"Bact bombs" is a futuristic project composed of harmless bombs whose aim is to clean water from extraneous substances. Inside them there are special bacteria: mosquito, oil and algae eater.
In a future view bact bombs will be a collective contribution to reduce specific problems that compromise water’s quality. These bombs will be built by a 3D printer using agar-agar jelly and bacteria, which are biocompatible: once throwing them into the water the external shell will melt and release the microorganisms.
In a future view bact bombs will be a collective contribution to reduce specific problems that compromise water’s quality. These bombs will be built by a 3D printer using agar-agar jelly and bacteria, which are biocompatible: once throwing them into the water the external shell will melt and release the microorganisms.
Dorion Sagan in his article “The Human is more than Human: Interspiecies Communities and the New Facts of Life” explain perfectly this connection, saying that life is a mixture of cultures and what forms us, the DNA, is monstly made of 100 quadrillion cells that belong to cohabiting bacteria. Indeed 10% of our dry weight is form by bacteria.
This kind of cohabitation between organisms is a new symbioses called symbiogenesis.
An example of this coexistence are luminous bacteria that help various marine animals to light their way. Also in the human body there are different type of bacteria. Dorian Segan wrote “Human gut microbiota are not simply hangers-on but influence the timing of maturation of our intestinal cells, our internal nutrient supplies and distribution, our blood vessel growth, our immune systems, and the levels of cholesterol and other lipids in our blood.” It is incredible how this little orgaisms can affect our functions, therefore our behaviour and our humor.
We can say the same for the Earth. Indeed “the whole Earth is a meticulously interrelated system, whose organization extends to the atmosphere. Earth is more a rock with some life on it than you are a skeleton infested with cells.”, even though we can’t say it is an organism.
This is an interesting way of view that shows how we can approch and be more integrated into our planet.
Amber Benezra (Anthropology of microbes) deeply investigated on the need to further integrate the fields of human microbial ecology and anthropology and pointed out some benefits of this collaborative work.
She wrote “The development of new methods for understanding the microbial world provides an opportunity to reevaluate the way we view our human biological and cultural diversity.”
This cooperation can help us to evolve our sense of personal identity: we are increasingly seeing ourselves as a “supraorganism” composed of microbial and human cells.
That’s why we can say: “Life is purposive, going somewhere,[...] to be operating through rather than to man.”
This kind of cohabitation between organisms is a new symbioses called symbiogenesis.
An example of this coexistence are luminous bacteria that help various marine animals to light their way. Also in the human body there are different type of bacteria. Dorian Segan wrote “Human gut microbiota are not simply hangers-on but influence the timing of maturation of our intestinal cells, our internal nutrient supplies and distribution, our blood vessel growth, our immune systems, and the levels of cholesterol and other lipids in our blood.” It is incredible how this little orgaisms can affect our functions, therefore our behaviour and our humor.
We can say the same for the Earth. Indeed “the whole Earth is a meticulously interrelated system, whose organization extends to the atmosphere. Earth is more a rock with some life on it than you are a skeleton infested with cells.”, even though we can’t say it is an organism.
This is an interesting way of view that shows how we can approch and be more integrated into our planet.
Amber Benezra (Anthropology of microbes) deeply investigated on the need to further integrate the fields of human microbial ecology and anthropology and pointed out some benefits of this collaborative work.
She wrote “The development of new methods for understanding the microbial world provides an opportunity to reevaluate the way we view our human biological and cultural diversity.”
This cooperation can help us to evolve our sense of personal identity: we are increasingly seeing ourselves as a “supraorganism” composed of microbial and human cells.
That’s why we can say: “Life is purposive, going somewhere,[...] to be operating through rather than to man.”
This is only an academic product design project, mainly developed in a futuristic view.
Prof.: Francesco Faccin - Secil Ugur Yavuz - Roberta Raffaetà
c/o Facoltà di Design e Arti - Libera Università di Bolzano (2017/2018)
