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簡介 /
模糊藝術和科學兩大文化的界線
Art|Sci center（下稱「中心」）致力探索（媒體）藝術和（生物）科學結合的無限可能性，從而追求提倡日盛的「第三文化」。中心的主要目的在於模糊藝術和科學這兩個「文化」的界線，開創一個早該實現的全新文化，深具創意思考的專才；結合兩者的知識才能，革新研究，找尋新方法治療地球。中心舉辦演講、交流會及編輯專題論文集等，讓藝術家和科學家連結，繼而協調這兩個「文化」，並與社會息息相關。中心集中籌劃和科學研究相關的社會、道德和環境議題的項目。
模糊藝術和科學兩大文化的界線
Art|Sci center（下稱「中心」）致力探索（媒體）藝術和（生物）科學結合的無限可能性，從而追求提倡日盛的「第三文化」。中心的主要目的在於模糊藝術和科學這兩個「文化」的界線，開創一個早該實現的全新文化，深具創意思考的專才；結合兩者的知識才能，革新研究，找尋新方法治療地球。中心舉辦演講、交流會及編輯專題論文集等，讓藝術家和科學家連結，繼而協調這兩個「文化」，並與社會息息相關。中心集中籌劃和科學研究相關的社會、道德和環境議題的項目。
作品 /
生物DIY LA工作坊 羅米‧萊特爾
羅米萊特爾將帶領一個手作工作坊,令參加者投入「生物DIY」。對某些人來說，它是一種做事模式，以黑客的心態把東西拆開再予其新的意義和用途。對於其他人，它是一個願意跳出日常工業及學術機構枷鎖的社群，這一班人透過自由結合社群內的知識和資源，主宰著尖端科技的擁有權。這種社群運動，有時被稱為「公民科學」或「車房生物學」，造就了全球多個城市的社區生物實驗室。
洛杉磯的社區生物實驗室名為洛杉磯黑客，洛杉磯黑客為大眾提供科研工具和資源，把有好奇想法又想試驗其可行性的民眾聚在一起。洛杉磯黑客又與Art|Scicenter合作，舉辦教育推廣的工作坊和研討會，匯集不同背景的人，為他們展示以新的角度觀察及了解先進的生物技術。藝術家借用生物和生物數據作為新的創作媒介變得越來越普遍，通過社區生物實驗室，藝術家與科學家和工程師合作，探索以更新穎更便宜的方法去發展生物藝術。科學家和工程師在合作的過程中亦獲益良多，除了能以更廣闊的視野重新審視他們的工作外，也為他們提供一個社會價值勝於盈利的工作平台。
biohackers.la
嗅探攤子 藝術科學中心團隊
由維多利亞·韋斯娜及斯達·溫拉加斯文帶領,此作品表達人類和世界的接觸，主要依賴視覺。用視覺感受環境，令產生的觀點以人類為中心。大部份人都不為 意，動物擁有其他感官的潛能，而這足以產生完全不同的世界觀。我們希望提醒大家此點，所以利用狗這種早以融入人類家居的動物，作一示範。 我們將人類和狗對物件的感知加以對比。參觀者將要探索展覽內的物件，嗅完這些物件後，再描述自己的嗅覺體驗。之後，參觀者將獲知狗隻嗅同一堆物件時的氣 味。如是者，我們將可同時以人類和狗隻認知世界的角度，了解這些物件。
www.nanobioart.com/sniffingbooth
生肖基因 藝術科學中心團隊
同源框基因決定所有生物，包括人類的身體 — 它令人類有兩對手、兩對腳、一個鼻等。這組基因，萬物如蝸牛、大象和人皆有；它們還可以被改造，使原有的身 體部位變成其他東西。
此作品的目的，在於誘使參觀者探索這些奇妙的基因，原來是動物王國內，千變萬化的腿、臂和其他身體部位的根源。我們製作的實驗空間，闡明萬物皆有關連， 而且同擁一組同源框基因。
www.artsci.ucla.edu/hox
生物DIY LA工作坊 羅米‧萊特爾
羅米萊特爾將帶領一個手作工作坊,令參加者投入「生物DIY」。對某些人來說，它是一種做事模式，以黑客的心態把東西拆開再予其新的意義和用途。對於其他人，它是一個願意跳出日常工業及學術機構枷鎖的社群，這一班人透過自由結合社群內的知識和資源，主宰著尖端科技的擁有權。這種社群運動，有時被稱為「公民科學」或「車房生物學」，造就了全球多個城市的社區生物實驗室。
洛杉磯的社區生物實驗室名為洛杉磯黑客，洛杉磯黑客為大眾提供科研工具和資源，把有好奇想法又想試驗其可行性的民眾聚在一起。洛杉磯黑客又與Art|Scicenter合作，舉辦教育推廣的工作坊和研討會，匯集不同背景的人，為他們展示以新的角度觀察及了解先進的生物技術。藝術家借用生物和生物數據作為新的創作媒介變得越來越普遍，通過社區生物實驗室，藝術家與科學家和工程師合作，探索以更新穎更便宜的方法去發展生物藝術。科學家和工程師在合作的過程中亦獲益良多，除了能以更廣闊的視野重新審視他們的工作外，也為他們提供一個社會價值勝於盈利的工作平台。
biohackers.la
嗅探攤子 藝術科學中心團隊
