🪸 In my hand, I’m holding a piece of bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus), a seaweed commonly found along the Wadden Sea coast. The small, round bladders are not fruits but flotation organs. They help the seaweed stand upright in the water so its flat fronds can catch as much sunlight as possible. This is essential for photosynthesis – the process of turning light energy into nutrients.

🌊🫧 The bladders are filled with a mixture of gases. This is mainly oxygen, which the seaweed produces during photosynthesis, and nitrogen, which diffuses in from the surrounding seawater. Carbon dioxide, which the seaweed needs to grow, is almost absent because it is used up immediately. Thanks to this high oxygen content, the bladders provide enough buoyancy to keep the seaweed floating, allowing it to capture as much light as possible even at high tide or in murky waters.

🧫🔬 From a biological point of view, Fucus vesiculosus is a brown alga. It belongs to a group called the Fucales within the family Fucaceae. Even though it looks like a plant and makes its own food through photosynthesis, it is classified in a broader group called Stramenopiles, which also includes diatoms (tiny plankton) and some organisms that don’t photosynthesise at all. How exactly brown algae fit into the tree of life is still being studied, and researchers continue to discuss their relationship to other algae and to the ancestors of land plants.

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Fungi, algae and moss 🍄‍🟫🦠✨️

⛰️ Moss and lichen carpet in the Baltrum grey dunes

🔍 Cladonia portentosa is a shrub-like lichen whose main body consists of fungal tissue. It is one of Germany’s specially protected reindeer lichens. Lichens are always in a symbiotic relationship with algae or cyanobacteria. In a thin layer within the thallus – the body of a lichen – tiny green algae (mostly Trebouxia species) carry out photosynthesis, supplying the fungus with nutrients. In return, the fungus protects the algae from drying out and provides them with a habitat – a partnership that enables survival in the dry, nutrient-poor dunes.

🌍 Here, the lichens often grow alongside heath star moss (Campylopus introflexus). This moss is not native to Baltrum but originates from the Southern Hemisphere (southern South America, South Africa, southern Australia, New Zealand). Since 1975, however, it has spread widely and is now the dominant moss species on the island. Together, moss and lichens form a resilient ground cover that anchors the dune sand and, in many places, shapes the characteristic appearance of the island’s grey dunes.

🍄‍🟫 A single mushroom

🏐 In the last picture, I show a mosaic puffball (Handkea utriformis, also known as Lycoperdon utriforme, Lycoperdon caelatum, or Calvatia utriformis). This species is common across the northern temperate zones and is typically found growing alone or in small clusters. It prefers sandy, open grasslands or heathlands and is often encountered in coastal areas. The fruiting bodies usually appear from summer into late autumn.

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Synaptic Optic (2008)

A fictional / symbolic representation:

The green "flower" represents an algae in resemblance of a neuron. The spiral stands for light and transformation and acts here as a technical component. The wires reveal a neuron. The star-shaped one is the soma and the closed circle is the cell nucleus. The chain-like shape is the axon. Overall, the wire mesh is intended to represent a neuromorphic computer.

Neurons can be controlled optogenetically. Optogenetics is a method that allows neurons to be activated or inhibited by light. This is achieved by genetically introducing light-sensitive proteins into the neurons. The genes for this come from algae and bacteria.

When I created the picture, optogenetic techniques, where light is used to specifically activate neurons, made significant progress and opened new possibilities for controlling neural activity.

There were also major developments in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), with both non-invasive methods like EEG and invasive techniques such as implanted electrodes being refined to extract precise brain signals. Robots and other devices began using these signals to perform human-like movements or assist people with disabilities. Machine learning was increasingly used to decode these brainwaves and turn them into actionable commands. Artificial intelligence helped analyze neural patterns and translate them into actions, taking the interaction between humans and machines to a new level.

These advancements seemed no longer just futuristic but immediately achievable. The idea of merging human biology with technology was fascinating and offered a glimpse into a future that was already becoming a reality. Today, this topic remains a source of endless creative and technological possibilities, continuing to shape not only how we understand the world, but also how we interact with technology and how it is transforming our society and lives.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.