Synthetic biologist p’Pun has for several years conducted field research on rubber plantations in a rubber suit. Due to an aversion to the various sensory irritations of natural rubber as a garment material, p’Pun usually opts for the synthetic option in his fetishistic escapades.

However, a recent event unsettles his assumptions about synthetic rubber’s superiority. After a night out in the field, he finds mould growing out of the artificial polymers – an occurrence that should not be possible. Recorded in his research residency’s dormitory in Chanthaburi, p’Pun’s interview ties this fungal anecdote with the divergent biochemistries of synthetic and natural rubber, as well as the miraculous synthesis of natural latex within the ‘god-like void’ of the laticifer cell.