Embracing Your Future: Flying Algal Ships

Hydrogenase by Vincent Callebaut

It’s July 2030. You are heading to Vancouver Island to deliver a presentation to the International Community Planning Committee in Victoria on your innovative biomimetic design for an organic self-organized wellness centre and recreation complex in Sydney.

You walk down the hill toward Horseshoe Bay to the nearest Hydrogenase Hub, where you are meeting with your team to discuss the presentation. The hub is a floating algal farm. The farm and the elongated seed-shaped airship docked at its centre both produce biofuel—essentially hydrogen—from the microorganism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Your mom, a former environmental consultant and algal scientist—now she writes science fiction—explained to you that this unicellular organism has both plant and animal properties; it carries out photosynthesis but is also heterotrophic (able to use organic carbon to grow) and will in the absence of oxygen produce gaseous hydrogen and metabolites such as formate and ethanol through hydrogenase enzymes. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was first discovered as a clean source of hydrogen back in 1939 by German scientist Hans Gaffron at the University of Chicago (ironically the same year Germany invaded Poland). Gaffron called it “photosynthetic hydrogen production by algae”; and today it is a process that produces electricity and biofuel with zero emissions.

Hydrogenase by Vincent Callebaut

freshwater alga Spirogyra

The algae farm recycles CO₂ for the bio-hydrogen airship you will be boarding after your meeting in the hub. You enter the airy station, whose honeycomb circular design resembles a stylized lily pad and glance up through the high nano-glass ceiling toward the elongated seed-shaped transport rising ten stories above you. The sun glances off the diaphanous double helix frame that resembles a freshwater spirogyra. The hub you’re standing in is a floating algae farm with solar cells on top and hydro-turbines below to capture tidal energy.

The concept is the “subversive architecture” of Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut and inspired by the principles of biomimicry, coined by Janine Benyus in 2002 in her book “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature”.  Callebaut conceived Hydrogenase in 2010 as a 100% self-sufficient and zero-emission transport system using algae. He claimed that a hectare of seaweeds could produce 120 times more biofuel than a hectare of colza, soya or sunflower without consuming land needed for crops or forests. He called Hydrogenase a true miniature biochemical power station. Able to absorb CO₂ as the main nutrient through photosynthesis the algae, under anaerobic conditions, produce hydrogen in vitro or in bioreactors.

  

Hydrogenase by Vincent Callebaut

You swipe your PAL over the ticket booth sensor and the optional ticket-brochure pops out. You take it and read the specs between glances at the tall vessel loading in the dock of the hub. It’s really like a vertical dirigible, you think, studying the seed-shaped airship with self-cleaning “intelligent” nanostructured glass—inspired by the lotus leaf that doesn’t get wet. The semi-rigid unpressurised airship stretches vertically around an arborescent spine that twists like chloroplast ribbons 400 meters high and 180 meters in diameter.

You read that each Hydrogenase airship is covered with flexible inflatable photovoltaic cells and twenty wind turbines to maneuver and collect energy. The interior spaces provide room for housing, offices, scientific laboratories, and entertainment, and a series of vegetable gardens that provide a source of food while recycling waste.
 You read that this self-sufficient organic transport flies about 2000 meters high at about 175 km/hr (twice the speed of a conventional ship). Given its ease in negotiating airspace and its ability to land and take off from virtually any location, the Hydrogenase is used by many groups in various capacities. Your friend Michael who teaches at the University of Victoria uses one as a mobile research station in his studies along the coast of northern British Columbia.  

Inside the Hydrogenase "balloon"

The vessel is made of “intelligent layers” and “self-separable ceramics”. Its bionic coating draws inspiration from sharkskin that is self-cleaning and flow-efficient.

