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Refractive width bacteria make glittery liquid gems

motile bacteria leave just the right width traces to be refractive like CDs Thus they are visiblized On a petri dish they make moving vivid colors like a trip toy
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Motile bacteria like proteus leave traces along their path Engineering these bacteria to make path traces of just the right width to diffract light plus also engineering them to make goo (kind of like biofilm) would create sparkly diffraction tracks possibly visible to the human eye which can detect just one photon but presumably require more to register at the brain

Anyway just one proteus bacteria could make itself visible if it left the right width goo trail but also had the behavior of going on a raster path --->---->--->---->--->(@@@@@@@)

---<----<---<---<---<-

--->--->--->--->--->--^

at refractive width this would be all glittery like a CD

PLUS proteus move thus the glittery CD appearance would shift n change as you watched it like a bacterial trip visual

There is an additional socially beneficial use I think the raster path would change on exposure to various trace chemicals thus it is potentially a sensitive massively parallel visual chemodetector like um, to detect naughty things at airports

I thought of this as I was trying to think of a new type of bacterial talent The ability to actually attract a larger host or food even as just one bacteria insects learn things thus I thought if the refractive bacteria were beneficial plus visible to insects they would recognize then transport n host the bacteria One thought was that bacteria that make Octopamine which is the reward chemical of honeybee brains would be favored with bee visits thus rapidly spreading the refractive bacteria possibly from a single bacterium octopamine releasing cytokines might be even more effective at tiny doses

the colonies would look like little glittery liquid gems

but If it escapes then there is sparkly iridescent goop on a dumpster near you

beanangel, Mar 04 2009

movie of proteus moving http://shapiro.bsd....wavesreflected2.mov
[beanangel, Mar 04 2009]

gorgeous proteus http://www.math.uio...~ayati/proteus.html
[beanangel, Mar 04 2009]

Belousov-Zhabotinsky Jewellery Belousov-Zhabotinsky Jewellery
I probably jumped the gun using a non bacterial process - but this is essentially the same idea without the germs. [zen_tom, Mar 04 2009]

[link]






       saw the title in the recent view thought that this had to be a beanangel idea clicked on it and it was
neelandan, Mar 04 2009
  

       I like the concept[bean] - plus, it's given me an idea! [+]
zen_tom, Mar 04 2009
  

       //would be all glittery like a CD//
or that pot roast that's been in the fridge since last winter
FlyingToaster, Mar 04 2009
  

       doing this with slugs would make it bigger.
bungston, Mar 04 2009
  

       It'd have to be IP-6, and you might have to figure out ways of sub-netting different petri-dishes to avoid possible clashes, and the cabling is going to be a nightmare, but it might be possible, broadcast pings might generate dangerous amounts of traffic.
zen_tom, May 23 2016
  

       //cabling//   

       do it with Wi-Fi
neelandan, Jun 14 2017
  
      
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