In Conclusion

What started as a silly, sophomoric, pseudo-science project has become so much more. As the ultimate culmination of my scientific curiosities, artistic inclination and whimsical thinking, Adam has been a resounding success. The results of this experiment, if it ever really had been such a thing, are disappointing to the part of my imagination that first dreamt up this whole thing. The scientist in me is not at all surprised. The artist is beside himself with satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. 

I stopped taking care of Adam many months ago. Around the time he began evaporating beyond my control due to humidity, I more or less gave up on him. That was probably when I should have been adding fresh blood and semen to him the most, but instead I put him away in a dark cabinet and didn't look at him more than three times within twice as many months. The original feeling out of which Adam was born, loneliness, no longer drove me at that point. Adam had served his purpose to that end, providing me with a de facto companion and an engrossing hobby while I endured the overwhelming pain of feeling completely alone. When my life seemed to be turning around, I no longer needed Adam in that regard. 

Over the course of the year in which Adam was created, grew and eventually met his demise, his creator has seen a lot of changes. I'm a different person from who I was when I first ejaculated onto that little speck of dried blood in a plastic cup. Orignally, this was presented to the world as a scientific proceeding and I wasn't including very much editorialization or insight into my personal life. This project, however, has always been very personal to me. I chose only to share the aspects of it that were pragmatic and impersonal, including very little true emotion in the reports I gave. This isn't terribly relevant to the project as a whole, I just feel that I may have misrepresented my intentions originally by presenting this as something that it never was or could ever have been.

Adam has met an end that none of us will be able to avoid. Part of my intention with this project was to create something as unhuman as possible and see just how human it could become. I did not ever really expect to achieve this in a biological sense. I do feel, however, that I pulled it off in some regards. Adam quickly became human to me, even if his form was composed entirely of dead material that never showed any signs of promising change or developing life.

I equally neglected any other jar that I'd ever discussed here and they've all turned out the same more or less; dry, brown/green crust at the bottom of a dusty jar. The mold colony jar, unlike the other two, has changed. That was one that I'd never had much of a grasp on from the beginning, though, because it underwent changes too quickly and too often.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions about what any of this means. It has meant a lot to me and still does. Even after I thought I'd moved on from it, the existance of the jars still lent me the occasional comfort. I'm not ready to wash the jars out yet and move on to new projects, but I'm sure that I will eventually. If I've been able to provide you with amusement or entertainment, if not new ideas or emotions, it has been my pleasure to be whatever you needed this to be. 

If I ever feel so compelled, I may continue to post updates on other Adam-related things that I'm doing. There are similar projects that I've been carrying out parallel to Adam, but I've always been reluctant to share them. Depending on the response, I'll continue to post sporratically about the various other jars that I keep. Thanks to everyone for sticking with me. Thanks to the people who supported me and were interested in what I was doing. Thanks also to everyone who called me stupid.