You head down the spiral staircase to the third subsea level toward the meeting room you booked earlier on your PAL. The view is spectacular from here through the nano-glass panes. Rays of shimmering light stream through a gently swaying forest of kelp. You glimpse the sun-glinted flickering of hundreds of anchovies as they school through the kelp. This floating farm is an organic purifying station of four carbon wells where the algae recycle the carbonated waste brought by the airships and, in turn, feed the airship with biohydrogen. It’s the new “gas station”, you reflect with a smile.

top and bottom views of Hydrogenase

After your meeting with staff, you and three others of your team board the airship and settle in one of the skyview chambers. The journey is relaxing, like the BC Ferry used to be, but without the pungent smell and pollution of conventional motorized sea vessels. It’s a quiet and relaxing trip with a spectacular view of the Gulf Islands. Your team strategizes your presentation over a light lunch and Matcha lattes.

The PA system sounds and a woman’s voice informs you that the ship will be making an emergency landing on Saturna Island to rescue two hikers injured at East Point. This will only add twenty minutes to the trip, the woman assures you. You don’t mind and recall the disclaimer at the bottom of the ticket. Given the ability of this airship to take off and accurately land virtually anywhere, all Hydrogenases are by law mandated to be on standby for rescue missions in rough terrain.

You pull out the ticket and read again: The Hydrogenase is affiliated with the International Red Cross and BC Coastguard. The Hydrogenase must by law respond to any distress call at sea or rough terrain associated with coastal waters. Because of this service, we cannot guarantee a timely schedule.   

Hydrogenase hub algal farms and airships

You recall how Hydrogenases were deployed in the last hurricane disaster off the coast of Florida last year, saving countless people trapped in the flooding that accompanied the storm. The International Red Cross uses them as flying hospitals.

Bernard frets over the time delay. He is concerned about the lack of preparation and set up time once you get into Victoria. You assuage him gently. The best preparation is sincerity, you tell him. The landscape architect Thomas Woltz whose work you highly respect, saw himself as someone who embraces the complexity of modern life while seeking meaning and narrative in both natural and man-made environments.

Hydrogenase by Vincent Callebaut

“We’re storytellers,” you tell Andre. Invoking metaphor through design. “They know we’re coming and they know we’re helping someone; they’ll wait for our story. And it’s all about harmony.”

The lines of Henry David Thoreau come to you: Man’s life must be of equal simplicity and sincerity with nature, and his actions harmonize with her grandeur and beauty.

Then you point your PAL at the ServiceBot and order three more lattes. You lean back in your bamboo fabric chair and cross your legs over the leg rest.

It’s a new world. 

Kevin Klassen grabs a bite in Victoria Harbour

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.

Tesla, Frequency, Vibration and Bioresonance Healing Therapy

Nikola Tesla

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration—Nikola Tesla

Everything in life is vibration—Albert Einstein

The natural frequency of an object is associated with one of its many “standing wave patterns” by which it vibrates. The natural frequencies of a musical instrument are sometimes referred to as the harmonics of the instrument. An instrument can be forced into vibrating at one of its harmonics (with one of its standing wave patterns) if another interconnected object pushes it with one of those frequencies. This is resonance: when a second object vibrating at the same natural frequency as the first object forces it into vibrational motion. A common example is pushing someone on a swing. The Bay of Fundy experiences tidal resonance. Acoustic resonance can occur between a musical instrument and a human vocal cord. A crystal wineglass will shatter when exposed to a musical tone of the right pitch (its resonant frequency). Electrical resonance of tuned circuits in radios occurs when a certain radio frequency is received. Orbital resonance occurs when two orbiting bodies—like two moons or two planets (e.g., Neptune and Pluto)—exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other.

Most vibrating objects have multiple resonant frequencies.

the Tesla Tower at Wardenclyffe

Inventor and Engineer August Worley tells us that “resonance occurs when two or more tuned frequency systems interact in such a way as to induce an energetic transfer.”

Schumann Resonance (SR) is the global electromagnetic resonance that occurs as a set of peaks in the extremely low frequency (ELF) portion of the Earth’s electromagnetic field spectrum between 3 and 69 Hz, with distinct peaks at 7.83, 14.3, 20.8, 27.3 and 33.8 Hz. SR acts as a closed waveguide. It’s like a wave-bridge.

