The winner in our biobricks lifeform category is Vijaykumar Meli, who invented a form of rhizobial bacteria that forms a symbiosis with the root systems of rice plants to help them process nitrogen more efficiently. This is an actual, viable lifeform that can be created in the lab using current genetic engineering techniques. As the winner, he'll get an all-expenses paid trip to Hong Kong to attend the fourth annual Synthetic Biology conference with leading researchers in the field. Read Meli's winning entry.

The winner in the "general synthetic lifeform" category is Elliott Gresswell, whose lifeform, a carnivorous, water-going tree called “Blue Forest,” was drawn by renowned comic book artist Kevin O'Neill ("League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "Nemesis the Warlock"). You can see that drawing above. Though Gresswell's edible, ambulatory forest can't be created with current technology, our judges thought it could inspire new inventions in the future. Read Gresswell's winning entry.

We had so many terrific entries that we wanted to share a few of our runners-up with you too.

Biobricks Lifeform Runner Up #1
Catherine Aull developed a biological counter that can count in binary. She also impressed our judges tremendously with her lab, which is located in a tiny closet in her apartment. Her entry was partially synthesized in that closet lab (you can see pictures of the lab in her paper).
Biobricks Lifeform Runner Up #2
Jonathan Cline, a software engineer, developed a biological breathalyzer system made of bacteria. Instead of measuring alcohol levels, however, his system measures the metabolic state of "ketosis" in a person's body — this is the state where the body starts burning fat and turning it into energy. Ketosis is induced by the Atkins diet as well as caloric restriction.

General Synthetic Lifeform Runner Up #1
Rizgar Mella, a physics student, developed a software-controlled lifeform.
General Synthetic Lifeform Runner Up #2
Naor Livne designed a parasite our judges dubbed "Spliterphage" and it has one of the weirdest sexual reproduction cycles you've ever read about.

Our judges came from fields as diverse as synthetic biology and videogame design: Stanford synthetic biologist Drew Endy, who helped create biobricks; UC Berkeley biology researcher Terry Johnson (who writes io9's "ask a biogeek" column); Spore game developer Jason Shankel; and UC Berkeley geneticist Michael B. Eisen, co-founder of the Public Library of Science.

Of the contest, Eisen said:

People have been dreaming about what new life forms might look like and do for ever. What I loved about this contest - and the Blue Forest in particular - was that it inspired people to apply the same creative spirit to imagine how we might actually create them.

Said Endy:

It was incredibly fun to explore the thoughtfulness and creativity of the entered designs. There's a lot of work still to do in order to make biology easy to engineer, and to make real the constructive promises, both old and new, of biotechnology. Sharing, competing, and working together via well-intentioned competition helps more people to consider, participate, and guide the process.

Shankel added:

Artificial life is the new frontier of engineering. If Leonardo da Vinci were alive today, this is what he would be working on. And who knows? One or two breakthroughs and he may be alive again sooner than we think.

This life-form has 3 stages and two sexes.

Stage 1
The male and female in this stage are identical, this stage is a cocoon stage. In the stage the lifeform looks like a seed, being no more then 1 centimeter in length, and with a pointed sharp top which is achieved by having all the weight in the lower circler bottom. The lifeform is also surrounded by some small amounts of tiny legs, although none of them touches the ground and are all around it (but more on that later).

The lifeform has a high level of toxicity for the females only (which is carried with her in all stages).

The lifeform is on the ground waiting (in a hibernation like state in order to conserve energy) for an animal to step on it, and once that happens the real life cycle of the lifeform begins.

The lifeform sharp top punctures the (now victimized) animal, and using the tiny legs around her body begins crawling inside so it will be hard to reach, thus remaining inside the animal, (seeing as there are no eyes on the lifeform the sudden pressure of the stump could be the trigger for her awakening).

At this point the male lifeform will crawl near the saliva glands of the animal, while the female will position it-self in the middle of the stomach cavity.

Both animal will now connect (more like leach) of their host animal (male will connect to the saliva glands and the female to the stomach), the only difference is that the male will only take the amount of food (from what the animal eats) he needs to survive and grow to the size which allows him to crate sperm (ok maybe technically this also should count as a stage) at which point the male moves the sperm into the saliva of its host, and from there it goes to the local water supply when the animal drinks.