由維多利亞·韋斯娜及斯達·溫拉加斯文帶領,此作品表達人類和世界的接觸，主要依賴視覺。用視覺感受環境，令產生的觀點以人類為中心。大部份人都不為 意，動物擁有其他感官的潛能，而這足以產生完全不同的世界觀。我們希望提醒大家此點，所以利用狗這種早以融入人類家居的動物，作一示範。 我們將人類和狗對物件的感知加以對比。參觀者將要探索展覽內的物件，嗅完這些物件後，再描述自己的嗅覺體驗。之後，參觀者將獲知狗隻嗅同一堆物件時的氣 味。如是者，我們將可同時以人類和狗隻認知世界的角度，了解這些物件。
www.nanobioart.com/sniffingbooth
生肖基因 藝術科學中心團隊
同源框基因決定所有生物，包括人類的身體 — 它令人類有兩對手、兩對腳、一個鼻等。這組基因，萬物如蝸牛、大象和人皆有；它們還可以被改造，使原有的身 體部位變成其他東西。
此作品的目的，在於誘使參觀者探索這些奇妙的基因，原來是動物王國內，千變萬化的腿、臂和其他身體部位的根源。我們製作的實驗空間，闡明萬物皆有關連， 而且同擁一組同源框基因。
www.artsci.ucla.edu/hox
問與答 /
生物DIY的主要服務對象是哪一個年齡層？
生物DIY適合任何對探索生物有興趣的人仕，生物DIY令昂貴、精緻及/或危險的科研技術變得更便宜、更安全，亦令任何人都能成為生物DIY運動的一員。借用這些新的工具，縱使是小朋友亦能安全地培植細菌或探看自己的基因譜。生物學最可貴的是：在每個創作或問題的背後都有更深層的知識引人探求，所以任何人在任何年紀都能參與生物學的研究。
為什麼是生物學而不是化學或物理？
三者之間有很多共通之處，但研究生物及其複雜的結構歷年來特別困難。生物DIY令想以研究生物學為業餘興趣的人容易接觸到當中有趣和實用的技巧。生物學注重發現新事物的能力或做開創事情的先鋒。現在我們對生物的認知還是很少，牠們以超乎我們想像的方式在生長和變化。這令人興奮又令人畏懼，亦是令人感興趣的一大原因。有些人看過生活裡發生過超乎意料的精彩事物後，希望創造屬於他們的精彩事物。
在這個工作坊，業餘的成員能得到知識及技巧，那專家或科學家又能從中得到什麼？
在這個工作坊裡學到的知識的本質並不是技巧，而是一種視野的改變。當中最主要的訊息是現在要閱讀一些未知的DNA已變得非常容易。即使是專業的科學家也會加入生物DIY是因為他們希望用自己的知識去追求興趣，因為很可惜地，他們的工作往往不能提供這樣的機會。而且他們的研究經常都很深奧，不自覺間使他們不能與各自領域以外的人溝通，有時因此會令他們失去對工作曾經有過的熱誠。把生物學轉化為業餘興趣並著重享受當中過程，是其中一個讓科學家對生物學重拾熱誠的方法，使他們不理會金錢和利潤去追求理想。透過這些經驗，生物DIY旨在把對科學有好奇心郤没有科學背景的人和正為自己的專業知識找尋更有趣應用場合的科學家帶到同一平台上，為他們提供一個產生創意和獨有想法的空間。不論是否專業，這些想法都是有趣而珍貴的。
為什麼我們人類會依賴視覺多於其他感官？
直立行走的人類依賴三維的色彩視覺遠遠超過其他感官。這不代表我們没有敏銳的嗅覺、聽覺或體感系統，但對視覺的依賴及解讀視覺線索的程度遠超於其他感官。此外，與其他哺乳類動物相比，人類日間活動的時間比晝夜多，導致我們依賴視覺去偵測外部的環境。雖然我們也累積各種聲音、嗅覺和觸覺的訊息，但這些訊息皆與視覺刺激相連。
你覺得人類的哪一個感官最被忽略？
嗅覺是最原始和古老的感官郤被嚴重忽略。很多記憶和情感都是被嗅感所誘發的，透過嗅覺線索，引起我們的生理或情緒反應。有時，我們對嗅覺線索的感知微小到如本能反應一樣。相對於影像、聲音和觸感，嗅覺線索不需經過多重處理或過濾，直接進入大腦。針對嗅覺的研究及其影響我們對環境的感知和行為的研究，亦只是最近幾年才開始。
如前所述，同源盒的基因決定人體地區。它們會影響器官嗎？如否，有一個基因能誘發器官再生嗎？
同源基因確實發揮組織器官的作用，也決定在器官裡不同的區域。例如在大腦，同源基因決定如前腦、大腦後、中腦等區域。如修改同源基因或其產生突變會引起這些腦部區域的改建。同源基因亦有助於確定再生身體的部位（及在月經期間協助子宮壁再生。）
如人類能再生自己的肢體，將如何影響我們在宗教和戰爭方面已有的社會道德？
肢體再生……不論是借 助義肢、異種器官移植或突變再生，我們無疑已踏上這道路。或有機會我們會回到古時視多肢體生物為神般供奉或如惡魔般懼怕的年代。世界各地的古代神話都存有類似的元素，但我們往往忘記這些故事只是寓言。如果世界慢慢透過這種實體變異發展以提高生活質素，我們將會再次遇到反對的聲音。但是，與任何文化邊緣現象對照，實體變異都會漸漸由怪異變為時尚變為必要，到最後變為正常。這些社會問題可能得留待我們的下一代自己面對﹣不論對這種生物倫理接受與否、何以重新定義人類及最後，以智能設計來進行未來的進化。
生物DIY的主要服務對象是哪一個年齡層？