“So astounding are the facts in this connection,” said Nikola Tesla in 1899 of the Earth’s electromagnetic resonance—later named Schumann Resonance in 1954, “that it would seem as though the Creator, Himself had electrically designed this planet.”

"Tesla Towers" in Istra near Moscow

The normal standing wave created in the Schumann Cavity occurs at a wavelength equal to the circumference of the Earth, and at a base frequency (and highest intensity) of between 6-8 Hz (7.83 Hz). Some call this basic frequency the Earth’s “heartbeat” or the “tuning fork” of the planet, suggesting that it generates natural healing properties when living things are entrained to its rhythm. It turns out that all biological systems resonate at this same frequency range. The electrical resonance of the Earth lies between 6-8 Hz. This coincides with alpha rhythms produced by the human brain during meditation, relaxation and creativity. Dolphins produce sound waves that coincide with the Schumann Resonance Frequency of 7.83 Hz. According to the AquaThought Foundation, human contact with dolphins induces both alpha brain state and hemispheric synchronization in the brain. Dr. H. König, Schumann’s successor at Munich University, discovered that the dominant brain wave rhythm of all mammals is the alpha or resting state of 6-8 Hz.

When two vibrating systems resonate with each other, like the human brain and the global electric circuit, a rise in amplitude in the waves occurs. They are said to be in tune. They are resonating. Proponents suggest that a rise in amplitude causes a rise in our consciousness energy and that Schumann Resonance generates healing effects when living things are entrained to its frequency. 

The Tesla coil in Colorado Springs

Nikola Tesla certainly understood this when he intuited that energy waves in the earth and the atmosphere could be used to transmit power to any point on the globe. He understood that the surface of the Earth, the ionosphere and the atmosphere together form one gigantic electrical circuit—an electrified Gaia, so to speak—and this formed the basis for his work on wireless energy transmission. Tesla was able to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves and longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies (ELF) through the ground and between the Earth’s surface and the Kennelly-Heaviside layer of the ionosphere. Tesla patented wireless transceivers that developed standing waves and it was he who discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was about 8 Hz and in the range of the Schumann Resonance or Cavity.

Modern technology appears to be threatening humanity’s connection with earth’s fundamental frequency and the natural vibrations of Schumann Resonance. Threats include artificial man-made EMF radiation, wireless technology, and high frequency heating microwaves pulsed at 2.45 GHz. Whether we co-evolved with Earth’s natural electromagnetic environment or were created with Divine Intelligence to live in harmony with it, many experts believe that artificial man-made EMF radiation masks the natural beneficial frequency of the Earth and may create an environment that is literally `out of tune' with Nature itself.

Jenny sand

Cymatics, Evolution and the Power of Sound

A while back I wrote an article entitled “the Mozart Effect: The Power of Music” in which I discussed how music can heal the body, strengthen the mind and unlock the creative spirit. For instance, music with a pulse of about sixty beats per minute can shift consciousness from the beta wave (ordinary consciousness at 14-20 Hz) toward the alpha range (heightened awareness at 8-13 Hz), enhancing alertness and general well-being.

A film of turpentine subjected to sound waves

The study of cymatics, coined by Hans Jenny from the Greek word kyma (wave), explores how sound affects gases, liquids, plasmas and solids and how vibrations, in the broad sense, generate and influence patterns, shapes and moving processes. When sound travels through non-solids it moves in longitudinal waves called compression waves. In matter, the medium is displaced by sound waves, causing it to oscillate at a frequency relative to the sound, and visible patterns emerge.

Jenny was convinced that biological evolution was a result of vibrations, and that their nature determined the ultimate outcome. He speculated that every cell has its own frequency and that a number of cells with the same frequency create a new frequency, which is harmonious with the original, which in its turn possibly formed an organ that also created a new frequency in harmony with the two preceding ones. Jenny was saying that the key to understanding how we can heal the body with the help of tones lies in our understanding of how different frequencies influence genes, cells and various structures in the body.