The female acts like the male in only taking what it needs from the animal that it needs in order to survive and to grow reproductive organs, until the host animal drinks from water supply with a sperm of the male in it, at which points she gets pregent and move on to stage 2.

Stage 2
The female now starts to consume it host by growing more connections to it and sucking it dry (like some forms of spiders do) it uses it energy to grow it babies (stage one of this freaky lifeform). After some time the animal dies (being sucked dry isn’t a nice way to go), at which point the animal connection to the animal shrivel away (to conserve energy) and it starts growing outside the host cadaver (pointing to the sky) what looks like a very thin skin mushroom, on which the baby seeds of this lifeform grow from its bottom.

Stage 3
Again a female only stage. After the seeds grow (which should before the time all of the nutrients of the host body are gone are goon), the mother spits upwards the mushroom top, which thanks to its shape begins to spin.

The spin causes the seeds to break there fragile connection and fall to the grounds near the remains of the cadaver.

At this time the mother lifeform dies, and with it the poison should quickly vanish from the host dead body (seeing it is no longer actively produced, it should be a type of which is vary strong to prevent any other animal to steal the life form nutrients, yet one that disappears quickly), attracting other animals to eat the remains of the corpse (seeing how the small of the lifeform, which they recognize as poisoned disappeared).

When other animals come to eat from the corpse they in turn step on the new seed stage of this lifeform and the cycle begins again.

Some points:

1) The male doesn’t kill the animal host so that way it keeps dumping sperm into the water resurveys it drinks from all its life.
2) Don’t ask me why anyone would want to crate this thing, the name of the contest is mad science contest isn’t it?
3) I dare you to find anything cooler than that.
4) No I’m not insane.

This paper describes a novel counter design, based on a bit overflow detector to signal “carry” events, and a bidirectional toggle switch to update and maintain the count. It also describes work towards a prototype, ongoing in the author’s home laboratory.

All our judges were extremely impressed with Aull's home laboratory, which is located in her closet.

When she's not inventing lifeforms in her closet, Aull is a research associate at a synthetic biology startup. She has a B.S. in biological engineering from MIT, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here is her paper, featuring an excellent photo of her closet lab.

Meli used biobricks to create a modified version of the rhizobium, which in its wild state creates nodules in the roots of legumes and helps them process nitrogen more efficiently. His re-engineered rhizobium would enter the roots of rice and help the plant process nitrogen more efficiently too. While rice normally absorb only 20-40% of nitrogen in fertilized soil, rice with nodules formed by rhizobium could potentially absorb 40-60%. That means farmers use less fertilizer, which is good for the pocketbook and good for the environment.

Meli's new bacteria could be created in the lab today, with current technology. Right now he has a schematic for the new lifeform, described in his paper below.

For creating this new Rhizobium, we're sending Meli to Hong Kong to participate in the fourth annual Synthetic Biology Conference. Here is his paper.

Gresswell lives in the UK, and writes this "humble note" about his entry:

The entry is written from the fictional perspective of those responsible for the creation of my life-form, as I felt this would be more interesting to read than a dry fact-file. However, I have taken care not to allow things to blend too far into the realm of a narrative. I hope I have been successful in this attempt.

As a prize, Gresswell will get $1000 US, and the original copy of the illustration of the Blue Forest that renowned comic book artist Kevin O'Neill drew (above). O'Neill, who illustrated Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books, as well as Nemesis the Warlock, said the Blue Forest was "quite fun" to draw, and he seemed especially impressed with the fact that the the forest left a kind of brown sludge in the water behind it — effluvia from the forest's rampant fish-eating. O'Neill also decided to add people in hazmat suits exploring the Blue Forest.

We have been trying to get in touch with Gresswell to give him his prize, but he seems not to be answering email. Hopefully he hasn't been experimenting with nano-fed forests and been turned into tree fodder. So Elliott, if you're reading this, do get in touch.

Without further ado, here is the winning entry:

Blue Forest

The following files are taken from the remains of the United Acolyte Private Scientific Research Project, based in a secure location near Southern California. Prior to their shut down following a series of money laundering scandals, the Acolyte Project made a number of important scientific breakthroughs. The most controversial of this lies in the creation of an entirely new form of life- the semi-sapient “Blue Forests” that are now a fairly common sight off our shores.

