Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA

 

According to this article, Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA by Tia Ghose, Dewey-Hagborgtook collected a bag of human leftovers to Genspace, a community biology lab in New York City. After analyzing the DNA for identifiable traits, she used a computer model to predict the faces of the people who left them and used 3D printing to recreate those faces.The art reveals the wealth of personal information that could hide in seemingly anonymous pieces of trash. Dewey-Hagborg argues that this genetic information needs to be protected. She developed a way for people to wipe away their genetic traces.

The two-part product, called Invisible, consists of two chemical solutions. The first, called Erase, removes 99.5 percent of genetic information. The second solution, called Replace, essentially scrambles the genetic signal by cloaking it with a kind of DNA noise.

The chemical solution is actually on sale, and contains a mix of simple chemicals such as bleach. The recipe for Invisible is available open-source on Dewey-Hagborg's website, biononymous.me.

 http://www.livescience.com/50146-art-genetic-data-privacy.html