SMS from the deep

People can now keep in touch with the Big Apple's underwater population through SMS.

Aquatic inhabitants, such as nimble-finned herrings or local celebrity José, the first beaver to live in New York City for 200 years, seemed to have 'discovered' text messaging as part of a new project aiming to encourage people to interact with the underwater environment.

Engineers, designers and artists from New York University's Environmental Health Clinic have placed special buoys in the East and Bronx rivers to monitor the city's submerged community.

Each of the buoys is equipped with sensors that can provide information on the quality of water. They also contain sonar which can detect creatures moving below the surface and even identify different species living below the water.

Each time an animal passes by, diodes on the top of the buoys light up, creating a light show above the surface that mirrors the movements of animals.

This information can also be transmitted by text message; anyone with a US phone will be invited to text in. They will then receive a response 'sent' as if from the animals themselves.

The project, named Amphibious Architecture, aims to encourage people to become more curious about what is beneath the "mirror surface" and eliminate the "do not disturb" approach to the urban environment. It is also hoped that by using technology to allow people to "interact" with the wildlife they may become more familiar with the kind of water conditions which constitute a healthy environment.

Amphibious Architecture is part of the exhibition, Toward the Sentient City, which is running at the Architectural League, New York.

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Written by Sideways News, for more information on: Latest News , Technology News , Environmental Issues.

Author: JackWalters