生物DIY適合任何對探索生物有興趣的人仕，生物DIY令昂貴、精緻及/或危險的科研技術變得更便宜、更安全，亦令任何人都能成為生物DIY運動的一員。借用這些新的工具，縱使是小朋友亦能安全地培植細菌或探看自己的基因譜。生物學最可貴的是：在每個創作或問題的背後都有更深層的知識引人探求，所以任何人在任何年紀都能參與生物學的研究。
為什麼是生物學而不是化學或物理？
三者之間有很多共通之處，但研究生物及其複雜的結構歷年來特別困難。生物DIY令想以研究生物學為業餘興趣的人容易接觸到當中有趣和實用的技巧。生物學注重發現新事物的能力或做開創事情的先鋒。現在我們對生物的認知還是很少，牠們以超乎我們想像的方式在生長和變化。這令人興奮又令人畏懼，亦是令人感興趣的一大原因。有些人看過生活裡發生過超乎意料的精彩事物後，希望創造屬於他們的精彩事物。
在這個工作坊，業餘的成員能得到知識及技巧，那專家或科學家又能從中得到什麼？
在這個工作坊裡學到的知識的本質並不是技巧，而是一種視野的改變。當中最主要的訊息是現在要閱讀一些未知的DNA已變得非常容易。即使是專業的科學家也會加入生物DIY是因為他們希望用自己的知識去追求興趣，因為很可惜地，他們的工作往往不能提供這樣的機會。而且他們的研究經常都很深奧，不自覺間使他們不能與各自領域以外的人溝通，有時因此會令他們失去對工作曾經有過的熱誠。把生物學轉化為業餘興趣並著重享受當中過程，是其中一個讓科學家對生物學重拾熱誠的方法，使他們不理會金錢和利潤去追求理想。透過這些經驗，生物DIY旨在把對科學有好奇心郤没有科學背景的人和正為自己的專業知識找尋更有趣應用場合的科學家帶到同一平台上，為他們提供一個產生創意和獨有想法的空間。不論是否專業，這些想法都是有趣而珍貴的。
為什麼我們人類會依賴視覺多於其他感官？
直立行走的人類依賴三維的色彩視覺遠遠超過其他感官。這不代表我們没有敏銳的嗅覺、聽覺或體感系統，但對視覺的依賴及解讀視覺線索的程度遠超於其他感官。此外，與其他哺乳類動物相比，人類日間活動的時間比晝夜多，導致我們依賴視覺去偵測外部的環境。雖然我們也累積各種聲音、嗅覺和觸覺的訊息，但這些訊息皆與視覺刺激相連。
你覺得人類的哪一個感官最被忽略？
嗅覺是最原始和古老的感官郤被嚴重忽略。很多記憶和情感都是被嗅感所誘發的，透過嗅覺線索，引起我們的生理或情緒反應。有時，我們對嗅覺線索的感知微小到如本能反應一樣。相對於影像、聲音和觸感，嗅覺線索不需經過多重處理或過濾，直接進入大腦。針對嗅覺的研究及其影響我們對環境的感知和行為的研究，亦只是最近幾年才開始。
如前所述，同源盒的基因決定人體地區。它們會影響器官嗎？如否，有一個基因能誘發器官再生嗎？
同源基因確實發揮組織器官的作用，也決定在器官裡不同的區域。例如在大腦，同源基因決定如前腦、大腦後、中腦等區域。如修改同源基因或其產生突變會引起這些腦部區域的改建。同源基因亦有助於確定再生身體的部位（及在月經期間協助子宮壁再生。）
如人類能再生自己的肢體，將如何影響我們在宗教和戰爭方面已有的社會道德？
肢體再生……不論是借 助義肢、異種器官移植或突變再生，我們無疑已踏上這道路。或有機會我們會回到古時視多肢體生物為神般供奉或如惡魔般懼怕的年代。世界各地的古代神話都存有類似的元素，但我們往往忘記這些故事只是寓言。如果世界慢慢透過這種實體變異發展以提高生活質素，我們將會再次遇到反對的聲音。但是，與任何文化邊緣現象對照，實體變異都會漸漸由怪異變為時尚變為必要，到最後變為正常。這些社會問題可能得留待我們的下一代自己面對﹣不論對這種生物倫理接受與否、何以重新定義人類及最後，以智能設計來進行未來的進化。
Introduction /
BLURRING THE DIVIDING LINE OF THE TWO CULTURES OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
The UCLA Art|Sci center + lab is dedicated to pursuing and promoting the evolving “Third Culture” by facilitating the infinite potential of collaborations between (media) arts and (bio/nano) sciences. The central goal is to actively work on blurring the dividing line of the “Two Cultures” and help usher in a new culture that is overdue – a culture of creative thinkers from the arts and sciences who join