The following are taken from the Open Diary of Doctor Elizabeth Haid, interspersed with several situation reports from the recent Forestry Group expedition to East Africa. It should be noted that this latest exploratory mission takes place some twelve years after the initial Blue Forest design team concluded their research.

Life-Form Design Program, UAP SRP [Oct 29th]:
Elizabeth Haid, Public Diary.

Bearing the limitations of this facility firmly in mind- particularly the financial ones- it would appear that attempting to create any kind of sophisticated higher level super-bio-form is an currently impossibility for us. Sorry, guys and gals. That Holy Grail’s for another day. With any luck, the L.A. branch is having more luck. Bunch of self-inflated bastards. With this in mind, I recommend sticking to the simpler levels of life; although, note to Randell’s Division, constantly sending us slightly more menacing versions of a Paramecia Amoeba does not constitute acceptable progress. We want something at least vaguely usable. Any ideas?

[Diary, Nov 3rd]
Note to Dante down at the Vegetation and Environ Section- we’re really not interested in anything that even resembles a Triffid. No, we don’t care how tasty and delicious they are when boiled. No plants that prey on humans.

[D-Nov 16th]
Pursuing the nanotech-life idea was definitely a bad idea. Lab Seven has been reduced to a Grey Goo state, totally liquefied by the technology- which, fortunately, self-destructed. Somebody get a mop and bucket down there immediately. On the plus side, the walls and doors are still intact, so at the very least we now have a large self-secure Containment Chamber. You would think we’d have installed one of those before we lost twelve technicians in a largely avoidable accident.

Data Report:
Aerial Observation Team
Blue Forest #012
Lake Victoria.
First Day of Watch.

We found one early this morning. Thank God - I can’t take many more days of fruitless searching. Even when I sleep, I can feel the helicopter blades rattling in my head- whoomph, whoomph, woomph- it’s getting unbearable. But now it’s all worth it, because we saw one.

It looks... what can I say? It looks like a cross between an island and a sponge, all covered in plants. And I suppose that’s exactly what it is. Of course, from here you can’t see that it goes all the way down to the bottom- just the ripples from the surface. It’s strange, I want to picture it with a face. I want to make the foliage form eyes and a nose. I mean, I know it’s alive. I’m used to living things having a face. The weird thing is, if I peer close enough, I can almost pretend that it does.

We’ll come back tomorrow, watch it some more. It’s not going anywhere- they don’t exactly move fast.

Strangest thing a sober person ever saw.

[D-December 3rd]
We’re actually beginning to think Randell’s ideas may have promise. His nutrient bond tethers each Amoeba together at the mitosis stage, forcing them to function as a single joined entity. Subsequent cellular splits come with similar connections- as if each single cell is tied to its sibling by a microscopic umbilical cord.

Unfortunately, the resulting life-form is usually a sort of transparent, vaguely vicious liquid that subsists entirely off of sugary water. We’re probably going to need something a little more versatile. Recommend seeding the remains of Lab Seven over to these experiments. Seems somehow appropriate.

[D-December 15th]
By exposing the bonded-cell polyform (the rather useless entity we’ve nicknamed Soup) to up to three times standard Earth gravity, we’ve encountered a number of surprising effects. Firstly, the Soup cells have become markedly denser in order to cope with their conditions, developing into a sort of Protoplasmic mush. Secondly, though the cells themselves have naturally decreased in size, they’ve made up for this by increasing their rate of reproduction. This might be something to do with the alternate food source we’ve been experimenting with. It appears that the life-form prefers something a bit meatier than a simple saline solution; we’ve been feeding it a sort of mould paste. This seems a little incestuous, since the life-form is effectively a very dense, highly organised cousin of mould. If we can continue tweaking the density like this, we might be able to successfully elevate the life-form from Soup to something more akin to Oatmeal.

Data Report:
Aerial Observation Team
Blue Forest #012
Lake Victoria.

We got hear just in time to make out the Forest, wading down the lake. It creeps me out, to see them shuffling like this... I’m reminded of all those childhood B-Movies I never finished. There’s something about that writhing surface, even if it’s really just waving in the wind for the most part. And another thing - who dialled up the luminosity on the thing? Bright blues and greens, really? It must look mighty stupid to the rest of the kingdom.

