Tumgik
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Proposed Slime mould’s road network compared with Existing Colombian mainland road network.
By analysing the 9-plasmodium network, it is fascinating to see how they all have a unique way of connecting the different points. We can observe the similarities between the slime mould network with the existing Colombian road network by looking closer.
Areas where the slime mould network has similarities with the existing Colombian road network:
-B1: Monteria with Barranquilla (Route 25 + Tertiary Road).
-B2: Monteria with Barranquilla (Route 25 + Tertiary Road); Medellin with Monteria (Route 25 + Tertiary Road); Medellin with Cali (Route 25 + Secondary Road). 
-B3: Medellin with Armenia (Route 26); Armenia with Bogota (Route 40), Medellin with Cali and Cali with Pasto (Route 25).
-B4: Barranquilla with Bucaramanga (Route 45 and 78); Bogota with Ibague (Route 40); Manizales with Cali (Route 25). 
-B5: Monteria with Barranquilla (Tertiary Road). 
-B6: Monteria with Medellin (Route 25 + 62). 
-B7: Medellin with Manizales and Manizales with Bogota (Route 25 + 50); Manizales with Pereira and Pereira with Cali (Route 25 + Secondary Road). 
-B8: Medellin with Bucaramanga (Route 62 + 45 + 66). 
-B9: Medellin with Manizales (Route 25). 
2 notes · View notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Model 2 Experiment Process. Slime mould forming a protoplasmic network around Colombia mainland.
3 notes · View notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
After the previous failure, the mould is finally creating a protoplasmic network! If you can see Model A1 and A4 are not moving at all. I believe in A4 the big MDF Landscape is absorbing all the moisture the mould needs, whiles on A1, the mould is growing slowly feeding on its main source, Medellin.
On the other hand, Model A2, A3 and A5 are exploring their challenging terrain in search for more energy. Some of the protoplasmic network created on A5 can be compared due to its similarities with an existing Colombia’s road network, Via 62 and 45.
3 notes · View notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
After realising the MDF Boxes and the exposed wooden table was absorbing all the moisture in the air the moulds needed to survive, I decided to cover up as much as I could of the wood with cling film to stop it stealing all the moisture the mould needed. The desk was cover completely, and instead of using the MDF boxes to keep the mould in the dark environment, I decided to cover it with black bin bags.
1 note · View note
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Initial Experiment going through a reproduction phase?
A little of for what I think more bad news but this time coming from the Initial experiment. After finding out that the main experiment failed due to the mould drying out I decided to check the initial districts to extract some of the good moulds to begin the experiment once again.  But I got surprised when I saw most of the districts were also drying out completely or for what it looked the diploid plasmodium was going through reproduction phase. Due to not knowing if the Plasmodium was drying or just going through a reproduction process, I decided to not take the risk so some of the good plasmodia got separated to be used in the main experiment whiles the rest was placed in new clean containers with fresh oats and water to increase the humidity in the environment.
It is very interesting to see part of the life cycle of this plasmodial slime mould with my own eyes. The life cycle of this incredible creature starts with the germination of a meiospore. Through a slit or pore, around one to four uninucleate haploid biflagellate swarm cells or myxamoebae are released under wet and humid conditions and later under the opposite, drier conditions. The process of fusion between two swarm cells or myxamoebae followed by karyogamy results in the formation of a diploid uninucleate zygote. This zygote starts feeding on bacteria and organic matter synthesizing more protoplasm; it continues its successive divisions of the diploid parent nucleus with the aim of changing into a multinucleate amoeboid mass protoplasm known as the Plasmodium. The young diploid plasmodia combine with several zygotes or other plasmodia to form a large plasmodium which becomes a massive structure called the Macroplasmodium or Phaneroplasmodium.
After the Plasmodium is mature enough it enters into the reproductive phase which I believe it can be seen especially in D2, D3, D6, D7 and D8. During this reproduction process the slime layer dries, the quiescent plasmodium thickens whiles the diploid protoplast concentrates at a few points forming a mound-like structure. This structure is formed by stalked sporangium which later on cleaves into numerous young spores containing a diploid nucleus. After the spores undergo meiosis to form meiospores it matures enough for it to released and dispersed the meiospores by the wind. When it falls on a suitable substratum and conditions the meiospores germinates to release swarm cells or myxamoebae which fuse in pairs to form a new zygote and re-establishing the diploid condition once again.
1 note · View note
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Overview of Experiment 1 & 2.
As mentioned before, the main experiment consist of analysing and comparing how slime mould connected in particular two of the major cities in Colombia; Medellin and Bogota. The idea of this experiment is for me not to get inspiration from nature but more of a chance for me to design with nature.
After obtaining the multicellular reproductive structure data I was going to compare it with the existing road network between those two major cities to find out if there was a possibility of similarities between the mould structure with what's been done and of course if there was a possibility to re-design the road network following the mould advice but things did not go as planned...