The Golden Months

Adam is over five months old now. He's been through many, many changes. Some of these changes have been immense and fascinating while others have been dull and hardly perceptible. I feel almost as though I've deceived everyone who reads this blog. I didn't lie about anything or embellish the truth in any way, I just haven't been writing about the major changes that Adam has undergone in the last month or so as they were happening.
Adam seems to have changed into something almost unrecognizable. Even though I can't say that this change is due to anything other than Adam's exposure to the environment and the passage of time, it is still interesting to see. What began as a liquid mixture then became a more viscous mixture, which then turned into a colloidal amalgam of semen and coagulated blood. This gooey, maroon substance has now turned into a nearly solid black gel with swirls of oil on its surface. When the surface is prodded, stiff peaks are left behind which eventually settle back into the mixture. I don't really know what any of this means, it's certainly not an indication of the presence of life, I can say that with certainty. If anything, I think this change could be attributed to a string of days that were intensely hot and extremely humid. The exposure to the moisture in the air and the subsequent drying out must have made the rate of evaporation increase, which caused the volume to decrease so rapidly.
I wouldn't consider this a conclusive end or an end at all to Adam's development. This is just one step in a process that I do not yet understand. Adam is setting the pace for the specimen that will follow him and eventually take his place so, really, all I can hope to gain from Adam is knowledge from observation and limited interaction.
Adam II, comparatively, hasn't undergone a single visible change. What I've learned from Adam II is this: after three months, a bacteria-rich substance that is sealed and exposed regularly to light will yield nothing of interest. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to pack it all in and give up. It just means I'm going to keep waiting and watching while I start developing new specimen upon which I'll test numerous variables, both in terms of the contents of the substances and the environments in which they're kept. In about one month I'm going to start testing more bacteria-rich substances under various conditions because these are easier to make than something that more closely resembles Adam. I'll make three or four new specimen similar to Adam II at once. While they're developing over time, I'll start putting together another mixture that is identical in its contents to Adam and keep it in a different environment. I'm attempting to design these experiments so that I'll always have something to write about and won't have to wait very long between new developments.
Anyone who has bothered to stick with me this long, I hope that you don't feel like you've been cheated out of your time or shortchanged in any way. I realize that the results of this project as a whole thus far must seem pretty underwhelming but considering how much of a change we've already seen , who can say what will happen in the next five months?
Also, I didn't really sense a strong reaction in either direction towards the other experiment I was conducting along with this one (the fruit & bread kept in a sealed container in the dark) so I don't know if I should post updates about it here or not. I've also started keeping track of another small experiment, which is a collection of bugs that lived and died in a sealed container and have been exposed to a minimal amount of light and fresh air for nearly a month now. If there is any interest in these other two experiments, let me know and I'll write about them here in conjunction with updates about the Adam project.

Beyond the first trimester.

Adam II is repulsive and vile. Over a month ago, I stopped adding new material to Adam II because of the smell. It's really astonishing how such a small volume of a substance (less than 35 ml) can have such a pungent, overpowering odor. I always hold my breath before I remove the cover from the jar but that isn't enough. Even after I replace the cover, the smell lingers in the air and has already filled a significant portion of the room. The smell is one of rot and decay and is extremely unpleasant, to say the least. When compared with Adam, the strength and foulness of the odor becomes even more curious. Adam has a smell, but it isn't even 1% as heinous as Adam II's and isn't powerful at all. In order to smell Adam, one would have to place their nose practically in the container. There are many factors that can be attributed to this difference, I just don't know which one is having the greatest affect. Adam's container is ventilated, Adam II's is not. Adam is comprised of substances that are closer to being alive or "fresh" than what I've put into Adam II. I suppose that in order to really figure out what's causing the smell, I'd have to create two more specimens; one made up of blood and semen kept in a sealed container and one made up of bacteria-laden saliva in a ventilated container. While I do think that this would be worthwhile, currently, I haven't got the necessary materials to house all of these specimens, so I'll make their creation my next priority.
For the last couple of months I've more or less just let Adam and his repugnant counterpart take care of themselves. Not much has changed about either of them and I don't know how to interpret this anymore. It doesn't require any effort from me to keep the project going, so I don't think I'll ever really be able to say when a conclusion has been reached. A lack of changes may be indicative of the end of the experiment or it could just as easily be one step in a process that is leading up to something conclusive. As I've said before, the time line for something like this is unknown.
I've been conducting a similar but unrelated experiment alongside this one. I won't go into details because they aren't necessary, I just wanted to mention this experiment because of what it could tell me about Adam and Adam II. I've been following the progress of various substances in a sealed jar kept in the dark for less than a month and mold has already taken the surface over completely. I'm not sure if I can attribute this growth to the composure of the substance or the substance's exposure to/deprivation of light. In addition to the sealed and unsealed versions of Adam and Adam II, I'll need to recreate the contents of each specimen and place them in the dark to see how that affects them. When I get the necessary materials and feel that the original subjects of this experiment have stopped making progress, I'll start introducing new specimens to the project, to lend it a bit more balance and thoroughness to the whole thing. In the meantime, I'm just going to let things continue as they have been, whether or not any immediately visible results are being yielded. With any luck, my patience will be rewarded.

