Introduction

New powers are needed when one is living through such a particularly dark time in history. In a world struggling under multiple and intersecting crises, several new, powerful, and just voices have emerged in politics. Tracking alongside emergent voices and movements in politics is an exciting time in science. Recent advancements in the natural sciences and bioengineering have increasingly called into question the once firm line separating the organic and inorganic, and thus life and mere material. Synthetic biology, or bioengineering, became possible with paralleling improvements in nanotechnology and molecular biology. Port towns, with their maritime history and high value access to the coast, are surprisingly enmeshed with the muds beneath their conduit waters.