Team:Weimar-Heidelberg Arts/Project/Vestibulizer

Using the Vestibulizer, it is possible to cure damage to the vestibular system, or to compensate for specific conditions leading to disturbances in rotational and positional sensing. Disorientation in a drunken stupor, motion sickness, sea sickness, nitrogen narcosis and the increasingly important space sickness are problems of the past.

The Vestibulizer consists of many bacteria that attach themselves to the hair cells in the inner ear, which is a part of the vestibular system and thus controls the sense of spatial orientation. These bacteria are synthetically modified so that they sit at right angles to the hair cells and swim forward when receiving a command. By distributing bacteria around many hair cells, it is possible to correct every conceivable problem that a person might have with their sense of balance. The bacteria receive information about the position of the body from chemical messengers that are produced and interpreted by a kind of gyroscopic compass bacteria, which make up the second part of this two-component system.

A treatment lasts for a month and is easily renewed. There is no risk of developing a tolerance to either component, so the Vestibulizer will work just as well after years of use.

Technical Description

The Vestibulizer consists of many bacteria that attach themselves to the hair cells in the cupula of the vestibular system. Their movement can be controlled by chemical messengers, thus influencing the user's sense of balance and spatial orientation.