Two Months Later

It's hard to believe that Adam has existed for over two months now. His second month went by so quickly and yielded practically no changes, when compared with the first. If I were to describe Adam's current state, it would practically be a facsimile of the last update posted here. The mixture in Adam's jar is still opaque, viscous, and homogenized. The only minor change that has occurred over the last month is that the crystalline crust seems to have dissolved and the oil spots on Adam's surface aren't as apparent as they once were. I'm certainly not disappointed with Adam's progress or lack thereof, because I do think that, sooner or later, changes will become more apparent.
Something that I've been thinking about doing since the very beginning of this project is creating additional specimens like Adam. Once I decided that I didn't want to tinker around with what I would put into Adam, I considered that I would just follow the same procedures but with different substances. This is what I've ended up doing, more or less, except the experiment isn't just about different materials. Instead, I'm only going to introduce substances to Adam II that I believe are full of bacteria, whereas, with Adam, I've always tried my best to avoid adding bacteria to his environment, letting bacteria form on its own.
Adam II is contained within a jar that has been cleaned and, at one time, housed a spider. There's a small smudge on the inside of the jar, which I'm assuming is some kind of waste/residue that the spider left behind, because nothing else has been inside the jar after it was cleaned. Currently, Adam II is comprised of dead blood and pus, which are the contents of an infected hair follicle, and scrapings from my tongue mixed with saliva. Since pus is probably the only thing harder to harvest than semen, I probably won't be adding anymore of it to Adam II. Rather, I'll be regularly adding saliva and tongue scrapings to the container.
As far as predictions go, I don't really expect to see Adam II develop much faster than his predecessor. Of course, I'm mainly saying this to circumvent disappointment. I'd like to believe that Adam II's bacteria-rich composure will yield interesting/surprising results more quickly than Adam. The main reason why I think that this could be the case is that I've made a hypothesis which states that Adam II already contains bacteria that Adam's contents have yet to/may not ever attract and these bacteria will play a crucial role in creating something that could be interpreted as life.
With history as an indicator, Adam II's beginnings should be full of changes, so updates may be coming frequently once again, as progress occurs.

Adam's first month

I apologize for my prolonged absence. I'm not going to make excuses and say that things got in the way or anything, because that's not the case. The fact of the matter is that the developments just aren't making themselves apparent to me as readily as they once were. In Adam's first month, the changes to his composition and outward appearance have been considerable. But, in the last week or so, seemingly nothing has changed, so I've had nothing to report. That isn't to say that he's the same as he was the last time I updated, there have been some slight changes, and I'll describe them to the best of my ability.

The mixture of semen and blood has changed drastically from its original form. What was once a separated, viscous substance, comprised of fresh-squeezed blood and semen became a grayish, more homogenize mixture. And that mixture turned into a unified, almost colloidal substance, which has become completely opaque.

About a week ago, I noticed that this sort of crust was forming around the perimeter of the container, where Adam touches the edges. In addition to this crystalline crust, there are several small rainbow-colored spots, that look like some sort of oil. I don't know if this is the beginning of the formation of some sort of life form or if it's just some oil from my skin that found its way into the mixture from my blood or semen.
Other than these somewhat minor developments, not much has seemed to change. I can no longer see into the mixture, so whatever is going on beneath the surface is a mystery to me. Considering how much Adam has changed in one month alone, I'm looking forward to seeing what becomes of him in the future. Even if the developments don't match my expectations, I'll be pleasantly surprised by whatever happens.
I'm only going to update as frequently as necessary. If there's nothing to report, I'm not going to waste everyone's time with an update, so just check in sporadically, since my posting will become increasingly erratic as time goes on.

Week 2

I wanted to bring attention to something that I've noticed since the beginning of this experiment. When semen is added to the mixture, it retains its shape, color and structure for only a few minutes. After that, it becomes less opaque and eventually it becomes completely clear. These two pictures were taken only three minutes apart and you can see how, even without being agitated, the semen has started to become clear and is becoming one larger pool, rather than several small pools. If I didn't know better, I would say that this is just what it looks like when semen diffuses into another substance, but this phenomenon also occurred at the very beginning of the experiment, with the first sample of semen, when it had nothing to diffuse into.

