Turning Science into Art: Check Out Tal Danino's Beautiful Bacteria

I first came across Tal Danino 's bacterial plates photography years ago when Seed Health launched their website. I had never seen a probiotic company illustrate so beautifully the wonders of bacteria. I loved these microbial patterns so much that I got inspired to make watercolor reproductions of several shots. So when I saw a couple of months ago that Tal Danino's lab was issuing a photography book of these works, I ordered it right away.

Beautiful Bacteria, Encounters in the MicroUniverse is a unique and fantastic blend of art, education and science, stemming from the idea that showing the beauty of microbiology can attract and sensitize people about its importance in our lives and for our planet.

"Beautiful Bacteria is a book that allows humans to connect to and learn from something that has been everywhere since the dawn of life - but has remained unnoticed largely because it was never seen as a form of beauty" says Vik Muniz in the foreword.

The book offers a story of the microuniverse in 11 chapters with a few pages to introduce and inspire about the influence of microbes from the origins of life to the current work of the lab, programming microbes, and our coexistence with microbes from the womb to the skin, the gut, our homes, and our soils. Every chapter is gorgeously illustrated with plated bacterial art corresponding to the habitat discussed, always accompanied with a caption, and usually with the species we're staring at.

Part 1, the Microuniverse, focuses on the origins of life, the identification of bacteria, the dynamics of their growth and the study of their evolution from single cells to complex colonies.

"Throughout history, humans have selectively bred animals and plants to appeal to our sense of beauty - so why not microbes ? Why can't beautiful bacteria not only serve to communicate scientific principles but inspire new and creative directions in scientific research as well ?" - Tal Danino.

Sometimes these beautiful bacteria are pathogens - and I find it all the more interesting to find myself admiring them, their patterns, their colors, contrasts and movements. Like this one!

The writings are also beautifully crafted, full of awe for the abilities of microbes, transmitting the love and admiration of the Danino lab. When speaking of quorum sensing and similar complex interactions among bacterial communities, the author writes : "these phenomena demonstrate the capacity of microbes to transcend individuality and manifest collective intelligence in their pursuits". That has always been a subject of admiration for me too. I will always remember my first visit to Probiotical over 10 years ago, when Marco Pane explained that during fermentation, when bacteria reach a certain concentration, they inhibit their own reproduction. I was bewildered - how incredible it is that these tiny brainless cells are smarter than us in their management of demographics and resources!

"These phenomena demonstrate the capacity of microbes to transcend individuality and manifest collective intelligence in their pursuits" - Tal Danino

In Part 2, we look at bacteria within us: from before birth to the ways they thrive on our skin and in our gut - and of course, that comes with lovely questions about their position in our sense of self.

"From birth, each of us is an ecosystem composed of more bacterial cells than human cells. What does this do to our notion of self ? And how do we define our own species when what makes us truly human... is other organisms?" - Tal Danino.

Bacteria within can also include probiotic bacteria, and although the species is not specified, this shot of a probiotic strain is mesmerizing:

Part 3 looks at bacteria around us, in our homes and soils. It sensitizes the reader about the importance of the soil microbiome in farming and in the future of our societies.

"Beyond its extraordinary diversity, soil is one of the most important ecosystems that we depend on for food production, energy, and economic prosperity. Soil can be considered in some ways more valuable than oil, but while critical to our society, it has become unappreciated in the increasingly city-dwelling world that is disconnected from the land beneath it." - Tal Danino.

But my watercolor interpretation is nowhere close to the real thing ^^

As the authors put, "these microbes contribute to essential functions of the planet such as decomposition, carbon and nutrient cycling, disease suppression, and regulation of plant growth." Ineed, and I see this first hand at Cybele Agrocare where we produce microbial biofertilizers and biostimulants supporting plant growth and resilience in the face of climate stress. Soil biodiversity, like gut biodiversity, is a marker of health as plants can recruit their symbionts as needed. There are farming practices that cater for the soil microbiome, like no-till and using organic fertilizers.

The book also presents bacterial communities likes and dislikes of each other, sometimes using a warfare lexical, with some invaders taking empty territory and coexisting near the previous communities, other times antagonistic relationships form and the different bugs refuse contact altogether.

In the inspiring Part 4 on Bacteria and our Future, we learn more about Tal Danino's lab works in engineering bacteria for purposes of interest and combining molecular technology with AI to invent new microbes altogether.

"Researchers have evolved or synthesized entire genomes of bacteria using automation, sparking the potential to program microbes completely from scratch" - Tal Danino.

And, like in the videogame Horizon, this kind of engineering potentially offers a new, miniaturized way of storing data, at a whole new level: "other researchers are using DNA of bacteria as storage devices, with one gram of bacterial DNA capable of storing all the world's data that has ever been generated."

"This new relationship between humans, microbes, and machines is unlocking unprecedented possibilities, allowing for the artificial generation beyond what is realizable in the biological and physical world. This synergistic exploration reflects on fundamental perspectives of the human condition and interactions with living and nonliving entities that speak to our collective futures." - Tal Danino.

This journey from the origin of life to the future of our civilization from the lense of bacteria is a door-opener to shift the vision of the public. As we take in these views with great awe, we learn to see the small as beautiful and open our minds to the greatness that microbes grant us. Thanks to them, whether we know it or not, science is more than knowledge, and we are more than humans.