Sugar blood level Emoji  Sensor

“24/7”

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Faking it with a pulse sensor

This project is about creating sensors that humans don’t have, this particular idea goes around physical response that humans have but I’m afraid we are not very conscious on how to read this signs or be more aware of them. The body surely does, but these signs are not easy to immediately perceive or track without help. The body surely responds to changes and it’s aware of them, it gets sick or gets healthier but is mostly a silent process.

Thinking about what I wanted, the heart kept coming, to trace your hearth or those of your loved ones, or keep track or your mood. Are you happy? Are you melancholic? For some reason this new place I’m now part of (ITP) is always busy, always moving, full of energy and alive. As alive as it is, it transforms our lives around it, we have new habits, new clocks, new food and I have to ask. How does this reflect on our health?. Is it good, bad, are we drinking too much caffeine, not enough water and vegetables, is the stress normal or is it doing harm? What that represents for our lifestyle and self-care? If signs were visible of such changes would be a good thing? Would we take action upon possible harmful and invisible habits? What I want, its to explore the idea of a sensor (or multiples) that makes health changes visible, from tracking down our heartbeats to follows sugar and alcohol intake, see if you are hydrated or stress and transform this data into visual information that is not scary an easy to act on.

This is all speculative although I do want to explore and see how far can I take this idea to more real outcomes.

When I was little my family often travel to my grandmother’s farm, the weather was always warm and humidity was hight. back then I was easily amazed as often as I was bored (this still happens as an adult) but more often I found myself playing with a field full of Mimosa pudica or dormila (Spanish) I was absolutely convinced the plant could feel, that she was shy and somehow me bothering it was ok. Once I even tried to see how long it took to the plant to wake up again, but the ants climb on through my legs and that was the end of it.

The New York Times article about the use of anaesthetics on plants had an effect on me, put it next to the article about the discovery on networks made out of fungi, that connects, communicates and nourishes trees on forests and your world freeze. This fungi realm seem like a neurological system of its own, the forest its this big brain working at full speed. What know? What if they are concise and the dormilona of my childhood was very pissed with me and send word to other dormilonas about me through her roots, what if I somehow created discomfort or pain?

Whats remarkable about the present moment is that we got to this point and in particular this phenomenon thanks to the technology we have at hand. The neurons drawing we saw on our first day were possible because of the technology available at that time. These resources have moulded our understanding around living organisms and just imagine what we’ll find out tomorrow or the day after. One thing is sure, we are going to have difficult conversations in the future if plants indeed have conscience and forest are brains. In the meantime, I’m gonna get my hands on some Mimosa pudica seeds.

I have butterflies in my head, at least my CT scan corroborated these let’s say the poetic statement of my lack of concentration. But the fact that my brain tries to make sense of what surrounds me, through connections of what I know or have experienced before its by itself remarkable enough.There is so much information on how the brain works that its just painful, and then my brain starts thinking about it thinking and thousands of electricity flickers through my brain and everything is this constant loop of understanding all the physical, biological and chemical ways the brain works. How can neurologist sleep? I would be in this looping state forever.  The name of the Santiago Ramón y Cajal exhibition at the Grey gallery it’s more than accurate. The brain is indeed beautiful.

I went again to this exhibition, took more time to see his charcoal trace, his handwriting, the mistakes, the side notes and its fair to say it had an impact on me. I wanna get myself a microscope, play with a silver tint, put myself for a moment in his path but from an illustrator point of view, instead of that of an anatomist. What if it’s not only brain tissue but it’s about mapping biological wonder our entire body, to create a complex/beautiful map of as many tissue samples from different parts of the body. Maybe I should try it…Don’t you think Cajal’s work is similar in sentiment from that of Ernst Haeckel?

– Under construction –