At the beginning when I was planning the experiment set up I was only thinking of providing the mould with a nice dark and warm space but I was not taking in consideration the performance of the materials being used. For the initial experiment, the mould was growing nicely even better when I added a bit of water to create moisture in the environment when it came to the main experiment I did add a bit of water to stimulate the mould but it did not go through my mind that the 3D Timber topography models or the boxes were going to be absorbing all the moisture causing the mould to dry.
Yes, unfortunately after three days the mould was completely dry. I think the main cause was due to the timber absorbing all the moisture around it which is pretty important and something that I should had thought before deciding to use MDF which at the time was a great idea as is cheaper and the outcome is a solid colour model compared to plywood. On the other hand, I also believe maybe the reason for the mould to not grow was that there was not much of it? by looking at the initial experiment I can observe the only time when the moulds did not propagate was when there was not much of it from the beginning. (more suggestions of why it didn’t grow are welcome!)
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Overview of the Initial Experiment Part II.
As mentioned in my previous post, as the districts were growing I had to continue subculturing them.
New Districts Conditions:
-D9: Part of D0 facing down + Wet environment.
-D10: Part of D0 facing down + Dry environment.
-D11: Part of some mould found outside containers + Wet environment.
-D12: Part of some mould found outside containers + Wet environment.
-D13: Part of D0 facing down + Wet environment.
The best environment to grow slime mould is in a humid and dark space with temperatures between 20°C and 26°C. District 9, 10 and 13 were aggregating together to form multicellular reproductive structures nicely but District 11 and 12 went in a different direction, the organism started to dry after the second day and by the 5th day, it was completely dry. As you can see the difference between them and the other districts are the size of the mould and the conditions they were placed. For the other districts, I used a minimum of 20 mm sq. piece to start the colony and they all came on a piece of the agar plate. An agar plate contains agar as a solid growth medium plus nutrients for the mould in which D11 & 12 lacked. I believe either the size of the plasmodium or the lack of nutrients/humidity stopped the multicellular reproductive structure to grow which is very helpful to consider for the main experiment.
2 notes · View notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Overview of the Initial Experiment.
As already stated the Initial Experiment consisted of experimenting with the mould's behaviour in different environments. This experiment was done so I could be familiarised with this living creature prior to the main experiment.
For subculturing, the mould was placed in containers of 83 x 83 x 30mm.
District Conditions:
-D0: Original Active Physarum before subculturing.
-D1 & 2: Looking up + Dry environment.
-D3 & 4: Looking up + Wet environment.
-D5: Looking down + Dry environment.
-D6: Looking down + Wet environment.
-D7: Looking up + Old Colonised oats + Dry environment.
-D8: Looking up + Old Colonised oats + Wet environment.
Analysing the subcultured Slime mould's growth I can see dry or wet environment conditions didn't affect its aggregation together to form multicellular reproductive structures. The reproduction structure was moving up to 20 sq. mm per day which was a bit of an issue for having them in such a small container as the mould was propagating quite fast. As you can see in District 0, after subculturing it to create more Kingdoms I had to move it to a bigger container to prevent the outspread of the for once was consider a fungus but the mould was big enough to run away within days; Therefore I had to subculture it into more districts (Pictures can be found in the upcoming post).
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Ready to let the Slime mould do wonders connecting Medellin with Bogota and its surroundings!
EXPERIMENT 1: This model consists of four CNC topography models inside boxes. Each Colombia's topography model is inside a clear acrylic box working as petri-dish. This box will allow me to observe the organism grow but also prevent it from populating/colonising the other colonies. The four colonies are inside an MDF box whose purpose is to provide the mould with its ideal environment.
The dimensions of the models are: -MDF box's internal dimensions - 666mm x 512mm x 100mm(h). -Each small acrylic box's internal dimensions - 170mm x 100mm x 60mm(h). -Big acrylic box's internal dimensions - 620mm x 340mm x 60mm(h).
EXPERIMENT 2: This experiment consists of three laser-cut Colombia's topography. Like the other models, each one will be inside a clear acrylic box to allow me to observe and analyse the experiment plus it will also help to stop the mould going outside its perimeter. The three models will be also placed inside an MDF box to create a better environment for the slime mould as it prefers dark spaces.
The dimensions of the models are: -MDF box's internal dimensions - 578mm x 256mm x 60mm(h). -Each acrylic box's internal dimensions - 210mm x 160mm x 30mm(h).
As one of Colombia's topography models is very detailed there was a risk a lot of it was not going to be done by the CNC machine so I decided to have a 3D printed one to play safe however the CNC machine did a pretty good job.
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Video
Building Time! This video shows the process of putting together all the pieces I brought from Cardiff. The model consists of two timber boxes with several models inside where the Slime mould is going to be placed to allow it governate.
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Architecture Life... Feeling like I was going on Holidays... But no...
Last Friday, I was able to go to university to pick up the models for the main experiment. It was the right timing as the models were ready before new strict lockdown rules were announced the same day at 6 pm. Thank God I decided to go straight after they were ready to pick up but also to bring a suitcase because the 30kg wood was not fun to carry back to London but, it made it easier having four wheels.
