„Vitamin Authentication“:
Regina Dugan ist Chefin der Abteilung für „Special Projects“ bei Motorola und arbeitet unter anderem an Authentifizierung per elektronischem Tattoo, und weil das noch nicht ungewöhnlich genug ist: „Vitamin authentication. Dugan shows a pill that can be ingested and then battery-powered with stomach acid to produce an 18-bit internal signal. After that, the swallower’s whole body becomes a password.“
Project Steampunk-Dickhead: Neural Network grown from Foreskin-Cells
Guy Ben-Ary und Dr. Kirsten Hudson haben für ihr In-Potentia-Projekt aus Zellen einer Vorhaut zunächst Stammzellen generiert und die per Bio-Engineering in Gehirnzellen verwandelt. Die haben dann ein „lebendes“ neuronales Netzwerk gebildet: Ein Gehirn aus einem Penis. Ein Pimmelkopf, sozusagen. Und der lebt in einem Steampunk-Dingsbums. Ich halte das Ding hier für ein bisschen bullshitty und das Steampunk-Teil für ein sinnloses Gimmick, so ein wahlloses „Wir schmeißen mal das hippe Steampunk und das hippe Bio-Engineering zusammen und packen noch Pimmel mit rein, höhö“. Aber egal, einen Pimmelkopf muss ich mir dann doch hier reinkleben, und sei es nur zur Dokumentation egalerer Science-Art.
In potēntia by Guy Ben-Ary and Kirsten Hudson, is a liminal, boundary creature of animate and inanimate matter that visually problematises the shifting cultural, ethical and political forces that govern and determine understandings of life, death and personhood.
Informed by the aesthetics of steam punk, retro-futurism and eighteenth century scientific paraphernalia, in potēntia is a speculative techno-scientific experiment that uses a stem cell reprogramming technique called induced pluripotent stem cell technology (iPS) to reverse engineer foreskin cells purchased from an online catalogue into embryonic (like) stem cells, which Ben-Ary and Hudson then transform into neurons. What results is a real functioning neural network or “biological brain” encased within a purpose built sculptural incubator, containing a DIY bio-reactor (or life-support system) as well as a custom-made electrophysiological recording setup that converts neural activity into an unsettling soundscape.
In-Potentia (via AnimalNY)
Interview auf WMMNA: In-Potentia, from foreskin cells to ‘biological brain’
Klari Reis’ Petri Dish Paintings 2013
Klari Reis macht wieder Bakterien-Malerei in Petrischalen. 2009 hat sie das schonmal über ein ganzes Jahr lang durchgezogen, hier die 2013er Version.
Artist Klari Reis uses reflective epoxy polymer to depict microscopic images. The effect is hopeful, almost playful, belying the serious nature of the subject matter.
Supported by steel rods, the paintings sit at varying degrees of distance from the wall, evoking depth and motion. Working with biotech companies in San Francisco, Klari uses organic cellular imagery and natural reactionship with today’s biotechnological industry.
THE DAILY DISH 2013: A PETRI DISH PAINTING BY KLARI REIS TO BE POSTED EVERY DAY OF 2013.
Inside Biohacking and Cyborgs in Society
The Verge hat ein ganz fantastisches Feature über Cyborgs und Biohacker. Unbedingt lesen, ganz großartig!
Britain is the birthplace of 21st century biohacking, and the movement’s two foundational figures present a similar Jekyll and Hyde duality. One is Lepht Anonym, a DIY punk who was one of the earliest, and certainly the most dramatic, to throw caution to the wind and implant metal and machines into her flesh. The other is Kevin Warwick, an academic at the University of Reading department of cybernetics. Warwick relies on a trained staff of medical technicians when doing his implants. Lepht has been known to say that all she requires is a potato peeler and a bottle of vodka. In an article on h+, Anonym wrote:
I’m sort of inured to pain by this point. Anesthetic is illegal for people like me, so we learn to live without it; I’ve made scalpel incisions in my hands, pushed five-millimeter diameter needles through my skin, and once used a vegetable knife to carve a cavity into the tip of my index finger. I’m an idiot, but I’m an idiot working in the name of progress: I’m Lepht Anonym, scrapheap transhumanist. I work with what I can get.
