[HN Gopher] Synthetic living machines: A new window on life
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Synthetic living machines: A new window on life
Author : Anon84
Score : 73 points
Date : 2021-05-28 21:52 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sciencedirect.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencedirect.com)
| novaRom wrote:
| I believe this century we'll see a kind of Cambrian explosion of
| life on our planet. Dinos and Unicorns, but also new more
| practical species like special plants and trees for construction
| materials.
|
| Maybe Silicon-based nano machines are more adaptable in other
| planets environments, but here on Earth, Carbon based nano robots
| (living cells) is what evolved first naturally and what we will
| improve/change very first time quite soon.
| [deleted]
| ampdepolymerase wrote:
| We are very very far from doing anything large scale with these
| sort of technologies. Most of the research mentioned in the
| paper either cannot self replicate or requires significant
| external manipulation to do anything useful (think EM fields,
| sound waves). They are pretty typical for biomedical
| engineering, they are not some major advancement in the realm
| of science fiction.
|
| The innovations mentioned are a good start but it is unclear
| whether the current lines of research (bottom up engineering of
| a cell via chemically engineering a cell membrane) will bear
| fruit. They have some applications in carefully controlled
| environments like for medicine but the technology itself would
| not directly lead to the resurrection of dinosaurs. The
| infamous _xenobots_ are basically overhyped. They primarily
| rely on biophysics simulations to find candidates "bots" that
| are made by gluing together muscle cells. This is very far from
| how traditional biology works. I know this forum is obsessed
| with bioelectricity and the research came from the same labs
| but in terms of practical applications it is highly doubtful
| there will be any unless it can be combined with other
| technology.
|
| For true synthetic life, look into minimal cell projects that
| start by reducing the number of genes in a cell to a minimal
| number required for self replication (very similar to a program
| reducer in CS). Other efforts would involve replacing the
| traditional DNA ATCG nucleotides with other types of
| nucleotides. The Central Dogma is called the _Central Dogma_
| for a very good reason.
|
| While I profoundly disagree with the claims made by the paper
| with regards to xenobots and similar biomedical engineering
| gimmicks, the rest of the overview is quite sound, especially
| the areas on genetic circuits and organoids.
| StandardFuture wrote:
| > requires significant external manipulation to do anything
| useful
|
| It seems like artificial metabolic pathways research needs to
| be an area where boundaries are pushed. It would be fairly
| useful because it would generalize energy research as well.
|
| > start by reducing the number of genes
|
| Top down is status quo synth-bio. But, I found it interesting
| that the new mRNA vaccines used the lipid nanoparticle
| delivery mechanisms. It seems to be a sort of an early
| success for bottom-up synth-bio.
|
| > Central Dogma for a very good reason.
|
| Which is why there are two approaches to "life". 1. what is
| for all practical purposes, further variations on existing
| biology 2. a much more profound and general definition of
| what "life" even is, and the ability to generate lifeforms
| (whatever that may mean) from just about anything - which may
| or may not require anything analogous to the central dogma.
| voakbasda wrote:
| Mark my words, the day will come when we can grow our computers.
| Caring for your systems and networks will be a biological affair.
| Synthetic biology is at the stage of creating a transistor; the
| biological equivalent of a 8086 will be the next step, and one I
| have no doubt will be reached in my lifetime.
| StandardFuture wrote:
| Yes, and one day we will have biological "cars" that can behave
| autonomously, avoid collisions, climb hills, cross shallow
| rivers, pull storage carts behind them, operate on simple grass
| consumption, be used in battle, and generate new cars through a
| cheap replication process. The technology of the future will be
| insane.
| brosinante wrote:
| H0RS3 by uber.
| FooBarBizBazz wrote:
| We used to grow our computers. "Computer" was a job title.
| plutonorm wrote:
| When will I be able to grow myself a new body of the opposite
| sex? A long time it seems. But I very much think this is the
| right direction of travel. Observing tissues and then trying to
| model them in silicon is useful, but to really grok this you have
| to tinker around and engineer tissues yourself. Magical and
| wondrous medical technology awaits us in this direction. Crack
| the bio-electric and chemotaxis code and you improve human life
| immeasurably. God speed to the small band of people working in
| this area.
| ncfausti wrote:
| I might be naive, but Michael Levin[1] is the type of scientist I
| imagine when I think of the revolutionary scientists of the past.
| It's quite refreshing to see such bold initiatives being
| undertaken.
|
| I'm curious to see who others see in a similar light, and what
| they're working on.
|
| [1] https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/associate-faculty/michael-
| levi...
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