The Sentinel Self
Name
Sentinel Sensers
Population
75
Size
0.02×0.02mm
Role
Sensing out changes and picking up antigens to present to the Weeders
Sentinel Sensers
Meet the Sentinel Sensers! These tiny creatures, inspired by dendritic cells of the human immune system, roam around the body-world, sensing imbalances where bacteria or cells become too many ,and thus become a danger to the body.
Tasks
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The Sentinel Sensers seek out pathogens. When they find a pathogen, they pick up their antigen (squiggly yellow triangle) and take them to the lymph nodes (Big bubbles). There they present the antigen to the Sentinel Weeders. These are Cells that are inspired by T-cells in the human immune system, which we know to have an important role in the Adaptive Immune System. The Sensers and the Weeders enter into a kind of dance, looking for a match between the antigen and the Weeder's receptor. When there is a match, the Sentinel Weeders get instructions to go out and find the right pathogens, and "weed them out", so that the overall body ecosystem can return to equilibrium.
Impact of Microplastic Particles
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The Sensers, weeders and pathogens all are programmed to exist in a delicate balance, where the overarching goal is to create equilibrium. They all adhere to the same rhythm - the rythm of the body, and of all living matter.
This equilibrium and rhythm that guides the Sentinels is obstructed when they come into contact with microplastics, scattered into the world by the “Time Eater”. These microscopic particles have a fundamentally different oscillation than all the cells As Microplastics roam around the world, they attract the Sensers and get stuck inside them. This causes the Sensers to become slow and sluggish. If they are only impacted by a few microplastic particles they can still function, but might give other cells wrong information, with disasterous consequences for the body-ecology equilibrium. When they have ingested too much microplastics they eventually turn into fossilized eggs on the ground, dying away.
Inspiration from Real World Sentinels: Daphnia Magna
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The creatures in The Sentinel Self are inspired by human immune cells, as well as keystone species of watery ecologies.
The Sensers' shape and behaviours are partly inspired by the keystone species Daphnia Magna.
Traversing the water column on twitching wiggle paths, Daphnia, a.k.a. water fleas, are witness to their aqueous universe. The water molecules, light beams, temperature, pressure, pH levels, salinity, plankton, predators, friends, plants, particles, chemicals, and even ecotoxicologists: their sentient selves are well aware of their habitat. They know exactly what they’re doing and how to thrive. They know what to eat, who eats them when to hide, where to swim, how to grow, when to moult, how to reproduce, and when it’s time to die. Not only that, they sense the state of the water both in terms of physical-chemical quality and the biological company of other creatures.
Their day-to-day rhythm involves traversing at night to graze on the Phyto-goodies that have grown just under the surface in the sunlight and then returning down at dawn to avoid being on the menu of the hunting predators in the photic zone.
Daphnia have been called the 'canary in the coal mine' in ecosystem studies. When pollution enters the water, we see them react in a dose-dependent manner by changing their swimming behaviour, reproduction, growth, and sometimes even their status of being alive. They are sensitive creatures that react acutely to changes in water quality and, for this reason, have been signalling water quality for well over a century. Daphnia have been diligently participating in countless ecotoxicity tests in laboratories worldwide, helping determine the exposure concentrations of chemical pollutants that are safe or not safe for Daphnia. This data forms the basis of ecological risk assessment of chemicals. This is the way to understand when pollution is too much and when it harms individuals, populations, and ecosystems. When safety is at stake, Daphnia sentinels are on the look out for the equilibrium of ecosystems, increasing our understanding of ecology, and the appreciation for the quality of the environment that supports life.
When Daphnia reproduce, their eggs can stay dormant in lake sediments for decades before waking up and developing. Scientists have used 'resurrection ecology' methods to investigate these eggs as DNA caches for hundreds of years of environmental information.
By linking genetic changes over time with environmental changes, researchers can virtually see evolution take place through the prism of this one organism.(Source)
Inspiration from Real World Sentinels: Dendritic Cells
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To be continued...