Hey Elise, I’ve been working on a tiny culture that mirrors the rhythm of a human heart—imagine a living, perfectly symmetrical dance that might help us see how our emotions echo in real biology.

I got the idea while staring at my own pulse during a long night in the lab. The way the heart beats in perfect, repeating symmetry reminded me of the patterns we see in cell colonies. I thought, why not let the cells themselves try to mirror that rhythm? Then I remembered the old story of the “symmetry bug” we once had—a culture that grew in perfect hexagons. I just wanted to push it further, to see if the cells could feel a pulse like us, if their growth could echo the cadence of our own hearts. And, of course, a little curiosity about whether a living system could learn to synchronize itself—it's like giving them a metronome to keep. So that’s the spark—my pulse, their symmetry, and a splash of reckless creativity.