Material experiments at the intersection of chemistry and art

A secret world hides beneath the surface of the sea, full of microscopic organisms that produce the majority of the oxygen we breathe on earth and are the foundation of the marine food web. Some glow with bioluminescence, some build crystalline shells; some, with millions of their kind, form natural wonders like the Great Cliffs of Dover. Others are toxic to humans, causing amnesia (Pseudo-nitzschia spp.) or paralysis (Alexandrium spp.). In large quantities, algal blooms can lead to eutrophication and environmental degradation, happening more and more frequently in the Sargasso Sea. What if there was a way to make something useful out of this excess? Algae has many applications - could we use it to replace fossil-based or animal-based items? Through iterative material testing and experimentation, I investigated how waste biomass could be transformed into a functional, bio-based material.