together to combine their knowledge and skills to come up with innovations, collaborations and most of all, new ways to help heal this planet. The center presents lectures, mixers, and symposia to bring artists and scientists together in order to mesh these cultures and inspire individuals to think about art and science as already interrelated and relevant to our society. It focuses on collaborative projects that address social, ethical and environmental issues related to scientific innovations. For Microwave, a site specific collaborative and performative Sense space is created to engage the audience in smells, tastes, the invisible and the inaudible.
BLURRING THE DIVIDING LINE OF THE TWO CULTURES OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
The UCLA Art|Sci center + lab is dedicated to pursuing and promoting the evolving “Third Culture” by facilitating the infinite potential of collaborations between (media) arts and (bio/nano) sciences. The central goal is to actively work on blurring the dividing line of the “Two Cultures” and help usher in a new culture that is overdue – a culture of creative thinkers from the arts and sciences who join together to combine their knowledge and skills to come up with innovations, collaborations and most of all, new ways to help heal this planet. The center presents lectures, mixers, and symposia to bring artists and scientists together in order to mesh these cultures and inspire individuals to think about art and science as already interrelated and relevant to our society. It focuses on collaborative projects that address social, ethical and environmental issues related to scientific innovations. For Microwave, a site specific collaborative and performative Sense space is created to engage the audience in smells, tastes, the invisible and the inaudible.
Works /
THE WORK TO BE SHOWCASED: ART SCI Sense room The audience will experience and interact with three projects that are interconnected: Hox Zodiac dinner table, DIYBio kitchen and Sniffing Booth game.
