Living Systems & Environmental Science

Understanding and developing appropriate technologies for sustainable living through hands-on research, experimentation, and community science. As beginners building practical knowledge across multiple domains, our research focuses on documenting, testing, and adapting low-tech solutions while using our nursery as a primary living laboratory for environmental and biological systems. We conduct extended experimentation periods testing integrated systems under real-world living conditions rather than controlled laboratory settings, with crisis response protocols for system failures and environmental stresses.

Core Research Areas

Community Environmental Monitoring & Citizen Science

We're trying to build hyperlocal monitoring capabilities using DIY equipment, citizen science methodologies, and satellite and public data validation.

Research Focus: Building accessible laboratory and monitoring capabilities for plant biology, soil science, and environmental observation using DIY equipment and citizen science approaches. Our nursery serves as a primary living laboratory for systematic documentation and experimentation—understanding microclimate patterns, plant performance, soil health, and ecological relationships. We combine community-generated ground-truth data with open geospatial data (satellite imagery, weather patterns) to create high-resolution models of hyperlocal environmental systems that larger institutions miss.

Things to Ponder Upon:

Big Picture

• What environmental patterns exist at neighborhood and microclimate scales that larger institutions miss?
• How can citizen science contribute to broader environmental understanding while building hyperlocal knowledge?
• What does it mean to validate satellite imagery with ground-truth observations from the people who actually live there?

In Practice

• Building effective community-scale monitoring with accessible, repurposed, and DIY equipment
• Finding tools that help community members collect scientifically valid data without feeling like lab technicians
• Figuring out which plant varieties, growing techniques, and ecological relationships perform best under our specific local conditions
• Learning to cross-reference what we observe in the nursery with existing research

Integrated Low-Tech & Living Systems

We are trying to design and test closed-loop systems where biological organisms work together with resource infrastructure using proven appropriate technology adapted for local conditions

Research Focus: Designing and testing integrated living systems where multiple organisms (plants, mushrooms, larvae, beneficial bacteria etc.) work together with resource infrastructure (water, energy, waste, nutrients) in closed cycles. We adapt proven appropriate technologies from labs like low-tech Lab's biosphere experience through hands-on building and extended testing/experimentation, focusing on systems that use local materials and can be maintained by community members.

We also research and document traditional practices from the Indian subcontinent. Knowledge systems validated over generations that address similar challenges of resource cycling, seasonal adaptation, and community maintenance. This includes studying traditional water harvesting, agricultural practices, food preservation, and waste management techniques that can inform and integrate with modern appropriate technology approaches.

Things to Ponder Upon:

Big Picture

• What does it mean for waste to find a home—for every output to become someone's input?
• How do traditional practices from the Indian subcontinent encode ecological wisdom that addresses the same challenges we're tinkering with?
• Which traditional practices have been lost or marginalized that could be revived for current conditions?
• How can traditional ecological knowledge be documented and integrated alongside modern approaches without extracting it from its context?

In Practice

• Trying closed-circuit water systems that integrate food production with climate control
• Multi-species cultivation experiments: spirulina for thermal regulation, mushrooms on local organic waste, black soldier fly larvae for waste processing
• Playing with human-powered systems—pedal generators, washing/exercise combinations
• Solar electric setups: cookers that are supposedly 5-10x more efficient than conventional, 12V networks for the basics
• Biogas production and dry sanitation adapted for monsoon conditions and urban density
• Running extended experimentation periods (3-6 months) with daily usage validation and crisis response protocols for when things go wrong
• Studying traditional water harvesting systems (stepwells, johads, eri, kunds) and adapting them for contemporary contexts
• Learning from traditional agricultural practices: mixed cropping patterns, seed saving, lunar/seasonal calendars, companion planting
• Experimenting with traditional food preservation and fermentation using local ingredients
• Understanding vernacular construction and passive cooling: mud architecture, courtyards, jaali screens—how do they keep things cool without electricity?
• Figuring out which local materials and maintenance approaches ensure systems last beyond the initial enthusiasm

Human-Nature-Technology Symbiosis

Experimenting how computing and technology can enhance rather than replace direct ecological engagement and traditional environmental knowledge, helping urban communities develop deeper relationships with local ecosystems. Beyond technology for nature, we're also interested in the broader research space of biology as computation and bio-digital interfaces—where living organisms become partners in information processing rather than just subjects of observation.

