I’m very much looking forward to seeing your midterm presentations!

Before we move on (drum roll) – I was at MOMA and one of the videos on view was Workers Leaving the Googleplex and it struck me that investigative lens has a similar scope to midterm assignment.


What is synthetic biology and can it help us solve some of the ecological issues our planet is facing?

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology -What it is and Why it Matters  by Alistair Elfick and Drew Endy (read 1-5)

Can synthetic biology save the planet?

Class Challenge:

  • Independently write down your greatest fear about the future’s environment and then under it a value that would combat that fear. 
  • Draw an image of an plant, micro-organism, animal etc.  that embodies the value you just wrote down
  • In small groups – pool the animals and using Bing’s AI  Image Creator  create a “Chimera” that represents a combination of the values you stated.
  • Class Feedback

On engineering crops … Holding multiple truths simultaneously.

Vandana Shiva: How to decolonize the global economy

Can we engineer crops to withstand climate change?

Nature X Oxman Deezen article

MIT LAB Neri Oxman

Discuss Project ideas

Go over article:

Atoms are local: Industrialization of biotech vs. the biologization of industry by Elliot Hershberg

Homework: Begin your subject research. Collect links and sources as you will need them for you bibliography.

Citation and Formatting

Depending on your focus you should either use APA citation formatting or IEEE citation. Here is a cite generator that automates the process:

https://www.citethisforme.com/citation-generator

For game design refer to MDA for product design – using mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics as categories.  Consider your audience, the development process, and the solution.