Over-educated and Underfunded
Weird, wacky and wonderful stories and sketches from biologists in the field.
By Rachel Pringle“The act of musicking establishes in the place where it is happening, a set of relationships, and it is in those relationships that the meaning of the act lies. They are to be found not only between those organized sounds which are conventionally thought of as being the stuff of musical meaning but also between the people who are taking part, in whatever capacity, in the performance” – Small, 1998. As a biologist, it seems natural to love and admire microscopic organisms. One of my favorite things about studying was getting to learn about all the tiny, squirmy, alien-like organisms underneath a microscope that had their own lifestyles and behaviors. Always busy, always fulfilling a purpose, these organisms were unencumbered by my giant watching eye. I found myself loving these creatures, giving the simplest spore a personality. I wondered what it would be like if everyone was able to connect with these tiny animals the way I did in biology class. Would understanding microscopic organisms, accompanied by the realization of how important they are for supporting life on earth, allow humans to forge a new relationship with nature? If it is not possible for everyone to look through a microscope to see the micro-organisms, is it possible to listen to them? As the gateway to human pathos, the idea of relating to microorganisms through music presented an interesting opportunity. Due to microorganism’s lack of anthropomorphic characteristics, it is difficult to invoke feelings of empathy through pure observation; however, could hearing an expression of their life-force make up for this deficiency? To do this, I created the Insentient Choir – a micro-computer which interacts with a collection of fungi and bacteria growing on strawberries. Simply put, the Insentient Choir uses the universal language of music to give bacteria and fungi a voice so that we can relate to them in a new way. "Would understanding microscopic organisms allow humans to forge a new relationship with nature?" The composition of the Insentient Choir includes three differently aged strawberries resulting in one rotten strawberry containing large amounts of fungi, one middle-aged strawberry blossoming with new communities of fungi and bacteria, and one fresh strawberry with a lower amount of microbial activity still retaining its moisture. The device itself utilizes two carbon dioxide sensors and one humidity sensor (the long spindly things) which translate the detection of these chemicals into music. Because bacteria and fungi release carbon dioxide when they breathe – like us – the carbon dioxide sensors measure the “life” growing on the middle-aged and rotten strawberries. Finally, the humidity sensor measures the moisture released from the fresh strawberry – an indication of molding. When exposed to high concentrations of these chemicals, each sensor is programmed to play a certain role in the musical composition – keys, vocals, or the atmospherics. This means that though the device was given a certain criteria of what it should sound like – for example, the first carbon dioxide sensor should sound like keys – the data from the sensors naturally utilized the musical program without human interference. This data gathered from the growing microorganisms in the form of carbon dioxide and humidity measurements is what creates the music heard in the video. The Insentient Choir’s melody is based on the lyrics “there is an entire world in here” generated through the digital vocaloid “Alter-Ego”. These lyrics are repeated throughout the composition at a rate and pitch determined by the fungal and bacterial growth on the middle-aged strawberry. This phrase is used to translate the idea that despite being on a microscopic scale, the population of bacteria and fungi form an entire microcosm - complex and intricate. The Insentient Choir is an effort to use the pre-existing, strong emotional pathways of music in humans to connect deeper with organisms that we rarely think about and that are evolutionarily very distant from humans. It is important for our appreciation of nature that the complexity of these organisms – bacteria, fungi, and plants – is highlighted and recognized on a deep emotional level. The Insentient Choir gives us a glimpse inside the world of microorganisms and indication of their livelihood without a microscope.
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About the AuthorsThese stories come from several biologists working in the field around the globe. Archives
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