Living camera uses bacteria to capture 100 megapixel photos
Up until now there's been a slight gap in high-end digital cameras: once your taste for megapixels surpassed the 16 that supposedly make the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II better than film, and the 34 and 39 megapixels from Leaf and Kodak, respectively, your only recourse used to be starting your own country or company to try building a ginormous sensor of your own in the vein of Better Light's 144 megapixel monster or Fermilab's 500 megapixel beast. Well a team of researchers at UCSF, lead by Chris Voigt, may have found a nascent contender for the triple-digit megapixel market. Apparently they have modified E. Coli bacteria to act as together as a de facto photosensitive sensor and produce astounding 100 megapixel-per-square-inch monochrome images. Before you get too excited, besides only being capable of black-and-white photography, this living camera needs four hours to take a photo and only works in red light. Appropriately enough, one of the first pictures taken using these primitive organisms was of the flying spaghetti monster, a character used to mock proponents of intelligent design.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TheChaz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
All the Pastafari can feel the work of His noodly appendage in this.
Noah @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
Strange, well I guess it's cool they found another use for E. Cloi!
dk @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
Ya but I wonder what noise is like at ISO1600?
BEETROOT @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
All hail our lord and savior, the spaghetti monster! We bow before your noodly appendages.
sdsdv10 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
FYI, the Better Lights 144 megapixel monster link doesn't work.
Benjamin Prosnitz @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
Proof that He exists!
Dick Davies @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
I heard a crazy rumour that soon you'll be able to get cameras that use *actual molecules* as pixels.
Think it's called 'photographical film', or something like that.
Terry Freedman @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
OK, I know they're "only" bacteria, but isn't there a moral question about using living creatures to act as cameras?
Teve Torbes @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
I notice they say "black and white" and not "greyscale". Will there be any remotely practical use for a bacterial photosensor besides being mildly interesting?
oddsends @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
I whole-heartedly disagree with you(terry freedman), but if you are going to argue such a silly point, the first in line should be yeast. They are sentenced to death the moment they hit store shelves!!! Do you see how silly that sounds?
kjartan @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
lol anyone read "Prey"?
Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
It sounds cruel in a way but they reproduce so fast anyway so who cares? Kill them, smash them, put 'em in a stew. BAC-TE-RI-A.
I am still waiting for the age that camera's ceist to exist and something new comes along.
Homer J @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
Arrrrrrrr
FFT() @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
Whew!!!!! I'm glad this article was here. If I would have found this camera sitting on the ground somewhere I may have thought that it naturally evolved. This sounds pretty complex. Given a few billion (make that trillion) it may have happened on its own.
bob bobson @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
The e.Coli camera, astonish your friends with great pictures and diarrhea.
detachment2702 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
"lol anyone read "Prey"?"
These new cameras are just a small part of a master plan for our noodly overlords to take over the world :tinfoilhat:
stewf @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
http://www.venganza.org/
mark davis @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
praise his graceful noodles and may he touch each and everyone of you...
RAMEN
mb @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
#10: hah, was just thinking that.
Max v W @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
What about the 2.5 Gigapixel photo, visible to you over here: http://www.tpd.tno.nl/smartsite966.html
I mean you got to admit, it's pretty impressive.
bgroves @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
what about this bad boy?
http://www.gigapxl.org
b
detachment2702 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:38AM
#19
Most people dont see that thats just a panoramic picture, it wasnt actually taken with the one camera at the same time(as many articles showing the picture lead you to believe)