Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

BoredPanda Add post form topAdd Post Search
Tooltip close

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

Microbiologists Create ‘Starry Night’ And Other Art With Bacteria For First Microbe Art Competition
User submission
36.7K
55.8K

Microbiologists Create ‘Starry Night’ And Other Art With Bacteria For First Microbe Art Competition

ADVERTISEMENT

The American Society for Microbiologists recently hosted its first international ‘Agar Art’ challenge in which microbiologists from around the world used various microbes and germs to create beautiful works of art in Petri dishes. The submissions included famous paintings and classical artworks like Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ as well as original microbe paintings.

The scientists used nutritious agar jelly as a “canvas” for their colorful paintings. While they do add an element of randomness as they grow, they can also do things that paint cannot – some of these Petri dish artworks emit bio fluorescent light under certain conditions, while others, guided by the scientists, grew into perfect tree-branch patterns or jelly-fish tentacles.

For more about the process behind unique art like this, read about the work of Tasha Sturm, a microbiologist who used an agar dish to capture the germs on an eight-year-old boy’s hand.

More info: asm.org | microbeworld.org | Facebook

Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” Proteus mirabilis, Acinetobacter baumanii, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumonia

Flowering Sunshine, Shigella, Salmonella

First place: Neurons by Mehmet Berkmen and artist Maria Pernil, Nesterenkonia, Deinociccus, Sphingomonas

The Great Wave of Candida by Cristina Marcos, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida parapsilosis

ADVERTISEMENT

The Streptomyces Sky, Streptomyces coelicolor

People’s choice: Cell to Cell by Mehmet Berkmen and artist Maria Pernil, Nesterenkonia, Deinociccus, Sphingomonas

Third place: Harvest season by Maria Eugenia Inda, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Mushrooms, Nesterenkonia, Deinociccus, Sphingomonas

ADVERTISEMENT

Yeast Go Viral, S. cerevisiae, L-A virus

Cells, Nesterenkonia, Deinociccus, Sphingomonas

Second place: NYC Biome Map by Christine Marizzi, Escherichia coli K12

Jellyfish by Maria Penil, Nesterenkonia, Deinociccus, Sphingomonas, Bacillus

ADVERTISEMENT

Click here to learn about how Tasha Sturm made this microbe handprint with her 8-year-old son:

microbe-art-petri-dish-agar-contest-van-gogh-starry-night-american-society-microbiologists-39

56Kviews

Share on Facebook
You May Like
Popular on Bored Panda
Leave a comment
Popular on Bored Panda
Trending on Bored Panda
Also on Bored Panda