DIYBIO LA WORKSHOP by Romie Littrell (2009~)
Romie Littrell will lead the hands-on workshop that engages the audience in“Do-it-Yourself Biology”. For some it’s a way of doing things, the hacker mentality of taking things apart and repurposing them for new or personal uses. For others it’s a community of people who work outside the usual industrial and academic institutions that dominate the possession of cutting edge technology by freely pooling the knowledge and resources of the group. Sometimes called “citizen science” or “garage biology”, it is a movement that has fed the creation of community biolabs in cities across the globe.
In Los Angeles it manifested itself as LA Biohackers, a space dedicated to providing the tools and community for anyone with an idea to test or curiosity to indulge. In collaboration with the Art|Sci Center it also fosters educational outreach through workshops and demos that bring together people with diverse backgrounds to learn about and look at the techniques of advanced biology in new ways. Artists are increasingly able to use living things and biological data as a new palette for expression, and through collaboration with scientists and engineers in these spaces, new and cheaper methods to explore and create bioart are designed. Members from science and engineering backgrounds gain just as much through a widened perspective on their work and the freedom to work with a community that values novelty over profitability.
biohackers.la
SNIFFING BOOTH by Art | Sci collaborative (2010~)
Presented by Siddharth Ramakrishnan and Victoria Vesna, this project highlights how as humans, we interact with the world around us relying primarily on visual information. This gives us a perspective of our environment from an anthropocentric viewpoint. Many of us are not aware of the different sensory potentials that other animals possess, which paint a very different picture of the world around us. We wish to raise awareness of this aspect of sensory perception by using the dog, an animal that has been ubiquitous in the human home environment for centuries, as a model.
We will contrast the perception of objects by us with the perception of a dog. The audience will be asked to interact with objects, sniff at them and narrate their olfactory experiences with the object. They are then offered the myriad of possibilities that they could detect if they had a canine sense of smell. We then visualize the object as a piece of both the human and canine ‘umwelts’or ‘surrounding worlds’.
www.nanobioart.com/sniffingbooth
HOX ZODIAC by Art | Sci collaborative (2009~)
The audience is invited to sit at a dinner table with twelve petri dishes and (re)consider the relationship to the animals in the zodiac. The goal of the Hox Zodiac project is to entice the audience with these fascinating genes that are responsible for the many different variations of legs, arms and other parts of the body that exist in the animal kingdom. We create an experiential space that relates the idea that we are all interconnected and share the same gene.
www.artsci.ucla.edu/hox
THE WORK TO BE SHOWCASED: ART SCI Sense room The audience will experience and interact with three projects that are interconnected: Hox Zodiac dinner table, DIYBio kitchen and Sniffing Booth game.
DIYBIO LA WORKSHOP by Romie Littrell (2009~)
Romie Littrell will lead the hands-on workshop that engages the audience in“Do-it-Yourself Biology”. For some it’s a way of doing things, the hacker mentality of taking things apart and repurposing them for new or personal uses. For others it’s a community of people who work outside the usual industrial and academic institutions that dominate the possession of cutting edge technology by freely pooling the knowledge and resources of the group. Sometimes called “citizen science” or “garage biology”, it is a movement that has fed the creation of community biolabs in cities across the globe.
In Los Angeles it manifested itself as LA Biohackers, a space dedicated to providing the tools and community for anyone with an idea to test or curiosity to indulge. In collaboration with the Art|Sci Center it also fosters educational outreach through workshops and demos that bring together people with diverse backgrounds to learn about and look at the techniques of advanced biology in new ways. Artists are increasingly able to use living things and biological data as a new palette for expression, and through collaboration with scientists and engineers in these spaces, new and cheaper methods to explore and create bioart are designed. Members from science and engineering backgrounds gain just as much through a widened perspective on their work and the freedom to work with a community that values novelty over profitability.
biohackers.la
SNIFFING BOOTH by Art | Sci collaborative (2010~)
Presented by Siddharth Ramakrishnan and Victoria Vesna, this project highlights how as humans, we interact with the world around us relying primarily on visual information. This gives us a perspective of our environment from an anthropocentric viewpoint. Many of us are not aware of the different sensory potentials that other animals possess, which paint a very different picture of the world around us. We wish to raise awareness of this aspect of sensory perception by using the dog, an animal that has been ubiquitous in the human home environment for centuries, as a model.
