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Ziya Tong
Ziya Tong holds a master's degree in communication from McGill University. Prior to WIRED SCIENCE, Ziya hosted the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Emmy-nominated interactive series ZeD, for which she received a Gemini Viewer's Choice Award nomination. She has written & produced for a variety of interactive media, and served as a host and director for The Leading Edge, a Canadian science and technology series. Ziya lives between L.A. and Vancouver, British Columbia.
More Recent Posts
Micro-Beauty
by I just came across these fantastic images from Lennart Nilsson's site and had to post them. Seriously, who would think subway scum and malaria could look this beautiful? Nilsson is one of the pioneers of medical photography, and was also the first person to ever capture images of the HIV and SARS virus.
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The Black Mallet :: Mathematical Pudding
Last night I watched what could oddly be described as a moving math documentary. It's the story of Andrew Wiles, a Princeton University professor who spent seven years of his life ploughing away at one of mathematics' last great unsolved puzzles
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Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature 2 :: Answers
More beautiful freaks from the animal kingdom.
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Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature 2
Here's another batch of bizarre & beautiful planetary creatures for our 2nd edition of Aliens on Earth. Click the images below to enlarge them and see if your inner Animal Planet nerd can name them all.
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The Black Mallet :: One before Zero
A few weeks ago we met Georg Cantor, a man so obsessed with seeking out mathematical proofs for his theories of infinity, that in the end he went a little bit batty. So on the flipside today, we'll be looking at one of humanity's more successful attempts at numerical conquest. Specifically, how the "discovery" of a seemingly simple & obvious number completely transformed the world that we live in.
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Class : Order : Family : Genus : Rock Star
By now, you've probably heard that rocker Neil Young recently had a trapdoor spider named after him: the Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. Young however isn't the only rock star who holds the honor of being a critter's namesake.
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The Black Mallet :: Vicarious Brain Explosion
I love the puzzles of the universe. How the simplest questions can drive us either completely bonkers or stretch our minds out toward greater enlightenment. The world's towering geniuses are those who have devoted their lives to questions like, "What is time?", "How fast is light?" and "How big is infinity?" For most of us, these "unsolvables" are put to rest at an early age. As Charles Lamb once quipped: "Nothing puzzles me more than time and space; and yet nothing troubles me less, as I never think about them."
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The Black Mallet :: Beyond the Supermarket
There are no words in this documentary, but the images speak volumes about the role that technology plays in modern agriculture. If you've ever wondered just where your food comes from then you owe it to yourself to watch Our Daily Bread. It documents a slice of life that we seldom get to see beyond the doors of the supermarket.
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The Black Mallet :: Animal Pharm
Zoopharmacognosy and Chemo-ornithology are both pretty big words. 7 syllable words in fact. (I counted). But don't let that scare you. These two scientific disciplines basically take a look at how birds & animals in the wild self-medicate. As we'll see in today's doc Peculiar Potions from the Weird Nature series, some animals appear to have a distinct knowledge of which plants, herbs and chemicals in their natural environment can treat & prevent disease. And some animals, well, they just do it for
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Science Doc Series :: God-men vs Scientists
I'm guessing I'm not the only one here with a crack-like documentary addiction. And with literally hundreds of docs popping up each day, trying to spot the good ones online feels a bit like playing Whack-A-Mole. So dear readers, since I've got the "habit", the blog and the wherewithal, I've decided to share some of my favorite online science documentaries in a brand new blog series called: The Black Mallet (after all, I have won a mini-stuffed toy ;>)
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Time in your Eyes
Last night I watched a great reality-style documentary on the philosopher Derrida, and was struck by something he said; that as we age, our eyes are the only parts of our bodies that remain unchanged. I was curious about what scientific research might be out there to support the notion, so I googled "eyes & age" and came across an interesting study that was conducted recently by Danish scientists.
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Geospatial Technologies & The Art of Destruction
The images below may look like pieces of modern art, but they're actually hi-res shots of human rights violations around the world. Developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project uses GIS & satellite imagery to get a bird's eye view of destruction on the ground.
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Fetal Teddy Bears & Dream Anatomy
Ever wondered where teddy bears come from? Ok, to be honest, neither had I. But felt artist Stephanie Metz has certainly given some thought to the development of animals in the womb. In her Genus Ursulus project she examines the anatomy of the imaginary
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Pie in the basement
You've probably heard of the concept of vertical farming. Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier generated a lot of buzz last year with his proposals for geoengineered sky farms designed to feed our planet's growing population. But, as usual, the Japanese are way ahead of the curve, and have been at this indoor gardening business for some time.