Bioelectricity & The Bioelectric Code: All cells—not just neurons—generate and sense electrical signals. These form bioelectric circuits that guide body development and regeneration. Morphogenesis as computation: cells collectively process information through voltage gradients to build and repair anatomical structures. Ion channel manipulation can reprogram these developmental outcomes. This is active research territory with homelab-accessible entry points through planaria regeneration experiments—flatworms that can regenerate entire heads from tail fragments, demonstrating remarkable biological information processing.

Biodata Sonification: Converting biological electrical signals into sound or MIDI data. Plants, fungi, and other organisms produce continuous electrical "chatter" through galvanic response and conductivity fluctuations. DIY biosonification circuits (Arduino + electrodes, galvanometers) let you "listen" to plants and mushrooms—not as mysticism, but as a way to observe real-time electrical activity that's otherwise invisible. The patterns are surprisingly dynamic and responsive to environmental changes.

Biological Computing: Living organisms as computational substrates rather than silicon. Slime mold (Physarum polycephalum) famously solves optimization problems—finding shortest paths through mazes, recreating efficient transport networks—through its growth patterns. This isn't metaphor; it's genuine unconventional computing that outperforms some algorithms on specific problem types. Accessible through agar + oat flake experiments.

Interspecies Communication & Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI): Technology designed with animals as users, not just for human observation of animals. Animal agency in technology interaction—bio-acoustic interfaces, touchscreens for non-humans, soundboards that let animals initiate communication. What does it mean to design an interface when your user doesn't read, doesn't have hands, and processes information on completely different timescales?

Biological Information Storage & Memory: Living systems as information carriers—DNA storage, bird song encoding cultural information across generations, slime mold "remembering" and anticipating periodic events despite having no neurons. How do brainless organisms store and retrieve information? What can this teach us about memory and computation?

Things to Ponder Upon:

Big Picture

• What computing paradigms support seasonal and cyclical rhythms rather than constant, always-on interaction?
• What would it mean for urban dwellers to actually feel connected to local ecosystem rhythms through their devices?
• What can biological systems teach us about computing that silicon can't? Living systems are fault-tolerant, self-repairing, massively parallel, and run on remarkably little energy.
• How do living organisms store and process information without centralized control? No CPU, no clock, yet complex coordinated behavior emerges.
• What does it mean to "communicate" with an organism that doesn't use language? When does data exchange become communication?

In Practice

• Designing interfaces that surface ecological rhythms—monsoon patterns, flowering cycles, bird migrations—rather than them being just notifications.
• Building monitoring tools that encourage going outside and observing, not just checking dashboards
• Finding the balance where technology supports direct engagement with nature rather than substituting for it
• Building simple biodata sonification setups to "listen" to plants and fungi (DIY circuits with Arduino, electrodes, and basic amplification)
• Running planaria regeneration experiments to observe developmental biology and bioelectric pattern formation
• Using slime mold as a living optimization solver—maze solving, network design problems
• Creating capacitive interfaces that respond to plant touch (plants as living sensors/switches)

Key Research Connections & References

• Resources
  • Low-tech Lab: Corentin de Chatelperron's documentation of solar cookers, water filters, biodigesters, and other specific technologies. Also see Biosphere Experience.
  • Appropedia: Open-source tutorials for appropriate technology and sustainability solutions
• Labs
  • Genspace: Community biology lab models for accessible biotechnology and citizen science
  • UC Santa Cruz Agricultural Experiment Station: Agroecology research and campus living laboratories
  • Saket Lab: The Saket Lab at the Koita Centre for Digital Health, IIT Bombay, develops statistical methods to explore key questions in the biology of human diseases
  • Levin Lab: Michael Levin's research on bioelectricity, morphogenesis, and developmental biology as computation—accessible papers and talks on the bioelectric code
• Organizations/NGOs/Initiatives
  • Radiant Earth Foundation: For expertise in open geospatial data and machine learning for earth observation
  • NCF India
  • Green Hub India
  • Centre for Science and Environment (CSE): Documentation of traditional water harvesting and environmental practices across India
  • Honey Bee Network: Grassroots innovation documentation and traditional knowledge preservation
  • Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL): Database of traditional knowledge from Indian systems
• Events
  • CHI(Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems): Premier HCI venue, Critical and Sustainable Computing subcommittee. Also see SHCI, HCBI
  • ACI Conference: Animal-Computer Interaction research community—papers on designing technology with animal users
• Products
  • PlantWave: DIY MIDI Sprout circuits for converting plant electrical signals to sound; open-source schematics available for Arduino-based builds.