Tentacle tunes: In Sweden, a musician known for building unusual instruments turned a home aquarium into a tiny music studio. Instead of practicing alone, he designed a keyboard that could be pressed by an octopus using its arms. The setup took patience, with time spent letting the animal get used to the instrument and its surroundings before any sounds emerged. Progress came slowly, helped by simple rewards that encouraged repeated movements across the keys. Over time, short patterns replaced random taps, creating something that resembled a tune. The project drew attention through online videos that showed careful training, steady progress, and an unexpected mix of music, design, and animal behavior.
Living canvas: In labs around the world, artists practice agar art, building pictures by guiding the growth of bacteria and fungi. Their work begins in shallow dishes filled with agar, a clear gel that lets microbes spread and form color as they multiply. Rather than brushing strokes, creators place tiny samples with care and then wait as shapes slowly appear on their own. Different organisms grow at different speeds, which adds texture and contrast. The results range from animals to abstract scenes, all shaped by living material. An annual contest run by a microbiology group has helped bring this practice to a wider audience. The process blurs the line between experiment and artwork in a way that keeps surprising viewers.