Still, I have to say, it’s exciting to observe this creature- it is just one creature, isn’t it? Yes, good. It’s like... like... well, it isn’t like anything. That’s the point. I almost wish we could land on it, have a look around.

No. No I don’t.

We were ordered to stay in the air, and that’s what we’re do. I’m glad. I don’t want to land. Not at all. No.

[D-December 20th]
No, Dante, we don’t care if you’ve removed the stingers, increased the fibre content and found a way to keep them from moving- nobody wants Triffids, Triff-oids, pseudo-Tiffida or any variation thereof. Just, stick to GM spider plants, would you?

[D-December 21st]
Increasing Lab Seven’s internal gravity by another three levels had unfortunate results. Everything dies.
Next time, I think we’ll increase the g-levels one at a time instead of three.

[D-December 23rd]
Whilst developing another crop of Soup, we’ve been modelling it on E-Coli for the purpose of convenience. It should now be much more inclined toward versatility.

[D-Jan 14th]
Success! We have Oatmeal!

[D-Jan 17th]
Dante finally has something useful to report- by splicing Corn and Spider Plant genomes, his department has created a hybrid which reproduces with all the gusto and unnerving ease of a Spider Plant whilst maintaining considerable nutritional value in its leaves. Now, if we could just get it to grow fruit... Unfortunately, the thing requires Uber-dense soil. Hmmm.

[D-Jan 22nd]
Things have progressed beyond Oatmeal; the life-form has now reached what our researchers have dubbed the ‘Steve McQueen,’ phase- that is, it has become a sort of ultra-dense self replicating gelatinous mass virtually identical to the Blob from Mr. McQueen’s B-movie classic of the same name. Except our one is blue.

[D-Jan 28th]
The McQueen Organism is growing rapidly; so much so that we’ve had to seal off the room. Good job we picked Lab Seven. It does seem to require a regular ambient food source- unlike Grey Goo, it can’t just consume everything. Also, its environment needs to be kept at a stable 2.3 gees to prevent it collapsing back into Soup form. This means we should be able to keep it contained; which is handy because in its current state, the thing is more or less indestructible by conventional means. Now, if only we had a clue what the hell to do with it.

[D-Feb 1]
Breakthrough, and it’s all thanks to Dante. Maybe we won’t fire him after all. The GM crops require an incredibly dense, fertile food source; far more so than we’ve been able to provide without the presence of an active Volcano. However, the Triffid (I’m sorry, that sounds absolutely ridiculous, can we please just use the real plants he used? I don’t care how modified their basic biology was). However, the Venus Fly Trap-based constitution of the GM crops demands that they subsist on living creatures. We think there might be an equitable solution to all our problems, but certain tests still need to be run.

[D-Feb 13th]
Turns out, we were right. The McQueen life-form [currently called Blue Goo by the staff, who don’t seem to be able to stick with a damn moniker for fifteen seconds] lives just as well under water as it does on the surface. Mostly it’s able to survive the way any water-born bacteria would, only on a much greater scale; if it develops to require additional food sources, we’re sure the ocean has plenty of plankton. And also whales. What? A biologist can dream.

[D-Feb 15th]
First steps to introduce the GM crops to the Blue Goo were only mildly successful; both organisms threatened to consume each other. More refinements needed.

[D-Feb 16th]
Success! All we really had to do was ‘plug’ the GM crops into the Blue Goo, and wait. The Goo acts as part soil, part food source, allowing the modified Spider Plants all the nutrition they need. Of course, the plants must consume the Goo, but its vast rate of growth makes this a relative non-factor. Furthermore, the plants as they are remain indigestible to the Goo. This is very exciting.

[D-March 8th]
Tests continue to go well; the plant roots easily intertwine themselves in the viscous, semi-permeable Goo, spreading through the thing like a thousand grasping claws. It appears that the Goo can probably sustain vast crops indefinitely. We’re going to stick some Water-Lilly in the gene pool with the next foliage splice, however- we want to make sure the things can survive underwater.

[D-March 12th]
Salt water’s out of the question- too many complications. It’ll have to be fresh.

Data Report:
Aerial Observation Team
Blue Forest #012
Lake Victoria.
Third Day of Watch.
Now we see. It was positioning itself near the biggest waterfall it could find, just at the base- so close that the Crop leaves must be getting damp. It sits at the bottom, as if collecting dew. No. That’s not what it’s doing. It’s collecting fish. We think it might be feeding.

