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Bacteria Made to Behave as Computers
hende_jman writes "Scientists at Princeton University successfully 'programmed bacteria to behave like computers, assembling themselves into complex shapes based on instructions stuffed into their genes.' Though applications may not come for awhile, the article says that in the future this technology may be used in devices to detect bioterrorism chemicals. The article also has pictures of the programmed E. coli."
Though applications may not come for awhile, the article says that in the future this technology may be used in devices to detect bioterrorism chemicals.
Call me cynical, but I think this technology will be used in devices to make and control bioterrorism chemicals. And not necessarily by the "bad guys" either.
Bacteria.NET Sharp
Take the Dragon Survey
First, they made armed autonomous robots, now it's smart bacteria that is potentially deadly... All that remains now is for the two to team up against their human opressors. I feel good about it.
bash: rtfm: command not found
A Beow ... nevermind .. screw it..
.. The bacter... laaaaame
.. nevermind
I for one wel... naw, screw it
In Soviet Russia
the GN... err
Hmmm..
= Grow a brain...
"No, it's a diagnostic."
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Anybody else have visions of the Greg Bear book "Blood Music" when you read this?
= 17562821
http://www.allscifi.com/Topics/info_5673.asp?BSID
I dream in binary.
All they need to do now is do this to a virus... then maybe we can give the virus a virus. Kinda funny, but it would be cool if it led to the desctuction of aids.
The researchers programmed E. coli bacteria to emit red or green fluorescent light in response to a signal emitted from another set of E. coli. The living cells were commanded to make a bull's-eye pattern, for example, around central cells based on communication between the bacteria. The bacteria "have an exquisite capability to sense molecules in the environment," he said.( Ron Weiss) "The bull's-eye could tell you: This is where the anthrax is."
Pretty fascinating stuff, stuff like bacteria and viruses have been kicking our asses for years really, sure antibiotics gave us a temporary edge, but now we have super dooper antibiotic resistant versions. All our approaches have really been hit and miss, but now we can develop and program our own little bacteria super soldiers and fight them on their own terms with intelligent strategy backing us up.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
It's amazing how you can control an organism's behavoir by altering it's DNA.
*yawn* Welp, time to go look at pictures of naked girls.
I can only imagine what wonderful ideas Micro$oft is coming up with right now... Imagine your 'computer' crashing and growing all over your house.
Wired did an article about a similar notion back in 1995 which was rather interesting at the time.
Anyone else read "Prey" by Micheal Crichton? If so, does any of this sound framiliar? hmmmmmmmmmmm
bash: rtfm: command not found
a betterpictureof bacteria assembling themselves into complex shapes based on instructions stuffed into their genes
serenity now!
This explains why I could calculate PI to 1 000 000 decimals in 1.8 seconds the last time I was sick.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Oops, wrong thread...thought I had something there for moment.
Can they run Tiger? //you thought i was going to say Linux didn't you.
If they start generating an AT field, kiss your ass goodbye.
8==8 Bones 8==8
[me] My %$#&#@@!!! E.Coli Computer keeps running slowly, too dangerous to my health, and is a waste of my time compared to it's electronic counterpart. Maybe if I sprinke a little um, penicillin on it, it might make it run faster [supressed snicker].
forget quantum computing I want to be the first on the block to have a fecal matter computer.
Is it just me that wonders why science can run along happily trying to create in reality what science fiction has been creating decades before it, yet seemingly blatantly ignoring all the lessons that were there to be learned in the science fiction stories?
Seems like there is some conspiracy, but something tells me that its just stupid human tricks to do things to see if they can, then stand back and wonder why it all went wrong?
Yes, it would be good to have programmed virii that might devour an oil spill then die harmlessly, or bacteria that can be injected into a chemical spill to clean it up, or down an oil well to preprocess the crude to make it easily recoverd from the ground....
Its just that no one seems to be working on figuring out the dangers at the same time as people are working on the possibilities...
