Rubik’s cube as an art metaphor of synthetic biology

The well-known Hungarian 3d puzzle known as Rubik’s cube celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. It was designed in 1974[1] by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes have sold world wide making it the world's top-selling puzzle game.

The mathematical permutations of the cube are astonishing, the cube is said to house 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possibilities (approximately forty-three quintillion). Grass roots society’s exist solely for the mastering of this unique puzzle.

Aside from being a Hungarian pride, our team viewed the cube as a meatphore for synthetic biology. At the heart of the game is synthetic design, which allows users to alter it’s predefined shape in order to achieve a unique and colorful three dimensional structure.