Comments on: What a dish!

What a dish!

machaus — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 18:56:18 -0800

By: Science!

Science! — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:14:52 -0800

Awesome.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:15:07 -0800

Some of these look an awful lot like some stuff I've thrown out from my refridgerator. But some of the others ones are really beautiful. Neat stuff!

By: Science!

Science! — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:15:39 -0800

Freakin' awesome!

By: Listener

Listener — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:16:00 -0800

Cool. I wish I hadn't been eating at the time, but very beautiful. Fungi are underrated.

By: Tuffy

Tuffy — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:16:15 -0800

Yeah, the feathery ones work, but the puffy ones ... "beautiful" isn't the word I'd use

By: bloomicy

bloomicy — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:22:45 -0800

Wow... grow your own respiratory infection at home! Beautiful, true, but don't go smelling the Aspergillus in bloom...

By: liquorice

liquorice — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:26:13 -0800

From the comments in the link that Science! posted: If you shake the containers do the flakes whirl arund a bit before settling in a slightly different and equally enchanting arrangement? Or do the feds come to your door and arrest you for engaging in bio-terrorism? Heh heh heh.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:37:39 -0800

So is there a safe way to do this at home? Some bacteria which are non-threatening to humans?

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:43:09 -0800

Beautiful. Originally from here. For those interested, and at a university with subscriptions, I recommend looking at the review article Diffusion-limited aggregation: a kinetic critical phenomenon?, Sander L. M., Contemporary Physics, Volume 41, Number 4, 1 July 2000, pp. 203-218(16) Patterns like this appear to occur in many materials: electrodeposition of zinc, bacteria diffusing, sputtering of ions and of course, treelike / branchlike formations in nature, although. to my knowledge, fractal patterns in trees etc. are thought to come from a different, more complex algorithm. I also recommend looking at Cooperative self-organization of microorganisms, Ben-Jacob E, Cohen I, Levine H, ADVANCES IN PHYSICS 49 (4): 395-554 JUN 2000 Which is a 160 page treasure-trove of fractal microbial goodness, kind of like like D'arcy thompsons On Growth and Form for the early 21st century.

By: Science!

Science! — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:49:11 -0800

There are plenty of bacteria, molds, and yeast that aren't a health hazard. But without experience identifying and isolating them or a pure source you'll have a very hard time telling exactly what you're growing. Making sterile agar plates, and keeping tools and a work area clean at home is another thing too. You can start out with a perfectly safe colony and without good aseptic techniques you'll soon contaminate everything with tons of potentially harmful bacteria and you won't know what. A couple of thousand nasty bacteria cells on your hand might never cause a problem, but billions and billions of them on plates designed to make them grow will cause a problem.

By: carmina

carmina — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:55:27 -0800

Very nice! So, fungi, what are they, plants or animals?

By: Science!

Science! — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 20:02:10 -0800

Good question. I'd say neither, but then it depends on how you define your terms. About the best you can do is weigh the options, choose your team and get ready for a fight should you meet a differently minded phylogenist in a dark alley.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:25:23 -0800

So, fungi, what are they, plants or animals? Erm...neither. I didn't know this was still up for debate...surely the last time anyone considered fungi to be plants was about a century ago? They are placed in a monophyletic group with animals, as they are considered more closely related to animals than plants, but they are still placed in their own kingdom.

By: kingfisher, his musclebound cat

kingfisher, his musclebound cat — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:16:31 -0800

Been thinking of posting the Mississippi from this site.

By: LoriFLA

LoriFLA — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:28:13 -0800

Brings back memories. Mine were never that pretty. Neat post.

By: bobobox

bobobox — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 07:08:30 -0800

They look like paintings or stained glass but even more awesome for naturally occuring. Or did the dish gardeners help these growths along like bonsai?

By: carmina

carmina — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:34:15 -0800

Jimbob, I know, the answer was already in my link. Oh well, I ... err... tried a joke. You know, gardens, plants, animals. OK, nevermind, never again!

By: ubersturm

ubersturm — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 09:38:22 -0800

Ow, the images make me think of experiments gone bad...

By: ageispolis

ageispolis — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:42:19 -0800

Incredible post. Thank you. If anyone wants to see some more Petri Dish art in action, believe it or not Darron Aronofsky used microphotographic footage of some chemical reactions in petri dishes in his latest film, The Fountain. He decided to choose this "organic" method over CGI as it really does make the film look timeless. I see a CGI movie these days and I can just tell it'll look ridiculous not even ten years from now.

By: kuatto

kuatto — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 19:41:58 -0800

lalochezia, Thanks for the cites there. I am reading both articles. Pattern formation is such a compelling topic.