BioArt and Public Sphere Conference

SymbioticA
"SymbioticA Biotech Art Workshop"
Paul Rabinow
"Contemporary Nature: On Modernism and Romanticism in Paul Klee, Gerhard Richter, and Synthetic Biology"
Jens Hauser
"Bio Art - Taxonomy of an Etymological Monster"

Gabriella Coleman
"The Performance of Rationality: Psychiatric Survivors Critique of Bio-medical Psychiatry"

*Definitions
[Compiled with help from www.answers.com]


CROSS-CATALYSIS
Catalysts accelerate a chemical reaction by providing a lower energy pathway between the reactants and the reaction products. This usually involves the formation of one or more intermediates, which cannot be formed without the catalyst. Cross-catalysis occurs when two different groups /products catalyze each other's synthesis (in contrast to autocatalytic cycles, whereby the product of a reaction catalyzes its own synthesis). The opposite of a catalyst is an inhibitor , which slows down the rate of a chemical reaction.

SYNERGETIC SYMBIOSIS
Synergy - the working together of two things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects; Joint work toward a common end
Symbiosis - an intimate association between two or more organisms. The term is usually restricted to a dependent relationship that is beneficial to both participants (also called mutualism) but may be extended to include parasitism, in which the parasite depends upon and is injurious to its host; commensalism, an independent and mutually beneficial relationship; and helotism, a master-slave relationship found among social animals (e.g., the ant and the aphid ).

FERMENTATION
process by which the living cell is able to obtain energy through the breakdown of glucose and other simple sugar molecules without requiring oxygen. Aristotle believed that grape juice was an infantile form of wine and that fermentation was, therefore, the maturation of the grape extract.

SURFACE TENSION
a phenomenon at the surface of a liquid caused by intermolecular forces. Because of surface tension, various small insects are able to skate across the surface of a pond, objects of greater density than water can be made to float, and molten lead when dropped into a cool liquid forms suddenly into shot.