Cyborg America: inside the strange new world of basement body hackers
How To design an Elvis-Mouse
Sehr schöne Arbeit von Koby Barhad, der ein Haar von Elvis auf Ebay kaufte, dieses von einem Gensequenzer analysieren lies und mit diesen Daten von einer anderen Firma eine Maus mit dem Gen-Material des King of Rock kreuzen lies. Die „Psyche“ der Gen-Elvis-Maus hat er dann mit an das Leben des King angepassten Maus-Käfigen auf Verhaltensweisen von Presley trainiert. OMG! Elvis-Mice!
The first online stop is Ebay where the designer bought a hair from Elvis Presley for $22. He sent it to a gene sequencing lab that advertise its services online. The scientists working at the lab are able to identify different behavioural traits (such as sociability, athletic performance, obesity or addiction) from one speck of hair. Koby then sent the data collected about the genes to another lab which is able to produce transgenic mice clones with parallel traits. The result is a mouse that is a genetically cloned model of Elvis.
In parallel to the works performed by these laboratories, Koby has been studying the scientific mouse model environments that have been used on lab mice over the past 100 years. The cages have been designed to study and manipulate psychological aspects of mice.
Koby then made his own cages. But his were intended to reconstruct some of the most influential moments in the life of Elvis. Each of these cages offers a specific environment that is designed to influence the psychology of the mouse and make it closer to Elvis’.
How to design an Elvis mouse, Seite zum Projekt: All that I am
Building a dinosaur from a chicken: Jack Horner on TED
(Youtube Direktchickenosaurus, via TED Blog)
„The Velociraptor is cool. The chicken is not. […But] The Chicken is a dinosaur! You can’t argue with that because we’re the classifiers and we classified it that way.“ Sehr unterhaltsamer TED-Talk voller trockenem Humor von Jack Horner, der versucht, per Bio Engineering „Chickenosaurus“ zu basteln: Hühner mit Zähnen, Schwänzen und Dinosaurier-Krallen.
Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He’s found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he’s taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits — including teeth, tails, and even hands — to make a “Chickenosaurus”.
Bio-Ethical Implications of the X-Men
(Youtube Direktxmen, via Swen)
Spannende Serie kurzer Videos mit Paul Root Wolpe, Professor für Bioethik an der Emory University, der darin die ethischen Fragen bespricht, die das Bio-Engineering der X-Men-Mutationen aufwerfen. Kratzt alles nur an der Oberfläche, ein wenig tiefgehender wird er in seinem TED-Talk über dasselbe Thema: Paul Root Wolpe: It’s time to question bio-engineering. Oben das erste Video der vierteiligen Reihe, die anderen nach dem Klick.
“’X-Men’ is the story of a reviled minority,” says Wolpe, in this case, a minority with genetic mutations that give them extraordinary powers. Of course, genetically, X-Men make no sense, he adds. There’s no way that even dramatic genetic mutation would result in a normal human being giving birth to a human being with wings.
“On the other hand, X-Men are completely plausible as biotechnological developments, and we’re already developing some of the kinds of powers that the X-Men illustrate,” Wolpe says. “There are genetic engineering possibilities for human beings that would increase things like memory, perhaps attention, and maybe even strength, not to super-human levels, but perhaps to mimic the best achievements of the species.”
And although “we still don’t know how to create muscles that exceed the muscles of the strongest creatures on earth,” says Wolpe, “it’s when you combine natural ability with technology that you can talk about truly extraordinary types of powers.”
‘X-Men’ Explores Ethics of Making Better Humans, Says Emory’s Wolpe
Color-Pigments made from Bacteria-Shit
(Vimeo Direktbacteria, via Einhorn)
Beim E.chromi-Projekt arbeiten Designer und Biologen zusammen und erstellen Farbpigmente aus der Scheiße genetisch modifizierter Bakterien. No Shit!