Ancient Hebrew

Extending his tonoscope research into voice and language, Jenny discovered that when the vowels of ancient Hebrew and Sanskrit were pronounced, the sand took the shape of the written symbols for these vowels, while modern languages didn’t generate the same result. This has led spiritual philosophers to ponder if “sacred languages” (including Tibetan and Egyptian) have the power to influence and transform physical reality, to create things through their inherent power, or through the recitation or singing of sacred texts, to heal a person who has gone "out of tune"?

Physioacoustics and Healing BioResonance with the Pyradym

Since ancient times, low frequency sound was used in various forms to cause physiological and psychological effects. From the chant of Tibetan monks, to the Gregorian chant, to the Music of African tribes, and Australian aborigines; low frequency sound was used to calm, to excite, to relieve anxiety, to motivate warriors, and to induce relaxation.

Physioacoustics is a scientific method of applying low frequency stimulation to the human body to obtain desired emotional or physical effects. Physioacoustics may be thought of as the science that takes the active ingredients out of music, concentrates them, and infuses them in pure form to motivate or heal.

Researchers in Physioacoustics use sound waves in the frequency range of 27 to 113 Hz. Most research in Low Frequency Sound has been carried out in Scandinavia, England, and other parts of Europe . Since 1991 controlled studies in North America have demonstrated significant decreases in anxiety, tension, muscle spasticity, arousal states, and dramatic increases in relaxation and a sense of well-being. 

August Worley at Teslamania Toronto

I recently attended a festival dedicated to Nikola Tesla on his 158^th birthday at the Science Centre in Toronto. While I was there, I met August Worley, inventor of the Pyradym, a sound-healing instrument that uses the principals of physioacoustics. Shaped in the form of a pyramid, the self-contained electrically powered apparatus helps stimulate and facilitate the human body’s own self-healing.  

He build the bio-resonating Pyradym because, “it just seems logical to me that having a convenient and interactive way of treating our bodies to harmonious resonant frequencies can go a long way towards correcting some of the damage induced by our toxic environment. Consider the “envelope of frequency hash” being generated in our hostile electromagnetic environment. I believe we underestimate the refractory impact the EMFs being generated in our technologically-based societal environment is having to our immune systems, aside from what we ingest.”

Worley demonstrates the Pyradym

In a 2007 interview with Asheville reporter Bill Brackney, Worley revealed that, “a few years ago a widely circulated survey published the average life spans of people in various occupational groups. “Experts” were surprised to find that orchestral conductors were the longest-lived occupation in the survey. I read that and thought ‘why wouldn’t this be so?’ Aside from the obvious aspect of the aerobic activity of the involved upper body movement, they are being regularly washed at the cellular level in a shower of pure, harmonious resonant frequencies being generated right in front of them! In fact – they are essentially the focal point of all of the sound being generated by the orchestra, aren’t they?!”

“Resonance,” says Worley, “is a metaphor for the energetic expression of the Universe at its most fundamental level.”

We are a gestalt culmination of light, wave-pulse, matter and motion resonating with this beloved planet Earth and its water. Our minds and bodies “sing” its choral aria. I’ve heard it. Have you?

You can learn more about August Worley and the Pyradym at www.Pyradym.com. 

Relevant Articles of Interest:

Rupert Sheldrake and the Physics of Angels

The Mozart Effect: the Power of Music

Cymatics: Exploring How Frequency Changes the VeryNature of Matter and Energy

What Do the Planet Earth, the Human Brain andSchumann Resonance Have in Common?

Nina Munteanu is an ecologist and internationally published author of novels, short stories and essays. She coaches writers and teaches writing at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. For more about Nina’s coaching & workshops visit www.ninamunteanu.me. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for more about her writing.