[D-April 1st]
Experiments confirm- it is perfectly possible to place the Blue Goo underwater; it sinks to the bottom, where it can find a comfortable pressure, then proceeds to grow upward- toward the light. By the time it reaches the top, it appears to have adapted sufficiently to maintain its consistency within the low-pressure of the surface environment- creating a veritable column of almost luminous, sapphire sponge, only slightly thicker than the river/lake itself. From the bed to the surf.

The Crop can therefore be perched at the top of this infinitely expanding column, taking sustenance and growing out. By that point, the two should have formed an unbreakable symbiosis- removing the Crop from the Goo would be impossible. The roots go too deep. The Goo will expand, and the Crop will grow.
Obviously, they’ll have to be contained in fresh-water reservoirs. Just in case.

[D-April 3rd]
We’re going to need a name for the joint organism, obviously. Potential designations thus far mooted; Spider Goo, Plant Goo, Spider Slime, Water Babies, Water Forest, Slime Forest, Wild Goo, Gilligan’s Island (who the hell thought of that one? I’m looking at you, Syd), Omnious, Expanding Front, Mayfly Island and, of course, The Blob.

[D-April 4th]
The first specimen was released into a Lake Reserve Yesterday, finding a new home for itself in Florida- exact location classified, thank you very much. It’s reportedly doing very well; the heat agrees with the Crop, and the Goo is already spreading to fill the bay.

[D-April 8th]
Um. Those Venus Fly Trap Genes... we did make sure that it wasn’t going to start developing mouths or anything, right? Technically impossible, you say? Good, good.

[D-April 9th]
Traps. The thing is developing its own very special Venus Fly Trap Variants. Also, though most of the spider-like leaves remain just that (leaves), a few of them have reportedly begun to show signs of independent movement. That had better be some particularly weird wind-tunnel effect going on and not, for instance, tentacles. It’s bad enough that people are beginning to think the thing eats birds.

[D-April 13th]
Well, if it wasn’t already taken, I’d think Sea-Cow would qualify as a good name; the thing is, after all, one big lump of tasty and delicious. The Crop is extremely fertile- it’s also beginning to bear fruit, deep within the increasingly dense Spider Plant thickets [each individual plant is, by the way, now roughly the size of a tree]. No, don’t ask me how it managed to do that. It seems likely that various non-indigenous weeds are cross-pollinating with the Crop, which was of course always a potential factor. Whatever these alien plants once were, they’ve now been integrated into the Goo, and they’re not going anywhere.

Data Report:
Aerial Observation Team
Blue Forest #012
Lake Victoria.
Fourth Day of Watch.
The Forest has been moving, very slowly, down the river. Still, when I say slow, we can nevertheless see it- it even leaves a little phosphorous trail. Maybe the thing’s faster than we think. I mean, bacteria is pretty fast, isn’t it?

[D-April 20th]
Some of the plants have been tinged with light blue highlights, presumably because of the Goo. That’s given rise to a new name for the thing, one we all quite like. Blue Forest.

Preparations for other Forests around the world are underway. Sure, harvesters have to wear protective suits and carry machetes, and sure, there’s a certain amount of evidence of... tentacle based... activity, but the fact is that Blue Forest is one hell of a Golden Goose. With Golden Eggs, Golden Feathers and, I’m beginning to think, Golden Blood to boot.

[D-April 25th]
The Blue Forest moves. Very, very slowly - as it expands in one direction, it dies off in the other, grazing onward, ambling along a seamlessly aimless course. We think we know why. Plants grow toward the sun, obviously- well, the Crop moves to face it, too. And the Goo... it moves with the currents, presumably in aide of its own comfort. Perhaps it’s looking for simpler pressure equilibriums. Or perhaps it’s looking for others of its kind. No. That would just be weird.

The Forests also sing. The noise is probably made by sound waves oscillating through the dense jungle- wind whistling through the leaves, if you will. An odd rattling that, I’m told, is actually strangely beautiful. I find it difficult to picture. Apparently its soothing- wave after wave of fan-like rustle. Hmm. I must visit one someday. These Forests- I was joking earlier when I said they’d graze on whales, but now, I think it
might be possible. Good job they’re strictly fresh water only. These things, these weird meldings of plant and bacteria- they’re infinity self-sufficient, potentially semi-carnivorous entities of enormous size. They are the latest brand of Behemoth, wandering wherever the water is deepest, snapping up anything they gets in their way. Theoretically tameable, I suppose- we could treat them like Water Horses, use them for transport or housing. If anybody dared. If nobody minded the blue tint. I think anything living on that stuff would get it, after a while.

