits. Now, Acharya and colleagues have identified three critical regions in a mutant of the enzyme that could represent novel targets for drugs to attack C. difficile by blocking maturation of its surface layer during colonisation.

While C. difficile can be present in the normal, healthy gut (3-5% of adults), when a patient requires treatment for infection with broad-spectrum antibiotics, other protective intestinal microbes are eradicated in the process and the incidence increases to about 20%. This leaves space for the pathogenic C. difficile to grow rapidly unhindered leading to the release of toxins that cause bloating, pain and severe diarrhea. Sometimes potentially life-threatening pseudo-membranous colitis or toxic megacolon occurs (about 5 to 8% of patients). Outbreaks occur when people ingest the spores, often in contaminated medical facilities and C. difficile is known to kill tens of thousands of people every year worldwide. Mild cases are often resolved by simply halting antibiotic treatment but in more severe cases last-line antibiotics such as vancomycin and metronidazole are often needed. Worryingly, the relapse rate is 20 to 30%.

The team explains that while Cwp84 is essential for correct surface layer formation it may also break down extracellular proteins, such as fibronectin, laminin and vitronectin which are found in the body. Nevertheless, blocking its activity either genetically or chemically prevents proper growth of bacterial colonies even if this is not in itself bactericidal. Disruption of the colonization process might therefore be possible allowing healthy microbes to repopulate the gut and stifle the spread of C. difficile.

The researchers carried out X-ray crystallography at station I03 at Diamond Light Source in Didcot, UK. The resulting high-resolution (1.4 angstrom) diffraction data revealed the structure of the N-terminal propeptide, the cysteine protease domain, and a previously uncharacterized "linker" region that is 170 amino acids long. The linker lies between the cysteine protease domain and the repeat region of Cwp84 which holds it onto the cells surface. The linker region binds calcium and resembles a group of proteins known as lectins, so may have an affinity for carbohydrates which may be vital for correct cell wall processing. The same motifs are present in other types of Clostridium microbes as well as ancient single-celled organisms known as archaea.

The team suggests that the insights their research offers in terms of C. difficile surface layer growth and how this relates to gut colonization could be exploited in developing a new type of drug to treat infection-anti-colonization inhibitors.

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The above story is based on materials provided by International Union of Crystallography . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.