Venarum Actuator

This evidence was submitted by BigMoonDog. In our description of the previously submitted evidence, ‘Vessel’ – we noted the discarded rose on the table, and recorded our assumption that it had been dried out by age. We failed to mention the shells on the other side of the table, or indeed that fact that they seemed strangely pale and blanched. New evidence has come to light that indicates our original interpretation was inaccurate. The item now recorded as a ‘Venarum Actuator’ shows a small bio-mechanical device that appears to be sustaining and nourishing a shell formed of a highly fatty meat. The shell slowly pulses, and is punctured by five tubes which in turn are attached to valves at the base of the mechanism. This seems to be the earliest known example of decellularisation. This is a process in which the living tissue of an organism is stripped away, whilst the extracellular matrix is kept intact. This results in a ‘bio-scaffold’ which can then be re-seeded with the living material of another organism – in this instance an unidentified fatty meat. This astonishing discovery sheds new light on ‘Vessel’ - and we can assume that the pale shells and rose pictured were already decellularised, and thus awaiting the re-seeding process - to be propagated with the living material extracted from the meat in the central jar. As with every new discovery, this both closes some doors but opens many more. What other materials or scaffolds were used in this reseeding process? Would we consider the form in the actuator to be a shell, or meat – and how would we classify its living state?