Andrew Pelling: This scientist makes ears out of apples
Andrew Pelling's unconventional and creative scientific process is founded on play. Full bio
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for old electronics,
turn things on and off.
into an awesome robot.
a lot of stuff out of garbage,
have even been kind of useful.
to amuse myself.
so I just made it part of my day job.
biological research lab,
and exploration above all else.
on any particular problem,
any particular disease.
and find answers.
to build the equipment they need
from around the world
we value unconventional ideas,
I was taking it apart,
in some new and creative way?
tell me what fruit this is?
That's right -- it's an apple.
than most apples.
we grew human cells into it.
Macintosh apple,
after removing all the apple cells
their shape and texture.
the apple cells used to be.
that you can see in blue.
these guys start multiplying
of how our own tissues are organized.
these scaffolds into the body,
and a blood supply
when people started asking me,
body parts out of apples?"
to the right place."
of wood carving for a living.
literally carve some ears
in the ear-manufacturing business.
on this for decades.
really expensive and problematic,
from proprietary products,
to make these things.
can be built from garbage,
only requires soap and water.
the instructions online as open source.
a mission-driven company,
to make it easier
and a soldering iron
about is if one day,
and augment our own bodies
your pee smell funny.
and I was noticing
the stalks of these asparagus,
are all these tiny little vessels.
forms these structures.
of our nerves and spinal cord.
down these channels?
to form new connections
and severed nerves.
working on this.
really promising pilot data.
that's all around me on this stage
my lab is involved in
of me playing with your garbage.
of my scientific practice.
to be unconventional and to be creative
are looking at some old,
piece-of-crap technology,
to get in touch with me,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Andrew Pelling - BiohackerAndrew Pelling's unconventional and creative scientific process is founded on play.
Why you should listen
Scientist, professor, entrepreneur and TED Fellow Andrew Pelling has built a career on unapologetic curiosity, creativity and serendipity. He is a professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa, where he founded and directs a curiosity-driven research lab that brings together artists, scientists, social scientists and engineers. The lab uses low-cost, open source materials and methods to explore speculative living technologies of the future. He has, for instance, created human body parts made from plants and grown living skins on LEGOs -- innovations with the potential to replace prohibitively expensive commercial biomaterials.
Pelling is also the co-founder and CTO of Spiderwort Inc., a mission driven company developing open source platforms to enable the widespread and global adoption of biological research in all environments and economic contexts. Most recently, he founded pHacktory, a street-level research lab in Ottawa that amplifies community ideas through a potent mixture of craft, serendipity and curiosity.
Pelling's work has been in the international media spotlight for many years, with recognition in outlets such as Wired, Huffington Post, NPR, Scientific American, Popular Science, BBC, Der Spiegel, Deutsche Welle and others, as well as numerous highlights in the Canadian media and Scientific media. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016.
Andrew Pelling | Speaker | TED.com