Gallery: To Save Our Ecosystems, Will We Have to Design Synthetic Creatures?
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In *Designing For the Sixth Extinction* Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg imagines a reality where scientists design synthetically-made organisms to save nature.
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The Self-inflating Antipathogenic Membrane Pump treats the infection that causes Sudden Oak Death by pushing a antipathogenic serem into the infection.
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The Bioaerosol Microtrapping Biofilm traps airborne pollutants and viruses.
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Note that Ginsberg designed wrote the organism descriptions like patents.
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Though it looks like a utopian solution to our ecological problem, the project is more a critique of how we might use synthetic biology to solve our man-made problems.
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The Mobile Bioremediation Unit is a pH sensing device that helps neutralize high soil acid caused by pollution.
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The Autonomous Seed Dispenser looks like a porcupine but was developed in the lab to dispense seeds from local plants and promote biodiversity.
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Ultimately, Ginsberg’s project is an attempt to temper the blind utopianism that sometimes accompanies technological advancements.
