Something in the Water

Download a PDF version of the comic in Italian/French

Four billion years ago life conquered Earth. Expanding and evolving until omnipresent, life has redefined the inorganic world, which today supports it as a skeleton supports the flesh. But there was a time when life was nowhere to be seen, and minerals were evolving and changing by themselves. The ERC research project PROMETHEUS, led by Professor Juan Manuel Garcia-Ruiz, is an exploration of this primordial world.
Till Lukat’s drawings and imagination accompany the Professor on a research trip to find the remains of that lost, inorganic Planet Earth on a remote salted lake in Africa.
A dream of discovery tantalises the exploration: once upon a time, four billion years ago, something in the water unveiled the biggest, yet least-known scientific mystery: the origin of life.

The science behind the comic

Juan Manuel García-Ruiz (researcher)

Juan Manuel García-Ruiz is Research Professor of the CSIC at the University of Granada, Spain. Founder of the Laboratory of Crystallographic Studies, and of the Crystallization Factory, he is an international expert in the crystallization of minerals, drugs and proteins, including mineral self-organization in natural and synthetic materials. He is currently leading the ERC project "Prometheus" on mineral self-organization and primitive life detection in the early Earth. Prof. Garcia-Ruiz is the author of the book "The mystery of the giant crystals" and of the script of the homonymous documentary film. He creates in 2006 the governmental Program Explora to support “out of the box” investigation, and he is very much involved in promoting a citizen culture of science and building bridges between science and art. He also enjoys flamenco music.

Till Lukat (artist)

Till Lukat was born in Berlin, Germany. He has studied Illustration and Visual Communication at the University of Arts in Berlin and at the University of the West of England in Bristol and finished his studies in 2015 with the Bachelor degree. Since then he has published two Books, which have been translated into three languages, won the Ligatura Pitching, appeared in publications such as Stripburger, Kuš!, Off Life and Schnösel Mösel, Published a webcomic on electrocomics.de and had an exhibition at the Fumetto International comix-festival, Luzern in 2016.
https://www.lukat-land.de/
Coloring assistance for this project: Josh Hicks

Start reading