Picked up objects from University: -CNC Colombia's topography model. (x7) -3D Printed Colombia's topography model. (x1) -Laser-cut Colombia's 2D map in 3mm Acrylic. (x4) -Laser-cut 3mm Acrylic Boxes. (x7) -Laser-cut 6mm Timber Boxes. (x2)
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
-D1 & 2: Looking up + Dry environment. -D3 & 4: Looking up + Wet environment. -D5: Looking down + Dry environment. -D6: Looking down + Wet environment. -D7: Looking up + Old Colonised oats + Dry environment. -D8: Looking up + Old Colonised oats + Wet environment.
-D0: Original Active Physarum before subculturing.
The container dims where the organism was placed for subculturing are 3.3 x 3.3 x 1.2 Inch.
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Video
As is the first time of properly working with this organism I ordered an active Physarum Polycephalum as well as an inactive from Blades Biological Ltd. to have a backup. To get familiar with the mould I decided to multiply the active organism to learn what's its preferred caring conditions according to my room environment. In this video, you can see how I am subculturing Physarum from an active culture.
Steps followed to subculture the organism. -Move the organism to a new plate/container by using a scalpel or metal forceps. -Before using it, It is very important to sterilize the blade by dipping it in 70% ethanol or isopropanol and then briefly passing it through a flame. -After sterilizing the blade cut  1 cm square of plasmodium containing agar from the active plate. -Place the square on the new plate with the plasmodium side facing down. -Add around ten oat flakes to the plate so the plasmodium can start obtaining the energy needed. -Place the new colony into a sealed plastic bag with the lid side up and in a dark location.
Important **When not using a petri dish please remember not to close the container completely as the organism needs oxygen to survive so I recommend leaving a corner open but checking it every day to prevent it from running away.**
As you can see in the video, I decided to subculture the mould in different ways stated below. -District 1 & 2: The 1 cm square was placed looking up in a dry environment. -District 3 & 4: The 1 cm square was placed looking up but in a wet environment. -District 5: The 1 cm square was placed looking down and in a dry environment. -District 6: The 1 cm square was placed looking down and in a wet environment. -District 7: The square was placed looking up in a dry environment but with old colonised oats. -District 8: The square was placed also looking up with some old colonised oats but in a wet environment.
I will let the districts grow while I finish setting up the main experiment involving using the topography between Medellin and Bogota. For more information please drop me a line and I will be happy to answer. Also advice, critics, etc. are more than welcome :)
1 note · View note
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Video
Due to Covid-19, I'm unable to have a designated space in university or the right equipment to carry out and monitor the experiment. Therefore I had to create my own one in the living room... I built a 600mm x 1220mm desk with a homemade tripod across/over the worktop to be able to record the experiment from above. The tripod has an adjustable LED Lamp which will provide me with great lighting for the recording of the Slime mould progress without having any unwanted shadows around.
0 notes
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Finally, My Physarum Polycephalum has arrived! 
Also know as Slime mould, it can be found in nature in a variety of environments, but most commonly in cool, humid, dark places such as leaf litter or other organic debris in forests. Physarum is an intriguing organism that can be used to introduce, discuss, or reinforce many subjects, including life cycles, mitosis, meiosis, sexual and asexual reproduction, cytoplasmic streaming, chemotaxis, simple decision making, basic navigation, a mechanism for survival in stressful environments, cell structure, and developmental biology.
It has drawn the attention of people outside the traditional area of biological research including those who study networks and artificial intelligence due to its ability to navigate using relatively complex strategies to find and to form networks between different sources of food.
I will be using this incredible creature to help me re-design Colombia's road network especially the road infrastructure between Medellin and Bogota. Its design will be later on analysed and compared with what has been built and potentially suggest a new way of looking/working on early design stages where the need for technology is not much needed.
1 note · View note
jhonsebastianvc · 3 years
Video
youtube
This short/long video shows the process/pain of producing Colombia's topography. Due to covid-19 I was not allowed to use the media lab at Cardiff University so I had to prepare everything in details for the technician at the lab to Laser cut, CNC and 3D print it for me. The materials I'm using are MDF for the Topography and the External Box and Clear Acrylic for the internal box diving the models. This Acrylic box will stop the bio-technology (in this case, it will stop Physarum Polycephalum (Slime mould) from getting outside of its borders. 
To get Colombia’s topography is a bit tricky as a lot of those documents for not saying all of them are private and to obtain them a big fee is applied. The way I did it for free is not 100% accurate but is very close to it. Due to the scale I am working on, 100% is not needed but for small topography models, I recommend to use https://cadmapper.com/ .If you are interested in knowing how I did the model of the topography between Medellin and Bogota, the links are provided below! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvlzxXOdnFA
https://tangrams.github.io/heightmapper/#8.875/5.4394/-74.5116
1 note · View note