It's Super Mario, a la Bacteria Culture

[John Funk]

It's Super Mario, a la Bacteria Culture

If you could engineer bio-luminescent bacteria to glow certain colors, don't try to tell me you wouldn't try to create Mario's iconic Super Mario Bros sprite.

Let's say you were a member of a team that entered the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) [http://2009.igem.org/About], and were given the task of creating art with biological components - specifically, luminescent bacterial cultures. What would you do?

If you were a member of the team from the nanobiology laboratories at the as seen here [http://2009.igem.org/Team:Osaka]. The bacteria are genetically engineered to "express fluorescent proteins and carotenoid pigments to create works of art," which is fancy science talk for "They make the bacteria glow pretty colors."

The New Scientist [http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/microbe-art/1] has some more of the pieces, and while some of them are mind-blowingly gorgeous and impressive (I'm particular to the photo of Albert Einstein), none of them are Mario. So clearly, the Osakans win.

(Joystiq [http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2009/12/16/see-mario-transformed-into-bacteria/])

Permalink

 

[similar.squirrel]

This is why I'd like to do something biology-related in college. I will lead humanity through many epochs of advancement and..zz.

Neat, though. I would've made an X-parasite =p.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Scikosomatic]

sweet

 

[dalek sec]

Now that's just awesome.

 

[Doug]

Soon, we'll breed a race of super-human servants to do our bidding. And then everything will be fine. Honest. No rebellions or nowt!

 

[oppp7]

This is pointless.
I can get behind this kind of science.

 

[Disembodied_Dave]

That Einstien one is amazing.

 

[BonerMacTittyPants]

Science.

Fuck yeah.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I'm so tired, I actually thought the Owl on the "You can see more pictures like this at __ " picture was done in bacteria cultures. My jaw dropped and everything. And then I realized. Bugger I need to take a nap...

 

[narutorules44]

these guys have way to much free time

 

[TotallyFake]

these guys have way to much free time

Now that's just typical of the internet. Someone does something bloody difficult, requirng a great deal of time, effort, and some advanced science. Then you come along and shit all over their achievement? Tell me, what was the last thing YOU genetically engineered.

 

[Andronicus]

The Einstein one looks fabulous, but I like the look of the apple tree at the end. The one where the artist actually cultivated the bacteria from his own body was pretty cool too, if just a little creepy.

 

[Jared]

sweet

That is pretty sweet.

What you can do is your bored in a lab!

 

[cheeseraven]

Ha! My biotech teacher showed us one of a beach scene a little while ago. THIS WILL BLOW THAT OUTTA THE WATER!

 

[Graustein]

Soon, we'll breed a race of super-human servants to do our bidding. And then everything will be fine. Honest. No rebellions or nowt!

And they will look like 8-bit Super Mario. And it will be glorious.

 

[Retodon8]

At first glance I only noticed the red (overall) shape and thought it was supposed to be a Space Invader. Only after checking the title and looking properly I realized the different shades of green weren't random colour variations. Of course my roots lie with Atari, not Nintendo.

This is an interesting, and nice looking way of using bacteria.

 

[Shru1kan]

these guys have way to much free time

Now that's just typical of the internet. Someone does something bloody difficult, requirng a great deal of time, effort, and some advanced science. Then you come along and shit all over their achievement? Tell me, what was the last thing YOU genetically engineered.

Thank you.

I am impressed, but I would have to agree with the x-parasite suggestion.

 

[DreamKing]

Neat, though. I would've made an X-parasite =p.

We would have to make Metroids first. And before that we would need find a way to create an ice beam.

 

[Scrythe]

Spoiler: Make a Metroid next!

[HEADING=1]You know you want to.[/HEADING]