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A Buggy Perspective
When I was little, my concept of infinity was that our entire twinkling universe fit neatly inside of God's belt buckle. And standing next to God of course, was his Mum. From that world I'd zoom out again past their stars and suns and solar system, until all of that space fit inside a bigger God's belt buckle, who lived in a bigger world, with his bigger Mum. Infinity to my 5 year old mind, was essentially worlds existing endlessly & simultaneously within bigger worlds, and of course, bigger belt buckles.
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Paper Geniuses
Give me an A4 sheet of white paper and you might get a few doodles, a paper airplane, or a snowflake-cum-doily if I'm feeling particularly creative. But for some folks, a simple sheet of paper can evolve into a mind-melting trip into another dimension.
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DIY dinner
Seeing as it's DIY month here on Wired Science, I was thinking we could delve into a few Molecular Gastronomy recipes. After all, nothing perks up the taste buds like a scrumptious hydrocolloid dinner! That said, Khymos.org is a fantastic resource for those of you who'd like to experiment with the "science of cooking". Download the digital cookbook here, and try your hand at making everything from Frozen parmesan air to Spherical mango ravioli, to White sangria in suspension! 
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Fashion :: The Future is so Yesterday
Fashion Week is about to kick off in New York tomorrow, but some of the craziest and most futuristic styles were actually showcased yesterday at the Boston Museum of Science. Dubbed, Seamless: Computational Couture, the show featured emerging designers from around the world who incorporate experimental technology into their designs. Check out a few of these concept pieces below:
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Where do our radio waves go?
I was reading on the internet that our oldest radio broadcasts of the 1930's have already traveled past 100,000 stars. Which got me to wondering...What happens to these radio waves? Do they degrade? Would it actually be possible to listen to these broadcasts if someone theoretically set up a massive receiver like the one at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in The Quiet Zone segment?
Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature :: Answers
If you weren't able to guess, here are the answers to the mystery creatures!
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Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature
There are so many wonderously bizarre creatures on earth that even sci-fi depictions of aliens pale in comparison. So for fun today, I thought we could play a game. Below are images (none photoshopped to my knowledge) of real insects & animals. Click on the image to enlarge it and see if you can name them all.
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Film, Rockets & New Years Eve
Today there are seemingly endless countdown clocks, all ticking off time toward disparate events. There's the countdown to the 2010 Olympics, the countdown to George Bush's days left in office, the countdown to Keanu Reeves' birthday, and even Life countdown clocks if you want a reminder of how many hours you have left before the proverbial bell tolls. So since tomorrow signals the world's largest en masse countdown, I've been wondering just when this idea of a public countdown began?
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Unicorns of the Future
I was at the bookstore this afternoon and came across Zoologia Fantastica by Jorges Luis Borges, a book on imaginary creatures in culture & mythology. The title itself got me to thinking about how different it must be for children to go to zoos today, knowing that so many of the creatures before them will soon cease to exist; how "the wild" is on the brink of becoming a landscape of the imaginary.
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A Holiday Gift Guide for Science Geeks
If there's one thing that I've learned from working on this show, it's that science nerds truly are a diverse & colorful bunch. So this year, instead of re-gifting that "one-size-fits-all" pocket protector, here's a handy little guide to finding that perfect science-inspired present for geeks of all persuasions.
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The Beauty of Old Science
Science of the 1800's always seems filtered to us through a sepia-colored imagination. There's a warmth & beauty to the feel of the time that is so different from the cold and clinical aesthetic of modern science. It's that whole romantic image of manuscripts, mechanical tinkering & taxidermied falcons, that you just don't get sitting in front of a laptop in a lab today.
Tiro the Moonlighting Robot
I guess this is what it's come to now...even robot teachers are on the lookout for extra cash. Here's Tiro (a project developed by Hanool Robotics) teaching English to elementary school kids in South Korea:
Long Hair, Drano & Green Chemistry
I have long hair. Long hair that loves to bundle together and form a happy little party in the drain. At least that's what I try to imagine, since the alternative from The Ring is enough to keep me from showering altogether. But each time I get one of those scary Samara clogs, I also get Drano guilt. So today I decided to do some research and take a look - as my friend Chris does brilliantly every week - at what's inside that mystery product?
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How to become a Science Host, or Why I heart David Attenborough
I'm often asked how one becomes a Science Host or Presenter, and as I got a lovely email from a viewer named Gabe requesting advice, I figured maybe I could offer a few thoughts through ye olde blog here.
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Art, Butchers & Science
Related to last week's segment on Body Builders, I've been quite interested in following the "issue of tissues" as seen through the lens of contemporary BioArt. Shawn Baily and Jennifer Willet, are artists from my old home town of Montreal, who've formed a research project called Bioteknica.
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Greetings Fellow Nerdfolk
Ziya here. Welcome to my inaugural web posting. This little corner of the site will be devoted to the weird wide world of science and technology. So I was thinking a la Letterman, that every once in a while I'll call up a random person from the web and have a little chat with them.
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