Message from the bosses. They want us to start work on a Forest that can survive in salt water, graze across the ocean. I’d love to tell them not to bother; nature always manages, and I have a feeling she’s working on the Forests even as we speak. The weed pollination was just as example of that- making them better, stronger, more resilient. Making them unbound, able to float wherever they want. Making them new. Nature, my Goddess. So much better than any scientist.

The Forests are alive, I know that now. A single entity, I used to think of them as two- but that’s just wrong. The Goo binds everything, makes it whole. Some days I wonder if it can think. At first I think it’s a stupid question- but then, surely anything alive can think? Anything that feeds must think of food, and anything with a sense of food must have a sense of being fed... I eat therefore I am. If you relate to the world, you must have a concept of world. If you have a concept of world, you must in turn have one of yourself as separate.

Or is that just rambling and nonsense?

Maybe that’s not how the Forests work. Maybe they’re more like trees and bushes and bugs- alive, but too different for us to fully understand. There are more of them, every day. In Lakes, reserves, fish tanks. They’re quite the vogue thing. People don’t mind about the psychedelic colours, the mouth-like traps, not even the tentacles (vines, if you want to get technical). They just want to see what all the fuss is about.
I wonder if the fuss sees them. Blue Forests. The Leviathans of Generation Next. Good job, team.

Now, let’s all look up at the sky. Surely there must be something we can do with that?

Data Report:
Aerial Observation Team
Blue Forest #012
Lake Victoria.
Sixth day of watch.
Yep. It’s definitely sitting by the edge of the lake, as close to the salt water as possible - where the currents are strongest. I don’t know why. It’s just sitting there. Maybe it likes the view.

The winners in our two categories will get either an all-expenses-paid trip to the kickass Synthetic Biology Conference in Hong Kong this October, or $1000 and a chance to have their creature drawn by a cool comic book artist. Find out more below.

There are two categories in the contest, each with their own prize. The important thing to remember is that this contest is about creating cool new lifeforms that are also, in some way, entertaining. So each entry will be judged for plausibility (i.e. whether it is scientifically justifiable), creativity, usefulness, and entertainment value.

Our esteemed judges include synthetic biologist Drew Endy (MIT), evolutionary biologist and PLoS co-founder Michael Eisen (UC Berkeley), Spore game developer Jason Shankel (EA/Maxis), and biology researcher/io9 "ask a biogeek" columnist Terry Johnson (UC Berkeley).

Category One: BioBricks Lifeform
Using the BioBricks registry of standard biological parts, propose a lifeform design that you could conceivably create in a lab. Must include a complete description of how you would make the lifeform, what it would do, and what possible hazards might be involved in creating it. You may design this creature with a team, but only one of you can claim the prize. You may enter lifeforms that you have entered in other contests, but you must state in your entry which contest(s) you've already entered. Your entry should be in the form of a short scientific paper (no more than 3000 words), with illustrations. More points given if you've actually got a working organism.
Prize: All travel and hotel expenses paid trip to the Synthetic Biology Conference in Hong Kong in October, as well as the chance to present your research there.

Category Two: General Synthetic Lifeform
This lifeform can be more creative. Propose a scientifically justifiable lifeform, which could conceivably be created using current technology. Explain how you would create it, what it would do, and hazards involved. Unlike the BioBricks lifeform, this lifeform can be more speculative. It should be science fictional, but must remain scientifically plausible. Your entry should be less than 3,000 words, please. Illustrations and diagrams are a good idea.
Prize: $1000, plus a cool comic book artist will draw your lifeform and you'll get a signed copy of the original art.

DEADLINE FOR ALL ENTRIES IS AUGUST 25 AT MIDNIGHT PST.

General Rules

1. Send queries and completed entries to madscience@io9.com.
2. On entries, please include your full name, an email and phone number where we can reach you, plus any information about other contests you may have entered your lifeform in.
3. Winners will be announced September 8.
4. All general Gawker contest rules apply.