We will contrast the perception of objects by us with the perception of a dog. The audience will be asked to interact with objects, sniff at them and narrate their olfactory experiences with the object. They are then offered the myriad of possibilities that they could detect if they had a canine sense of smell. We then visualize the object as a piece of both the human and canine ‘umwelts’or ‘surrounding worlds’.
www.nanobioart.com/sniffingbooth
HOX ZODIAC by Art | Sci collaborative (2009~)
The audience is invited to sit at a dinner table with twelve petri dishes and (re)consider the relationship to the animals in the zodiac. The goal of the Hox Zodiac project is to entice the audience with these fascinating genes that are responsible for the many different variations of legs, arms and other parts of the body that exist in the animal kingdom. We create an experiential space that relates the idea that we are all interconnected and share the same gene.
www.artsci.ucla.edu/hox
Q & A /
What is the target age group for DIYBio?
DIYBio is appropriate for anyone interested in exploring and tinkering with biology. Taking expensive, delicate, and/ or dangerous techiniques and makeing them cheaper, safer, and easy for anyone to use is a core part of the DIYBio movement. With these new tools, even the very young can safely accomplish things like growing bacteria and exploring their own genomes. The best part of biology is that behind every creation or question there is another deeper level to explore so you’ll never be be too old to play.
Why not Chemistry or physics, why Biology?
There is a lot of overlap between the three, but working with living things or their complex components has traditionally been especially difficult to do. DIYBio is a realization that many interesting and useful techniques are within reach of people who would like to undertake biology as a hobby. A part of the draw to biology is this newness and possibility of discovering new things or doing things no one has done before. We still know very little about how life works. It grows and changes in unexpected ways. This can be exciting or scary to people and is a big reason people are interested. Others see all the amazing things life has shown is possible and want to make something of their own.
The amateurs can get knowledge and skills out of this workshop, what do the experts or scientists get out from this experience?
The knowledge that people will gain in this workshop is not technical in nature, but rather a change of perspective. The workshop’s main message is that the technique of reading the DNA of something unknown has become very easy. Even professional scientists join DIYBio groups because they want to use their knowledge to pursue their own interests which, sadly, they often cannot do in their jobs. They often study things so esoteric that they cannot easily communicate it to people outside their fields, and sometimes lose the passion they once had for their work. By making biology a hobby, something that people do primarily for enjoyment, is a way to regain that passion and pursue dreams that are not based on profits or grant money.
The experience also aims to create a combination of curious people with nonscience backgrounds and scientists who are looking for more interesting venues for their skills, providing a space where creative and unique ideas can be generated. These ideas can be interesting and valuable regardless of level of expertise.
Why would us Human rely on our vision more than our other senses?
Humans by virtue of walking erect depend far more on our 3D colour vision than our other senses. This is not to say that we do not have a keen olfactory, auditory or somatosensory system, but the level of dependence on vision and the extent of processing associated with visual cues is much more than the other senses. Further, when compared to many other mammalian creatures, humans are much more diurnal than nocturnal, leading to greater reliance on our eyes and vision for processing our external environment. While we are still accumulating a variety of sound, smell and touch information, these are in association with the visual stimuli presented.
Which human senses do you think is the most underrated?
The sense of smell is primal and ancient and is heavily underrated. Many memories and emotions are acutely triggered by certain smells. In some cases the perception is so subtle that one may attribute a reaction to instinct, when it may be a physiological or emotional response to an olfactory cue. When compared to vision, sound and touch, the cues from the nose directly go to the brain, without many levels of preliminary processing or filtration. Only in recent years have studies begun targeting the sense of smell and how it affects our overall environmental perception and overt behavior.
As mentioned, the Homeobox (hox) genes determine body regions. Do they also determine organs? If not, is there a gene that may induce regeneration for organs?
The Hox genes indeed also play a role in the organization of organs and also in defining the different regions within an organ. For example, in the brain, Hox genes are responsible for defining the areas such as fore-brain, hind brain, mid-brain etc. Mutations/ modifications in the Hox genes will give rise to alterations in such brain areas. Hox genes may indeed help in defining regeneration of body parts (and play a role in monthly regeneration of the uterine walls during menstruation).
In the event that people could regenerate their limbs at will, how would it affect our social morality in terms of religion and war?
Regeneration of limbs... We are definitely moving towards that whether it be through prosthetic limbs, xeno-organ harvesting or through mutated regeneration. Perhaps we are moving back towards a time where the many-limbed were worshiped as gods or feared as demons. Ancient mythology from around the world alludes to such descriptions, but we ignore these as fables. If the world does move towards such mutated entities, albeit to improve life quality, there will once again be initial resistance. But as with any other cultural fringe phenomenon, it has the scope to arc from freakishness to fashion to necessity to norm. Maybe these are the social questions that the next generation will deal with - whether to accept such pushes on bioethics or not; what constitutes being human; and finally, will future evolution be in fact through intelligent design.