E. chromi is a collaboration between designers and scientists in the new field of synthetic biology. In 2009, seven Cambridge University undergraduates spent the summer genetically engineering bacteria to secrete a variety of coloured pigments, visible to the naked eye. They designed standardised sequences of DNA, known as BioBricks, and inserted them into E. coli bacteria.
Each BioBrick part contains genes selected from existing organisms spanning the living kingdoms, enabling the bacteria to produce a colour: red, yellow, green, blue, brown or violet. By combining these with other BioBricks, bacteria could be programmed to do useful things, such as indicate whether drinking water is safe by turning red if they sense a toxin.
Copyright-Infringement via Gentech
Craig Venter hat 2010 eine (verschlüsselte) Zeile aus James Joyce’ „A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man“ in die DNA einer künstlichen Mikrobe eingebaut und die vermehrt sich jetzt brav und remixt die Zeile bei jeder Mutation.
Und die Besitzer der Rechte an James Joyce’ Werk halten das für eine Verletzung ihres Urheberrechts und haben Venter einen Cease & Desist-Letter geschickt, sowas ähnliches wie eine Unterlassungserklärung bei uns. Copyright, immer wieder für ein großes WTF gut.
William S. Burroughs’ Shit turned into Biotech-Artwork
Tony Allard und Adam Zaretsky wollen aus William S. Burroughs Scheiße DNA extrahieren und damit lebendige Mutantenkunst in Form einer neuen Species schaffen. Kein Scheiß.
“Mutate or Die” is a bioart project being conceived of and executed by Tony Allard and Adam Zaretsky. Bioart tends to use cutting edge biotechnology as an art making device and specializes in presenting living organisms as art. In this project, a DNA sample from William S. Burroughs will be isolated, amplified and shot into the nuclei of some cells.
What is the process?
1: Take a glob of William S. Burroughs’ preserved shit
2: Isolate the DNA with a kit
3: Make, many, many copies of the DNA we extract
4: Soak the DNA in gold dust
5: Load the DNA dust into a genegun (a modified air pistol)
6: Fire the DNA dust into a mix of fresh sperm, blood and shit
7: Call the genetically modified mix of blood, shit, and sperm a living bioart, a new media paint, a living cut-up literary device and/or a mutant sculpture.
Mutate or Die: a W.S. Burroughs Biotechnological Bestiary (via io9)
Schokoladen-Gen sequenziert, goes Open Source
Wissenschaftler haben die Gensequenz für den Kakaobaum entschlüsselt. Das Schoko-Gen wird in der Cacoa Genome Database veröffentlicht und als Allgemeingut verfügbar gemacht und ich freu mich jetzt schon auf Mutantenschokolade aus einem Garagen-Biotech-Startup.
In a monumental step for chocolate lovers — ah, let’s be honest, the whole of humankind — scientists announced today they have completed a preliminary genome sequence for the cacao tree. […]
The genome sequence, which enters the public domain today, is the result of a partnership among a few unlikely bedfellows: Mars Inc., maker of M&Ms, Milky Way bars and other treats; the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service; and IBM. The trio hopes international agricultural researchers will immediately start refining the sequence. As with any gene mapping project, decoding the complete genome will take some time. […]
The Mars team’s preliminary results will be available via the Cacao Genome Database, to ensure that the data remains perpetually patent-free. The Times quotes Hershey’s team saying they will also make their sequence available, but won’t restrict patents.
In Sweet Breakthrough, Scientists Led By Makers of M&Ms Sequence the Chocolate Genome
Petrischalen-Kunst
Klari Reis malt Bakterienbilder auf Petrischalen, oder so ähnlich. Auf ihrer Website gibt’s Bilder ihrer Installationen, auf The Daily Dish hat sie jeden Tag des Jahres 2009 ein High Res-Foto einer der Dinger gepostet… Bio-Artworks, immer wieder gut und komplett Wallpaper-tauglich.
Brilliantly colored life forms dance across the wall in these detail images of an installation project composed of a series of hand painted plexiglass petri dishes. Artist Klari Reis uses reflective epoxy polymer to depict microscopic images. The effect is hopeful, almost playful, belying the serious nature of the subject matter.