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Perhaps the first program will be a cellular Autonoma simmulation. They could program it to play the game of Life.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
The last time i saw a computer assembling itself into a complex shape it didn't need instructions to accomplish that. Gravity is pretty much all it took.
Sample this!
Seriously... I hate to get off topic, but it seems like more and more new technologies are jumping on the 'terrorist detection' bandwagon when they lack more practical applications. I especially love the part where they specify "bioterrorism chemicals" or whatever, as if a primitive computer made of organic cells can detect them any better than a computer with a crapload of transistors can simply because of their biological nature.
Hey, I've invented a great new device that can also be used as an anti-bioterror device! I call it a "dog," and with its evolved processor (A "brain" as some like to call it) it can monitor and detect chemical and biological agents with a special probe called a "nose." Give me money!
::digs around for relevant info::
First off, here's the web page for Ron Weiss, the scientist mentioned in the article.
Here's (what I think is) the relevant publication on the topic:
A synthetic multicellular system for programmed pattern formation
Subhayu Basu, Yoram Gerchman, Cynthia H. Collins, Frances H. Arnold and Ron Weiss
Nature 434, 1130-1134 (28 April 2005)
Pattern formation is a hallmark of coordinated cell behaviour in both single and multicellular organisms1, 2, 3. It typically involves cellcell communication and intracellular signal processing. Here we show a synthetic multicellular system in which genetically engineered 'receiver' cells are programmed to form ring-like patterns of differentiation based on chemical gradients of an acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) signal that is synthesized by 'sender' cells. In receiver cells, 'band-detect' gene networks respond to user-defined ranges of AHL concentrations. By fusing different fluorescent proteins as outputs of network variants, an initially undifferentiated 'lawn' of receivers is engineered to form a bullseye pattern around a sender colony. Other patterns, such as ellipses and clovers, are achieved by placing senders in different configurations. Experimental and theoretical analyses reveal which kinetic parameters most significantly affect ring development over time. Construction and study of such synthetic multicellular systems can improve our quantitative understanding of naturally occurring developmental processes and may foster applications in tissue engineering, biomaterial fabrication and biosensing.
This conference abstract is also pretty darned cool:
Dynamic Control in a Coordinated Multi-Cellular Maze Solving System
Hsu, Allen (Princeton Univ.), Vijayan, Vikram (Princeton Univ.), Fomundam, Lawrence (Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County), Gerchman, Yoram (Princeton Univ.), Basu, Subhayu (Princeton Univ.), Karig, David (Princeton Univ.), Hooshangi, Sara (Princeton Univ.), Weiss, Ron (Princeton Univ.)
2005 American Control Conference
Control system theory provides convenient tools and concepts for describing and analyzing complex cell functions. In this paper we demonstrate the use of control theory to forward-engineer a complex synthetic gene network constructed from several modular components. Specifically, we present the design and simulation of a synthetic multi-cellular maze-solving system. Here, bacterial cells are programmed to use artificial cell-to-cell communication and regulatory feedback in order to illuminate the correct path in a user-defined maze of cells arranged on a surface. Simulations were used to analyze the system's spatiotemporal dynamics and sensitivity to various kinetic parameters. Experiments with Escherichia coli were carried out to characterize the diffusion properties of artificial cell-to-cell communication based on bacterial quorum sensing systems. The rational design process and simulation tools employed in this study provide an example for future engineering of complex synthetic gene networks comprising multiple control system motifs.
Last week, Dr. Drew Endy from MIT gave a talk to the University of Washington's CSE department on Building Biological Systems (PowerPoint slides are here).
At first glance, building biological systems seems like a pretty daunting task. You have all of these As, Ts, Gs, and Cs, and your task is to figure out how to order them to make your system work as specified. And unlike computers that were engineered by humans, the biological mechanisms that work on DNA aren't completely understood.
However, a promising method of engineering biological systems is to abstract them into systems, devices, and parts. One of the interesting things they're doing is building a repository of biological parts, available at http://parts.mit.edu/. These parts use a standardize way of communicating with each other, allowing you to combine them easily.