What is the target age group for DIYBio?
DIYBio is appropriate for anyone interested in exploring and tinkering with biology. Taking expensive, delicate, and/ or dangerous techiniques and makeing them cheaper, safer, and easy for anyone to use is a core part of the DIYBio movement. With these new tools, even the very young can safely accomplish things like growing bacteria and exploring their own genomes. The best part of biology is that behind every creation or question there is another deeper level to explore so you’ll never be be too old to play.
Why not Chemistry or physics, why Biology?
There is a lot of overlap between the three, but working with living things or their complex components has traditionally been especially difficult to do. DIYBio is a realization that many interesting and useful techniques are within reach of people who would like to undertake biology as a hobby. A part of the draw to biology is this newness and possibility of discovering new things or doing things no one has done before. We still know very little about how life works. It grows and changes in unexpected ways. This can be exciting or scary to people and is a big reason people are interested. Others see all the amazing things life has shown is possible and want to make something of their own.
The amateurs can get knowledge and skills out of this workshop, what do the experts or scientists get out from this experience?
The knowledge that people will gain in this workshop is not technical in nature, but rather a change of perspective. The workshop’s main message is that the technique of reading the DNA of something unknown has become very easy. Even professional scientists join DIYBio groups because they want to use their knowledge to pursue their own interests which, sadly, they often cannot do in their jobs. They often study things so esoteric that they cannot easily communicate it to people outside their fields, and sometimes lose the passion they once had for their work. By making biology a hobby, something that people do primarily for enjoyment, is a way to regain that passion and pursue dreams that are not based on profits or grant money.
The experience also aims to create a combination of curious people with nonscience backgrounds and scientists who are looking for more interesting venues for their skills, providing a space where creative and unique ideas can be generated. These ideas can be interesting and valuable regardless of level of expertise.
Why would us Human rely on our vision more than our other senses?
Humans by virtue of walking erect depend far more on our 3D colour vision than our other senses. This is not to say that we do not have a keen olfactory, auditory or somatosensory system, but the level of dependence on vision and the extent of processing associated with visual cues is much more than the other senses. Further, when compared to many other mammalian creatures, humans are much more diurnal than nocturnal, leading to greater reliance on our eyes and vision for processing our external environment. While we are still accumulating a variety of sound, smell and touch information, these are in association with the visual stimuli presented.
Which human senses do you think is the most underrated?
The sense of smell is primal and ancient and is heavily underrated. Many memories and emotions are acutely triggered by certain smells. In some cases the perception is so subtle that one may attribute a reaction to instinct, when it may be a physiological or emotional response to an olfactory cue. When compared to vision, sound and touch, the cues from the nose directly go to the brain, without many levels of preliminary processing or filtration. Only in recent years have studies begun targeting the sense of smell and how it affects our overall environmental perception and overt behavior.
As mentioned, the Homeobox (hox) genes determine body regions. Do they also determine organs? If not, is there a gene that may induce regeneration for organs?
The Hox genes indeed also play a role in the organization of organs and also in defining the different regions within an organ. For example, in the brain, Hox genes are responsible for defining the areas such as fore-brain, hind brain, mid-brain etc. Mutations/ modifications in the Hox genes will give rise to alterations in such brain areas. Hox genes may indeed help in defining regeneration of body parts (and play a role in monthly regeneration of the uterine walls during menstruation).
In the event that people could regenerate their limbs at will, how would it affect our social morality in terms of religion and war?
Regeneration of limbs... We are definitely moving towards that whether it be through prosthetic limbs, xeno-organ harvesting or through mutated regeneration. Perhaps we are moving back towards a time where the many-limbed were worshiped as gods or feared as demons. Ancient mythology from around the world alludes to such descriptions, but we ignore these as fables. If the world does move towards such mutated entities, albeit to improve life quality, there will once again be initial resistance. But as with any other cultural fringe phenomenon, it has the scope to arc from freakishness to fashion to necessity to norm. Maybe these are the social questions that the next generation will deal with - whether to accept such pushes on bioethics or not; what constitutes being human; and finally, will future evolution be in fact through intelligent design.
