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Synthetic Life In The Lab

Posted by Hemos on from the trying-to-build-it-all dept.

niktesla writes "Scientific American is carrying a story about sythetic life - genetic engineered "machines" made from DNA building blocks called "BioBricks". The goal is to produce a library of building blocks that can be assembled to give predictable results. Reminds me of the technology behind Blade Runner's replicants."

2 of 284 comments (clear)

  1. MIT Database by cTbone · · Score: 5, Informative

    MIT Registry of Standard Biological Parts:

    http://parts.mit.edu/

    As mentioned in the article.

  2. Re:End of death by Sgt+York · · Score: 4, Informative
    The corpus callosum is not the only conection between the two sides of the brain. There are also connections in the fornix, peduncles, and other portions of the basal ganglia. The callosum connects the cortical regions to each other, but not the basal ganglia*.

    Moreover, the parts of the brain that control life support (heart=beating, vasculature=functioning, etc) are not so easily divided into hemishperes as is are the lobes. These are also the regions in which a good deal of the left-right crossover in the central nervous system takes place. I doubt you would be able to remove one side without seriously disrupting the other.

    *For the anatomists : yes, I know that the ganglia are also hemispheric. They do, however, have communicating white matter going between the hemispheres.

    --

    There is a reason for everything. Sometimes that reason just sucks.