Using these parts, college students are able to engineer biological systems in a single quarter. In fact, there's been a few intercollegiate biological engineering competitions, linked to from the MIT Parts site.
Are you kidding, look at all the websites around the net. I live in a fascist dictatorship. The leader of my country is right up there with Hitler, the third biggest mass murder in history (Stalin & Mao Tse Tung taking the top two spots). To top that, I live in fear of the USA Patriot Act. That means I can be arrested by just PLANNING on blowing up buildings/landmarks/petting zoos. I tell you, the rest of the world has it pretty sweet compared to the toil of your average American's day-to-day life.
Seriously though, I sure as hell won't defend everything the US has done, but the mindless US-bashing is ridiculous.
--
The Marines: The few, the proud, the not very bright. - Slashdot tagline 04/21/05
dood, if you blow up a petting zoo, I want pictures
The US govt will piss any amount of money at "Homeland Security". To get a slice of the action you just need to draw some tentative link between your new technology and the "War on terrorism".
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The United States of America are very involved in terrorism. Osama Bin Laden was trained in terrorism by the CIA. That's not "tin foil hat" talk, that's a known, admitted-by-the-CIA fact. The U.S. government has also been the force that got Pappa Doc, Manuel Noriega, and the Shah of Iran into power, just to name a few. These are verified, undisputed (by the government - hotly disputed by the "US can do no wrong" crowd) facts, not liberal propaganda. Even in Afghanistan, the Taliban was able to gain control because the people couldn't tolerate the warlords empowered by the CIA to fight the Russians. The same warlords placed back in power during the "liberation" of Afghanistan.
As for proof, there are plenty of records of this, available from the government itself through the Freedom of Information Act. The government freely admits to doing these things, and use the mistakes they made in the past to justify making the same mistakes again today. "We shouldn't have done that, but now they hate us so we have to kick their butts again" is standard operating procedure. That's not liberal hogwash - that's known fact - undisputed by anyone except a few obsessive nationalists like yourself.
The US government has sponsored and trained terrorists for over 40 years, all in the name of "peace" and "democracy". I'm not saying this because I hate America, but because I am an American patriot who believes in what the Constitution. The American government has enabled, encouraged, and full on participated in atrocities when ever the powers-that-be have decided it was expedient.
I don't condone terrorism, no matter who's committing it. But do you really think people would be willing to die just to hurt the US without any reason? Terrorism is the price America pays for it's hubris. While our pride and unrelenting arrogance don't justify terrorism, they are the root cause of it.
People like you, who throw out logic and compassion in exchange for jingoistic egotism are what is ruining the country I love. You are the people who talk about bringing Democracy to the world when we don't even truly have it in the US. The government brags about bringing "fair and impartial" elections to Iraq, because they can't brag about having them here in the US.
A true American Patriot follows his own morals, not his president. If your morals align with our current governments, then you are a traitor to the very ideals that are supposed to set us above all the commies and terrorists.
Tommy
BTW, I could have just modded you down for trolling, but I don't want people in other counties to think that most of America are as screwed up as you. It seemed more important to let people know that most Americans think you are an asshat. Unfortunately, after two illegal and constitutionally invalid elections most Americans have realized that "the people" no longer run America.Open Source for Open Minds
"Though applications may not come for awhile, the article says that in the future this technology may be used in devices to detect bioterrorism chemicals." Come on, do we really need to have the terrorism angle pointed out for every new technology that comes along??? It's BS to get science funding cause apparently the only R&D budget the U.S. still subsidizes is military and anti-terrorism. I swear, it's only a matter of time before people start trying to claim research into the drag coefficient of sheep over various surfaces (See: http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#i g2003Ignobel Awards ) qualifies as an anti-terrorism expenditure.
WARNING eating you computer may cause severe health problems.
Perhaps Mr Adams wasn't so wrong in stating that Earth and everything on it was actually one big computer, running a very important program.
And now, if you live in florida, you can get shot just by looking menacing ...
