The Art! It’s… it’s… ALIVE! (And Dangerous?)

The relatively new field of bio-art, in which practitioners “use live tissues, bacteria, living organisms and life processes to create works of art that blur the traditional distinctions between science and art,” is growing in popularity and visibility. But some animal rights activists object strongly to the genre, which they consider exploitation, and at least one bio-artist is being prosecuted by the U.S. government for his use of certain restricted bacteria that could be used to make biological weapons.