I finally decided to test out the microscope and see if I would be able to see anything with it. I crafted a makeshift slide and put a small sample of fresh semen onto it, then observed it at 75x magnification. I certainly was not able to see sperm within the semen and didn't see anything else noteworthy. I also made a separate slide of some of my saliva and wanted to see if I would be able to observe bacteria, but once again, it yielded no positive results.

Besides the rubber band on Adam's container snapping, nothing has changed one way or the other. I've given some thought to the idea of adding caffeine to the mixture, in the hopes that this might speed up the process, but maybe that's far too whimsical of an idea to be worthwhile.

Day 13

Adam is still changing imperceptibly and daily updates would force me to look beyond what is really there and try to concoct some sort of a result. If I'm patient and willing to let Adam develop without my interference, whatever the result ends up being will at least be unadulterated and well-deserved. If I'm going to be patient, that means updates will be much less frequent than they once were, so patience will be required of you as well.

Currently, Adam's most interesting feature is the "structure" that is forming from my blood. It is suspended within the semen and has attached to the globule of mucus. The blood also has either enveloped or dissolved the hair and its root, because I can no longer see it. The blood appears to be clotted and congealed underneath the semen, which has started to change color. I don't know if the semen is beginning to mix with the blood or if it's just getting old and turning yellow. Either way, what was once a heterogeneous mixture of clear/cloudy semen and red blood has become a partially homogenized substance of a translucent, yellowing liquid and a congealed mass suspended in its center.

Other than these small details, there isn't much to report. The volume of the mixture has been the same for a while and it doesn't appear that anything has been lost to evaporation. Within the coming days, if nothing seems to change significantly, I will most likely begin adding a new substance into the mixture. I am favoring ear wax, because it's easy to collect and seems to be the most salubrious substance, having several properties that I think would be beneficial to Adam's development.

I don't exactly know what kind of change I should look for or when I should expect to see it. I simply know that the likelihood of nothing changing significantly within the mixture in the near future is considerable. I'm certainly not going to make any hasty decisions or rash changes, but if I think that something will trigger a change in Adam, which will eventually lead to growth, I'll add it to the current list of procedures/substances.

As always, if there's anything that you would like to suggest I add or change about this experiment, feel free to do so. Additionally, if there's anything that you know about biology/chemistry and think that I too should know it, please share whatever knowledge and insight you've got with me.

Week 1

Within Adam's first week of development, I have seen lots of changes. The most notable change is the volume of the mixture. Little by little, Adam's volume is growing and that's just how I expect the developments to introduce themselves to me. If you consider organic growth, it is a very slow process. Maybe slow isn't the right word. Deliberate and subtle more accurately describe the way in which things develop naturally over time. Consider your own growth. Consider how long it takes to grow your hair out or to grow at all. From day to day, you don't notice many changes. This is the same reason why a human fetus's growth is recorded in terms of weeks or months rather than days. These small changes translate to an infinitesimal daily growth. I'm not making excuses for Adam's apparent lack of development, I'm merely trying to explain why it may seem like nothing is changing. These things take time and since I intend to let Adam grow with a minimal amount of human interference, it may take a lot of time. All I'm asking from you, as a reader, is to be patient and try to stay curious because it is becoming quite clear that this experiment is going to take a long time to yield any worthwhile results. I intend to continue with what I'm doing for at least 9 months and I'll continue past that, if I feel that I should.

Now that I'm done explaining why there are no big developments, I can begin to describe the small developments. The globule of mucus is most definitely still intact (slightly visible in this picture, the arrow points to the globule that I'm talking about), although the small hair that it was originally attached to is no longer a part of it, and the pool of suspended blood does seem to be clinging to it. I was surprised to find that, after two days, the mixture had not become completely homogenized. I don't think this is a bad sign, though. In fact, I think that this may be a sign of development. What starts out as a homogenized mixture should begin to separate into distinct parts once development occurs, just like how most living creatures are composed of several organelles and structures rather than just one unifying substance. I'm not saying that Adam is already a complex enough organism to be forming organelles, I'm simply suggesting that what I'm seeing could be an indication of the very earliest stages of the developments of new life.

