On a cold January afternoon, a group of science students and artists pored over Petri dishes in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum Studio examining the bacteria growing within them. These were not just any bacteria but components of the participants’ own microbiomes that had formed visible colonies in an incubator overnight, thanks to systems biology postdoc Tal Danino.

He and artist-in-residence Anicka Yi led a two-day workshop on “The Art and Science of Bacteria” as part of their scientific and artistic collaboration set up by Meg Rotzel at MIT&’s Centre for Art, Science, and Technology. “I wanted to work with bacteria on multiple levels,” Yi told the workshop attendees, describing the inspiration for her work with Danino. In addition to the traditional visual view of colourful colonies growing on agar, “there&’s a smell or scent component to the bacteria”, said Yi. “I wanted to work with real live bacteria in the way you all have done in the experiment.”

Danino, who has been manipulating microbes since his graduate school days, recalled his early discussions with Yi on personal microbiome and scents. Yi is using these scents in an upcoming gallery show, “You can call me F”,” opening at The Kitchen in New York City on 5 March. There, visitors will be immersed in her interpretation of bacterial samples collected from 100 female art professionals acquainted with her. Not only will they see a seven-foottall “bacterial billboard”, a giant Petri dish displaying the 100 live samples, but they will also smell synthesised perfume designed by Yi based on the scents of the microbes blended with air sampled from traditionally male-dominated spaces.

“We’re really developing an entirely new art form that revolves around using biological elements,” Danino said. “That&’s something that I really loved talking about and sharing at the workshop.” “I’m just living in bacteria these days,” said Yi with glee.

Jenny Rood/The Scientist

Ecosystem

The entire ecosystem of Mo’orea, a volcanic island in French Polynesia, will be captured in a computer model that seeks to understand how climate change and human activities affect the local environment. Last month, an international group of researchers announced they wanted to feed decades of Mo’orea research from various fields into a computer-based model of the 132-square km island.

The Moorea Island Digital Ecosystem Avatar (MooreaIDEA) will model the island from its peak to the surrounding sea, including fish, corals, plants and its population of around 17,000 people. It is designed to enable researchers and local people to visualise and predict how different factors relating to climate change and human development influence each other and the island.

Mo’orea is already well studied. France has operated a field station there — the Centre for Island Research and Environment Observatory (Criobe) — there since 1971, while the University of California, Berkeley&’s research station will celebrate its 30th anniversary next month. “We have a lot of data,” says Joachim Claudet, one of the ecologists behind the project.

He works at the National Centre for Scientific Research in France. His own project aims to model the complex relationships between human activities, such as fishing and tourism, and natural ecosystems in Mo’orea&’s coastal areas.

Local decision-makers will be encouraged to use the model to test and visualise different policy scenarios.

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