This is so Frickin' Cool

edgray

edgray

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All you science fans on here (I know there are many...) might remember this TED talk about the idea of synthesising life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKZ-GjSaqgo

Very interesting talk about the cutting edge of biology, and how these new biological will help us with the environment, technology etc etc.

Well looks like the clever sods have done it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHIocNOHd7A

So this is the first living organism on the planet who's parent is a computer! It's also the only living thing with a website coded into it's genetic code!

This is pretty incredible stuff. They're basically programming life here, and will be able, in the future, to create living cells for all manner of jobs, from solving complex computer problems, to fighting disease, to doing energy conversion for green energy.

This is just the tip of the ice berg...
 
One would remember what had happened to the Titanic when making reference to an "iceberg". Simply meaning...

...some big ideas and advancements tend to sink or cause tragic events. I am sure our "wonderful" government has other intentions for this "wonderful biology advancement" altogether. Just my own opinion though.
 
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Xeno said:
One would remember what had happened to the Titanic when making reference to an "iceberg". Simply meaning...

...some big ideas and advancements tend to sink or cause tragic events. I am sure our "wonderful" government has other intentions for this "wonderful biology advancement" altogether. Just my own opinion though.
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these guys are scientists, not government. I'm sure there are very dodgy people out there who wish to use this kind of thing for questionable purposes, but science is pure, and this is incredibly groundbreaking stuff that sheds light on our origins.
 
brieze said:
I'm not going to lie, I haven't watched the videos yet. So, sorry if the answer to my next question is covered in one. How does synthetic life help us understand our origins?
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well it sheds light on how life came from non-life. By manufacturing simple organisms we can learn more about how our distant ancestors originally came to be.
 
brieze said:
Gotcha. Do you think we were manufactured similarly?
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Manufactured? No, we evolved from simpler life forms. Were they manufactured? Who knows. There are quite a few theories on how life actually started - from lightening striking the primordial soup through to microscopic life coming from the stars in the form of extremophiles. Quite possibly it was simply a chemical reaction that started the whole thing off.
 
edgray said:
these guys are scientists, not government. I'm sure there are very dodgy people out there who wish to use this kind of thing for questionable purposes, but science is pure, and this is incredibly groundbreaking stuff that sheds light on our origins.
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That is what they had claimed when they had split The Atom. Just because they do not "work" for the government does not mean they are out of reach so to speak. In the end, in my opinion of course and as history has shown, all scientists eventually get their worth wild ideas taken away by the government for warfare. Though it does not discredit the marvel of it all. It is, indeed, amazing overall.
 
Xeno said:
That is what they had claimed when they had split The Atom. Just because they do not "work" for the government does not mean they are out of reach so to speak. In the end, in my opinion of course and as history has shown, all scientists eventually get their worth wild ideas taken away by the government for warfare. Though it does not discredit the marvel of it all. It is, indeed, amazing overall.
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you're talking about a very small amount of scientific enquiry that ends up on the battlefield. I see your point, and in the case of the atom bomb it was a shocking waste of humanity, but the majority of scientific endeavour has nothing to do with military ends.
 
edgray said:
you're talking about a very small amount of scientific enquiry that ends up on the battlefield. I see your point, and in the case of the atom bomb it was a shocking waste of humanity, but the majority of scientific endeavour has nothing to do with military ends.
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Where you can create something to do good is where you can create something to do bad in a sense. You had stated that these manufactured cells could be used to do such jobs such as solving complex computer problems, to fighting disease, and to doing energy conversion for green energy. Then one could manufacture these things to created advanced computer viruses, spreading diseases to enemy nations, and calculate a way to steal energy from other nations as well. I do believe in the betterment of mankind, but one must really take a look at both the positives and negatives of science. Surely, not all science has been used for warfare and if some has it was very few. You are, indeed, correct. Though it is the few that are used that seem to cause the most chaos. I do hope this used properly for I do believe there is still good in the hearts of those around me. I suppose all one can do is hope.
 
edgray said:
Manufactured? No, we evolved from simpler life forms. Were they manufactured? Who knows. There are quite a few theories on how life actually started - from lightening striking the primordial soup through to microscopic life coming from the stars in the form of extremophiles. Quite possibly it was simply a chemical reaction that started the whole thing off.
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Those theories always interested me. The believers are probably creaming their pants over this lol. I wish I was on of the biologists doing experiments.


I'm pretty sure fission was first experimented with for an alternative energy source, not necessarily for human destruction. I'm having trouble finding an article or something to back me up, so maybe I'm wrong, but I remember reading that.
 
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