Which was a good idea. I cannot speak for my whole country (Belgium, which has problems of its own, btw), let alone _all_ other countries of course. But the US are seen as ignorant navel-gazers who are surprised that terrorist attack them, and go and reinforce what THEY (U.S.) think is right, as a 'police of the world'. Attacking other countries under false pretences, holding prisoners without trial for years, not caring about treaties, not caring about shooting former hostages (Guiliana), just because that is part of their policital agenda. And then the US is surprised that nobody loves them.
So it is nice to see some Americans remember what democracy and freedom it was all about...
Software has had bugs forever. Now the bugs have software.
How about Luis Posada Carriles? He is wanted by Venezuela for a plane bombing where about 70 people died. He is wanted in connection with numours assassination attemts by Cuba. He has proven ties with CIA and he is in Florida right now, seeking asylum. Interestingly, the US media is silent on the issue, with only a few article by Miami Herald and several brief mentions in some minor papers.
The United States is questioned in the UN, Cuba and Venezuela demand a response, but the US government is silent. They know better. They understand that if the media is not allowed to raise a stink, the issue will die down and noone will be aware of the crimes committed by CIA. Noone will realise that US does support terrorists, real terrorists that blow planes. And if anyone will tell the US public, it will react with indignation, because "everybody knows that the United States doesn't get involved in terrorism".
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
literally. What could we do with this? I immediately thought of a problem it might help to solve. How do you get wires into a person's brain, in millions or billions of places, to read and write to individual neurons. We've seen articles recently that talk about using our brains to control devices, or using these probes to read neurons and decode the information. I wonder if these bacteria could be used somehow to grow very tiny wires throughout an entire brain which could provide a was to read and write information to the brain.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Your conclusion seems to be that these things are cause for recent terrorist actions against us. I don't think this is exactly correct. From what I've read many Arabs dislike the American government because of our military and monetary support for Israel, as well as the fact the we have troop stationed on their land (ie Saudi Arabia).
Even if all of these things are true, however, it doesn't follow that the American government has acted irresponsibly in the past and continues to do so now. The real world is full of hard choices, and maybe the best decision in the 1980's was to support the mujahadeen against the communists, even if there was a risk they would later turn against us. Is the world a better place without the Cold War but with Islamic terrorism? Are we a better country for having picked that battle and (arguably) won it?
You also seem to suggest that our responsibility for terrorism means we need a more pacifist, compromising, multilateral foreign policy. This doesn't sound like a recipe for success to me. Maybe you could provide more details on what exactly you would do differently from this administration.
BTW, nobody has found credible evidence of election fraud that would have turned the election. I have to wonder if the Democrats had done better, but with the same election abnormalities as have been reported, you would still consider the election "illegal". I somehow doubt it.
Bullshit. They hate us because they don't want us stopping them from making Muslims submit to Wahabbism -- or at least what Wahabbists want for government.
1) Soviet Union was not a colonialist state. It didn't "extract" resources from 3rd world countries, on the contrary, it poured resources into them. Ask any Egyptian, Cuban, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese or a person from any other country friendly to the USSR. Soviet Union provided immeasurable resources - specialists, technologies, training, equipment, everything in order to help its friends build powerful societies. The United States, as you well realise, does exactly the opposite.
2) Yeah, sorry for forgetting about Afghanistan. That's one example where the Soviet Union did invade. It was much more complicated, however, and it was indeed done to remove a threat to the security of the Soviet Union (as you can easily see on any world map). Another example was Finland - again Soviet Union had no other choice and tried to resolve matters peacefully. There were no unprovoked attacks on countries on the other side of the world with extermination of civilian populace and stuff. Heck, Soviet soldiers and officers were summarily executed for pillage in 1945 in Germany. Soviet Union wasn't an aggressive country, despite the lies perpetrated by neocons in late 1980s (watch the brilliant BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares to see how it was carried out).
The general point is still valid - Soviet Union was usually a friend, while the United States generally acts as an enemy.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.