Elephants Don't Love Peanuts But Humans Do
boredomresearch

Summary

Boredomresearch present "Elephants Don't Love Peanuts, but Humans Do" for the Computer Arts Society, exploring how art can illuminate biomedical and environmental concerns. They begin by dispelling the myth that elephants like peanuts and introduce Peto's paradox: although elephants possess many more cells than humans, they experience lower cancer rates because they carry twenty copies of the tumour-suppressing p53 gene rather than one. The duo describes their collaboration with scientists at the Biodesign Institute in Arizona, where they work with Dr Angelo Fortunato on simple model organisms such as Placozoa to investigate how nature manages mutant cells. Inspired by these organisms, they develop a fictional in-silico creature whose life cycle mirrors natural chemotherapeutic processes. They also connect human health to wider ecosystems, recounting their "Afterglow" project with epidemiologist Dr Harry Brock, which visualises how palm-oil-driven deforestation in Malaysia forces monkeys and humans into closer contact, increasing zoonotic disease risk. Throughout, boredomresearch argue that artistic practice offers scientists a valuable means of thinking spatially, embracing complexity and rediscovering creativity, while audiences gain tangible, visually compelling insights into otherwise abstract scientific systems.

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