Supported by steel rods, the paintings sit at varying degrees of distance from the wall, evoking depth and motion. Working with biotech companies in San Francisco, Klari uses organic cellular imagery and natural reactionship with today’s biotechnological industry.
(via Notcot)
Steve Pinkers Gene im Internet
Die New York Times hat einen sehr langen und sehr interessanten Artikel über Steve Pinker, einem Psychologen, der seine DNA sequenzieren lies und über das Personal Genome Project ins Internet stellte. Wikipedia goes Genetics, irgendwie genauso gruselig wie fortschrittlich. Ich muss mir da mal grundlegend Gedanken drüber machen, über die Auswirkungen von einem Share-Medium wie dem Internet im Zusammenspiel mit Genetik und Biotechnologie.
ONE OF THE PERKS of being a psychologist is access to tools that allow you to carry out the injunction to know thyself. I have been tested for vocational interest (closest match: psychologist), intelligence (above average), personality (open, conscientious, agreeable, average in extraversion, not too neurotic) and political orientation (neither leftist nor rightist, more libertarian than authoritarian). I have M.R.I. pictures of my brain (no obvious holes or bulges) and soon will undergo the ultimate test of marital love: my brain will be scanned while my wife’s name is subliminally flashed before my eyes.
Last fall I submitted to the latest high-tech way to bare your soul. I had my genome sequenced and am allowing it to be posted on the Internet, along with my medical history. The opportunity arose when the biologist George Church sought 10 volunteers to kick off his audacious Personal Genome Project. The P.G.P. has created a public database that will contain the genomes and traits of 100,000 people. Tapping the magic of crowd sourcing that gave us Wikipedia and Google rankings, the project seeks to engage geneticists in a worldwide effort to sift through the genetic and environmental predictors of medical, physical and behavioral traits.
My Genome, My Self (via TED Blog)
Will a Computer “Symbiote” be Implanted in Future Human Brains?
Will future humans have computers implanted in their brains? Researchers are developing a neural implant that can think independently—just like the human brain does. Creepy? Yeah. Cool? Definitely. Scientists at the University of Florida aren’t just creating a neural implant that can translate human brain signals, but one that can act independently to increase its efficiency and synergy with the brain as it learns new things.
Monkey Brain-Terminator
Ich bin grade rückwärts vom Stuhl gekippt. Das hier, Herrschaften, ist die Zukunft – nicht mehr, nicht weniger. Denn das hier ist ein Affe, der einen Roboterarm alleine mit der Kraft seiner Gedanken steuert und damit einen Marshmallow isst. Nochmal: Das hier ist ein Affe, der einen Roboterarm alleine mit der Kraft seiner Gedanken steuert und damit einen Marshmallow isst.
In a dramatic display of the potential of prosthetic arms, a monkey at the University of Pittsburgh was able to use his brain to directly control a robotic arm and feed himself a marshmallow. The research, published today in the journal Nature, is the first to show that an interface that converts brain signals directly into action is sophisticated enough to perform a practical function: eating. Researchers who led the work have just begun human tests of a related technology. (Technology Review)
Und jetzt erinnern wir uns alle mal an die tappsigen Anfänge der Luftfahrt oder des Autos und denken nun genau 50 Jahre in die Zukunft. Ich sehe nichts weniger als fucking Doc Oc und das Fazit kann ich nur auf Englisch schließen, weil alles andere sich nicht nach SciFi anfühlen würde: ALL THIS SCIENCE-FICTION-SHIT IS COMMING TRUE AT LAST! Und was passiert mit Science-Fiction in einer Zeit, in der Science-Fiction Realität wird?
[update] In den Comments wird angemerkt, dass das Ganze ein eher ekelhaftes Tierexperiment mit aufgeschnittenen Affenschädeln sein könnte. Das Video lässt darauf keine Rückschlüsse zu, wahrscheinlich aus gutem Grund. Die Technologie bleibt beeindruckend, das Experiment allerdings fragwürdig.
