Team:Cambridge/Human Practices

One of the plates of V. phosphoreum we prepared.

Human practises encompasses the social ethical and legal considerations of our work. We imagined how our particular project might impact on peoples lives as well as thinking about the wider issues of the way we practise our science and share our findings.

Futures

We spent a day early in the project imagining how engineered artificial bioluminescence might be used in the future.

Applications

Our thoughts on using biological light sources led us to consider the concept of sustainability. Would our lighting be better than conventional devices in this area? and where might it be useful? We also considered the prospect of using our light production in biosensors (after a talk from 'Practical Action'*). Coupled with a light sensor our parts could provide a bridge between biological and electrical circuits.

Knowledge Recycling

Sustainability considerations in end design also led us to consider the sustainability of the way we conduct our research. The theme of recycling echoed strongly throughout or project due to the desire to recycle luciferin substrate in project firefly and more generally with considerations of minimising the environmental impact of our work. Recycling of physical materials is vital for sustainability but do we treat our intellectual property in the same way? Do we give the ideas we have the maximum chance of being taken forward and used to promote further thought rather than reaching intellectual dead ends?