An MIT biotechnology PhD researcher, Lauren Ramlan, has created a 32x48 1-bit display made up of E. coli cells, upon which she ran Doom. She was able to illuminate the cell walls of each cell, effectively turning them into individual pixels.
Folks have been getting Doom to run on random devices for decades. At this point, we thought we had seen it all; microwaves, Apple Watches, treadmills, really anything with a screen. But as first reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, a student researcher from MIT just set a new record for the most insane way to play Doom.
She was able to create a display out of E. coli cells, and on this tiny display she ran Doom. The performance is appalling, as you would expect, but it's a miraculous achievement nevertheless.
Running Doom On A Cell Wall
Ramlan illuminated the cell walls of E. coli, thus turning each individual cell into its own pixel. However, even at the extremely low resolution of 32x48 pixels, the performance was terrible, as each cell took 70 minutes to be illuminated.
Ramlan explains the process herself in this video:
If you're interested in getting deeper into the science of this insane feat, her final project writeup can be found here. But don't worry, this certainly isn't a case of "your scientists were too preoccupied wondering whether they could", it's simply a great achievement. GG Lauren Ramlan.