What does a rise in innovative biotechnology and increasing numbers of poached rhinos yield? For Matthew Markus, the two were not mutually exclusive, and gave rise to the idea of growing rhino horns. Working with his own biotech start-up, Pembient, the biologist’s idea came to fruition in 2015, when their labs decided to start using the genetic makeup of rhino horns to reconstruct new ones made primarily of keratin. Currently, the method with the most potential to create viable replicas is tissue engineering. By providing a sustainable and competitive alternative to the rhino horns, Markus hopes to decrease the demand for the real thing, lowering the number of illegally poached rhinos. While the idea looks good on paper, the reality is that many alternatives already exist in places with large rhino horn markets, such as Vietnam, and the number of poached rhinos has not gone down. Many consumers of rhino horns purchase them because of their value in traditional medicine, and alternatives cannot supposedly provide those same qualities and health benefits. Nevertheless, Markus has received over USD$100,000 in funding; by honing in on creating an alternative of the highest quality, perhaps such bioengineered horns will stand up to authentic competitors.
Piaggio, A. J., Segelbacher, G., Seddon, P. J., Alphey, L., Bennett, E. L., Carlson, R. H., Friedman, R. M., Kanavy, D., Phelan, R., Redford, K. H., Rosales, M., Slobodian, L., & Wheeler, K. (2017). Is It Time for Synthetic Biodiversity Conservation?. Trends in ecology & evolution, 32(2), 97–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.10.016
Categories
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Illegal Resource Extraction
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies