Why it matters —
Read the paper
Literature updates · Evergreen knowledge
Algae cultivation guides
and research notes
Today's four
Four papers, written up.
Today's paper picks haven't landed yet.
They are picked and written up once a day from live PubMed search at 1:00 PM Pacific — check back soon.
Knowledge base
Cultivation guides and single-cell research notes.
Algaephyte — cultivation, sensing and bounded control
Algaephyte field note
A Federated Learning Network for Algae Reactors
Sharing fitted twin parameters instead of images or traces: MQTT topics, bounds-checking, last-will obituaries and vandal-resistant averaging.
2026-08-17Read the note Algaephyte field noteSpirulina Is a Cyanobacterium — What That Actually Means
Arthrospira platensis is a photosynthetic bacterium, not an alga in the plant sense. What cyanobacteria are, and why it matters for cultivation.
2026-08-14Read the note Algaephyte field noteDigital Twins for Biological Cultivation
What a digital twin of a living culture actually is: state variables, counterfactual testing of actions, and why simulation-first beats actuate-first.
2026-08-10Read the note Algaephyte field noteAI Optimization in Photobioreactors: Propose, Then Verify
How AI belongs in an algae photobioreactor: bounded proposals checked by hard limits and a physics twin — never direct control of pumps.
2026-08-06Read the note Algaephyte field noteWhat Is Algaephyte? (Plain Language)
No-jargon tour of an AI-tended photobioreactor: what it senses, how it decides, why every proposal passes gates, and what the human still owns.
2026-08-04Read the note Algaephyte field noteTroubleshooting pH and Carbon in Alkaline Culture
Why pH climbs in a healthy Spirulina culture, when rising pH becomes carbon starvation, and how bicarbonate dosing restores both buffer and feed.
2026-08-02Read the note Algaephyte field noteHow Algaephyte Keeps Your Culture Safe
Plain-language walkthrough of the two-check safety system plus physical backstops — and why doing nothing is usually the safe action.
2026-08-01Read the note Algaephyte field noteTroubleshooting Spirulina Contamination and Crashes
Field-guide style troubleshooting for home Spirulina: spotting grazers and competitors early, using high pH defensively, and recovering a crashed culture.
2026-07-30Read the note Algaephyte field noteBounded Autonomy: Keeping AI Proposals Safe
Hard-limit validators, counterfactual simulation and firmware clamps: three independent layers that let an AI propose while never risking the culture.
2026-07-29Read the note Algaephyte field noteControl Loop Architecture for Living Systems
Sense → twin → propose → verify → act. The layered loop architecture that lets software participate in biology without ever owning the pumps.
2026-07-26Read the note Algaephyte field noteLight, Temperature and Mixing: The Three Physical Levers
How irradiance, temperature band and mixing shape Spirulina growth rate — and why more of any one of them stops helping surprisingly early.
2026-07-23Read the note Algaephyte field noteSix Culture Signals: What a Reactor Senses
pH, temperature, wall irradiance, OD750, dissolved oxygen, conductivity — six channels each telling a different biological story about one culture.
2026-07-21Read the note Algaephyte field noteDissolved Oxygen as a Stress Signal
Afternoon oxygen plateaus explained: supersaturation, self-poisoning of photosynthesis, and how a twin treats DO as a state variable rather than a footnote.
2026-07-19Read the note Algaephyte field noteZarrouk Medium and Nutrients: Feeding a Spirulina Culture
The chemistry behind Zarrouk medium for Arthrospira: bicarbonate, nitrate, phosphate, trace metals — and why a pale culture is usually a hungry one.
2026-07-16Read the note Algaephyte field noteA Digital Twin Built on Droop and Steele
The physics inside an algae digital twin: Droop quota kinetics, Steele's photoinhibition limb, Beer–Lambert self-shading and oxygen inhibition as state variables.
2026-07-12Read the note Algaephyte field noteHarvesting and Using Fresh Spirulina
When and how to harvest fresh Spirulina at home, simple screening and pressing methods, storage, and honest notes on freshness versus bottled supplements.
2026-07-09Read the note Algaephyte field noteKeeping a Home Spirulina Culture Warm Through Winter
Heaters, insulation and placement strategy for keeping Spirulina in its 30–37°C comfort band through cold months — warmth before anything else.
2026-07-05Read the note Algaephyte field noteHow to Start a Home Spirulina Culture (Without Guesswork)
A plain-language guide to starting Spirulina at home: what you need, live culture vs powder, light, warmth, alkalinity and the first signs your culture is thriving.
2026-07-02Read the note Algaephyte field noteReading Your Culture: Color, Density, Smell
A no-lab guide to reading Spirulina health: blue-green color cues, spoon-depth density tests, smell diagnostics and the cheap measurements worth taking daily.
2026-06-25Read the note Algaephyte field noteAlkalinity as a Control Variable
In Spirulina culture, pH is not a knob — it is the readout of the carbon budget. Why alkalinity is the real control variable, and what that means for automation.
2026-06-18Read the noteCyanoflow and shared imaging methods
Cyanoflow
Single-Cell Microalgae Analysis with Microfluidics
Compare droplets and microwells for microalgae analysis. Learn how imaging, tracking, phenotype validation and recovery differ, with primary research references.
2026-10-04Read the note CyanoflowVision-Based Contamination Detection, Honestly
What a microscope camera can and cannot classify: healthy helix vs fragment vs not-spirulina — flags that hold pumps, never ones that open them.
2026-08-12Read the note CyanoflowEdge AI for Biological Systems
Why vision inference belongs on-device at ~2 W: latency, privacy of your lab bench, and the reliability story cloud loops cannot tell.
2026-08-08Read the note