VandenBrooks’ Lab

VandenBrooks is consulting on McKean’s Atmosphere, studying how varying amounts of atmospheric oxygen over geologic time influenced the physiology, development, and evolution of animals. Photo: Fathomers

VandenBrooks is consulting on McKean’s Atmosphere, studying how varying amounts of atmospheric oxygen over geologic time influenced the physiology, development, and evolution of animals. Photo: Fathomers

 

John VandenBrooks is a consultant in the developent of Michael Jones McKean’s Atmosphere, a Twelve Earths installation which involves replicating an ancient atmosphere within an enclosed environment. In April, McKean and members of Fathomers’ team traveled to VandenBrooks’ research lab at Midwestern University, in Glendale, Ariz., where he studies how varying amounts of atmospheric oxygen over geologic time influenced the physiology, development, and evolution of animals.

In lab experiments, VandenBrooks manipulates the composition of his research atmosphere by varying the amount of oxygen, nitrogen, and/or carbon dioxide released into the chamber by individual gas tanks. A four-channel gas regulator monitors and controls the percentages. Sensors within the chamber detect gas levels in real time, enabling the regulator to automatically make slight adjustments as needed to maintain a constant atmosphere.

The atmosphere in the chamber that simulates present-day Earth contains 21 percent oxygen. Cockroaches live on the top shelf; fruit flies live in the vials below. Other environments in VandenBrooks’ lab contain 31 percent oxygen — akin to the Carboniferous Period, about 300 million years ago — and 12 percent oxygen, the lowest level present on Earth’s surface since the existence of animal life. Cockroaches born and raised in chambers that contain 31 percent oxygen can be seen to increase in size by 20 percent in one generation.

A concurrent project is underway in VandenBrooks’ lab to investigate the emerging role of the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) as a vector for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever transmission in Arizona. Dog tick samples are geo-coordinated with a map of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Atmosphere is currently imagined as one of a dozen sites in McKean’s long-term, planetary artwork, Twelve Earths.

documentation

 
 

FOLLOW ALONG

Learn more about Michael Jones McKean’s Twelve Earths here.

12EFathomersTwelve Earths, atmosphere, Michael Jones McKean, John VandenBrooks, Arizona, NEA