I'm once again postponing looking at Adam under a microscope. The mixture still isn't homogenized and the volume isn't hearty enough to spare samples from the different substances. Although, I have been informed that I will be able to see very basic lifeforms at a magnification of 75x, so this gives me hope for when I finally do decide to make slides and take a closer look at Adam.

I hate to be so apologetic about everything, but I realize how unimpressive this must all seem, especially considering how quickly things seemed to be changing in the beginning. I hope that no one is discouraged by my findings. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and understand that patience is going to be a very big part of the development of this experiment. My imagination still keeps me inspired enough to continue in spite of this and I hope that everyone interested can bear to stay curious for as long as it takes.

New Developments

I feel a mite foolish. All of my suppositions about the liquids diffusing and homogenizing over the course of a few hours have been proven wrong. As you can see in the picture, all of the blood that I added yesterday seems to have pooled together at the bottom of the container. Strangely, there is enough blood to cover the entire bottom but a portion of the blood remains suspended within the mixture of older blood and semen. Also, I think that I may have been wrong about the mucus dissolving. I can't be too certain because the mixture is extremely cloudy, but it looks like my original hypothesis was correct: there still appears to be a cloud of something forming around the mucus. The globule that I'm observing is impossible to photograph because it has formed below the surface of the mixture. What I hadn't considered is that when I first added semen to the container, there was already dried blood inside it. The fresh blood apparently reacts differently to the semen than the dried blood did.

Because of this observation, I have decided not to look at Adam under a microscope yet. Right now, there are several elements (the semen, which accounts for most of the volume, the blood below the semen and the globule of mucus) within the mixture and to get an accurate picture of what is going on within the mixture, I would have to extract and look at each substance separately. Considering the fact that Adam's volume is quite low right now, it may be disruptive to his growth to take samples of each substance. So, I've decided to leave Adam alone for two days. I'm not going to add or take anything away from Adam until January 27th. I'm hoping that the mixture will be closer to being homogenized, if I stop adding new blood and semen for a while. If, after two days, the mixture appears to be better combined, I will extract a single sample and look at it under a microscope. If there is no noticeable difference in the homogeneity of the mixture, I will continue to add fresh blood and semen to the container regularly, building up the volume to a point where it would not be harmful to extract and observe a sample of each substance individually.

If anything interesting happens between now and the 27th, I'll write about it. If not, I will return on Sunday with my findings.

Day Five

I've acquired a microscope. As far as I can tell, the lenses for the higher magnifications are too dirty to see through or broken beyond repair. The only lens that is working is the 75x magnification lens. Is this even close to being strong enough to see anything that might possibly be alive within the mixture? If I take the time to put together a slide and then view it at 75x, how likely is it that I'll be able to see something of interest?

More semen has been added to the mixture as well as several drops of blood, which amounted to approximately 1 mL. I am pleased to see that Adam's overall volume has been steadily increasing and little to no volume has been lost due to evaporation.

There are two interesting observations that should be pointed out, since the pictures I take don't really show Adam's development completely. First, the small blob of mucus that I had once believed was acting as a sort of nucleus for Adam has all but disappeared. I'm assuming that it has been dissolved in the mixture along with the cloudy strands that were forming around it and that I hadn't destroyed its growth in some way. Secondly, I find it curious that everything I put into the mixture retains its shape and color for quite some time. After several hours, the whole mixture is once again homogenized and one element is not discernible from another within the translucent, orange goulash. Is this an indicator of the development of life? Is it safe to assume that something living is absorbing the different substances or is it simply the result of several liquids being combined into one?

This project is continually proving itself to be simultaneously stimulating and satisfying. I hope that reading about my experiences is equally interesting.