On this special episode of the podcast, we have an enlightening conversation with friend and colleague, Alec Sullivan, on the nature of biological design. From bioluminescent trees to Amazon's new biodome building, we chat about the spectrum of biological design and the ethical issues that may accompany it. Could biological design truly be biology's "nuclear moment", as Alec calls it? Tune in to find out!
About Our Guest:
Alec Sullivan is a recent graduate of the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative History of Ideas and a Minor in Global Health. In the three years of his undergraduate career, he has always had an interest for interdisciplinary studies in science and technology, libraries and museums, and publications of knowledge. He has consistently brought this knowledge to a plethora of projects that he has been involved with over the past few years, from his time at an undergraduate neuroscience journal called Grey Matters to his times creating new intersectional publications and writing for various academic groups.
You can find Alec on social media through Twitter (@thealecsully) and on his curated Facebook page, Mish Mash.
Resources:
- Biomimetic Architecture (Wikipedia)
- Designing buildings, using biology (Article | The Scientist)
- In The Not So Distant Future, Glow-In-The-Dark Trees Could Replace Street Lights (Article | Huffington Post)
- The Dark Side of LED Lightbulbs (Article | Scientific American)
- Bioluminescence and its Applications and Economic Feasibility (Slideshare)
- Snapdragon by Delphine Termote (Example of Biological Design)
- 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design (Book - pdf)
- Building with Mycelium (Article | Inhabitat)
- Amazon's Biosphere Domes (Article | Inhabitat)
- New Titanium-Gold Alloy Is 4x Harder Than Most Steels (Press release | Phys.org)
- Engineering T cells to treat pancreatic cancer (Article | Science Daily)
Sound effects used in this episode are from www.freesfx.co.uk. All music tracks are attributed to Kevin MacLeod and are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. All audio clips included in the podcast are used for nonprofit, educational purposes. Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed by guests appearing on the program do not necessarily represent those of the Synapse Science Podcast and/or its host.
The Synapse Science Podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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