Literature, Ethics, Tools

23.10.2018

Literature

Intro

• Mycorrhizal Networks or How I Hack Plant Conversations

Ethics

Draft DIY-bio Code for ethics from European congress

• Transparency. Emphasize transparency and the sharing of ideas, knowledge, data and results
• Safety. Adopt safe practices
• Open Access. Promote citizen science and decentralized access to biotechnology.
• Education. Help educate the public about biotechnology, its benefits and implication.
• Modesty. Know, you don’t know everything.
• Community. Carefully listen to any concerns and questions and respond honestly.
• Peaceful Purposes. Biotechnology must only be used for peaceful purposes.
• Respect. Respect humans and all living systems.
• Responsibility. Recognize the complexity and dynamics of living systems and our responsibility towards them.
• Accountability. Remain accountable for your actions and for upholding this code.

Tools

Microscopy

"Principle of immersion microscopy. Path of rays with immersion medium (yellow) (left half) and without (right half). Rays (black) coming from the object (red) at a certain angle and going through the coverslip (orange, as the slide at the bottom) can enter the objective (dark blue) only when immersion is used."(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_immersion)

• Basic Microscope Setup and Use
• Microscopy with Oil Immersion

In light microscopy, oil immersion is a technique used to increase the resolving power of a microscope. This is achieved by immersing both the objective lens and the specimen in a transparent oil of high refractive index, thereby increasing the numerical aperture of the objective lens. Immersion oils are transparent oils that have specific optical and viscosity characteristics necessary for use in microscopy. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_immersion)

• Further read and how to: http://www.micrographia.com/tutoria/micbasic/micbpt07/micb0700.htm

Microscopic Photography

The first step is to find a subject, in my case, I want to work with Polycephalum/physarum an allowed sample in the laboratory and with samples that will be brought by my colleagues.

Types of photography with a microscope:

• Köhler Illumination: neutral and uniform backlighting, helps to maximize the contrast and resolution in the image.
  • https://www.zeiss.com/microscopy/int/solutions/reference/basic-microscopy/koehler-illumination.html
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYP0uBxE0AA
• Darkfield: makes an object glow against a black background by using a darkfield condenser into the microscope (there are to types; dry or oil condenser).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-field_microscopy
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw557w421is

DIY Microscopy

• GMU:DIY-Microscopy
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pQG9h8-nvQ

Electronic Tools

• File:Martin-howse.pdf
• File:Arduino-tutorial-analog.maxpat
• Arduino. https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/PWM

Tool Kit

• Mycorrhizal Networks or How I Hack Plant Conversations

References

• My Collaboration with Bacteria for Paper Production [PDF]
• Miya Masaoka, Pieces for Plants, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AHOEcAprc8
• Martin Howse, Radio Mycelium, http://libarynth.org/parn/radio_mycelium
• Laura Popplow, Fungutopia, http://www.fungutopia.org/
• Paul Stamets, Life Box, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8CMsB4jLLc
• Donna Haraway, Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene,

Chthulucene: Making Kin, http://environmentalhumanities.org/arch/vol6/6.7.pdf

• Riedel-Kruse Lab, Biotic games: https://web.stanford.edu/group/riedel-kruse/